Reading Between the Lines

Occasionally I'll head on over to the Army Times to see what the bullshit being slung to the enlisted is currently.

And this thing is a goldmine of data for any intelligence analyst. Oh it's not what they say, or what the spin is. None of that is important. What is important is the underlying assumptions of common knowledge and the data that is given, assuming that such data is freely available.

The funny thing is, due the MSM's laziness, this data really ISN'T freely available. If it isn't put out into a press release, they don't even comment on it. So here's the stuff I learned from this article,

Army: No Lower Standards for Recruits

Well, that was an interesting read. I didn't know that the Army was having trouble meeting its recruiting goals, which have apparently been increased. This suggests that a large portion of the American Public doesn't want their kids sacrificed on the American Altar, and yet we're not hearing about it from the MSM. How Curious, and thanks for the info Ms. Myers.

So, they're also changing who's responsible ultimately for making the decisions on Mental Health Waivers. That sounds likes some severe CYA there. Now it's on Recruiting Command instead of Department Of the Army. Great way to claim that suicides have dropped when they've stayed pretty much static. Now it's gonna be Recruiting Command that has a high number of suicides, that can all be traced back to the waivers, therefore it's not the Army's fault the guys committed suicide, it's their behavior before. I know how this fucking game works.

So, have to get to over a million soldiers. That's a gear up for a War if I've ever seen one. Good to know.

Over all, this is a treasure trove of info on what orders are being given to the generals. I believe it's that we're actively prepping for a new war, that it is expected to be a foreign one with lots of PTSD sufferers, and nobody wants to take the blame for this shitstorm, so it's gonna be another LONG one.

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

ggersh's picture

I believe it's that we're actively prepping for a new war, that it is expected to be a foreign one with lots of PTSD sufferers, and nobody wants to take the blame for this shitstorm, so it's gonna be another LONG one.

up
0 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

detroitmechworks's picture

@ggersh In the Army Times where we are not actually engaged.

Swear to god, if the Kremlin doesn't read Army Times, they're missing an incredible amount of free data.

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

ggersh's picture

@detroitmechworks

up
0 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

lotlizard's picture

up
0 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

@ggersh
that's what our Saudi paymasters allies want.

up
0 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

detroitmechworks's picture

@Azazello So any other actions would probably take place under that auspice.

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

ggersh's picture

@Azazello but seeing as we already engaged there, my
guess is still Korea, that's the main tweeter focus
of our fearless leader.

up
0 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Steven D's picture

@ggersh Syria, Ukraine ... the list is endless.

Fucking bastards.

up
0 users have voted.

"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

CS in AZ's picture

@Steven D

I don't think there is going to be a long war. I feel we've entered a phase of endless war. Being at war now is ongoing, everywhere and forever. Or rather, until the collapse.

Looking back, it appears we entered this phase at the turn of the millennium; we've been at war every day for going on two decades, and it's getting worse all the time. I see no signs of that letting up until the empire falls.

The only question to me is how long do we have? I almost wish I shared the idea it's going to be a long war... because if it's not... well. I selfishly don't want to live through the collapse. Maybe they will drag it out for 50 years. 100 years seems unlikely. Some days, I feel like having even one more year seems unlikely. I have no idea. Makes planning for the future a challenge.

But I also don't really believe there's anyone running things (in the military, the government, or business world) who has a fucking clue what's going to happen either. They act like they have a plan, but they don't, not really. I'm often shocked at how incompetent most business executives are. And how dishonest as they pretend to be so large and in charge.

So I think the military is recruiting for endless war, into the foreseeable future. Which they imagine will be a long one. The Great and Powerful Oz United States cannot be defeated or crumble from within. So they believe. Like all empires at this stage, the powers that be simply cannot see, or at least never acknowledge, the fatal flaw in their plan for endless war, endless expansion, endless dominance. The belief in American exceptionalism will be the death of it as a country. Sooner or later. I don't think they will see the light and stand down, unfortunately. On that point, I sincerely hope I am wrong.

Thanks for writing DMW. Your essays are always thought-provoking and interesting and I appreciate hearing your perspective on things.

up
0 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

Good info here too: Duffleblog

up
0 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

detroitmechworks's picture

@Azazello Might be a good place to grab other news on that issue.

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Azazello's picture

@detroitmechworks
like The Onion but aimed at the military.

up
0 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Pluto's Republic's picture

…and this is so true:

...a goldmine of data for any intelligence analyst. What is important is the underlying assumptions of common knowledge and the data that is given, assuming that such data is freely available.

I've thought about this a lot. You think, "Should I be given this information? Is this a mistake? Then it hits you that the people writing it are so deep in the culture, they can't imagine how little you know. While none of it is classified, they cannot conceive of how revealing it is to a clean mind.

