THE GOOD SOLDIER

The old, "truth is stranger than fiction" popped up recently in a long article in "Rolling Stone" about a young Lieutenant who goes AWOL (Absent without leave), joins the French Foreign Legion for five years. Finally comes back and is "court martialled" and sent to jail. Talk about the condensed version, this is it. Read the long, long article. 

Not the Army's finest hour from my perspective. It is piss poor leadership, to include some hair brain general who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. But, it is more. 

For the Lieutenant, having a father/family whose concept of nurturing was built around running a marathon or something related. 

A bigger picture may be how a system like the military deals with mental illness. A Lieutenant who was maxed out depressed and finally with a feeling of nowhere to go. Where were the docs, shrinks, the chaplain, social workers. The military has all of this, yet the Lieutrnant doesn't take advantage of it. Why not? A mystery. 

When I was a young Captain in Germany, freshly back from Vietnam, one of my Lieutenants wanted to talk with me about Vietnam as he was scheduled to go. We had this long talk. I remember it exactly. We even retired to the Officer's Club, continued  talking over a beer. I was candid with him, Vietnam was a sorry war. Useless but it was the only war we had at the time and unfortunately if this Lieutenant wanted to make the military a career, he has to go to Nam to get his "ticket" punched. The humor to my sad story is that the Lieutenant leaves me at the Club, gets in his MG and defects to Sweden--good for him, one smart Lieutentant. 

There are lessons in the Rolling Stone story. First of all, why did the military feel they had to make an example of the Lieutenant. They could easily have given him a field grade article 15, dishonoble discharge and put him out of the Army. No, they had to be stupid. You can forgive the two star general but it is why there is a chain of command: to counterman stupidity. Somebody above the general, to include the president, could have said, "whoa." Come on, as strange as it sounds, the Lieutenant  did join the Foreign Legion for five years. Now, that I'm thinking about it, where the f..k are the French standing up for him. 

The last time I looked, the French are allies. The Prez is the commander in chief. But, not to be. It is one of the reasons that I think the military is in grave shape. The leadership only knows vertical thinking. No real leadership or creativity. Here are the facts, go with it. I often think of a realization that came out of WW Il. The basic difference in the Germans and the Americans is that the Germans had a plan. But, if something happened and they couldn't execute their plan, they didn't know what to do. If something went wrong with the American plan, they made another plan. This is what we've lost, I think. 

Read this story. Think it's called "The Good Soldier" Worth your time.