Salon.com > Army

Was ending the draft a mistake?

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Few probably recall the name Dwight Elliott Stone. But even if his name has faded from the national memory, the man remains historically significant. That's because on June 30, 1973, the 24-year-old plumber's apprentice became the last American forced into the armed services before the military draft expired.

Though next month's 40-year anniversary of the end of conscription will likely be as forgotten as Stone, it shouldn't be. In operations across the globe, the all-volunteer military has been employed by policymakers to birth what Gen. George Casey recently called the "era of persistent conflict." Four decades later, we therefore have an obligation to ask: How much of the public's complicity in that epochal shift is a result of the end of the draft?

There is, of course, no definitive answer to such a complex question. However, a look back at some lost history shows that today's public acquiescence to militarism was exactly what the government wanted when it ended the draft.

That loaded term -- "militarism" -- was, in fact, a prominent part of the 1970 report by President Nixon's Commission on an All-Volunteer Force. In its findings, the panel worried about "a cycle of anti-militarism" in a nation then questioning America's increasingly martial posture.

7 marines killed in Nevada military training exercise

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:30:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seven Marines from a North Carolina unit were killed and several injured in a training accident at the Hawthorne Army Depot in western Nevada, the Marine Corps said Tuesday.

The cause of the accident shortly before 10 p.m. PST, Monday is under investigation, officials said in a statement from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp LeJeune, N.C.

The injured were taken to area hospitals for treatment and further evaluation. A spokesman for Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, the area's major trauma hospital, couldn't immediately confirm how many people were being treated there. A nursing supervisor at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center said her hospital hadn't taken patients from the incident

"We send our prayers and condolences to the families of Marines involved in this tragic incident. We remain focused on ensuring that they are supported through this difficult time," said the force's commander, Maj. Gen. Raymond C. Fox. "We mourn their loss, and it is with heavy hearts we remember their courage and sacrifice."

The identities of those killed were not released pending notification of their families and a 24-hour waiting period after that.

Women in combat: The best worst reactions

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:40:00 +0000

It's been less than 24 hours since the Pentagon announced they would remove the longstanding military ban on women in combat, and our friends on the Right wasted no time in going off the rails crazy about it. Apparently, lifting the ban on women in combat is the worst thing that's ever happened to the military. (At least since the last worst thing that's ever happened to the military.)

A round up featuring the very best of the very worst.

Heather Mac Donald of the National Review

The Pentagon must think we are done fighting "real wars." Why else would they let women play army?

We have apparently arrived at the Golden Age, free from strife and the threat of foreign enemies. Little else can explain so gratuitous a decision as to place women in combat units.

And there will be so much military sex happening! (As we know, things are uncomfortable enough with the gays hanging around.)

Alabama’s alleged teen terrorist made Nazi salutes

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:48:00 +0000

Weeks before Derek Mathew Shrout allegedly started building improvised hand grenades in his military family’s home, before the 17-year-old was arrested for plotting to use the devices against black and gay students and a teacher, he was committing racist acts in full view of everyone at an Alabama high school.

Two of his former friends say that Shrout – sometimes wearing his Junior ROTC U.S. Army-issued uniform – repeatedly performed stiff-arm sieg-heil salutes and shouted “white power” at Russell County High School in Seale, Ala., where he apparently intended to carry out the attacks. The community is some 20 miles from the U.S. Army’s sprawling Fort Benning, Ga., compound, where the suspect’s father is stationed.

Some of the suspect’s hateful antics apparently were captured on the school’s security cameras, and authorities may now be reviewing that video, if it still exists.

David Lee White, an 18-year-old senior at the high school, told Hatewatch last night that he repeatedly saw Shrout and a group of other white students – ranging in numbers from seven to 12, most of them boys – conduct impromptu Nazi-style salutes in the school’s hallways, at breakfast in the cafeteria and in a school bus parking lot. Many times, he said, this occurred in full view of teachers and other staff.

At West Point, “you need to believe in God”

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:22:00 +0000

Blake Page, a 24-year-old cadet in his 4^th year at West Point, created a storm on November 19 when he announced he was leaving in protest over religious discrimination and church state boundary violations. In his letter of resignation he stated, “I do not wish to be in any way associated with an institution which willfully disregards the Constitution of the United States of America by enforcing policies which run counter to the same.” In an op-ed published at the Huffington Post on Monday, Page minced no words: “Countless officers here and throughout the military are guilty of blatantly violating the oaths they swore to defend the Constitution . . . through unconstitutional proselytism, discrimination against the non-religious and establishing formal policies to reward, encourage and even at times require sectarian religious participation.”

