The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Legion Hall Book Discussion: Pete Hegseth's "The War on Warriors - ..."

Miss Peggy and I recently got a copy of Pete Hegseth's book, "The War on Warriors -- Behind the betrayal of the men who keep us free."

I urge all of you who still take your oath seriously to read the book. And let's discuss. I'm reading it to Peggy and we're still in the first chapter, but I keep stopping to say "Spot on!!" and "Yes!! I saw that, too!!"

A not so gentle reminder -- If you do not have a DD-214, you are not invited to participate in this discussion. Will this discussion get political? Most assuredly. We of the "camouflage class" have earned to right to speak our minds among ourselves. If need be, I can create a super moderated forum (by invite only) that non members (of that forum) can't see.

Those who can't abide our opinions and might get triggered should stay out of this forum anyway.

It's for warriors, not snowflakes.

Semper Fi,
John

Just ordered my copy- - - -Amazon has the hard cover edition for about $20.00. The oath we took to defend the Constitution "against all enemies-- - -foreign and domestic"- - - -has no expiration date.
Jerry

Jerry,

When I retired 4 years ago and had my OpSec/Security debrief (And I hold a security clearance that's as high as they come...) No one ever said anything about being relieved of that obligation.

I *am* an American fighting man. I still consider myself part of the force ready, willing and able to give my life in its defense.

And I am *intensely* proud to be a member of the All Volunteer Force who *willingly* volunteered to serve our country.

I received my copy of the book in a very short time, and I just began reading it. I'll comment on its content a bit later after getting into it a little deeper. I am seriously disappointed in the quality of the book itself, however. I'm very aware that few, if any readers still buy printed material, let alone hardcover books, but the shoddy condition of the paper, the cover, the binding, and even the dust cover gives me pause. I guess I should just jump on the Kindle bandwagon like everybody else, save the content to a thumb drive, and forget about relaxing in my recliner with a good reading lamp over my shoulder. and enjoy something I've been doing since about age four- - - - -reading! Even the font is tiny- - - -not good for my almost 80 year old eyes!
Jerry

Jerry, we got ours from the library and it's good quality book materials. IMO. The book was actually available before it came on the "news stands." We picked it up only a day after we requested it. Maybe check your library and compare the two. Would be stinky if A-boo is pushing out grade B book.

Jerry -- The copy we have is published by Fox News Books and seems fine.

Hmmmmm- - - - -same publisher, so maybe I'm being too critical- - - -but the hard cover technical reference manuals published by Motor Magazine that I bought for my shop 50 years ago, (and still use frequently) seem to be much better quality than this brand new book. I wonder if it will survive long enough for my 3 year old great-granddaughter to read someday?
Jerry

Anyone else reading the book??

You may consider it part of your continuing professional development.

Really??

Disappointing.

Rusty Rod reads regularly.

It took me longer to type in the title and author than to find out that there is a digital copy of this manuscript available.
I'll also look for a hard copy when I go to Iwakuni next week (or this week).

Chapter One:

the author ( HEGSETH ) is definitely disgruntled! Does anyone know what he did to [censored] off the Army? (I'll research it eventually).

He talks a lot about the wokeness of today's Military. It is there, the mandatory training documents that. Most of the mandatory annual training is CYA BS. Unfortunately, if it isn't forced down our throats, the ID-10-t's will violate stuff (raping, stealing, sexual harassment, etc.).

I have essentially first-hand knowledge pertaining to the young US Marine.

Most of them are patriotic Americans who are willing and able to fight!

I have noticed that there is a lack of respect for higher ranks (they willingly discuss this).

They have very little respect for retired veterans or veterans in general. Understanding that as a Police Officer on a Marine Base, where everyone "hates" the MP's, and the civilian officers. They don't care that 99% of the civilian officers are veterans. Even when informed that the person that they are blatantly disrespecting is a Veteran, they continue their bs.

SNCO's in base housing act like little boys on the playground. They (and their "Tricaratops" wives/husbands) gang up on anyone who is a bit different. It does not help that there are many Veterans and Retirees living in base housing.

