What is the quality of today's young men and women?

MSgt Peter Castine In regards to our junior troops I would offer the following. As the old saying goes, "Change starts from the Top down." There are too many issues in the way of professional growth and correction. Some examples are males are afraid to correct females; corrections are typically enforced by senior personnel; etc. The reality is there are far more junior than senior personnel in the military and without a sense of ownership/responsibility of self then these lessons have less impact. We all were there and some of us had a harder time growing up in the military than others but we all evolved into something better and greater than when we started out. The growing pains hurt but we always, eventually find our way.

Saw this today and I think this is what it is all about.

https://www.facebook.com/navyathletics/photos/a [login to see] 84 [login to see] 4266484/ [login to see] 756485/?type=3

When I first joined the reserve, it was populated with mostly older people who were at mid career in their civilian jobs and those jobs were skilled jobs that directly related to what they were doing in the service. Many wanted a weekend away from their wife and there were the stereotypical 'weekend warror' half-crazy guys who just wanted a thrill. The reserve changed a lot after 9/11 and the quality of enlisted people seemed to go up compared to the types we were used to seeing, but there were so many more people that the not so great ones stood out. One thing that struck me as I got into the senior enlisted ranks and had more contact with officers was how many unemployed, unemployable, SAHMs, and retirees suddenly filled the ranks. The priorities and life situations of these people are very different. Some things that I have seen are 1) People bringing their children to drill 2) New mothers bringing babies to drill to breast feed. 3) People spending a week doing a 2 day drill because they had nothing better to do. 4) People 'vacationing' on Title 10 orders because the workload was so tiny compared to the civilian jobs they once had. I think that the huge change in benefits for reservists has made it far more attractive for people to join, but has not necessarily attracted the people with the best skill sets.