From: e0c1445@tamsun.tamu.edu (Eric Chan)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Subject: NS, Singapore and a Mr Roach.......
Date: 7 Apr 92 05:55:08 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station



In article <1992Apr4.153632.15721@acsu.buffalo.edu>, v999s3bz@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (---roach---) writes:

|> bullshit, after the gulf war, america found it harder to recruit
|> soldiers because the reality of dying came so close to home.
|> singapore hasn't had a war to test these so called regulars.
|> if we locally assume that a person is selfish and will do 
|> what's best for himself/herself, then the army almost always
|> end up with scum (genrerally speaking). 


	Mr Roach, I believe that you are mistaken and that you have accidently
left out a few pertinent facts concerning post gulf war US army. I would like 
to take the oppotunity to remind you that since the gulf war, the US army has 
entered into a phase of downsizing it's armed forces. The major attributes to
all these events are 1)Collapse of the Warsaw Pact.
		     2)Buget problems
		     3) etc.
	Here are some hard facts. Since the end of the war, the US has pulled 
out a huge portion of it's troops in Western Europe. In fact, some of the forces were totally decommissioned eg US 25th Armoured Division. In the Navy, the 
US department is planning to mothball two of it's carriers downsizing it's
15 carrier TF's to about 12. Recently, the Department of Defence has announced
the shutting down of bases and decommissioning of many Guards Unit.
	To say that the US army is in dire need of manpower is in my opinion
unjustified. Contary to that believe, the armed forces have been able to select
their new recruits more stringently(spelling ?). 
	True, Mr Roach, many of the troops in the desert of Saudi Arabia came 
very close to death. And it is also true that many seek not to reenlist. But,
heavy attrition rate of active forces and demoblization has been the trait of 
coutries coming out of war.
	
	Allow me to quote Gen Douglas MacArther "Does that mean that we are 
warmongers ? No, to the contary, once the evil scrouge of War has raised it's
head , it is the soldiers who must suffer the most."

	Mr Roach, you are right. I look back on my stint in the Army with many
bitter sweet memories. But being formerly been in the service, I can say that
it is not the horrendous training but the comradiere of having to go through
tough times together.

	Maybe, you can relate to that. 

> you my friend is absolutely correct. army sucks!
> many people don't understand that the officers think
> that the army does good, but army is made up of other
> ranks.  many other ranks are always unhappy being bossed
> around

	I can sympathize with the fact that soldiers are often bossed around.
Perhaps you can tell me the name of a country whose army doesn't boss people
around ? Unless , you are talking about the salvation army. I will willingly 
stand corrected. People get pushed around by people, that's it . In the army
however, one's options are a little limited though....

-- 
ERIC CHAN			*  "Experience is directly proportional to the
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY		*  amount of equipment ruined" - Murphy
DEPARTMENT OF EE           	*  
Internet:e0c1445@tamsun.tamu.edu*  "I/O,I/O, it's off to work we go" - 7 Dwarfs