Just a guess, but I estimate that 80% of the females are lesbians. Most of the females also have mental issues. My last platoon has/had four females (out of about 35 personnel). [Three active-duty Marines and one Veteran]. I'm not sure about the Veteran, but she is top notch!
The Active-Duty female Marines, one is a Corporal-Pretty good at what she does, but she is weak in the leadership category, i.e.... NONE.
the other two are fresh out of MP School- One is/was super promising; however, she is a functioning alcoholic. We only found out when her Wife dropped a dime on her for drinking too much (AND breaking regulations by drinking within 12 hours of assuming ARMED DUTY). She is not out of commission pending treatment.
The other is freshly married to another Marine. She is now pregnant and out of commission.

There are a couple gay Marines who are solid citizens and good Marines. There is/was one who is married to a transexual- not a problem, except he could not stop talking about the sexual side of their relationship (I won't go into detail, butt I'm sure you get the drift).

The Unit as a whole does not have the drive nor the ability to complete the mission in more than a barely "satisfactory" manner. They cannot follow simple directions (No cell phones on the lanes). They cannot fill out the required paperwork completely, because they spend too much time standing there waiting for someone else to do something (instead of filling out the paperwork). It's simple stuff, "Name, rank, Last 4, title of the call, dates, etc.). They cannot complete the online reports completely - there are boxes to check that they just cannot find the time to check.
The gate guards won't use the scanners unless there is a supervisor standing there watching them. (Even the gate supervisors won't use the scanners). [The scanners are loaded with information pertaining to who the person is, any outstanding BOLO's, their driving privileges etc.]
The patrol units don't patrol. They find a place to sit/hide and play on their phones all shift. They don't respond immediately to calls for service, when they do, they take their time getting to the call (first on scene takes the report). It's infuriating to me, as it is exactly the opposite of how I was brought up by my more experienced peers. Obviously, all of the Marines are not lazy. Maybe one in five actually try to better themselves. Unfortunately, 2 of those 5 can't seem to stay out of trouble.

Enough ranting:

BLUF. Today's Marines are typically motivated and will work hard when prompted. The do possess much less professionalism than they did a few years ago.

Guys, things started on a downhill slide in the 1970's, at least from my limited perspective. That's when the USAF (and, I assume, the other service branches) started holding mandatory "sensitivity" training sessions- - - - -which was a thinly disguised effort to make excuses for what should have been unacceptable, antisocial behavior on the part of certain ethnic groups. Basically, we were told to try to ignore rude, disruptive behavior by a few of our peers, and never- - - -EVER- - - - -confront them, under the threat of a "less than honorable" discharge that would follow us around for the rest of our lives. Once the US military took the first few steps down that slippery slope, morale, and to some extent, combat readiness, took a series of hits that continues to this day.
Jerry

I just finished reading (scanned) the entire book. Interesting and disturbing.

THANK YOU RUSTY ROD. YOU ARE NOW ONE OF MY HEROES.
.......have you by chance read The Wager. I read it a couple months ago. Good Read.

Stay on topic, Gents. New book, new thread. This thread is about Brother Hegseth's book.

It's probably a good thing that there's 7,926 miles of rock and molten lava between us or I'd smack you.

Tuesday is Mr. Hegseth's confirmation hearing. Still time to contact your senators and urge them to speedily confirm him so he can get to work! A liberal cancer has long been destroying our military from within that he needs to eradicate.

PLEASE call, email or send smoke signals to your senators -- they need to hear from us veterans that we wholly support Pete!

Wish I was able to attend the March of Veterans Tuesday ...

As someone else aptly put it -- He knocked it out of the park for a walk off home run. Calm, cool, collected, prepared, unafraid, articulate ... what a breath of fresh air after 4 years of sheer incompetence.

Compared to the previous clown crew, the incoming cabinet is a refreshing breeze of normalcy- - - -one that will, hopefully, blow away the stink of what's been happening for far too long! Has anyone else ever been downwind of a paper mill, and then there's a change in the direction the wind blows?

