Pride Month morale patch gains approval at Air Force base in South Korea

Which is how such things should be done, not all at once which can not only lead to disasters but lead to chaos.

That is not exactly true, as in my experience the demographics politically tended more towards being about the same as in the general public. 40% Democrats, 40% Republicans, and 20% Moderate-Independents. However, I would also say that even of the Democrats, they tend more towards the moderate-conservative end of that group. And even among the "Conservatives", it tends more towards the same, the more moderate-liberal group of that segment.

This is because all to often, those on the extremes tend to be too rigid in their thinking and tend to be those that hate the military for ideological reasons related to those extremes. Seeing the military as either jackbooted thugs that represent the fascism in the system, or the force that will come and take all their guns away and slap them in FEMA camps for daring to oppose the Government.

And the organization is mostly men primarily because very few women join. The percent of the military that is women sits at under 20%. The military could handle more without a problem, but so few are willing to join and serve that short of a draft there is really nothing that can be done to change that. If people want to see it be more representative of the actual gender breakdown of the country, first something would have to be done to get more women to join in the first place. And I bet if you went to a High School and polled 100 women at random, maybe 1 or 2 would consider the military.

 

It’s hard to know what to worry about though. The soldier of tomorrow might be more of a gamer managing killer drones and robots than a gritty marine.

 

Drones can not take or hold land.

 

so was this wrong?

 

I tried enlisting in the army in 2008. They did not want me so that ship has long ago sailed for this good old boy

 

You’re thinking today’s tech. Autonomous land drones (robots) likely will. Not with zero human input, we hope, but minimal.

 

I am thinking any tech.

*looks up at the thread title*

Yes, this is real life military, not science fiction. And there will never be "autonomous ANY drones", period. Absolutely no military in the world is going to release "autonomous drones", period.

 

Well...there is "Skynet"....

 

Science Fiction. Far too many people seem to think it is real, amazing how many people are fooled into believing things they see on the Internet.

 

Not just the internet though...they made a MOOVIE about it! I believe it was a historical document...with...some adaptations.

 

Of course they will. Because, once the technology is good enough, whoever does will be at a massive advantage over any who don't. Whoever gets bogged down in ethics will simply lose, or at best be vulnerable and at the mercy of those who do.

You expressed concern over the future of recruitment. Thus, our conversation was related to the future.

 

Sadly that is exactly what's been happening, mostly to the western countries. Most of the rest of the world either never had any to begin with or lost any ethics they once had.

Re the decline in recruitment, despite having a population almost triple what we had to fight in WW II, drones, satellites, and bots are a military necessity now.

 

someone, sometime somewhere will use them, AI controlled, I would not say never, it will happen

 

And it will never get to be that good, ever. And both the forces on the ground and their commanders will never allow it because of the risk of friendly fire and killing non-combatants.

 

Unless society collapses in less than a generation, yes it will. It ought to be better at the concerns you raised. Computerized systems can process information fast and without fear. Precision is an area of increased superiority over humans. No impulsive mistakes either. It can give the benefit of the doubt rather than shoot when it feels its "life" is in danger since their value is categorically different from a human life (as far as we can anticipate). How moral it is will depend upon who designs it, and that's why any nation that considers itself the good guy ought not hesitate. Experts will be wanted to monitor and direct it. AI abilities are already impressive, but no, it's not where it needs to be for this.

I will note that AI fighter pilots outperform our fighters pilots now in simulators, though.

 

AI can't even detect how many fingers should be on a hand, suggest eating pebbles as part of a good diet, and can not reliably tell the difference between a squirrel and a manhole cover.

And you want to trust it with the lives of people?

And no, they do not outperform our fighter pilots. In case you did not know, almost all exercises are heavily stacked against the "home team". I guess you also imagine Taiwan F-5 fighters actually beat our Navy and Marine pilots in the F-35B and F-35C.

 

When I think back to my time overseas, I always remember these exercises and this patch:



I have a bunch of these sewn onto my flight jacket.

I remember a DET to Kunsan AFB and was struck by how different they were from Navy bases, such as Atsugi, NAF in Japan. It was not uncommon to see Air Force enlisted sporting earings both on base in civvies and out on the town. I have to hand it to the Air Force though, the chow halls were 2nd to none.

 

Oh good grief!

A military uniform is no place for a patch in support of a social issue.

All a member of the military needs to know is that disrespect to any member based upon race, gender or sexual orientation harms unit cohesiveness and will not be tolerated. Period. As long as you wear the uniform, it is your duty to respect one another. Consider that an order. Obey it. And now that lesson is finished. Any questions?

No questions? Good. Now report to the armory and get your rifles ....

 

Not only that, but I would argue it is in violation of DoD Directive 1344.10 against any kind of political activities while in uniform.

 

I still remember when Nirvana first burst onto the scene. And honestly, when I heard the title of their most popular song, I thought it was called "Smells Like Team Spirit". And I had this mental image of guys in a tent after two weeks in the field in the South Korean summer, topped off with the scent of kimchi and hongeo-hoe in the background.

 

Lucky for me, I was on a CV (or CVN) so I never saw time in the field. Or maybe unlucky. I'll never forget steaming from the Middle East where it was 100 degrees on deck up to the ice cold Sea of Japan for these exercises. Always felt bad for the deck apes and Maint. crews that spent all day up there launching/recovering and fixing our birds.

 

Lucky for you indeed, I was a grunt back then. My only time on board a ship was as supercargo.

 

Can carry 3 to 6 kilos and are modular, so a 10 pack can be used to repair or replace damaged parts if needed. $5 grand a pop.

 

Same. And it worked for me, as a hater of tribalism and the gung ho stupidity it brings.

Not a fan of your avatar either, as it seems to be glorifying nuking civilians.

 

Well gee whiz, I guess you are not a fan of classic movies then.



Yes, that is actually a photograph of me sitting on the Fat Man mockup at the museum at the White Sands Missile Range. I was there one evening after a long day training, and just had to get my buddy to take a picture of me sitting on top like Major Kong from "Dr. Strangelove".

The problem to be honest is that you seem to be a rather bigoted and prejudiced individual. You make a snap judgement, then just make up in your own mind exactly what it actually represents. I would suggest you start to break that habit, that is a very nasty way to live your life.

And in closing, how dare you make such a belief about me based solely on a photograph. You seem to spend your life looking for ways to insult others and set them against you. Not a very good way to set your outlooks on life, and one I fully and absolutely reject.

Oh, and if you knew anything about the movie, then you would also know it ultimately is an "Anti-War movie".