Got to spend the morning Monday with Jim Hake at Camp Pendleton, meeting with a bunch of the Marines he helped so much (thanks, Jim, for having me along!).
My first comment is one that’s kind of embarrassing to me, because it shows how parochial my life has really been. I can’t believe the intelligence, depth, and just plain competence of the officers and troops we met. It’s scary, because comparing them to the general run of managers I deal with doesn’t necessarily paint a good picture of the civilian world. And worst of all, it violates a bunch of my own biases and preconceptions.
I’ll have to learn to deal with that.
The interesting note of the morning was this: We were met at the gate by Eric, the young officer who acted as our guide around the base. He was driving his personal car, a Toyota Prius hybrid.
I asked him how he liked it (a lot) and why he bought it (just can’t see buying something that uses a lot of gas these days).
Anyone else want to make the connection??
It’s a shame that the amount energy used to drive an average car around in its lifetime, is the same amount of energy needed to produce the average car. So now the officer can beat the environment up a little longer instead of shooting it.
How much oil was used to dig up, transport and manufacture the Prius? I’d say plenty, so I’d say Prius owners still have blood on their oily hands.
Wake up!
“I can’t believe the intelligence, depth, and just plain competence of the officers and troops we met.”
Why can’t you? Some of those officers are graduates of a school that is one of the, and in some years THE most selective college in the country.
And everyone… well, most everyone has been through a fair amount of training. They have to be intelligent and competent to survive in today’s military. Sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally their survival depends on those qualities.
Every time I hear about someone being surprised to find smart, focused, and driven people in the military, I wonder why that is…
Because people who grow up in Beverly Hills and Stamford, CT and live and work in West LA and Manhattan don’t know very many people in the military.
No one in my high school cohort – not one person that I know of – went into the military.
I do know people who are retired and active-duty military, but that’s almost entirely through shooting, and while I admire a lot of what they show me (there’s actually a past in that), I haven’t seen them in their environment, doing their jobs.
Damn well, obviously.
A.L.
AL, there are many like you in places like Frisco, the LA area and parts of New England and NY. Shows the kind of disconnect that some people have. Like the “I don’t know anyone who voted for Nixon” line.
Not your fault, mind you, rather just the effects of selective demographics and personal choice in lifestyles of your parents and peers.
A.L.,
This discussion reminds me of this Winds of Change “Watch” item from a while back:
http://watch.windsofchange.net/02_1125_1201.htm#line
And I second FH… not your fault, just a product of the environment. The military, by the way, brings together people from different backgrounds in a way that few other institutions do in this country.
When we were at Camp Pendleton for the Spirit of America thing, I ran across a guy I knew from high school. I knew that he had signed up with the Marines a couple years ago, but it had slipped my mind that he was based out of Pendleton. I knew a couple of people that went military, but they weren’t part of the Honors-track, Ivy League-bound strata of students.
A.L.
I’m sorry to say that one of my heroes, RR, demonized the word “Liberal”, but he did. Forever a word that truly describes you has been devalued.
Anyway, I think you should consider renaming your blog as something akin to “Armed Thinker” or maybe even “Armed All of My Thought Processes Remain Intact and Functioning, eat your heart out Kevin”
IOW, great post, you’re surely improving with age.
Mike
Sam Barnes: “I knew a couple of people that went military, but they weren’t part of the Honors-track, Ivy League-bound strata of students.”
Doesn’t mean those people don’t go into the military, just not at your school. One of the students in the top 5% of my high school class went to West Point, and another in that group went to Annapolis. (Both in honors courses, student government, community service organizations, multiple varsity letters, etc… one a National Merit Scholar finalist.) My high schools sends one or two of its top students to a service academy every year.
Just an illustration (for me too) that things aren’t the same everywhere.
No need to push hybrids hard. The Saudis/OPEC are doing the job for us.
Let them keep tightening supplies. We over time will get more efficient and the oil market will do it’s usual thing and colapse.
BTW right after the war started I did quite a few articles on hybrids and energy efficiency.
As of today only the Japanese are signifificant players in that market. That ought to change some in the 2005 model year. (about a year later than expected)
I’m sorry, but I really don’t understand what the connection is here? If this is simply an admission that someone had biases and preconceptions without ever knowing reality, then as sad as it may seem, I doubt any of us can deny ever doing the same. Having grown up in a military family and going through an ROTC program, I have seen the same mix of intelligence/dedication with stupidity/carelessness in the military as in any other group. About the only difference is a complete lack of tolerance for stupidity and carelessness in the military. In the civilian world, it is difficult at times to rid an organization of stupid and careless people.
Glad your horizons are being so broadened, and in service to a good cause, too ;-> I think you can keep your Liberal hat on just fine.
Dear A. L.:
I went to an all A-track prep school in the Midwest. One of my classmates went to West Point another went to Annapolis. A hefty proportion of my classmates served in Viet Nam. More info on the cultural divide.
I’ve never been in the military, but I work for the Navy. In addition, my brother retired after 20 years in the army two years ago, and my father volunteered for the infantry during the Korean War. My best friend of 35+ years did four years in the Army in the early 80s. So I don’t share A.L.’s surprise. I agree with the comments that environment makes the difference. I was born and raised in southern Louisiana and I now live in the Florida panhandle (essentially Baja Alabama). Down here, we’ve always been supportive of the military. I also agree with those who don’t blame A.L. for his lack of knowledge of the military, but I’m glad it’s been rectified.
BD,
Oh, sure, I know that–I was just pointing to my experience going to high school in the Los Angeles area less than 10 years ago. Military service wasn’t really advertized as a viable option for the Honors-track students (of course, our advising system sucked as a whole–going to college wasn’t as heavily emphasized as it should have been). It was a bit different in college–I went to a pretty decent tech school in Cambridge, Mass., and we had ROTC on campus. Of course, our school was also well known for DoD-related research as well….
Albliss, do you drive a car?
Domestic drilling.