Robert Heinlein's Militarist Utopia MOD CHALLENGE PAGE 4

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > Robert Heinlein's Militarist Utopia MOD CHALLENGE PAGE 4

ASAPI: Apr 20, 2007; I invented the line.

I really don't understand TikTok challenges.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2022 01:21

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 14:09

ASAPI: Apr 20, 2007; I invented the line.

McNally posted:

What seems to have happened is that OP saw a YouTube video about Heinlein and had to tell people about it.

Then someone said this

And apparently OP took this to mean "go tell GIP what you learned"

Frankly, I'm offended that OP just copy/pasted what they wrote in the other thread. Self-plagiarism is still plagiarism and I deem you to have failed this self-assigned homework.

Oh, wow. This makes much more sense.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2022 13:09

ASAPI: Apr 20, 2007; I invented the line.

Fivemarks posted:

So I can totally get the "Officers are bad" argument. Enlisted hate their officers generally, and a bad officer in the right position can spoil the whole pot by setting the wrong example and encouraging lovely politicking and bullshit instead of doing the job right.

So here's my question: What's the alternative, and what is a 'good' officer?

"Good" in what way? What is "good" on a strategic level may not be "good" on a tactical level. That is before we add in human elements and concepts like "leadership".

In general terms, a "good" officer is an officer that states the objectives (and any constraints) and sets their NCO corps loose to accomplish the mission while being available as an escalation point to remove blockers/provide more info/handle admin stuff/etc. Really, they are just kind of herding cats and pointing the mob in the generally correct direction.

When you read the "officer bad" stories, they almost always go further than my example above. They reach into the "gears" and make adjustments (micromanage), they get a message from the "good idea fairy" and attempt to "improve" something. Almost always, it is because they are trying to improve their "rating" that is completely arbitrary and subjective. We try to quantify things like "leadership", which is totally not an abstract concept...

Edit: post above me basically says the same thing, I bet you are going to get a bunch of these replies.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2023 16:45

ASAPI: Apr 20, 2007; I invented the line.

CommieGIR posted:

Exactly. And it cannot be overemphasized: The US has a strong tradition of NCO leadership and a strong NCO corps. Russia, for example, has little to no NCOs.

We also have the magic sword of logistics.

American logistics have won wars and kept the troops happy/fed/supplied with Taco Bell in a warzone. We've seen what getting a random truck full of crap has done to Russian morale.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2023 21:04

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > Robert Heinlein's Militarist Utopia MOD CHALLENGE PAGE 4