This is all due to the heavy censorship that corporate media uses to protect the military industrial complex and their Wall Street collaborators. For a journalist, the whole spectrum falls under "forbidden topics." It's marginally okay to talk about military equipment being sold to foreign allies, because that's capitalism — even though the People will never see any ROI from the major money they put up for development costs. Those are transformed into profits for the Oligarchs and investors. On the other hand, it's not okay to write about the size and scope of the expanding war front, because all that money goes down a black hole, never to be seen again. The media seems to steers clear in general.

You should consider doing a regular column exploring the amazing insights you can find there.

up
0 users have voted.

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
detroitmechworks's picture

@Pluto's Republic It does play to one of my strengths, which is my understanding of the Military culture.

Will consider it, I promise.

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

detroitmechworks's picture

@detroitmechworks Just needs a good name. And a Good Day to do it. Thinking Monday morning might be good?

Column Name Ideas:

Between the Lines
They just left that lying around?
Amateur Analyst Analysis
Gratias vera mea

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

detroitmechworks's picture

@Pluto's Republic Than an ambitious officer that wants to look good to their superiors. In their reports and statements, you will see a LOT of info that shouldn't be shared, mostly to make themselves look good, but failing to realize what exactly that suggests.

Take my own Unit, 3d ACR (Which no longer exists under that designation) They proudly state that they did more combat patrols than any other unit in Iraq. What that leaves out is exactly how hard we were being pushed, our casualty rate, and how many we lost due to flat out breakdowns. As a result, any enemy who would have bothered to read our Colonel's reports to the public would have realized that we were spread dangerously thin, and that a quick concentrated push on one or two of our outposts would have resulted in massive casualties and catastrophic morale damage.

I'm just glad nobody on the other side thought like me. I brought this up to my Captain after the deployment in a private talk (Which we were NOT supposed to have, BTW, but fuck the regs on fraternization, he was a smart guy and we got along well) and he confided in me that he knew it and hated how often he'd have to nod his head at the strategy.

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

dervish's picture

@detroitmechworks in a pointless war... that's how fragging got started in Vietnam.

up
0 users have voted.

"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

That sounds likes some severe CYA there. Now it's on Recruiting Command instead of Department Of the Army. Great way to claim that suicides have dropped when they've stayed pretty much static.

The US likes suiciders in its armies. Just ask al Quaeda.

But they needed an accounting trick to hide the numbers.

Looks like they found it.

up
0 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

detroitmechworks's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger Not before they get around to Social Security, but I expect a lot of "Eligibility" issues and "Guidelines" to be issued. Will make lives harder for those of us on it, I fear.

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

snoopydawg's picture

@detroitmechworks

the first thing that came up was that this might be the last year that it's offered because of the tax cuts and because Trump has said that he wants to eliminate it. And of course it's already underfunded, just like all the other social programs.

The lady said that she had $37,000 in medical bills this year and if this passes she won't get to deduct any of them next year. She has aggressive MS so of course she is going to have them next year.

I said that I'm on SSI, Medicaid and food stamps and I'm fearing how much they are going to be cut.
I'm sure that there are millions of others who rely on social programs who are 'fearful' about what is going to happen to them this morning.

How many veterans are 'fearful' like you are that are as worried? You were sent into other countries to do unimaginable things and you were given a promise that if you got injured, you would be taken care of. Congress has been screwing your group for as long as I can remember. You got injured and then you have to fight to get treatment. Wrong on so many levels!

Then there are millions more getting close to retirement and they are 'fearful' because they don't know what is going to happen to social security and Medicare and they know that they weren't able to save enough money to retire on.

I'm calling this domestic terrorism. Isn't being in fear part of the results from terrorism?
As for what you should name your column, I like #1&3 I look forward to reading it.

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

divineorder's picture

RE: suicides, we can do more.

40,000 vets and their families in the area:

up
0 users have voted.

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Pluto's Republic's picture

@divineorder

… about 20 suicides (among the deployed) per day for many years. It's already a hidden number in that it is not included in war casualty numbers— although they do, in fact, die of brain injuries suffered on the killing fields. I used to report on this number in the past, but Americans never seemed particularly moved by it.

up
0 users have voted.

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
detroitmechworks's picture

@Pluto's Republic Because the PTB have made it clear that we don't have any input into whether or not our children go and fight them.

So, the soldiers rightly feel that they are a separate culture from the society at large because of it.

Not saying it's right, just an amateur analysis, admittedly.

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

divineorder's picture

@Pluto's Republic

However new attacks are rising.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/veterans-affairs-exploring-idea-of...

Some groups have drawn political battle lines, with the left-leaning VoteVets and the American Federation of Government Employees warning of privatization and Concerned Veterans for America, backed by the billionaire conservative Koch brothers, pledging a well-funded campaign to give veterans wide freedom to see private doctors.

Rep. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the quiet discussions to integrate TRICARE with VA’s Choice were evidence “the White House was taking steps to force unprecedented numbers of veterans into the private sector for their care.”

