“Acceptable in peace. Deadly by combat standards.” – Will Alexander (USMC, Retired).
I was all set to pen a post hammering why there are way too many uniformed members of the armed forces being pissed-away on White House duties.
Enough of combat-trained infantrymen acting as glorified door stops, as well as too-damned-many Company and Field Grade officers assigned as the world’s most over-paid theater ushers.
No, that posting is now on hold. As it turns out, I was doing my research on the PME (Professional Military Education) that young Marine officers should already have under their belt before being wasted-away as a Protocol Officer at the White House.
But first, just a bit of background – all career officers reaching the rank of Captain (paygrade O-3) must attend AWS (Amphibious Warfare School). But since my retirement from the Corps, now renamed EWS (Expeditionary Warfare School). Gee, so much for all that lip-service out of Arlington of the Marine Corps re-connecting to our amphibious nature.
Keep in mind that this is a 41-week course. Not exactly a three-day seminar.
Anyhow, did I find some rather questionable expenditures on the government dime (AKA: “What we send to DC“).
First off, I believe it’s a reliable expectation of John Q. Taxpayer that Marine Corps officers be trained to kill bad guys and break things. But that’s just me.
As I found on an official USMC website in regard to the EWS, a portion of the “Educational Methodology” of this particular school is;
“While there are seldom right or wrong answers, there are certainly more and less informed perspectives. The onus is on the student to invest the intellectual humility, curiosity, and time in bringing an informed perspective to the discussion.”
To wit, I respond, bullshit.
There are plenty of right or wrong answers. Especially when it comes to;
- Killing bad guys
- Breaking things
- Bringing all your Marines home
As far as humility is concerned, as far as being a Warrior God, humility shouldn’t even be in the equation. Replace that toxic femininity with audacity.
This “Educational Methodology” sounds a lot more like, “Show up with a malleable brain, and even more malleable morals and core-beliefs.”
Anyhow, I really didn’t have to dig that much deeper to find even more questionable expenditures of taxpayer money.
Under the very wide umbrella of the Marine Corps formal leadership and warfighting schools known as Marine Corps University, here’re just a few examples of your tax dollars at work;
Grant CampbellCommunications Assistant Professor
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Lauren Mackenzie, Ph.D.
Professor of Military Cross-Cultural Competence
Areas of Expertise | Intercultural communication, cross-cultural competence, interpersonal conflict management, cultural metacognition, relationship repair strategies, the role of failure in teaching and learning. |
Anahid Matossian
Women, Peace, and Security Subject Matter Expert
Areas of Expertise | Gender, Migration, Post-conflict, Syria, Armenia |
Claire Metelits, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Strategic Studies
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Again, just me… but how do things such as children’s storytelling, inculturation, the ‘role of failure’, and gender sensitivity have a damn thing to do with winning wars?
Oh, that’s right. They don’t.
Maybe that’s why America hasn’t won a war since 1945.
But before I end, I’d like to add a bit of a piece done for Townhall.com from a handful of years ago, penned by Will Alexander, USMC, Retired;
Today, the highest performance in the brute physical demands of uncivilized combat falls second to the politics of gender equality, LGBT rights, and now, hunting down imaginary white supremacists in the name of race equity. Civilian trash. It’s a shame. It institutes division. Woke politicians know it. They don’t care. But they’ve done it anyway. Sound familiar?
More than anyone, the Obama Administration implemented the most consequential changes in U.S. military history – changes that deviates more towards rights and careerism than combat effectiveness. These are fake problems. We already had that stuff. I witnessed it for 20 years.
But in 2013, Obama’s defense secretary, Leon Panetta, lifted the ban on women serving in combat units. Marine Commandant General Joe Dunford implemented Panetta’s directive by integrating two infantry companies and, through a series of training exercises, matched them against existing all-male infantry units.
The results were predictable.
In 134 combat tasks, all-male units outperformed gender-integrated units in 69 percent of the tasks. Acceptable in peace. Deadly by combat standards. In 2015, Dunford requested that the Corps be exempted from the new policy. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus declined.