Enlisted don’t lack agency or moral choice, which wasn’t your point of course but for the readers .
Perhaps more to the point the Oath for the Officers was drawn up after the Civil War, as 30% had joined the South at secession, arguably the better 30% at the outset.
Hmm the point about betrayal of morality is taken 🤔.
Our government overall selects for compliance. Non compliance is eliminated. This has filtered to the services, slowly but surely.
One can stand and hold.
Your advancement just stalled, or ceased, you may be eliminated.
What is important is they can be checked. The clearly wrong and immoral can only advance into mush, not steel. They will avenge themselves, but will be checked upon the ground you hold . Yes have done. Can be and is done.
You retire at Major. Lol.
So what.
You’ll have Honor.
They’ll have only a bit more money and lose all battlefield cred and won’t have the men if they need them, and we will need them. You too.
So Honor is practical.
If Honor is needed only a few seconds in life its worth it.
No money buys those moments.
Even if all you get is a nod from The men, honor worth it.
It is better to have Amos and a demotion then to lose Amos for a promotion, to indulge the theme.
Sherman refusing high rank at the start of the Civil war; better a demotion than over promotion.
I worry that the vaccine mandates are intended to purge and test members of the military in order to change the moral character of the military. If I'm right, what is the endgame?
You've given me some serious fuel for thought by linking morality and the capacity to choose to personal competency and power. I really like seeing this connection in plain green and white (nyuck nyuck). It speaks to many personal situations I've experienced on both sides of this bridge.
I do not think that victimhood is virtuous, that being immersed in "the struggle" makes you morally superior to people who are generally happier in life. I think this all reduces down to personal philosophy and perhaps genetic predispositions. This article reminded me of Viktor Frankl and his idea that there is meaning in suffering. I think the key distinction between his philosophical offering and the kind of thing commonly heard from the "western guilt" crowd is that Frankl derived strength from the meaning he found through suffering and leveraged this to keep himself spiritually in tact during times of terror completely outside his ability to control. Totally different than desperately clinging to whatever thread of oppression will give you the most cred with your brain damaged comrades.
I have always associated the term officer with the term gentleman. Seems this is a fair bit more concretely written into the duties of the ranks than I had previously realized.
I arrived here after listening to your recent conversation with Bret Weinstein and Jordan Karr. I’ve been following Bret’s work for two years now to find a bit of sanity in an insane age.
I was particularly interested by the fact that you framed the moral life in spiritual terms, though you claim no religious affiliation. I respect that, as I can see that you have deeply moral sensibilities, and that what you have suffered has not obscured those sensibilities but has instead brought them into clearer focus. As a follower of Christ, I have great admiration for those who (even without explicit faith) are deeply aligned with the demands of a right conscience.
I also notice that you believe that friendship can be an encouragement to live a virtuous life. I think that’s enormously important in the formation of character.
So I’ll leave you a couple of links to some reflections I’ve written on these two topics, in case they are of interest to you.
Oct 17, 2022·edited Oct 17, 2022Liked by Grant Smith
Its taken me decades to figure this out for myself, to take steps to acquire a level of personal power and character to no longer see myself as a victim.
This statement is chilling: "A military with the likes of Amos Burton filling the roles of commissioned officers would be a terror for all mankind," and is why I am so thankful that men like you are in the military.
Have you listened to the Darkhorse Podcast, "Support and Defend: Military Whistleblowers Confront a Rogue Chain of Command?"
Enlisted don’t lack agency or moral choice, which wasn’t your point of course but for the readers .
Perhaps more to the point the Oath for the Officers was drawn up after the Civil War, as 30% had joined the South at secession, arguably the better 30% at the outset.
Hmm the point about betrayal of morality is taken 🤔.
Our government overall selects for compliance. Non compliance is eliminated. This has filtered to the services, slowly but surely.
One can stand and hold.
Your advancement just stalled, or ceased, you may be eliminated.
What is important is they can be checked. The clearly wrong and immoral can only advance into mush, not steel. They will avenge themselves, but will be checked upon the ground you hold . Yes have done. Can be and is done.
You retire at Major. Lol.
So what.
You’ll have Honor.
They’ll have only a bit more money and lose all battlefield cred and won’t have the men if they need them, and we will need them. You too.
So Honor is practical.
If Honor is needed only a few seconds in life its worth it.
No money buys those moments.
Even if all you get is a nod from The men, honor worth it.
It is better to have Amos and a demotion then to lose Amos for a promotion, to indulge the theme.
Sherman refusing high rank at the start of the Civil war; better a demotion than over promotion.
I worry that the vaccine mandates are intended to purge and test members of the military in order to change the moral character of the military. If I'm right, what is the endgame?
Your thoughts are appreciated.
You've given me some serious fuel for thought by linking morality and the capacity to choose to personal competency and power. I really like seeing this connection in plain green and white (nyuck nyuck). It speaks to many personal situations I've experienced on both sides of this bridge.
I do not think that victimhood is virtuous, that being immersed in "the struggle" makes you morally superior to people who are generally happier in life. I think this all reduces down to personal philosophy and perhaps genetic predispositions. This article reminded me of Viktor Frankl and his idea that there is meaning in suffering. I think the key distinction between his philosophical offering and the kind of thing commonly heard from the "western guilt" crowd is that Frankl derived strength from the meaning he found through suffering and leveraged this to keep himself spiritually in tact during times of terror completely outside his ability to control. Totally different than desperately clinging to whatever thread of oppression will give you the most cred with your brain damaged comrades.
I have always associated the term officer with the term gentleman. Seems this is a fair bit more concretely written into the duties of the ranks than I had previously realized.
I arrived here after listening to your recent conversation with Bret Weinstein and Jordan Karr. I’ve been following Bret’s work for two years now to find a bit of sanity in an insane age.
I was particularly interested by the fact that you framed the moral life in spiritual terms, though you claim no religious affiliation. I respect that, as I can see that you have deeply moral sensibilities, and that what you have suffered has not obscured those sensibilities but has instead brought them into clearer focus. As a follower of Christ, I have great admiration for those who (even without explicit faith) are deeply aligned with the demands of a right conscience.
I also notice that you believe that friendship can be an encouragement to live a virtuous life. I think that’s enormously important in the formation of character.
So I’ll leave you a couple of links to some reflections I’ve written on these two topics, in case they are of interest to you.
https://doxaweb.com/blog/2022/08/06/the-splendor-of-truth
https://doxaweb.com/blog/2021/06/05/friendship/
Be sure of my high esteem for you and my prayers.
Its taken me decades to figure this out for myself, to take steps to acquire a level of personal power and character to no longer see myself as a victim.
This statement is chilling: "A military with the likes of Amos Burton filling the roles of commissioned officers would be a terror for all mankind," and is why I am so thankful that men like you are in the military.
Have you listened to the Darkhorse Podcast, "Support and Defend: Military Whistleblowers Confront a Rogue Chain of Command?"