What is wrong with our troops today? What are your thoughts on this problem child?

SPC Smith.  I agree to the extent that even the schools do not the Pledge of Allegiance or any of that patriotic observations.  So it is no wonder why it is going in this direction.

Also,  I commend you on your maturity and checking yourself because that is a sign of a leader.  I have been out for quite a while and I know there were people who did this just not brag about it.

Besides what is being taught in basic and could this be an important part of it.   Even if it is singing songs about the country as a cadence.   Just a thought.

SSgt Olson, that is a lesson I learn from President Lincoln, he was very good at critizing things, but during the war he wrote a letter to a General critizing why he didn't advance his troops possibly ending the war in doig so. He never sent the letter, it is believed he took the time to realize nothing good would come from questioning the action without personally knowing the reason behind the decision. That being said, I try to think through all of my responses, am I providing a suitable second option in my critisizisms, if not maybe it is best to revisit the issue at a later time when my personal passions have come down.

I agree with you, we are dying from history unlearned, and repeating itself. We live by standing together, or die by falling apart. Look at our country, nothing ties us together, there is nothing holding the states together outside of land mass. Before there was functional need to work with neighboring states, steel mills of the Mid-West, ports on the coastal zones, farm land in the West, cattle in the South, manufacturing in the Northeast.

Basic is what it has always and will always be, the entry point to learn your weapons systems, and the day to day actions of the organization i.e. saluting, parade rest, excerise mechanics, attempting to take away individual identity and replace it with a group/mob mentality. Without proper military history education, even worst without proper L/S/N Government or basic history classes the idea of being proud of where you are from is minimal.