Captain suspension

Last Friday, Allan Dollison, a Captain with the U.S. Army Reserves, attacked me for actually daring to suggest that the U.S military probably needs a stable supply of impoverished young men to keep its enlisted recruitment levels up. Apparently, to such a passionate patriot as Mr. Dollison, the very possibility that a substantial number of U.S. enlisted men could join the military services primarily to escape poverty or help defray college expenses is “offensive, “baseless” and absolutely “insupportable.” (All of those college students must have been lying to me.)

Indeed, from the emotional tone of Mr. Dollison’s letter to the Tribune last Friday, I should probably be taken out and shot for daring to link poverty with U.S. enlisted men. Of course, it could never be so, because in Mr. Dollison’s delusional world, not a single enlisted man qualifies for food stamps–even though we know that thousands of them still do. In Mr. Dollison’s delusional world, the U.S military is not experiencing any dire recruiting problems amid this booming U.S. economy, because, in his highly unrealistic view, plenty of young men are quite happy to earn $900 a month, just because they love their country.

As a May 1, 2000 CNN.com article (“The Food Stamp G.I.”) clearly highlights, “even a sergeant with 10 years in uniform is paid less than $22,000 a year . . . [and] nearly half the members of the Army and Marine Corps, along with 26% of Navy and 18% of Air Force personnel, make less than $20,000.” Yet, still, Mr. Dollison steadfastly maintains that poverty is not an important consideration–that patriotism drives all recruiting. He irrationally wants to make patriotism the central, overriding issue, not economics, because that would upset his apple cart.

Note that I specifically connected poverty to enlisted men, not the officers Dollison uses as misleading counter examples. For an attorney, the man sure can’t reason. (Very few enlisted men later become officers.)

Dollison is also quick to point out that, not having ever served in the military, I am not qualified to comment on military affairs. Apparently, the military is far too important to be criticized by a mere civilian. Dollison wants to “kick me off my throne,” because, in his view, I seemed to have kicked his beloved Army off his pedestal.

At the very least, claims Dollison, I should have had the good sense to consult with those who “actually serve or used to serve their country.” And here Dollison ignorantly and arrogantly assumes that I never consulted with current or former members of the military, when I did in fact exchange e-mails with a Major just prior to the publication of my “Aim Low” column. The emails, in part, read as follows:
Me: No offense, but in this booming US economy, only a [dolt] would join the army as an enlisted man.

The Major: IT WILL COME AS NO SURPRISE TO YOU TO KNOW THAT IN THIS BOOMING ECONOMY, THE MILITARY IS HAVING AN EXTRAORDINARY TIME MEETING THEIR MINIMUM RECRUITING REQUIREMENTS, EVEN HAVING DOUBLED THEIR RECRUITING BUDGETS AND THEN SOME.

THERE IS NO DENYING THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF YOUNG PEOPLE OUT THERE WITH NO PLAN, NO DIRECTION, NO EMOTIONAL, MORAL OR FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM FAMILY. NO BACKGROUND, OTHER THAN HIGH SCHOOL, AND NO CONNECTIONS TO GET A DECENT JOB IN ORDER TO EARN THE CAPITAL TO GO TO COLLEGE. IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE THE INSECURE, EMPTY FEELING ONE HAS IN A SITUATION LIKE THAT, UNLESS YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED IT. FROM THAT FRAME OF REFERENCE, THE MILITARY CAN LOOK PRETTY ATTRACTIVE, AND ITS EASY TO BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE AT UNCLE SAM’S EXPENSE.

Check with your Major, Captain. I won’t name him, as you have named other CNMI officers (mostly to bootlick and ingratiate yourself, I suspect), because I know how your Army works, and won’t compromise a friend. And before you question my integrity, recall your own CNMI Bar suspension, you hypocrite.