Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Good story about Green Beret officer who was dismissed "in disgrace"

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/jim-gant-top-green-beret-officer-forced-resign/story?id=24266710

Interesting that Jim Gant's tactics actually worked.  But they weren't "authorized."  A new tight-ass Lt. from West Point assigned to his company complained about him -- and he was demoted and kicked out of the Army.  No, he didn't follow the rules -- often rule breakers turn out to be the best soldiers.  His men loved him, the tribal villagers in Afghanistan loved him and joined with him in fighting the Taliban, and even Gen. David Petraeus had kind words for Gant and his successes in Afghanistan.  Gant's tactics succeeded in doing exactly what the military wanted.  But he didn't do it their way, with their rules and their regulations, which didn't work.

We all know, of course, that in the military and in all authoritarian groups (corporate, religious, government) one must always obey the authorities without question and without thinking for oneself.  If you refuse to become a robot who marches to orders that don't work and don't make sense, you will get drummed out of the corps. 

And so he was.  That is what happens to the Jim Gants and Edward Snowdens of our world.  They are true heroes, unheralded, unsung and unappreciated.
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