Does the Military Support Bush?

It’s widely known that the officer corps of the military is far more conservative than the U.S. population as a whole; accordingly, it’s not surprising that among the officer ranks support for Mr. Bush is likely to be extremely high. The enlisted ranks are a whole different animal, because they are far more diverse — in terms of race, educational levels, socio-economic background, etc. Now, one can easily understand why, in a time of conflict, one is likely to support one’s leader — no matter who he or she is; this phenomenon alone goes a long way at explaining why, at this time, the military is far more like to support the Commander-in-Chief. One has to wonder, though, about the levels of dissent that I know exist among the military ranks. Oftentimes, dissent in the military is not reported on because access to the troops is well regulated, and because the pentagon has cracked down on those servicemen and women that have spoken against the war.

Here’s an anecdote of a soldier from the 82nd Airborne:

“According to him, 75% of all soldiers want Bush defeated in the election and don’t care who defeats him; anger and resentment are high. He says that 90% of the officers remain far out of harm’s way, from lieutenants all the way up — and that only about 10% of the officer corps has some reasonable concern for the troops. There is general understanding that the officers are hiding in holes, or holding back in well-defended buildings and quite cavalier about sending troops out for assignments and errands that are frequently stupid, poorly planned, and dangerous.”

[...]

“Interestingly, he said that all enlisted men or officers in command positions have orders not to talk about their war experiences with the junior and fresh troops. He refuses — and tells those people under him everything he knows because he thinks it will help save their lives. When he went to Afghanistan at the beginning, basically nothing was told to them; he kept repeating “nothing.” And he said that their basic training in North Carolina was 180 degrees opposite of what they really needed to know for this kind of combat.” [Full post here]

You have to read the entire thing… it’s extremely powerful. Now, some may reflexively dismiss it, but from my experience I recognize the sentiments expressed in the post, and I know it — in general — to be true. I’ve recently spoken with some officers and enlisted men that served in Afghanistan and they all expressed the same level of frustration that this soldier from the 82nd spoke of.