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from the with-great-power-comes-great-responsibility dept.
The main reason why the U.S. military can promote global peace is because of the aura of invincibility it gained in World War II, because of the end of the Cold War, and because of its overwhelming military spending and technological advantage. But an aura of invincibility is a dangerous thing. And unfortunately, there are signs of rot.
Today, the U.S. military has fallen under the Bureaucracy Rule. The U.S. has no great power rivals, and thank God for that. Iraq and Afghanistan have not caused an identity crisis for the U.S. military because many senior commanders view these as "freakshow" wars — counterinsurgency wars, not the kind of "real" wars that militaries fight.
What are the signs that an organization has become a bureaucracy?
The first is excessive PowerPoint. Every organization should ban PowerPoint ( http://theweek.com/audio/442552/ban-powerpoint ). But it has become particularly endemic in the military ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html?_r=0 ).
The fact that the new Defense secretary has banned PowerPoint from some senior briefings is a step in the right direction ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/pascalemmanuelgobry/2015/02/23/the-war-on-powerpoint-in-the-military-continues/ ).
(Score: 2) by TheLink on Sunday March 01 2015, @04:40PM
WW II didn't make the US look invincible, just stronger (while they had the atom bomb advantage). And the Vietnam War and wars after didn't either.
US trashing far weaker countries=BFD.
And if you think powerpoint is a major factor and banning it will help things, you're an idiot who is part of the problem and not the solution. Excessive use of powerpoint may be a symptom of the problem, but it's not the problem.
Now if you want to discuss the vulnerability of the US Military this article is probably a better starting point:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/sep/06/usa.iraq [theguardian.com]
See also: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-map-show-the-f-35-fiasco-2015-1/ [businessinsider.com]
The US Military seems populated/controlled by people who are more interested in extracting $$$$ than winning wars.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2015, @02:15AM
I think you misspelled "Congress". Otherwise your comments were pretty much spot on.