Transcripts For CSPAN2 Tim Bakken The Cost Of Loyalty 202407

CSPAN2 Tim Bakken The Cost Of Loyalty July 13, 2024

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the paige turners readingsters, aim glen raucher this cowerrator and host of the page turns reading series. This used to be call the king reading sears to six miles to the west. I dont know if identity pointing west put humor me. Were glad you could be here in the nook. We started here last may ander very pleased to be here with our friends here the stage. Its a monday knight in new york, a beautiful spring day here in the late winter. And we know that even on a monday knight in new york theres 10,000 different places you could be, and nobody involved with putting together this event or participating in it take ford granted you have chosen to be here with us so thank you very much for that. We appreciate you being here, and the present you get he tend of end of your evident is the evening with a wonderful author, tim bakken and the cost of loyalty. Were joined by cspantv. If you look at the pageturners or Facebook Page i will post when this is going air. Were not live, which is probably a good thing. But it should air sometime in the early actual spring. So im going to tell you about the series, talk a little bit but the book and then bring tim up. Well talk and then well have q a. We want you to be part of the. Our only request is that your shape your thoughts in form of a question. If you cannot do that i will politely move on to the next important who has done that and then give you the opportunity to form your thoughts in shape of a question. Everyone involved is appreciative of you doing that. He book came out last tuesday and this is the first new york city event and you have the tint to purchase multiple companies of the cost of loyalty. Its 30, and remember, new york city law is a twobook minimum. And tim will be happy, if you anywhere close to nicely, hell sign the book for you. Want to thank tara kennedy for bringing this book to our attention. Do take this moment to turn your cellphones on silence. That would be appreciate evidence. Take care of your ban tender who has been in bartender and coming up here the next event we have booked is two weeks from tonight, 7 00 p. M. On march 9th, with alvarez, the author of spirit run. Its an incontribute day but memoir, the son of a working class mexican immigrant and threat a three fled a life of labor in a meat packing plant, from canada to got got get mail la. You want to hear about our events we have a mailing list. One event a month so two emails from me a month and i hope thats not too many. So once again, thank you very much for being here and now on to our featured author. Its said that Social Security is the third rail of american politics put with even the highest criticism of the military the cries from all side of the political spectrum that hey support our troops, to just perhaps a more dangerous third rail. In his deep lee researched finely written, he jumps on the perilous track and ill states our military academies are failing their mission and fated values, leaving out the truth. Endangering the country, losing wars by never actually thinking anew how wars are fought today, and thereof theyd established themselves as utterly separate from the valued harmed services of a democratic nation should serve he mentioned earlier public polling about the militarys popularity, and goes well into the disconnect. Between reality and perception. Those on the receiving end of tims harsh but fair and deeply evidence evidence examination will protest the cost of loyalty is an attack on them. But what it is, is a leadership document, a passionate call for the mill tier reintegrate with a society it was created to serve and protect to sit higher senators for Service Members that make them better in the role they have chosen and to break the decade long cycle of selfdealing and lowering of quality. Will they do it . The cost of loyalty spells of the consequenceses of not doing so. Join me in welcoming tim bakken. [applause] duane, they wont be able to hear him without the microphone. [inaudible] discussion. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Thank you to cspan for being here and for tara kennedy for arranging this event. What id like to do to start is try to ill state some of the reasons illustrate some of the ropes why america has had difficulty winning wars and then try to draw a line which i think we can do with some precision from what has occurred in the military within the out to what has occurred in the various wars in which the United States has fought since 1945. To do that, ill look at four wars and ask you to consider a couple of things ward regard to the wars. Some people would not call them wars because there is a sense its very difficult to concede that america has lost wars or at very minimum has failed to win wars. A couple considerations about all four of those wars are, number one, that in them, the United States engaged in battles that could sometimes involve the killing of innocent civilians. Number one. And number two, in all those instances the united States Military was not forthright and covered up some of those events during those wars. In the korean war, for example, which began in 1950 there, was what became known as the no gunnery killing where the u. S. Soldiers fearing the north korea n soldiers innovating, killed people thinking they might be soldiers. Thats a violation of the rules of war. The military most distinguish between soldiers and civilians. Over 50 years the military denied that occurred, but in 1999, a Pulitzer Prizewinning expo say by the Associated Press showed on the by a is so of what u. S. Soldiers who were elderly told them, that indeed that did occur. In 1968, in the vietnam war, us soldiers engage net what become known as the mei lei massacre. The army knew what occurred