I do have my DD214. I went to OCS but on my own decided after 18 weeks decided I was not fit for command. At that time they were taking anybody that could walk. A lot of them found a home and not for good reason. I was injuried not wounded but injured in truck accidents, 2. I agree with the opinions of most of the respondents. I glad that I can see a change of the attitude in this new administration. BTW my father served in ww2 in Germany, my brother was in the Airforce for 23 years E8, then work for AF at Wright Paterson until retirement, btw his wife also at WR Patterson. His grandaughter served in the AF for six years and now works for the Feds in Washington.

The word on TV tonight is that he did get confirmed. The VP had to cast the tie-breaking vote.

Yep, once again, The Marine Corps rescues the Army ...

Hay Bossman. How do you feel about sec Hegseth now that he’s the Big Boss?

So far, so good. I've said for decades that the Liberal Deep State had reshaped the Military away from true warfighting through culling of good JO's and promoting the sycophants.

Same on the civilian side. I've long said that they need to line up the high grades and SES and have them count off by threes. Hand all the ones and threes a box and a pink slip.

But so far, I'm a big fan of what he's trying to do. And of course all the flags in the room at Q-Town were silent -- they are as nervous as cats in a room full of rocking chairs. And should be. They are the "Brain Trust" that absolutely botched the Afghanistan retreat because they have been inculcated with the Zero Defect Mentality/"Get ahead by going along" ethos since they were Lts and were more focused on implementing DEI, scheduling Trans Awareness Training and all the other social engineering nonsense that has degraded our warfighting ability over the last 30 years.

The only reason we've had any battlefield success over the last three decades because of the sheer grit of the average 18 year old volunteer and the remnants of the Reagan era Warrior ethos. Thank goodness we haven't had to face a peer enemy.

There exceptions, of course. But I can't think of any currently. And you and I will continue to politely disagree about DB. But he illustrates my point that the really good ones can get to two stars. After that, its purely a political litmus test.

Pete has a big job and plenty of people who want to see him fail. I want to see him succeed and return to Warrior ethos to the Armed Forces of the United States.

S/F
John

One last little bit of perspective from Nick Freitas regarding senior military leaders' view of SecWar ... This sums it up perfectly:

Nick Freitas on "leaders'" low confidence in SecWar

And if you, for one moment, consider this to be "political" .... sigh ... you miss the point entirely. The point being that we, as the warrior class who have been entrusted with the safeguarding and preservation of this grand Republic, have to first preserve our own warrior ethos to a level unrivaled by any other nation past, present or future.

So far, okay ... but it hangs by a thread at the moment.

From the perspective of someone who enlisted in 1967 and served alongside a bunch of WW II and Korea veterans, the slow slide into mediocrity of our military has been going on for at least the past 50 years. I'd set the "political promotion" bar quite a bit lower- - - - -somewhere around O-4 or O-5. Anyone who advances above about O-4 had better have a pair of lips that are an exact fit to the backside of the next guy up the chain of command! One of the big reasons I chose to leave the Air Force after two enlistments was the fact that a lot of the oldtimers were a bunch of drunks, and the new troops in the pipeline were a bunch of dopers. That left us lower level NCOs in a very bad position, unable to count on either our leadership, or the youngsters we were tasked with training and supervising. Being the meat in the sandwich was not a good place to be!
Jerry

Concur, Jerry ... mostly.

But as I have said previously, there are exceptions to every rule. I have been blessed to have served with, and for, some truly outstanding 0-6's and a couple of Flag officers.

But for every good Field/Flag Grade I can name, I can probably name 5 or 6 I wouldn't urinate on if they were on fire.

When I was in the service, I developed a theory --- That an officer had to give up some of their brains to make rank. And a corollary observation to that theory was that some started out with fewer brains than others. I refused to give up any of my brains and left after 6 years.

One thing the USAF got right- - - - -of the 6-man crew of each B-52 we launched, five of them were commissioned officers- - - - -the only enlisted man on the crew was the tail gunner. Any service that puts the officers at the tip of the spear has my wholehearted endorsement! At Korat Thailand, our wing commander was a bird colonel- - - who was still flying combat missions in an F-4 Phantom!