Originally Posted by
Excargodog
Perhaps you can laugh off the loss of 60,000 trained troops at a time when the military is having enough difficulty with recruiting to call into question the viability of the all volunteer military and the loss of a $3Billion warship in peacetime because nobody knew what the chain of command was and nobody was willing to do the basic things to either avoid the problem or deal with it once it occurred. I cannot.
While it is necessary for the country that orders be obeyed, EVEN STUPID ONES, that does not exempt from criticism those that gave those stupid orders. The Charge of the Light Brigade and ANZAC actions at Gallipoli were the actions of honorable military personnel following the orders given to them. But the actions scarcely reflect well on the British high command. Unlike those actions, however, this one was an unforced error. It will cost us 60,000 trained troops, perhaps the largest defeat in US military history (and self inflicted at that), to combat a pandemic that killed fewer active duty troops than some major peacetime exercises.
This was a stupid order. Doesn’t change the fact that it was given and we now have to live with it, but neither should we ignore how stupid it was to give it in the first place.
So your opinion is that it was stupid. My opinion is that it wasn't. Got it.
They have the means to enforce the order and right now and the military is downsizing mid grade and senior personnel big time, especially guard and reserve, so I don't think this is as dire as you make it. This makes Force shaping easy and allows them to boot people without all the normal painful process that is involved with involuntary separation of an honorably serving member. In any case, this isn't our cross to bear.
Recruiting is all about getting bodies in the door to fulfill billet vacancies years down the road. Recruiting goals being met are 100 percent positively correlated to the unemployment rate. The military went through a recruiting crisis right before 9-11 and also right before the financial crisis. It survived. It always survives. Since you are ex mil, you know that they will always find a way to make up for a sudden loss of bodies in trained positions by doing more with less. It is the way.