I guess Rolling Stone sees itself as a more sophisticated National Enquirer. At least the generals in this media exposure were smarter than the McChrystal crowd in not trusting the Rolling Stone reporter. To me, it is pretty sorry to gain someone's confidence and then expose their true feelings in an article. The Reporter is an asshole, let's face it. I still believe McChrystal outsmarted us all. He saw Afghanistan as a "fast train to nowhere" and figured out a way to get the hell out. He has really been quiet since leaving and so I think there's probably more truth than fiction in my theory. And, the fact that the patron saint of the military, Petraeus, didn't defend him makes me even more suspicious.
We have a disgruntled National Guard weinie telling us that Psychological Operations have been embraced by generals and turned on their VIP visitors to see how to influence them. I doubt it. In first reading the article, I thought, "these people don't have enough to do." My experience with psyops has not been good; "route step" I've always thought. Kind of an unsophisticated psychobabble. My guess is that some general's (Caldwel) underling came up with the idea, ran it by the general and the general either didn't pay attention or somehow didn't take it serious. Our Generals are smarter than this, not because they are some one like MacArthur (who was not exactly without faults. He had his aids literally crush many of the hats he wore to give the appearance of wear, thus assuring ideas of combat. I think I read this or might have made it up myself). Modern day generals are much more political, as astute and more so than many politicians. My old time hero generals can't be emulated. Generals like Bill Lee, the father of the American airborne and Jim Gavin, commander of the 82d Airborne during D Day. How can you compare these guys who had a simple mantra, "close with and kill the enemy" to some general sitting over in Afghanistan, trying to win the hearts and minds of a people who haven't changed in a thousand years.
Maybe the highups did harass the "poor" psych ops team--There appears to be something to the retaliation thing. In the military in a combat environment, it's hard to say. Soldiers who are out there on the "front lines" so to speak are not dealing with this sort of bullshit; fraternization, thinking about starting businesses, etc.--they are trying to stay alive. But, the fact that others are dragged into it must mean something is there. In the military, if "they" want to get you, they can. Many areas in the military are hazy and probably are covered by some regulation. I was in an assignment once where they (powers that be) attempted to nail a guy for using a government telephone to call his wife. It happens. Suddenly, what everybody had been doing, becomes illegal or violates a regulation.
I really don't know where today's military is and social media as relates to the military is a good example. Take
Here we have two wars and, trust me on this, nothing is assured that we are cleanly going to get out of Iraq. When we do, about all we can show for it is a semblance of democracy, maybe. Surely nothing else but the tragic loss of thousands of young Americans and trillions of dollars. And, Afghanistan, truly give me a break! There's no area that anybody who is objective can see which is not screwed up. We can't talk to the military because they put spin on it and maybe that is what we see here in the psyops accusation. And, as for Rolling Stone, they are a f..king music magazine and that is what they ought to stick too.
Hell, a Senator ought to be more with it than to be snowed by psyops, which has a dubious role at best and probably we could do just as well without. Of course, most of these VIPs don't have any military experience, other than John McCain, a POW for five years. Is there more psyops than that?
My recommendation to the military in this situation: someone stand up and stop this bullshit. Look at the problem, see that everybody in the situation may have a point from their perspective. Investigate the idea of the female LTC, don't let her go down for a bullshit reason. It takes leadership for something like this to happen and I'm not seeing it in the military. My View.
