It should come as no surprise that Ukraine is stooping to use low intelligence troops in its military, and there are even allegations of them using those with DOWNs Syndrome. We also know how the US did the same thing during the Vietnam War—less the DOWNS recruits. As during the unpopular and illegal war in Vietnam, many of the clever ones are escaping the call-up to the military by paying bribes to get out of serving, or simply escaping the country. The new draft mobilization law gives a lot of strange exemptions, I guess now you can join the circus and run away from the Ukrainian military, or just know the right people, and pay, and free you are!
Shanghaied in Kiev or Odessa
But don’t be of suitable age and with some semblance of mental and physical aptitude on the streets of Kiev, or you will find yourself beaten by a press-gang, shoved into a van, and sent off to a training camp for a bit of rudimentary training for a few weeks, if you are lucky, and then sent as cannon fodder to the front.
Last year I had some military age Ukrainians visiting me in Georgia, and when I asked how they managed to keep out of service and how they had crossed the border into Europe, I was told that “such things are not to be discussed, as there are many ways”. It is interesting that they were paying for their vacation in Georgia from the financial assistance that Germany and Poland had provided for them to supplement their needs as legal refugees.
Now we are witnessing all the saber-rattling from France, Germany and Poland. As reported by DW News, Germany has deployed its first troops to Lithuania, and claiming that they are only there are to protect against a Russian invasion, as they ‘claim’ it is not a matter of if there will be, but only when.
But where will they get the troops?
This is the question that most in the West are sidestepping, which may explain many unexplainable things, like turning a blind eye to illegal refugees flooding into the United States from Mexico, and not just for the purpose of changing voting and population demographics but to provide a pool of fresh blood for the armed services.
There are many reasons, at least in terms of the US military, that young people don’t want to join up, mainly because the pool of those who can pass mental and physical tests is drying up, so many young people with a police record, weight and health issues from a continuous diet of junk food, and being labeled as a loser for even considering a military career in the time of aggressive US foreign policy.
The US Military Journal, Newspaper Stars and Stripes touches upon this issue, though without delving deeper into other issues at the forefront of the debate around the recruiting crisis, such as conservatives’ assertions that the military has become too “woke” and that this has created a new stigma to counter.
The major problem for US military recruiting does, however, seem to be that the idea of “generational service” where children of serving or former personnel follow their family members into the military has come to a screaming halt. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs have caused widespread disgust amongst the rank and file, who tend to be drawn from the more socially conservative parts of the US population, southern whites, African Americans, and Hispanics, and Christians in those ethnicities in particular.
This is in stark opposition to the Officer Corps, which appears to have been thoroughly captured at the higher levels by the “woke” wing of the democrat party, with enlisted personnel being forced to attend “Drag Queen” shows, Gay Pride events, and endure countless sessions of “anti-racism” (more appropriately described as white guilt) sessions.
Not only has this hammered recruiting numbers, but enlisted personnel are leaving the military in record numbers, causing a severe shortfall in troop numbers. Those who remain are spending more time in what are political reeducation courses than conducting combat training, with detrimental effects on combat readiness.
Loophole masters
Meanwhile, the European contributions to NATO are not in any better a state. One thing they are adept at, however, is finding loopholes that justify them bending or breaking the rules of their own constitutions, international commitments, and international law. One example is the German deployment of troops to the Baltic republics. As with the deployment to Afghanistan, the bombing by the Luftwaffe of Belgrade in 1999, and the destruction of Libya, the German deployment to Lithuania is actually in breach of the German constitution.
We see the European disdain for constitutional order and the rule of law also has infected their puppets in Ukraine. Ukrainian law stipulates specific requirements for military service. Under obvious pressure from the US and EU, these are being ignored or discarded, with horror stories of the remobilization of those who have already lost limbs, the conscription of those with preexisting medical conditions, and those who are mentally deficient.
The Ukrainians also want to extend conscription to women, a sure sign of impending disaster, both military and demographic. We also see this in the idea that NATO officers can plan military actions that NATO aerial surveillance can provide real-time command and control and targeting data for Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, but “No! NATO is not a party to the war!
How dare you suggest it!?!”
One can only marvel at the patience of the Russian leadership. Can you imagine if the Russians had acted in a similar way during the US led invasion of Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Libya?
McNamara’s Morons, or Biden’s Sweeties?
As discussed, the US and other NATO forces are falling short of recruits, and this is especially bad in the US as in response to “wokeness in the military.” And there is a historical precedent. During the Vietnam War, as part of some sort of social experiment for those who did not have the physical strength or IQ high enough, those with mental disabilities were drafted and recruited, and called McNamara’s Morons.
These unfortunate soldiers were named after then serving US Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara. The claimed purpose of this program was to provide opportunity for those who could not find opportunity in civilian life because of their lack of skills and intelligential abilities, roughly 100,000 men were recruited (some would say shanghaied).
However, the real purpose was to swell the ranks, so as to take off pressure from drafting college age men or those from upper-class families, like GW Bush, Joe Biden and Dick Chaney. These illustrious individuals, as with so many of their peers, found ways out of the draft with deferments and finding ways to get assigned to National Guard Units at home, and more often than not, did not even attend regular drills, as was the case with former US president GW Bush Jr.
Who can blame them, and many other Americans, who did not want to go around the world to kill innocents, or be killed for some immoral war? Unfortunately, the poor and also, as we see with “McNamara’s morons”, those with learning disabilities and mental impairments, didn’t have such luck, being sent into the meat grinder of the Vietnam War. We see the same thing in Ukraine, where numerous videos of young men with mental disabilities, including Downs syndrome, are sent to the front, while the children of the Ukrainian elite party it up in Kiev, Lvov, and the bright lights of European and American cities. They say that now the US military has improved, at least in theory, and is purportedly a peacetime army, but the youth still don’t want to volunteer, as there is no longer a draft.
As the Heritage Foundation describes so accurately, woke ideology undermines military readiness in various ways. It undermines cohesiveness by emphasizing differences based on race, ethnicity, and sex. It undermines leadership authority by introducing questions about whether promotion is based on merit or quota requirements.
The same thing is happening in Ukraine, with much public fanfare from media and governments alike about “a war for gay rights”, while the cancer of western wokeness infests the elites, part of the price to pay for US and European support. Is it any wonder why so many Ukrainian men are fleeing the conflict?
The once considered normal kind of “guy” no longer wants to join up, especially when he, she or it can get ahead in their careers, rank and assignments, just for being different – and not what was once considered the standard all American soldier’s soldier. It is understandable why the public perspective of joining the military, when there is not a legitimate war to fight, and when the peacetime army, of the US and NATO, is anything BUT that!
Henry Kamens, columnist, expert on Central Asia and Caucasus, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
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