Reading some comments on the Facebook page for parents of cadets at my daughter's school. As expected, finding oh my child hates it and wants out but I know this is good for him, its the way the military is, pressure makes diamonds yadda yadda yadda.
I am being nice and not pointing out to these people that the Corps of Cadets is not the military....no matter how much the parents want to think otherwise.
1 comment:
Things must be a lot different in the States, but up here, military "cadet" schools are nearly unknown, and universally distrusted. Some were left over from the British occupation of 1770, but most have closed their doors because most Canadians think the military is essentially a stupid institution. Necessary, perhaps, but then, so is a plumber, and in fact, a plumber would be more useful in day to day life.
I think its a fundamental difference. Like, you have football teamwork, we have individual hockey. We NEVER have political hacks which were former Generals or Colonels, so the road to political power is never through the military.
Maybe it is because we look at our history, and all the military which took power was from somewhere else. Which we had to get rid of sooner or later. Historically speaking that is. Growing up, we were told that there is a separation between "executive (military)" and "legislative (lawmaking)" branches, as well as a much clearer separation between church and state. (It is actually illegal to open a legislative session with a prayer. Separation really MEANS separation. There is squawking about it in Quebec as we speak!)
A further difference is that our "cadets" are much younger. Army, Navy and Air cadets are all under 18, and most young people consider "cadets" to be kids stuff, like cub scouts or brownies.
This evalutation of the Canadian attitude has been roiling in my mind for some time, some of it in response to your actions in placing your girl into a military academy, and some of it from other bloggers, not all of whom are American OR Canadian. The fundamental distrust of Canadians for Military leadership is clearly shown in a book I just read this morning. A mere 29 pages, yet it is so clearly shows what is wrong with a Military when it gets out of the field and into the world of pensions, benefits, and recognition of service.
Its the autobiography of Capt Andrew Bulger, of the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles. The autobiography is a bit self serving in that he carefully documents a sterling and remarkable service record and STILL gets passed over for promotion because, well, he can't buy his commission, and he is not from auld England don't cha know.
Its only a few pages, you might like it.
http://archive.org/stream/cihm_48336#page/n5/mode/2up
I hesitate to draw conclusions...the brush strokes are too wide for conclusions at this time. But perhaps you have some ideas where to take this argument.
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