Army getting out of hand..?

Question

why is it whenever i see a soldier they got poor posture and just seem very un disiplined? why is it when i look for pictures of soldiers on google or on another website i see them smokeing pot? why is it my friends brother got kicked out of the Army for Drinking while active duty in korea?

my main question is has the Army lowerd its standerds to much? give me you're thoughts about this.

beaware that was not to offend anyone but to give an example what the Army has come to..which all that i said is true and i have seen.

so give me you're thoughts

Answer 1

The pictures you saw most likely were people of the minority unless you are talking about pictures from the Vietnam era which pre-dates drug testing in the military.  There are moral waivers out there but it isn't as bad as you are making it sound.  The Army might have lowered it's standards a little but the real dirt bags that don't belong in the Army still can't get in unless they lie.  Usually those guys get chaptered out within their first year in the Army assuming they even make it through basic.

I'm willing to bet it was more to your friend's brother getting out than him simply drinking. Maybe he was charged with underage drinking multiple times (USFK regulation sets it at 21 and does not acknowledge the Korean drinking age) or he was caught drinking on duty multiple times, something that would get you fired right away in any civilian job in the US.  If you are over 21 and not on duty then drinking alcohol won't get you kicked out.

Answer 2

To meet it's recruiting goals the Army has been forced to give moral waivers to people who otherwise wouldn't be in the service.  If it weren't for the Iraq War, many of the dirtbags who are in the Army wouldn't be there because it's been hard to recruit quality people.

Answer 3

Some countries dont allow drinking. Smoking Pot has been going on for a long time, it happened during nam, because it grew wildley out in the fields.

Answer 4

I believe most of the men and women in our military represent our country well. Some join because they just want to serve their country, however a lot of people join the military because they have no other options and therefore are not the cream of the crop.

Answer 5

I am offended. We are the best trained we have ever been in the history of the United States Army. Our professionalism is only equal to diplomats. We are mean green killing machines and our infrastucure is discipline.

Not sure what you read or see on TV but thats not the Army. What your seeing is the bad apples. The mushy ones full of worms sitting on the ground. The scum of our organization. They couldnt hack it and now their grudge is to demonstrate how undisciplined and unprofessional we are.

Let me tell you something, I was trained by the meanest the Army has to offer. I was trained to train my soldiers the same way. We work hard to maintain the tradition of honor and the reputation given to us by so many that lost so much. So to hear somebody say something like that is not only offensive, it is a mere shame that a question would even be asked like this during time of war.

Shame on you. Man up and go see a recruiter! I'll show you how undisciplined we are!

Answer 6

why is it whenever I google marines I see marines throwing puppies off of cliffs, whenever I hear about marines I hear about rape and murder....

dude your a d-bag, I know your type pretty well, wanna be a big d*ck swingin hard a*s mother f@cker, the only difference in the standards you speak of is marines might be a little tougher on educational requirements, I mean a big maybe, and a little better cardio, oh ya marines don't like tattoos either, other than that smart guy there is no different or special requirements you need to be a marine over the air-force army or navy, your in for a rude awakening when you get out of boot and realize your still the same d-bag that went in and that the marines didnt magically turn you into the hardcore BAMF you thought it would, and thats if you make it.

Answer 7

The standards haven't been lowered. First in a combat environment the rules are not enforced. Second back stateside when they are being enforced our hands get tied because the soldiers all have PTSD. Last there has always been problems with drugs in the Military we started enforcing the rules seriously in the mid 90's but still some slip through the cracks. That's what happens when 18 year old boys escape from their moms reach just look at americas colleges they are even worse.

Answer 8

1. Your wrong. Dead wrong. We have these lower standard Soldiers you see fighting in a war that is longer than WW2, serving in tours longer than Soldier then they did and seeing more combat than those guys did. I know cause I am serving with them and have on my last 4 combat tours. And you say lower standards and these are your peers. What do you do high speed?

2. Your websites are jacked up and there can't be that many showing

Soldiers smoking MJ unless it's from the 60s.

3. I guess you never heard of how bad things were in the early to late 70s in the Army.

4. Who are you to complain? Are you in the military? Do you want me to say how I see civilians and how low the standards are with the so-called 'men' we get in nowadays and have to train and mould into respectful adults and Soldiers.

5. If you friend's brother got kicked out for just drinking, I know there is more to the story. Trust me. In Korea at that? Yeah, there is more to it. Believe what you want Mr. High Standards.

Answer 9

I'm not a BS flag-waver like webassult, and I agree with Red.  With the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military is pushed to the limit.  Especially since 2/3 of Americans are against the war in Iraq.  As a result, not only has the Army raised the age limit of people wanting to join, they've also lessened the standards, physically and otherwise.

