Right. I hate it when people who haven't played in the NFL share their opinions about the NFL too. So annoying.
I agree. There are many service members who's comments are not worth reading. Likewise there are many non service members who's comments are beneficial to the discussion.
That's completely different.
Have you served?
It is not all that different. There are many that never served that have an in depth knowledge of the military and how it works. Just because on wore a uniform does not make them subject matter expert. One who never served but read books/memoirs/historical documents/and studies history can be an expert as well, its just they have second hand knowledge rather than a first hand account.
No one asks you "Have you worked for Toyota" when you post about mods for your truck...
Discussion is healthy when opinions are varied.
If you go down that train of thought then the only people who should be commenting are those who actually served in combat units. Getting Veterans opinions is a great thing but the overwhelming majority of US Service Members do no serve in Ground Combat units of any kind.
Excellent comment. We both know that the majority of folks claiming to be GI Joe were in fact bean counters.
The larger issue I see from this discussion is the problem with the military shifting towards becoming more inclusive rather than exclusive. Elite units have been/and should stay exclusive. Combat units have been in the past and should remain exclusive.
In World War 2 the American Infantryman averaged 10 days of combat a year... In Vietnam the American Infantryman averaged 240 days of combat in a year...
If and when we enter another serious conflict. One which requires operational tempo to be more like Vietnam, we will not be able to afford to have novelty members in these "elite" or combat units. We have gotten comfortable fighting wars where we go out on a mission and return to your air conditioned quarters after patrol, work out in the gym, eat a hot fresh meal with dessert, play xbox, check facebook, go to sleep, and do it again the next day... If we go back to a conflict like Vietnam where Soldiers were patrolling for 30 days at a time living in the jungle out of their backpack with 2 days off in the rear to "refit" for a year straight, then we will have problems... And not just with women, many young men who have been pampered will also struggle...