COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us

The Sar-Major's argument is flawed. His marriage turned out well; therefore married troops are good for the military as a whole.

Huh?

The military adopted lots of questionable social policies that don't seem to be related to military preparedness:

Show me how having a wife and kid back home, struggling to get by on E-2 pay, makes a 20-year-old a better soldier than an unmarried guy.

Show me how 19-year-old women living on the same ship with 19-year-old men makes any of them better sailors than all-male crews.

Show me how taking women pilots with marginal skill levels, instead of taking the top pilots regardless of gender, enhances the safety of the aircraft carrier group.

I think you're on the right track. Don't back down.

Please, PLEASE, realize that the "women" depicted in
that article are NOT the norm. Most military wives
(well, most that *I* know) are loyal, dedicated,
honest, moral people who want nothing more than to
have their husbands home safely and their families
back together.

They spend their days with a knot in their stomach,
waiting and fearing the phone call or, worse, the
knock at the door. They spend their nights praying for
the safety of their loved ones and wishing the days
(and nights) would go by more quickly. They do the
best they can because that is all they can do.

Yes, there are some awful people out there. But that
is the case everywhere in society. And, while I
realize that the issues that marriage brings to a
warzone, banning marriage will not alleivate these
problems. One does not have to be married to have
relationship problems. The only effect I see a ban on
married soldiers having is to hamper recruiting goals
even further.

I am not advocating social service from the military.
I do not think that is the military's responsibility.
However, I see fault with the idea of banning marriage
within the military - across the board or for soldiers
under a certain age.

In your post on the 19th you spelled a word wrong. I don't normally think typos are a big deal, however I wiinced when I noticed the typo appeared in a post pointing out the stupidity of others. I've read your blog for a while and think you're a good guy and hate to have something like that hanging out there. I figured you'd want to know. It's kind of like having your fly hanging open.


____________________________________________________________________________________
There are about 4 million Muslim Americans in this country.

That's AMERICANS, you imbiciles! <---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HERE'S THE TYPO
_______________________________________________________________________