and it knew who was the main proponent of the killing, a lieutenant named william cauley, put it stash imhim in what can best be described as a safe house in a basement of america until he was found by an enterprising journalist, and we know in those two incidents there were patrolly 800 to 900 People Killed. In the Afghanistan War, and the war in iraq, there were other incidents where u. S. Soldiers engaged in the killing of civilians while they were engaged in war. Now, sometimes this happens, but in the instances that we see the most prominent instances, no gunnery where somebody woman killed, mei lei, in and haditha in iraq, the kills were done by soldiers intentionally, not accidents and the same held true in afghanistan. We had in questions but why we were in afghanistan over these last 181 2 years, but the military and civilian leadership kept telling us we were making progress. We didnt see the progress necessarily but that was the perception that we were supposed to believe. It wasnt until december, just a couple of months ago, when the Washington Post revealed what is called the afghanistan papers, did we understand that we had been dereceived during the Afghanistan War . That is to say, every single military leader and civilian leader believed that we were not making progress but not in one instance did anyone tell us we were not making progress. Over those four wars, since 1950, to today, february 24th, 2020, the United States has lost 100,000 u. S. Soldiers in those wars. Where the undertaken in those four countries, and nobody really disagrees about this, but nobody really knows the exact number for sure the range of People Killed is from about 3 million to 6 Million People. But all of those maces, korea, vietnam, those are communist regimes, one is a Nuclear Weapons possessor at this opinion, and afghanistan, iraq, or more dangerous now than when the united States Military invaded. We could say that the politicians are to blame and some people will say that. But in fact, in those four wars, congress met 37 different times in january, in its sessions, and provided unprecedented support to the u. S. Military. Today 740 billion a year. Its fruitful to question why have we lost these wars or why under any realistic objective and reasonable view, United States has been up successful unsuccessful. Its useful to look at the military in korea there was the becoming of cities which were bombing of stiffs which were completely destroyed by the korean requests which motivate recommend them to develop Nuclear Weapons because they couldnt trust the out would not destroy them again. What if is happening because of that, id like to take a look at the military generally and specifically at the u. S. Military academies, which are the places where over the last 200 years, especially west point, the Army Military academy, where the top generals and admirals have originated, where they spend the most formative years of their lives, four years, prior to becoming an officer. But to do that, i mentioned that there were two considerations in regard to the four wars. One was that in each instance, when the were tragedies, in fact where u. S. Soldiers killed i civilians intentionally there was coverup, denial these things even occurred. How can that be . What happened . Is that something new or something that is been continuing for these past 75 years. In 2015dill read a portion from the become at this point the were two former colonels who were working at the Army War College and continue to work at the Army War College, len naar wong and steve garish who pushed a study that is relatively unknown but amazing in its conclusions but yet our civilian society and military society have not co lessed to recognize the coalesced to recognize thety and determine michigan to be done which obviously im urging something should be done. Its basically like this. Wong and garyis believe that, get to, the gravest peril of dishospitaly is what they describe as the facilitation of hypocrisy in army leaders because the learn to talk of one world while living in another the authors sayeth tall fading and rampant radicalization yaleize allowed leader to to espouse high val others and slogging through the mire youve dishonesty and defeat. Forme Army Officers talking about current officers as of 2015. These habits and disregard know truth create, quote, coercive corrosive it cal culture that few acknowledge and few are work to correct the end result, the authors say, is, quote, profession whose members often hold and propagate a false sense of integrity that prevents the profession from addressing or even acknowledging the duplicity and deceit throughout the formation. How does this occur . Welsh thats one reason but where does that come from . How do losses occur . Where does the deceit went the losses come from if use the example of admissions al military academiesening west point and annapolis and colorado springs. Two enroll in a military academy, generally High School Students must receive a nomination from a member of congress. However, those nominations are while necessary sometimes, relatively meaningless in regard to the actual application, and application according to the department of education, to which every college in the country must subtranscribe, is somebody who submits a formal application, a file and then is accepted, rejected, or placed on a waiting list. What the military academies have been doing now it appears for 44 years, and very few people understand or recognize this because theres this perception that theres a nomination system and that nomination system somehow affects the fabrication that is occurring, but it doesnt. It has nothing to do with it. What they do is count students who are in high school, and attend camps camps and indicaten interest in the military academy and on whom they start a file. That is west points term, on whom we file a start. A