[lbo-talk] boss gets complaints from the help

[Joel Wendland]

>A Guardsman asks, 'where the hell's our decent gear'?  Our bargain basement 
>Augustus replies: "I'm told that the army is breaking its
>neck to see that there is not a differentiation" in the quality of
>equipment..."
>
>"I'm told", he says, "I'm told".   When someone whose job it is to know 
>these things (maybe I'm wrong but you'd think it'd be part of the Sec of 
>Defense job description) tells you, "I'm told" in that context what he's 
>really saying is: listen, I don't give a fuck.

Interesting to me is that miltiary people are indoctrinated with the concept 
of chain of command. A serious problem in discipline and morale exists if 
enlisted men are yelling at the Secretary of Defense. That's worse than 
yelling at a general....and skipping the chain of command? forget it. When I 
was in the service stationed at Ft. Polk, LA, I once tried to use the 
military's telephone system to call the White House to complain about not 
getting leave time approved. The sergeant who answered was more pissed off 
that I was skipping the chain of command than he was that I was making crank 
phone calls to Clinton or that I was using the phone system reserved for 
morale and emergency calls. He threatened to have me formally punished etc. 
Is the US military preparing to revolt? I don't know, but they have a good 
shot at bringing the war to an end single-handedly.