As much as we would love to believe the officer’s oath (and the enlisted oath, diluted as it is by the president clause) carries water and protects us, the historical precedent of militaries says troops are loyal to their paychecks and, to a somewhat lesser extent, benefits. As long as the soldiers continue to be financially compensated, they won’t rebel and will actively work against rebellions. When they stop being compensated, they’ll become passive and will step aside for a rebellion. Some may even defect and join the rebellion, but only if they think its success will benefit them. Sorry to be cynical, but without a strong charismatic and revered general or admiral to follow, troops will never self-activate to “defend their oath.”
Look up the fall of Samuel Doe in Liberia or the Vodka rebellion leading up to Kerensky’s coup in Russia. The military is ever just hired goons. If the military were truly a circuit breaker against illegal autocracy, then they’d be doing exercises and drills to train for the day they’d have to “defend the constitution” from a domestic threat. To my knowledge, no such “uncoup the coup” drill has ever been conducted.
How so? As far as I know, the 20-year pension plan is still in place. And yeah, the TSP equity funds were affected, but you’d be surprised how ignorant and apathetic a huge portion of military members are about the TSP and completely unaware of vehicles like the Roth IRA. Plus, that’s all future money, in some case far future. Much less personal impact, as it’s easier to think only about the present. That’s why many aren’t getting all worked up about loss of earned benefits that will only matter years from now once they’ve been discharged. Plus, many Jr enlisted don’t have enough discretionary income to even contribute to a TSP on a meaningful level.
I’d wager my odds of knowing are better than that of the average person, but it’s true, lack of knowledge does not represent lack of existence. It would be nice if some special units somewhere train exactly for that scenario.
I don’t think that’s an accurate statement. Maybe most of the enlisted people are, but a very large percentage of the officers hate him. He is their commanding officer, and they openly insult him. They ridicule him constantly and talk about how terrible his decisions are. They joke about how stupid the SecDef’s plans are. And they do all this in front of their superior officers.
The officers make an oath about defending the constitution, but they also hold very strongly to their duty to protect the people they command. Trump puts those people in jeopardy for no damn reason, so many hate him for that.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the military is fine with trump.
Please, I have only so little hope left
As much as we would love to believe the officer’s oath (and the enlisted oath, diluted as it is by the president clause) carries water and protects us, the historical precedent of militaries says troops are loyal to their paychecks and, to a somewhat lesser extent, benefits. As long as the soldiers continue to be financially compensated, they won’t rebel and will actively work against rebellions. When they stop being compensated, they’ll become passive and will step aside for a rebellion. Some may even defect and join the rebellion, but only if they think its success will benefit them. Sorry to be cynical, but without a strong charismatic and revered general or admiral to follow, troops will never self-activate to “defend their oath.”
Look up the fall of Samuel Doe in Liberia or the Vodka rebellion leading up to Kerensky’s coup in Russia. The military is ever just hired goons. If the military were truly a circuit breaker against illegal autocracy, then they’d be doing exercises and drills to train for the day they’d have to “defend the constitution” from a domestic threat. To my knowledge, no such “uncoup the coup” drill has ever been conducted.
Didn’t they all just see their retirements get obliterated before even becoming vets?
Yeah, he just gutted the VA along with everything else.
How so? As far as I know, the 20-year pension plan is still in place. And yeah, the TSP equity funds were affected, but you’d be surprised how ignorant and apathetic a huge portion of military members are about the TSP and completely unaware of vehicles like the Roth IRA. Plus, that’s all future money, in some case far future. Much less personal impact, as it’s easier to think only about the present. That’s why many aren’t getting all worked up about loss of earned benefits that will only matter years from now once they’ve been discharged. Plus, many Jr enlisted don’t have enough discretionary income to even contribute to a TSP on a meaningful level.
Why would it be expected that you would have knowledge of such a thing?
I’d wager my odds of knowing are better than that of the average person, but it’s true, lack of knowledge does not represent lack of existence. It would be nice if some special units somewhere train exactly for that scenario.
I don’t think that’s an accurate statement. Maybe most of the enlisted people are, but a very large percentage of the officers hate him. He is their commanding officer, and they openly insult him. They ridicule him constantly and talk about how terrible his decisions are. They joke about how stupid the SecDef’s plans are. And they do all this in front of their superior officers.
The officers make an oath about defending the constitution, but they also hold very strongly to their duty to protect the people they command. Trump puts those people in jeopardy for no damn reason, so many hate him for that.