The Changes and Impacts of the “New Military”

Many people end up saying, “Take it back to the basics!” when they actually should be asking, “What the hell is going on?” This usually happens when there is a series of events transpiring that is so jacked up that it has came to the point of extreme contention. Is this “progress” in the military something that is making us a stronger force, or is it making us weaker?

Let’s look at the past 20 years in America, a memorable enough time for most of us.

In 1996, the military was still in the midst of the drawdown from the Gulf War, and Mogadishu was still on everyone’s mind. Cell phones and the internet were not yet prevalent tools anywhere in the world, let alone among the military service-members. The most social media we were exposed to consisted of a bit of Yahoo Instant Messenger when we got home through whatever dial-up internet we could connect to through a free trial through America Online (AOL).

There were the military chat rooms with crazy screen names where we talked about our days and that worthless Commander of ours. You went to your room, pressed your uniform and shined your boots, had a few drinks, and went to bed. Maybe you spent quality time with your family or with your neighbors, but otherwise life was like “Groundhog Day” - day in and day out, the same experience in the motor pool. The “E4 Mafia” ran the squad and the NCOs were at the NCO club playing spades, dominoes, or going over the “1SG Notes” with beer and a shot of Jack. The team leaders would go to the barracks to check rooms while the Platoon Leaders would be with the Commander planning an upcoming Field Training Exercise (FTX).

Life was pretty simple right? No Political Correctness (PC), no Inspector General (IG), Equal Opportunity (EO), Sexual Harassment and Response Program (SHARP), or that God-awful “Mandatory Training”. NCOs and Officers actually could be found in the barracks, around quarters, and in your face, trying everyday to make you a better person - whether you liked it or not!

Fast forward ten years later to 2006. The country is five years into our two-front war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers are divorcing and “shacking-up” during deployments and deployment scandals are skyrocketing. Civilians and soldiers are dying through unconventional means of warfare.

Drill and ceremony, Sergeant’s time training, Class-A inspections, pay-day activities, command maintenance, and common task testing were placed on the back-burner. Civilians and contractors were now replacing Soldiers in the dining facility, gates, personnel centers, and the housing offices. The M4 Carbine Rifle was quickly taking the place of the M16, eliminating manual of arms training and reshaping the fundamentals of marksmanship and bringing on new “toys” such as the hand-rails, guards, and sights.

Radio systems training began falling to the wayside once everyone had a smartphone, or SPAWARE to use the internet. Laptops and desktops became completely accessible to everyone, so face-to-face communication began to diminish. Strip-maps of the path to our soldiers’ homes were no longer needed thanks to GPS devices. Platoon Sergeants and Platoon Leaders started greeting us with, “Did you get the email I sent you?”

The “Butcher Board” was replaced with PowerPoint and the long, useless meetings became even longer and even more useless. Most of the leadership began walking away from meetings thinking that the information could have been easily dispersed in an email. Officers and NCOs didn’t know what to do with their soldiers, so they left them in the motor pool unsupervised, conducting inventories and reorganizing CONNEX.

Fast forward another ten years, now in 2016, even more has changed. SHARP, EO, and IG/JAG are the most used amenities in the military. Soldiers spend inordinate amounts of time being keyboard warriors and video game gurus. When they finally face reality at 0630 they are “out of ranks” or calling out sick. Some have even devised a way to develop PTSD without ever deploying!

NCOs are now in Transition Assistance Program (TAP) to ETS or retire - every month! Those who are more dedicated look for opportunities to make the next rank - by any means necessary - even at the expense of their own Soldiers. Soldiers now receive Facebook messages or texts regarding their tasks, and demanding immediate replies. Officers and Senior NCOs stalk their unit personnel on Facebook. Platoon Sergeants have a “meeting with the 1SG” every single day. Squad leaders have their days taken up with “caring for some soldier with problems.”

PS4 and Call of Duty have taken the place of Sergeant’s Time Training and Deployment Readiness - because we are in budget constraints. Senior Leadership is constantly on Temporary Duty (TDY) or in a Senior Leadership Development Program (SLDP). No one’s Army service uniform is ever ready, the perpetual excuse being that it’s “at the cleaner’s.” NCOs can’t counsel soldiers on their careers because they were just promoted themselves and don’t have the experience to explain it. Leaders resort to Google and Facebook for advice on issues versus reading the regulations and policies. “Copy and Paste” has taken on a whole new meaning - you now just change the name as it applies to everything. Leaders don’t interact with soldiers or their families outside of duty hours because that may be construed as “being too close” with the soldier or fraternization, an inappropriate relationship. Common drill movements are ALWAYS confused to the opposite direction. Email and VTC has replaced face-to-face interaction with soldiers and leaders.

I barely scratched the surface on the issues in the military of today that has transformed our fighting force. But what I have covered begs the question: What does “take it back to basics” really mean? What time period? How do we do this? Should we do this?