HAMMER: In that chapter Proud Legions the Doolittle board and their effect on the Army’s ability to create disciplined units able to fight. Officers and NCOs were ‘stripped’ of their power. How are we still feeling the effects of those changes? What tools do we have now to overcome this? Are they effective? Later on in that chapter he states “…the public demanded that the Army be changed to conform with decent, liberal society.” Some could argue that this is going on right now. Is this for the betterment of the Army/Nation? What are the positives/negatives of such movement?

Most NCOs will agree with the following statement; the Army was tougher and harder in the past than it is now. Enlisted Soldiers had much more respect and fear of the NCOs than now days. Before when a Soldier stepped out of ranks or misbehaved the punishment would be ruthless and swift, some might even say cruel. Now the same problem happens and it is a whole different story. Counseling has become the alternative to corrective punishment. Here’s the secret, it doesn’t work. As infantrymen, Soldiers are expected to rush into combat and preform under pressure in a hostile and chaotic environment. But now one of the basic tools to create some resiliency and mental toughness has been taken away from the NCOs and Officers. Instead they have been replaced by a stack of papers because some special snowflake wrote to his congressman and got Generals in trouble.

Under these new rules and the way society is shaping how the Army trains and treats its Soldiers the Army as a whole will suffer. The professional Soldier will have to adapt to unrealistic expectations from a society where the majority of the population hasn’t spent a day in boots. This direct result of this is the creation of weak, and undisciplined Soldiers. Soldiers not physically or mentally capable of doing the hard job that is required of a Soldier. That job is to fight and die for the preservation and betterment of the nation. There is a silver lining to all of this, the fact that it will not last forever. War will come again, does not matter if it’s in the mountains of North Korea or the plains of Russia. When it does a lot of Soldiers will die. Not just the weak ones but the Strong ones too will perish trying to save the weak ones. But just like in the Korean War some will survive, these will be veterans. Tough and battle harden who will teach, coach and mentor a new generation of Soldiers coming into the service.