Obama and the Military

An excellent observation from Wesley Pruden at The Washington Post:

A grim message for the generals
There�s a reason why Barack Obama is mistrusted in the ranks of the military services. He doesn�t smell of the hive, and it shows. Bees recognize a hostile intruder when they see one, and so do soldiers, sailors and Marines.

Many of these soldiers, sailors and Marines feel betrayed by the senior officers of the services, beginning with the commander in chief. The old customs and traditions that have held the services together through war and peace have been scorned and trashed, replaced with the politically correct attitudes and regulations that gag real men. Even saying so is a sure way for an officer to ruin a career. The men in the ranks understand this, too.

The Army's Center for Army Leadership at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., asked 16,800 commissioned and noncommissioned officers whether they think �the Army is headed in the right direction to prepare for the challenges of the next 10 years.� Their answers, as reported by CNS.com, ought to be enough to scare a commander in chief straight. His defense chief, too. But it won�t, because they�re exactly the men responsible for the survey results.

Only 26 percent � 1 man in 4 � say they think the Army is on track to continue as the scourge of evildoers who yearn to do the republic ill. Nearly 40 percent say the service is headed in the wrong direction, and 36 percent say they don�t have an opinion (and no doubt if they did, they�re smart enough to keep it to themselves).

And Mr. Pruden is just warming up. A good read. Be sure to scroll through the comments -- a lot of confirmation and corroboration from some Brothers and Sisters in the service...