Considerations on the Evolution of War

[JASmith]

There was a PBS segment on the KGB that aired 10-15 years ago. It seems that the KGB spent 1 BILLION dollars in propaganda in the US during the Vietnam conflict. The investment seems to be paying dividends even today.

And yes, I think that bit of history trivia lends credence to your concerns.

[LRRPF52]

What you seem to be talking about is a modern version of what the ancient Spartans did. I think it sounds like an excellent way to "breed" warriors, but wouldn't such a school be beyond the financial means of most parents? That is, if you're talking about training the kids who would become enlisted personnel, not just the few sons of wealthy people who are aiming at a commission.

For example, I was interested in the military since about the age of 5, but my folks never had even a fraction of the funds necessary to send me to any kind of private school, let alone one such as you propose.

Parents are already getting fleeced to the tune of thousands per year on property taxes, which pay for the salaries and retirements payments of what was recently described in a pro-public school article as "educational care-takers" in reference to school shootings.

Parents should have the right to decide where their money goes with vouchers, since they are being robbed by government with threat of force and loss of property to finance forced schooling systems that are totally unworthy and unsuited to teach boys in my opinion, and I've attended a lot of public and private schools in my developmental years, to include on-base schools overseas, on-base schools Stateside, 7 different High Schools, who knows how many public elementary schools, and college courses before and during high school.

There was only one of those schools that would have been appropriate for me to stay at, and that was a local small town German school when we lived on the economy there before housing opened up for us. I had language immersion, and a positive attitude 30's something blonde female teacher who was actually British, no-nonsense, an excellent German speaker, and truly loved her job-that sense was very clear about the classroom environment there. She obviously spoke English, but refused to speak it with me for obvious reasons. The best thing that could have happened in my education track would have been to stay at that school and immerse in German. I loved it there. Instead, I got sucked into base housing, and had Norman Bates' mom for my 2nd Grade teacher, a burned-out elderly woman with a bad attitude who soon learned to despise me for my ability to draw, since she could not. A child should not feel these things from a teacher.

A lot of parents make sacrifices for their kids' education. My parents did, and if it meant I went to a private school with knee patches while other kids showed up in suits, so be it. There are also many opportunities for philanthropy. How many of us know business owners that are patriotic, and are painfully aware of the sub-standard educational trajectory of forced schooling? We went to Pop-eye's chicken last night after long-range shooting all day. Unfortunately, the products is of higher quality than the employees, and they couldn't get a simple order correct, failed to follow-up with fixing it after it was addressed, and were a general pack of ignoramuses.

A lot of businesses would love to invest in successful, sound educational models based on private sector solutions, rather than continue to sift through the slim pickings of what is spat forth from government schools.

[LRRPF52]

Let me just say first and for most, I'm really enjoy following this thread now. It has really taken an interesting, worthwhile direction.

I fully agree with you LRPF52, but I'm not sure it's possible to raise a warrior class with the wussification of America's youth that's going on. However, I'm completely open to ideas to move in the direction of a Warrior Class that begins at childhood.

One of the great things about the rising popularity of the UFC is the rise of MMA style martial arts dojos across the country. These could and should be utilized by kids who show an interest in the military as a career.

I don't think this will fix the problem, but it may be a step in the right direction. Let me throw this out there and see what you think. What if the Marines and Army offered a program that allowed a kid to complete bootcamp during the summer before their senior or junior year of highschool. Setup a program at the state's reserve station that would train them, mentor them, and monitor them to insure they are meeting certain academic requirements. Then after graduating highschool they could be sent to their MOS school. Of course this would likely require an ~8 year commitment. What say y'all?

The product I would send to the military could be ruined in basic training quickly. Initial Entry Training for the military needs almost a total overhaul, and the mindset towards it is based really on 19th Century training philosophies. You get a sense of stepping back in time at many basic training bases in the US-good for tradition, but bad for training usually. The Marines traditionally have been very competitive with instructor slots, whereas Drill Sergeant assignments are loathed by many in the Army. There are some serious institutional problems with IET and AIT(MOS School), and that's even true with the Marines being subjected to lessened standards so females can make it through SOI. You won't see Russia with women in the airborne, naval infantry, or Spetsnaz units, for example.

I am a big fan of learning martial arts from youth, starting with less likely disciplines for injuries. The fine line to balance is understanding that kids are still developing their skeletal systems, hormone systems, nervous systems, and overall mind-body system, so we want to minimize injury, and maximize an efficient development of the total human being.

The trends in wussification in Western Culture will motivate a sizable portion of the population to seek alternatives, especially for boys.

[stanc]

As I said, it sounds like an excellent idea. Are you working on getting such a warrior school created?