Stop Talking Sh*t About Military Millennials

My oldest son is 25 so that makes him a millennial. He also joined the Marines at 17 and said he wasn't ready for college yet and needed to do something else first. Well, he did something else alright. I can tell you that the millennia's didn't raise themselves, they were raised by tail end boomers like me or gen x'ers etc.

If you want to know what is wrong with the younger generation, look in the mirror (if your raised any slackers). Parents are responsible for raising kids. If the kids are weak, lazy, worthless etc. Guess where they learned it, that's right, their parents.

I tried to make sure my kids were not sucked in too far to popular culture and they understood what makes America great and what service to country is. Not perfectly for sure, there are things I would do differently but who wouldn't.

Anyone who pulls their weight is excluded from any but the good natured ribbing that is bred by familiarity.

I'm going to take this the other direction. I was a Private once, like every other Joe who enlisted. I was mouthy, thought I was hot stuff, and needed some direction. I joined in 1995, when NCOs were still allowed to be NCOs and train soldiers properly ("front leaning rest position..."). I disagree that it is the caliber of recruits. Some of my (former) Privates are now sr. NCOs themselves. The thing I hear the most about from them is they are no longer allowed to discipline their soldiers. Everything is considered "hazing". They're not allowed to run them "too far" during PT. They're not allowed to drop them for "too many" push-ups or assign appropriate punishments for infractions (The Flavor Flave, anyone?). Everything has to go into a counseling statement or end up as an Article 15. You want new recruits to be good soldiers? Take the dang leash off the NCOs and restore their proper authority as leaders and trainers of soldiers. It ain't the kids - they're just like every generation before them. It's the "New Army" BS regulations.