Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Not your grandfathers Army


The killing of of 13 and wounding of an additional 29 people by Major Nadal Halik Hasan was a disaster that could have been prevented had the Army paid attention to all of the warning signs that preceded this event. It has been reported that during a military briefing Hasan had written a power point presentation that had a slide that said, speaking of militant islamists,"we love death more than you love life". I guess he was part of the "we". He also stated that the war on terror was a war against Islam. Yes, against MILITANT islam, he further said that muslim soldiers should be released from duty as conscientious objectors if they choose to do so.
The end result of this is that peoples lives are ended and many others changed forever all because the Army marginalized the safety of it's soldiers in the name of political correctness.
I don't have a real issue with muslims serving in the Armed forces provided that they, like other soldiers put thier mission above themselves. Who they worship is thier business.
My problem with this whole thing is that I don't think that General Patton would have put up with the slightest sympathy or support for Nazism in his Army no more than MacArthur would have tolerated a soldier supporting the imperial Japanese . The Army should have discharged Hasan at the first hint of this activity. I have seen good soldiers careers ruined for a single act of indescretion that harmed no one. I served with some of the finest soldiers in the world and it was terrible to see boys discharged for being a overweight or injured (sometimes of no fault of their own) to a point where they could no longer do thier job.
So I guess the experts and Army brass will out on a show and try to make it look like they are doing something about this but nothing will change. I am just dissapointed that the same officers that would punish a soldier for missing a formation or a dirty weapon let this guy slide knowing that he was ideologically opposed to the mission of our Armed forces.