I joined the Army in '94 as a Combat Engineer in the N.G., and then went active duty in '98 as a Cavalry Scout.  Back then the men that I worked with were above par, especially as a Cav Scout.  After 9/11 and the beginning of the Iraq War, the quality of personnel, which was a huge disappointment for me.  Cav Scouts used to be the closest you could get to Special Forces without actually being in SF, but with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and since 19D was a high demand MOS, the quality went WAY downhill.

I spent 3 1/2 years off and on at Ft. Knox, which is where Scouts and Tankers go for their OSUT and mechanics go for their AIT.  From '02 to '04, I worked for a support unit that supported OSUT units and other units at Knox in their training by providing personnel and equipment.  Of course the focus was on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the personnel that I saw in training seemed up to the task.  When I came back to Knox as a instructor from '05 to '06, I saw the the quality had gone way down, especially for Scouts.  My main job was working at the Urban Operations training site, and you wouldn't believe the stupid c**p I saw there.  Nothing's good for a laugh like watching a bunch of tankers trying to secure a building.  What was even funnier was watching their Drill Sergeants, who's motto as Tankers used to be "Death Before Dismount", trying to explain tactics to them (because of the shortage of personnel in Iraq, Tankers, for the first time, were being used as dismounted soldiers, hence the importance of urban combat training).  

Quality wasn't just down in the enlisted ranks.  I saw a decline in the quality of Armor officers as well during my time at Knox and later in Korea.

When I was in Korea in '05, my Scout platoon was a joke.  My platoon sergeant was grossly overweight and new very little about being a Scout since he'd spent the last several years in admin posts.  Some of the senior NCOs were knowledgeable, but didn't want to bother doing their jobs.  The lower enlisted were mostly city kids, which was a complete turn-around of Scouts I knew earlier who mostly grew up in the country and were very comfortable out in the field.  In fact, the first time I went out on a convoy with my driver in Korea, I found out halfway to our destination that he had never driven before, which explained why he was driving so terribly.  Like five others in our platoon, he grew up in NYC and had never driven before he got to OSUT and this was the first time he'd driven on a public road.  And he'd been there for six months already!  So it wan't totally his fault, it was the NCOs for not giving him the experience.

As far as drinking in Korea, honestly there's not much else to do.  As soon as you get off post, you're looking at dozens of bars that cater to U.S. service members, along with the drinky girls who sweet talk young Americans who are away from home for the first time who want to use the GI's as a passport to the U.S.

But yeah, the Army is scraping the bottom of the barrel.  It's amazing to me that even though the economy is poor now, the Army can't get good people in large numbers to join.  I guess that's what happens when you have an unpopular war such as the one in Iraq.

Answer 10

It is partly that they have lowered their standards, but it's also because of the way the media (not fully intentionally) biases towards things the public are interested in.

The thing about the internet (especially search engines, particularly google and others that work the same way) is that when something becomes popular, it becomes so exponentially because the more people link to the site (or the concept, such as soldiers behaving badly), the more the search engines trust the content.

Do you think it would make headline news if soldiers behaved perfectly all day tomorrow?

You're right though, and so are some of the people above me. Standards have been dropped somewhat, along with the high availability of alcohol and drugs and their acceptance in today's world.

Answer 11

yeh your army are. the brittish army is the best trained in the world no doubt...but you should be proud of your army.

the UK & US are the two best trained armys in the world and you should be proud that you have such brave guys out there fighting for security.

the army is fine its the goverments that are getting out of hand

Answer 12

Just because you said this was not meant to offend anyone doesn't mean it won't. I just got out of the Army and feel I served with the best people in the world. If you have never been a part of you have no right to talk about or speculate on a groups moral, ethical and social beliefs. I'm sorry you are in the process of becoming a marine, trust me your point of view will be a hundred percent changed if you make it through your goal, and the minute another man speaks ill of your organization it will enrage you regardless if he said no offense.  

Answer 13

You have to work on your spelling.  You said the Army kicked your brother out for drinking in Korea?  Well, that would be high standards if they are intolerant of certain habits.  Yes, I've heard the Army has lowered there standards slightly due to the demand for more soldiers, but that is all about supply and demand.  They were getting people out of prison during Nam, and they had to implement the draft.  If more quality people wanted to join the military, than they wouldn't have to need bodies so bad.  That being said, the army is still pulling a huge weight and serving in two combat zones (Iraq and Afghanistan).  So, hats off to the men and women in uniform.