The Next Generation

I have a dirty little secret -- I'm at least two "generations" apart from the majority of the force. I came into the Army at a time when we were trying to figure out just what we were supposed to do in a post-Cold War World. I vividly remember several of my instructors being given a severance package to leave the Army early, an idea that seems inconceivable in this age of the retention incentive. We cut our teeth on numerous training center rotations, and figured that sooner or later, someone would come along to fight. When Bosnia and Kosovo came along, we muttered about how this was no way to treat an Army, and trudged our way through the Balkan mud.

The next generation were the young lieutenants and privates who came in around the turn of the century, who walked into the force expecting endless peacekeeping rotations in far-away lands (or, if they believed campaign rhetoric, a more "humble" foreign policy) and got 9/11 instead. The War on Terror upended all of our expectations, and completely changed the world of this second generation. For these folks, there was no "normal" Army -- just an ever-changing set of circumstances that eventually led them to the sands of Iraq.

Finally, there is the current generation -- the folks who entered after 2003, and have known only the grinding hamster wheel of endless deployments. Careers used to be measured in frequent moves between duty stations and educational courses -- now they get measured in the short intervals between combat tours. With no apparent end to the demands on them, the current generation has mostly resigned itself to a long stretch of fighting, a paradigm shift that is going to have a huge impact on how they view themselves, their Army, and their country.

Recognizing that crystal balls are notoriously rusty, what follows is my prediction of how this current generation is going to view things for the next decade or so:

They'll be tough to scare. Men and women who have run the alleyways of Sadr City, gone house-to-house in Fallujah, or stood lonely watch in the Korengal Valley aren't likely to fear much else. The worries of when the cable is going to come back on or whether Joanie gets the lead in the school play just aren't going to seem as pressing. And forget about trying to frighten them with ominous consequences of career-ending actions -- any such attempt is likely to be met with a derisive snort and a reply of "What are you going to do, cut my hair and send me to Iraq?"

They won't be impressed by rank. The soldiers of the current force will have seen their leaders, both military and civilian, make public pronouncements that turned out to be completely, utterly wrong. They'll have seen the best-intentioned promises of those same leaders get overcome by events and shattered beyond repair. They'll watch the revolving door of the defense industry, as officers retire and get rehired as contractors or consultants, at twice the price. And they'll try to figure out exactly what they have in common with these gray-haired dinosaurs who use terms like "Quarterly Training Brief" and "Green-Amber-Red cycles."

They're going to be far more family-oriented. For those whose marriages survive the frequent deployments, family time will be sacrosanct. Sure, they'll work late hours to do pre-deployment training or make sure that their subordinates get taken care of. But come in on Saturday to change the font on revision 4 of the latest briefing slides? Not likely. And you can forget about all the fancy dining-outs, formal balls, and holiday socials - these will increasingly be viewed as one more command performance among many, to be avoided whenever possible and tolerated when absolutely necessary.

They will not view the Army as a career. They'll look at the field grades and senior NCOs in their unit who are agonizing about whether or not to take that command or first sergeant position and ask, why should I put myself through that? Or, as one junior officer put it on a posting recently:

We joined to be platoon leaders. Our perception (which I believe to be accurate) is that the time between Platoon Leader and Battalion Commander is largely spent contriving PowerPoint slides and sitting at a desk. This seems like a tremendous waste of time with no apparent benefit to the Army...Most of our current crop of junior officers were most likely motivated to join in large part in response to 9/11. They had no intention of becoming General or even Field Grade officers. They wanted to get into the fight and do their part and then go back to their lives.

They will be heavily isolated from the society they serve. The current generation will hold equal parts of scorn for politicians of both parties and media outlets of all stripes. Fairly or unfairly, they'll hold similar contempt for citizens of a nation who went shopping while the soldiers went to war. They'll turn inward, seeking the trust and understanding of their fellow veterans over the company of those unknowns outside the front gate.

In the next ten years, America's Army is going to change more drastically than at any other time in the history of this nation. Are you ready for that?

Comments

[daffey]

Good article. Gave me something to think about. In short, they will be a lot like the WWII generation - emphasis on bigger things and family things - just with that added thought they may be outcast because of our "shop to save civilization" mandate. But I blame that on Bush and his "civilization is on the brink! Quick! Everyone go shopping and show them who is boss!" strategy. It would have been better to ask us to sacrifice a little. Perhaps that would have helped galvanize the nation, instead of letting it splinter into the divisions that our enemies were hoping for, and become the very type of unsettling environment Ray correctly guesses the service men and women will return to.

[milo9]

But how will they feel when they are deployed in the U.S. to quell widespread civil unrest? Will they side with the Constituion or the corporate overclass?

[bronceye]

You are soooooo right. They will remain as they have become-faceless numbers whose opinions are declared by non-related, agenda driven third parties. What is so depressing to me is the pitch that fox newts and republican candidates pushed at the last pres. election. Do you remember? Public opnion was beginning to wane for the occupation. So the neoconmen, for purely political reasons of getting votes, came out with two major sales pitches. 1)That the lives already sacrificed would be ignoble if we ceased the occupation. 2) (the big one relevant to this article) That surveys of the troops showed high morale because of the notion that these people were fighting there to ensure that their children wouldn't have to die there. How many dead children in 100 yrs.? I can also foresee these brave people being so estranged from society that they could create their own neighborhoods ala ethnic neighborhoods. People enjoy being around people with similar experiences and ideas. When they find the truth and compare it to the crap they were fed while on the front, there could be at best, social rebellion, at worst physical or violent rebellion. They won't be believed. They won't fit in.

[Robert59]

More reason to have a draft and for formal declarations of war.

The trend is for the military to become even more estranged from society. That is not good for the military or the republic.

Parallels Vietnam to a certain degree. Officers and senior NCOs went from being respected to despised. In the case of Vietnam they were seen as getting a square filled. Now, it's a springboard to gettting hired as a contractor. Again, this is not good for the institution. Only a matter of time before discipline goes to hell.

Not sure I agree with you about being more family oriented. Those who value their family will leave. Those who value their family but lack the skills or confidence or have too much invested in the service will stay, but they will be the ones who find all sorts of excuses as to why they shouldn't go back.

Thanks for sharing the thoughts. Used to be in the Air Force its combat arms branch (mainly aviators)
voted with their feet heading to the airlines. Then the airline industry quit hiring and quit paying so well and the service offered great benefits. Our quality of life is head and shoulders above the others (4 month rotations instead of 15) and the duty is for the vast majority less demanding on a personal level.

I have in the past several years met more aviators who are tired of deployments. They are headed to corporate America.

[mooreaj2]

I must say as an Iraq veteran that the rights and grants available are not made easily accessible from the VA. We also have had a horrible time with PTSD and finding good jobs. I was able to log onto www.vetfriends.com where they have over 857,000 registered members. There i gained information on how to get grants for school, access their job board, access their veteran owned business directory (more potential jobs) and find information about how to start my own business using government grants. I cannot say enough about this website and the great services they provide for veterans

[sparkandy]

I'm of the Viet Nam generation. I saw what damage that war did to the guys over there. My late ex husband had horrible unresolved issues that caused him to be emotionally abusive, cold, distant and cruel. Eventually he turned to meth and alcohol as a relief. Both my children have emotional problems, I wouldn't know how to have a non abusive relationship if one hit me in the face, and my ex committed slow and gradual suicide. I just pray that this doesn't happen to the kids in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope we do all we can to help them.