“The fact that the Trump administration has been having these secret conversations behind the backs of Congress and our nation’s veterans is absolutely unacceptable,” said Walz, the highest-ranking enlisted service member to serve in Congress. He called for an immediate public explanation “without delay.”

But how about groups working to stop the MIC waste and illegal wars?

We can do more there as well`, like work for divestiture.

up
0 users have voted.

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Azazello's picture

@divineorder
I was shocked and surprised to see a thoughtful documentary on the subject of veterans' mental health on PBS' Frontline. Entitled Almost Sunrise it actually addresses the issue of Moral Injury that vets suffer from knowing that they are involved in immoral wars that have nothing to do with freedom or democracy or any of the other bullshit reasons for war given in the pro-war propaganda. Too bad the network didn't think about this before they promoted the wars.

up
0 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

as I don't have the data to back it up, but the military claims that they have to loosen the recruiting standards because a third of Americans are morbidly obese. (this is supposedly true, though I think slightly exaggerated) and if reducing the physical standards isn't good enough then you also have to reduce the mental standards.
Then again, the American economy has been so bad for so long people are learning how to survive without going into the military, and therefore more willing to refuse to do so.

up
0 users have voted.

On to Biden since 1973

detroitmechworks's picture

@doh1304 except (ostensibly) the VA.

They are doing everything they can to make health care a privilege, and one that you get for SERVING!!! YEAAAAAAY!!!

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

vtcc73's picture

@detroitmechworks is that those who will get health care will feel even more justified in their opinions that those who didn't "earn" health care don't deserve it. I hear exactly this argument endlessly from otherwise decent people. They can't conceive that their indignant self righteous thinking is only cover for ignoring the tens of thousands who die every year because they don't have access to health care, housing, living wage jobs, etc. They can't see it is the "I got mine pull up the ladder" argument wrapped in their assumed superiority. Punching down with good reason if you will. It never occurs to any of them those people are them with only a slight jog in their road of life. The myth of rugged self reliance is strong in the mind(less?) of Americans rich and poor.

up
0 users have voted.

"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

Steven D's picture

Damn scary times we live in.

up
0 users have voted.

"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

detroitmechworks's picture

@Steven D Of course, I promise to try to keep my analyses of things like this to direct 1st order conjecture. I won't speculate much farther than what is directly implied.

And yes, very scary, but I hope and pray I'm wrong. Nothing would bring me more pleasure than being completely wrong and humans are actually good. But It's not the safe way to bet, IMHO.

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

edg's picture

The War to Free Crimea!! Where do I sign up?

up
0 users have voted.

TPTB will NEVER tell us what's really going on. We can almost expect them to tell us the exact opposite. The amateur analyst, on the other hand, has nothing to gain (or lose) by providing honest reasoning.
My amateur analysis relies on the idea that we must assume our adversaries are reading Army Times, and that our experts must also assume our adversaries are reading it.
I can understand why the Military Industrial Complex would want more numbers (gearing up for war etc., as the writer suggests), but what could be gained by telling the world?
My next analysis relies on my experience of seeing the stated objective often being different from the actual objective.
Do 'we' want our adversaries to gear up for a different kind of war (i.e. a ground war etc.), instead of a higher-tech air war etc.?

up
0 users have voted.

Mike Taylor

detroitmechworks's picture

@Mike Taylor However, I see this as corporate stupidity.

The Military "Times" are no longer actually run by the military, and are in fact subcontracted out to a corporation which uses the same stories for each branch, with minor variations for the services.

As a result, it has the standard focus of corporate news. Sell papers. So they tell stories that the PTB tell them to (Deny, refocus, redefine) and because they are corporate idiots, let a lot of detail slip in the interest of appealing to the "Professionals" in the military.

Thank you for your kind words, BTW. I'm sticking strictly to first order conjecture based off the idea that double bluffs and other sophisticated manipulation aren't what comes up in focus groups. Smile

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@Mike Taylor

...Do 'we' want our adversaries to gear up for a different kind of war (i.e. a ground war etc.), instead of a higher-tech air war etc.?

Indeed. And they're publicly giving completion dates on goals for armament and troops years in the future, while threatening ethnic cleansing/obliteration and massing troops and missiles on multiple borders, complete with terrorizing test-bombing-runs of war-planes/nuclear sunbmarines now, effectively saying, unite to strike us in immediate self-defense now, before we build up more, to give us a 'nuking excuse', which strikes me as 'interesting - but stoopid'. And, speaking as One Who Knows Nothing, makes me suspect that MOAB/nukings of multiple countries are planned, since some of these loons think that they'll survive and live comfortably ever after - even after a multi-nation nuclear 'war' on the world.

The rest of the world isn't stupid enough to believe a claim these turkeys make, though, and will be ready at the first computer-glitch of incoming. And even on the ear-knee position of the Plough, one cannot kiss one's own ass good-by.

Just guessing, of course, but this claim hasn't reassured me of having at least a couple of years prior to Armageddon, at any rate...

up
0 users have voted.

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.