I'm sorry, but if the best that the commander of the 101st Airborne can do is to order his troops not to kill themselves, then he has a very serious problem on his hands. And, for that matter, between his ears.
What is he planning to do, hold an Article 15 (NJP) on every dead soldier who disobeyed his order?
Helping You Kick The Kick-The-Crackerbox Blues
30 minutes ago
5 comments:
There's a certain kind of attitude towards human frailties that a certain kind of officer has that is most unbecoming an officer, a gentleman, or a human being. What next, he goes to the hospital room of some poor sod who tried to commit suicide and slaps him and yells at him and calls him a coward?
Unfortunately, said officers also tend to be too goddamned brilliant at fighting wars to do much about, at least until the war is over... sigh.
Dear Miss Fit:
Good Lord, you just cannot make this s#!^ up! Somewhere, Joseph Heller is shaking his head and chuckling.
It strikes me that BGen. Thompson is a bit desperate. His chain of command may be telling him to get this problem under control Right F-ing Now or kiss the career goodbye. Shame that this is the best idea he can come up with.
Isn't a BG a little light for a division command billet? I always thought that was a MG's job.
Frank
He'll give them a general discharge ...
I am so glad I am not the only one who spewed my drink across the living room watching that! "The suicides have to stop RIGHT now." Uh huh, right. I could hear bullets being chambered as he spoke. Moron.
This link from a couple of weeks ago says BG Townsend is the base commander of Ft. Campbell, and is also deputy commander of the 101st AD. That's a position generally held by brigadier generals.
Interestingly, Townsend, then a colonel, was the commander of one Lt. Ehren Watada, an officer who asked to resign his commission rather than serve in Iraq.
I don't know if his speech represents an autocratic attitude or just desperation. Either way, it's the wrong way to handle a problem like this.
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