DavHamm wrote:
RangerGress wrote:
I don't have much experience with lying POS scumbags. The military is kind of a "your word is your bond" sort of world.ahhh yeah Military folk never lie to anyone ????
The military is one of the last bastions of a culture that has strong feelings re. honor and self-discipline. Sure, it has exceptions where some folks, particularly youngsters, can't live up to what the culture expects. But the culture is very strong. What the civilian world sees as "just a little spin so you don't look too bad", the military sees as a dishonorable attempt to shade the truth. That phrase "dishonorable attempt to shade the truth" rates as hardly a soundbite in the civilian world, but in the military it would damn you to hell.
If I had been caught in a lie, a little no-account white spin of a lie, as a Marine Corps NCO (meaning CPL or SGT) or as an Army Officer, I would have severely ostracized, maybe directed to leave the unit. The fact that I'd lied would race thru the rumor mill like wildfire and no one within earshot of that rumor would ever trust me again. I'd have been ruined.
The civilian world seems to make an art of "spin". In stark contrast, the military type gains the respect of their peers by speaking hard truths that make themselves look poorly. Similarly, when you receive praise for what you and your people did, you redirect that praise to your subordinates and don't take credit yourself. When your subordinates fuck up, you take the blame and shield them from criticism from above. You don't gain respect and esteem by making yourself look good. Your job is to make your subordinates look good. It's your boss's job to make you look good.
When you join the military, you join a culture. That culture has expectations of you. It's a very powerful force. But it's not an omnipotent force. Just because the expectations are high and are ever on the skyline, doesn't mean that people always abide by them. Failures occur because....people can give into weakness.
Problems occur when senior officers, once they get to positions with significant contact with civilians, mostly contractors and politicians, struggle in the new world of government contracting and political spin and prevarication, and have to succeed in that world to get good report cards. There are countless stories of officers being deceptive in those roles. Civilians see that behavior as "government contracting and politician" business as usual, but the military is outraged by that behavior. Doesn't stop it tho. The incentives to be less than fully honest in those roles is too strong.
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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart