In my 32 years of military service, I spent a lot of time in joint assignments but for this piece, let me limit my comments to the US Army, the service I know best.
The Army always has been and always will be a product of America. Those entering come from every background, every community and even some with questionable alliances with radical groups such as white supremacists; but they all have one thing in common, they volunteered and, like it or not, they are going to be brain-washed and indoctrinated.
Day one: At the end of that first day in the Army they all have the same hair style, that is, no hair, and they all are dressed alike. There is a reason what soldiers wear is called a “uniform.”
Many will arrive with a chip on their shoulder based on their upbringing, education, talent, physical prowess etc. But that “chip” gets knocked off very quickly by a drill instructor who has been especially selected and trained based on his or her abilities to “read” people and indoctrinate/train them. It’s not a complex formula, just “tear them down and build them all over again.”
Day two: they begin to understand that their life in the Army will revolve around two concepts. One is the mission and secondly, above all else, you are responsible for the person on you right and left. Soon it begins to sink in that if I am responsible for those on my right and left, that means that they are also responsible for me. One day it’s a white guy, perhaps the next day it’s a black gal. Hmmm, “interesting concept”, they say to themselves, “someone always has my back, I’m not alone, this is my team.”
The mission. Early on it is a training mission and later on it may be a combat mission. Either way, mission is mission, it is the focus of the day and every soldier has a leader who will take me through it. Trust, Respect.
Background: there are 190 military occupational specialties (MOS) in your Army; infantry, artillery, aviation mechanic, medic, intel specialist, you get the picture. Within your MOS, you will be faced with a task list. It is a long list. This is what you must learn, this is what you will do. Additionally, for every task there is a standard that must, without fail, be achieved. The third factor is condition; day/night, wet/dry, rested/sleep deprived, fully-manned/short staffed, etc. Task/Condition/Standard, the basis of all US Army training and execution.
Do all soldiers end up with the same proficiency in their MOS task list? Yes and no. They will all be proficient but some to a greater degree because from day one it is emphasized that this is an organization where you are given the opportunity to be-all-you-can-be. While be-all-you-can-be is individualized, you also understand you are first and foremost part of a team with primary responsibility for the guy or gal on you right and left. Accountability.
There is no organization in the world that is better at equal opportunity than the US Army. Period. Be-all-you-can-be every day. On day-one you were a private E1. The cream raises to the top and you get promoted, Private First Class and eventually to Sergeant, E5. Now you are a team leader.
As a leader, in name and rank, your professional life takes a big turn. You are now faced with a new, longer and move complex list of tasks. It is called the collective task list and is less MOS-specific. That is, the leader tasks for an infantry Sergeant are about like the leader tasks for a medic team leader.
Becoming a leader in the Army is not a do-it-yourself operation. You get training and mentoring. The cream continues to rise, you get promoted to squad leader E6, then Sergeant First Class E7, the senior non-commissioned leader of a 30-person platoon. E8 is a Master Sergeant/First Sergeant of a 100-person company.
The cream of the be-all-you-can-be, equal opportunity crop will become a Sergeant Major E9 of a battalion, then perhaps a brigade, a division (10-15 thousand soldiers), a corps, an Army and there is always one super star, currently Michael Grinston, who is Command Sergeant Major of the whole US Army, 1,005,500 men and women active, National Guard and Army Reserve. Be-all-you-can-be.
Along the way, whether serving 2 years or 32 years, all of these soldiers, through the above-described process, became imprinted deep in their souls with a culture of accountability, respect and trust. In all situations, day-in-and-day-out, soldiers know they will be held accountable for their own actions as well as those of the unit they lead. From day one they learned to respect and trust the soldiers on their right and left as well as their leaders.
Culture is a powerful and pervasive force in every organization, be it just a team or a cast of thousands or a million-person Army. When every person understands the culture and lives it every day, that is a winning organization.
With that tutorial, let’s get to the issue at hand, extremists in the ranks of the US Army, more specifically racists and white supremacists. This did not seem to be a public issue until the events at the Capitol on 6 January of this year.
Then some idiot politicians got behind a microphone and descided the Army National Guard protecting the Capitol and the politicians inside needed to be “vetted.”
