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Road to 350: What Does the US Navy Do Anyway?

CommodoreMid said:
Cheering for POTUS overall and remarks that champion the Navy should 100% be encouraged. What is wrong is that POTUS put these Sailors in a position where he wanted them to cheer for overtly partisan commentary. Cheering there is wrong, just the same as booing would have been equally wrong. Problem is no reaction could be construed as disapproval, which is an awkward spot for any service member.
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Qui tacet consentrie, or words to that effect.


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CommodoreMid said:
Honestly curious on how much training in boot camp or beyond our Sailors get on avoiding partisanship compared to mids at USNA/NROTC. I started NROTC in fall 2004 and being an election year within the first weeks of school it was beaten into our heads to avoid partisan associations as a midshipman. We were encouraged to go to talks on campus, join College Republicans/Democrats as we desired, but to make sure we were clean on the break. A couple weeks into the semester I and a bunch of mids went to a speaker and it happened to be on a day we were in uniform. I can’t remember the topic, it was political in nature but not explicitly partisan, however at one point the speaker basically polled the audience by show of hands on support. My buddies and I did not participate and the speaker actually recognized and applauded how we did not participate. I contrast that to what I saw today.
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We still have cultural vestiges from American approach toward military service...

The enlisted force is your blue-collar typical American who joins the military for a short stint out of patriotism or because he was conscripted, so they get more lee-way in expressing their political beliefs. Meanwhile, the officer corps still has vestiges of being largely comprised of the upper class of Americans and therefore is the extension of political leadership. You also still see this dynamic displayed in popular media anytime an officer isn't the hero of the story (and sometimes when he is; every officer other than CPT Winters in Band of Brothers was apparently incompetent or mildly insane).

The lines are more blurred today but the underlying tone survives.

Notwithstanding the fact that the UCMJ distinguishes between what the two groups can and cannot do (Enlisted servicemembers can bitch about political leadership in the smoke pit. Officers cannot)...
 
Gatordev said:
It's an interesting perspective to dive into. I don't mean your specific perspective, but the overall idea. I can certainly understand your stated concern as it pertains to the region of the country you live in. In the south, there's much less perceived damage. Just the military doing military stuff. 'Mericuh.

Please understand I'm not discounting the concern, but just pointing out the regional (or socio-economic) perspectives on the micro level versus the national level.

And as you pointed out, all of it is fueled by the populist messaging.
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If the military 'loses' the trust of Democrat voters, they will have lost the support of a large voting bloc regardless of whoever is in power. We have enjoyed immense public good-will and bi-partisan support over the last 25 years or so.

The Democrat platform already tends to lean toward cutting military spending; giving them a rallying cry by deploying US troops in ways that they perceive to be unscrupulous and then portraying the military as a loyal enforcer for the GOP will not have good outcomes for people wearing a uniform, regardless of their individual political affiliations.

If we ruin our reputation by the end of Trump's term it will take generations or another major conflict to repair. We are at risk of being perceived like the post-Vietnam military, especially because the media goes full-retard when reporting anything on Trump to get clicks and the 'blind loyalty' or 'project 2025' narrative sells.
 
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