file started is then translated into an applicant. The actual number of applicants each year, at each military academy, might be about 2,000, at west point last year, 2200 or 1200 students. But to achieve 1200 students, the academies have to offer admission to more than 1200 students. In reality, the admissions rate at every academy, every year, is over 50 . From 2008 to 2018, in twoyear increments, every two years, the admission the acceptance rate was 56 to 70 . Today, and then, the military academies will claim an acceptance rate of 9 for the Naval Academy and 11 for the air force academy, and 11 for west point. Where does this lead us . These statistics are not my statistics. I didnt produce the statistics. I became aware of the statistics by thinking but why we as a country have not succeeded in the wars in which we have engaged. But let me consider one other thing as to what this produces, and this, again, is not my consideration. The social scientist at west point in 2017 conducted another study, and this study, like the wong and farris study from 2015 was publish bid the Army War College. The Army War College is supposed to be the Gold Standard of military research. Its not as though this information is hidden, and their study showed the following, and again ill read an excerpt from the become. In the 1960s, west point according to the the social scientist at west pointtwo of whom are former or prepare military of quote, had to lower academic standards to secure enough studentsup coat quote and the early 1970s it had, quote to accept virtually every qualified candidate in order to make the enrollment quote attempt unfloat. From the 70s to 90s, quote, west point continue its qualitative decline. Eventually, the intellectual capacity of the student body at west point hit bottom and remains there today. Some cadets this is according to information from the authors who are at west point and who produced the study some of the cadets produced test scores so low they would not qualify or barely qualify them to enlist at the lower ranks, quote, the worst year for the academy in this regard was 2006 when 25 of its test takers and army tests fell below the minimum officer candidate school. Officer candidate school is not way to enter the army. West point accepted students, quote, who scored in the category four range of the test which enlisted recruiting is the lowest allowable qualifying score. America has been losing wars without understanding why. The authors of the study say, this trend of deteriorating mental standards, strangely enough has generally escaped the notice of social scientists and historians. The military academies have another issue outside of their mischaracterization of the admission standards and the acceptance rate, and that deals with Sexual Assault, which of course is a problem within the military as well. Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars dollars in t years the military cannot produce the Sexual Assault rate in the force, soldiers on soldiers, below about 20,000 a year. Today at the military academies, they dont have to report, like every other college, is required to do, the number of crimes that occur on campus that throw military academies are exempt from michigan called the cleary act, but because sexual issues and assaults became so prominent, Congress Passed a separate law for the military academies to require them to produce studies that showed what the Sexual Assaults rates were for males and females at the academies. You will hear the military say, regretably, that we cant compare apples and oranges, that civilian colleges are different from military colleges, and that the Sexual Assault rate at the civilian colleges and military colleges is, quote, on par with the Sexual Assault rate everywhere else. That is not an accurate statement by the military and the militarys own studies, and the department of justice studies, the most prominent study from 2013 shows otherwise the department of justice study in evaluating all College Students in america, community college, fouryear, Research Schools as well, found a Sexual Assault rate of 6. 1 women students at civilian colleges per 1,000 women students. 6. 1 per 1,000. If you make a fuller analysis and compare that with the pentagon studiys, required by congress, the Sexual Assault rate of women student at the academies is over 30 per youre. 30 women per year, per 100,000 women. 6. 1 versus 30. Its about five times greater the likelihood of Sexual Assault for a woman who attends one of the military academies. There are any number of other reasons why we have difficulty winning wars, and a lot of them stem from the quality of the generals who get their educations at the academies and ill round out and end with this description of what happens inside the military academies opposite these students are admit once these students are admitted. At the academies, as has been the case for over 200 years, with regard to west point, the majority of the instructors are military officers who receive a masters degree after one or two years and no matter how smart they are and how good they are as people and in every respect, and most of them are, they are nonetheless vastly less experienced than anybody else who teaches similar colleges in the United States. They do not have a professional doctorate or a doctorate in their disciplines. They do not have experience and they do not have scholarly work behind them. They rotate through the military academies and teach the cadets. The majority of the courses. A colonel once told me when i was arguing with him that these soldiers, soldier teacher, who would rotate in they rotate in every two outlers and then gone. 60 of the faculty is gone after two oar the years, they should have professional Development Experiences and this colonel, who was second in command in one of

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