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee: “You’ve got to figure that in the Guard, which is predominantly more conservative… there are probably not more than 25 percent of the people that are there protecting us who voted for Biden,” Cohen said. “The other 75 percent are in the class, the large class of folks, who might want to do something.” Translation, you voted for Trump, you are likely a racist and/or white supremacist and must be weeded out. Brilliant.
Not to be outdone the D.C. Mayor, Muriel Bowser, felt the need to inform us that, “When you have Guardsmen and women coming from all over the nation at this time, I do think that it is prudent to make sure that they are being vetted and that anybody who cannot pledge allegiance to their missions, and may be pulled by other views, needs not only to be removed from this duty, they need to be removed from the Guard.”
Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal wanted us to know that as much as ten percent of the U.S. military is compromised of racists or extremists.
Then in early February retired General Lloyd Austin, the quintessential product of a be-all-you-can-be, equal opportunity, merit-based organization, is President Biden’s pick to be Secretary of Defense. He put on a suit, went to his confirmation hearing and testified that he would, “work to rid racists and extremists from the ranks of the U.S. military.”
Later he informed us that, “The job of the Department of Defense is to keep America safe from our enemies, but we can’t do it if some of the enemies lie within our own ranks,”
Sec Def Austin announced a 60-day “stand down” and ordered military leaders to have, “needed discussions with the men and women of the force in an effort to weed out extremism in the ranks.” Sec Def Austin later went on to say, “We shall adhere to our core beliefs and values and reaffirm the oaths we each took to uphold and support the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. My Point of Contact for these efforts is Mr. Bishop Garrison.”
Mr. Garrison, with a title of Senior Advisor to the Sec Def for Diversity and Inclusion is armed with a mandate from President Biden and a $40 million budget. It is well documented that Garrison’s point-of-departure thinking is that if you are a Trump supporter that makes you a racist, misogynist and extremist. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
The Democrats in Washington are doing a great job of denigrating your great soldiers, of questioning their integrity, their competence and patriotism. But I don’t believe for a minute that the American public is buying into their nonsensical insults and misguided delusional thinking.
Perhaps there is a little light at the end of the woke tunnel; to their credit, two four-star commanders, Admiral Charles Richard, head of the US Strategic Command and General James Dickinson, head of US Space Command testified before the House Armed Services Committee this week, stating that the risk of extremism in the ranks is virtually nonexistent and that their units are among the best, most professional in the world. How would you like to be a fly on the wall when Special Assistant Bishop Garrison shows up for an “office call” with those two brave souls? Don’t bet the farm on the longevity of those two Generals.
So, who are the extremists in the ranks? Extremist defined: “A person who advocates or resorts to measures beyond the norm.” Beyond the norm; I contend that there is nothing “normal” about your soldiers. They are extremely well trained, extremely dedicated, extremely patriotic and extremely deadly when called on to execute what they have been trained to do; blow things up and kill bad guys.
Imagine this scenario: A squad is in contact with the enemy and you stop the action for a moment, put blinders on one of the soldiers and ask him this question: Can you tell me the color of the skin of your fellow soldiers on your right and left? The soldier would look at you like you were born on the back side of the moon and say (you fill in the blanks), “What the _ _ _ _ are you talking about? Not only do I not know, I don’t give a _ _ _ _. Only thing I know is they have my back; now get the _ _ _ _ out of my face, I’ve got to shoot some terrorists to protect your sorry ass.”
One of the great pleasures when being lucky enough to command soldiers is to meet most mornings for a few minutes with your Command Sergeant Major. Here is an example of the conversations I envision going on throughout the chain of command. Sgt Major: “The Sec Def told us to do what? You can’t be serious. What does he want me to do if I find an extremist, take him out and shoot him? What the hell is he thinking?” Perhaps all that with some spicier words.
The Sec Def will send down some radical left-wing flunky who, as the saying goes, “wouldn’t recognize a soldier if he had one standing on his chest”, he/she will give the canned speech to the soldiers. But I’m convinced your soldiers are too good, too competent, too well trained, too patriotic and too encased in a culture of accountability, respect and trust to buy into all the divisive woke BS; especially after their Sergeant has a chat with them.
EXTREMISTS IN THE MILITARY? GOD I HOPE SO.
Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of VISION TO EXECUTION, a book for leaders, a columnist for THE PILOT, a national award-winning local newspaper in Southern Pines, NC and the author of a blog, WeThePeopleSpeaking.com