(Dr. Shades here, using our "Temp. Admin." account.)
honorentheos wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 11:15 pm
So when he says the result, "forever limited the progression of (his) military career" you read the emphasis on his being "picked on", hence calling him a snowflake?
Yes.
But had you been more aware of how barriers now in his eligibility for promotion aren't limited to Trump being in office but can effectively throw him off the promotion rails and force him out?
Not necessarily. I don't see how the barriers to his promotion WON'T vanish into thin air as soon as Trump is gone.
And with that knowledge you might then have focused on the latter half of the statement?
Not really, because life as a field grade officer in the Army is posh and comfortable. All red carpets are perpetually rolled out for you, you live high on the hog, and enlisted people are kissing your ass on an hourly, if not a minute-ly basis. Hell, life is sweet enough as a lieutenant colonel without ever needing to promote ever again (but see below).
And that would be rightly called, "lacking perspective"?
I suppose so, but I think it would more accurate to label it "lacking pertinent information"--information that Lt. Col. Vindman himself owed it to his readers to provide. To wit, I was unaware that a field grade officer HAD to promote or else be forced out of the military. I thought one could simply stay in one's current rank if one felt like it (see above). Knowing that he chose to retire now as opposed to being forcibly, uh, forced out later alters my perspective quite a bit. . . but I'm still at a loss as to why he couldn't just wait until Trump left office, become the darling of the Democratic establishment, and then shoot up the ranks to lieutenant general.
The reality is, when I read your comment it aligned quite closely with some of the Facebook friends from my military days who are of a type. I'm not sure the best way to put that type into words. But one characteristic they share is being someone who, years after enlisting, enjoyed the authority of telling a civilian about going through Basic like it was a war story.
How often do you see me talking about Boot Camp on here?
Especially like it was a war story?
They are also the people on my friends list you wouldn't be able to miss their prior service if you tried though they got out years ago.
Of all the comments you've seen me make here, what percent of them earned me my place in that category?
So I used it in my response to your calling LTC Vindman a snowflake. I didn't think you'd take it as bait. It was intended as a suggestion you were being a bit...well, choose what you think the best word is for that. I'd call it embarrassing but that doesn't seem to be the case with folks of that type.
Do you now have some of your own perspective regarding my point of view when I made my original comment?