Youth and social networks are signs of radicalism

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:29:00 +0000

A U.S. Army list of warning signs for radicalization, obtained by Wired, gives the impression that it would be impossible to distinguish a normal U.S. solider from a budding young terror suspect.

Wired notes some particularly vague "Risk Factors for Radicalization" among soldiers:

“Youth,” which might be a difficult thing to mitigate against, unless the military wants to take former Pentagon official Rosa Brooks’ unorthodox recruitment advice. “Social Networks” is another, and it’s probably alarmingly coterminous with Youth. Still others: “Emotional Vulnerability,” “Personal Connection to a Grievance” and “Conflict at Work or at Home.”

Army dedicates day to suicide prevention

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:44:00 +0000

Soldiers will today put aside regular duties to devote a day to suicide prevention training. Thursday's 'stand down' was called in light of a record number of military suicides this year, with a spike of 26 probable suicides in July and over 100 throughout the year. At army posts across the world, troops will learn about recognizing suicidal behavior patterns and various intervention techniques.

“The Army has decided that this issue is so important to us that we’re going to devote an entire day . . . that was otherwise devoted to something else and say ‘That’s not as important as this,’ ” Sgt. Maj. Raymond Chandler III, the top non-commissioned officer in the Army, told a press conference Wednesday.

As The Washington Post noted, the high suicide numbers "reflect in part the stress on the force after more than a decade of lengthy and multiple deployments for many troops in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Soldier shoots comrade in the face trying to cure hiccups

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:40:00 +0000

A soldier at a Texas army base shot a fellow soldier in the face when attempting to scare away his hiccups, CNN reported.

The soldiers were drinking and watching football on Sunday night at their Fort Hood base when Isaac Lawrence Young got the hiccups, according to the police report. Patrick Edward Myers pulled out the gun to scare Young, thinking he had dummy rounds in the weapon, he told police.

Myers now faces mansluaghter charges and is being held on $1 million bail.

Fort Hood was also the site of a deadly 2009 shooting rampage, during which army psychiatrist Nidal Hissan shot dead 13 people.

Data from the U.S. Army Combat Readiness/Safety Center found that the third quarter of the 2012 fiscal year (April 1 to June 30) was the worst of the year when it came to accidental military deaths, but that fatal accidents are on the decline compared to 2011. More than 100 soldiers have died so far this year in on- or off-duty accidents.

Final “surge” troops leave Afghanistan

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 21:37:00 +0000

The last of the 33,000 "surge" troops ordered into Afghanistan by President Barack Obama more than three years ago have withdrawn from the country, returning the U.S. presence to pre-surge levels.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the surge had accomplished "its objectives of reversing the Taliban momentum on the battlefield and dramatically [increasing] the size and capability of the Afghan national security forces."

Calling it a "very important milestone," Panetta said he believed the United States was on track to accomplishing its goals in Afghanistan.

Panetta said the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, "is saying that the force he has put in place is sufficient to accomplish that mission."

The withdrawal, which leaves 68,000 American forces in the warzone, comes as the security transition to Afghan forces is in trouble, threatened by a spike in so-called "insider attacks" in which Afghan army and police troops, or insurgents dressed in their uniforms, have been attacking and killing U.S. and Nato forces.

Army tests body armor tailored for female soldiers

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:30:00 +0000

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Female soldiers from Fort Campbell deploying to Afghanistan will field the first Army body armor that is shorter and better tailored specifically to fit women's physiques.

Members of a female engagement team from the 101st Airborne Division, who will be directly interacting with Afghan women during the upcoming deployment, have been equipped with the female prototypes of the newest generation of Army tactical vests.

On Tuesday at the Army installation on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line, the female soldiers showed the new features of the vests during qualification trials with their M4A1 rifles.

The 101st Airborne Division first suggested the idea of a better fitting vest for women in 2009 after female soldiers said that they often had trouble bending over, getting in and out of tight spaces like military vehicles, or positioning their rifles against their shoulders, said Maj. Joel Dillon, the Army's assistant product manager for the vests.

Dillon said the long plates inside the vests would rub against their hips and cut into their thighs when they sit down.