It's a mistake to assume the senior military leadership is not behind the President, no matter how bad he may suck. The stars are all politically-approved appointments (Not just for the first star, but for every promotion and new appointment to a position), both by the sitting Administration and by the Senate. They might balk at executing particularly weird or extreme orders, but it would be completely outside their box to actually turn on the President or SecDef. The values are not 100% in accord with the values of the rank and file, and the rank and file is as unlikely to actually turn on the generals as the generals are to turn on the President.
In other words, things will probably get a lot worse before they get any better, we're in a period where the failings of popular democracy are coming to the fore over its advantages, and the best thing to do for the individual is to disengage from the looming disaster as much as possible.
We have seen so far senior enlisted short by 4-6 years of retirement refused to be re enlisted. Sad an E8 with 16 years in, a perfect record and commendations up the Butt suddenly finding themselves a civilian, loss of medical care for the family, base housing and commissary privileges, no retirement and they are 40+ years old now trying to understand what the Hell happened.
I have no problem with the young officers that get the boot, these are the college educated, and are under 30.
My problem is with the old timers that have made the military their lives since they were 18-19 and excelled at their work. Gone for months or even a year from their family's at times and still hung in there due to the promiss of retirement and a chance to finally get to know their family.
Nothing new here, back in 1980 when there were too many people for too few jobs a lot of men were refused re upping, they were out of the military as there were too many people in their job or the job was being shut down. These kids with 4-8 years of service were released from the military and found they could not get unemployment as some how it was considered they had quit their job------Don't ask me how but I heard from a bunch of wives desperate as their husbands serving on the Nimitz were frantic about what was going on.-----
A long time ago so I may have forgotten all the incidents back then but times were a mess.
BUT I do remember 1970 when the military had some big cuts due to Nixon [the bastard] and seeing what he had cut from our boys coming into Honolulu. Tippler Hospital on the hill where I spent a lot of time due to pregnancy and kidney failure.
Planes landing all the time bringing these kids with no legs or arms back from Asia, horrid. ----Little support, we had to cart our IV stands up two floors and help the kids write home and most of these kids were only 3-4 years younger then us woman.
Sorry about the spelling, thinking back on what was then that is the same as now after all these years,
seems that life stays under the same name regardless what the name change is.
