"Capt Lou" wrote in message
...

I know an auxiliarist
friend of mine who had long hair and was told to cut it.

You're talking about the military. They need more people, so their solution
is to turn away people for stupid reasons. People like to be club members.
It helps them deal with the voids in their lives. Anyone is suspect if they
don't wear the hat and the secret decoder ring. Never mind talent.

I've read that when Intel was a young company, new hires used to walk by
Andy Grove's office, peek in, and scurry off to ask older employees about
that weird guy who did nothing but stare out the window for most of the day.
They were told not to bother him, because although he was a bit odd, every
time he spent a day staring out the window, he came up with an idea that
made the company a ****load of money. But, he looked odd. Not like us.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message news:KkhNb.519

You're talking about the military. They need more people, so their
solution
snip
disregard ignorant rant.



I've read that when Intel was a young company, new hires used to walk by
Andy Grove's office, peek in, and scurry off to ask older employees about

When Intel was a young company, there weren't any older employees. Their
corporate portrait looked like a cast photo from "Revenge of the Nerds".

"John Gaquin" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
news:KkhNb.519

You're talking about the military. They need more people, so their
solution
snip
disregard ignorant rant.

Ya think? :-)

Five years ago, my neighbor's 18 year old nephew decided that more than
anything, he wanted to graduate from fixing cars, something he can do
blindfolded, to working on sexy fighter jets. But, he's ridiculously
nearsighted, so Air Force recruiters here (Rochester) told him he couldn't
join. He ended up having his congressman investigate, and found there was no
such exclusion for the job the kid was hoping for. The erroneous recruiters
wasted a year of the kid's life before being corrected. When I was 18, I
inquired about flying jets and was told the same thing about eyesight, but
at least that makes sense in the case of a pilot.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message news:RUuNb.935

......so Air Force recruiters here (Rochester) told him he couldn't
join. He ended up having his congressman investigate, and found there was
no
such exclusion for the job the kid was hoping for.

So what you had was a couple of recruiters who didn't know their stuff in
detail, which was an unfortunate occurrence for your friend's nephew. Your
earlier post made it sound as if such things were established general policy
among all the military services. That's not at all the same thing.

"John Gaquin" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
news:RUuNb.935

......so Air Force recruiters here (Rochester) told him he couldn't
join. He ended up having his congressman investigate, and found there
was
no
such exclusion for the job the kid was hoping for.

So what you had was a couple of recruiters who didn't know their stuff in
detail, which was an unfortunate occurrence for your friend's nephew.
Your
earlier post made it sound as if such things were established general
policy
among all the military services. That's not at all the same thing.



Of course it's not a written policy. But, it's a major source of fodder for
comedians, movie makers and quite a few former soldiers who know that the
military mentality is often centered around nonsensical layers of red tape
and inefficiency.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message newsHxNb.946


Of course it's not a written policy. But, it's a major source of fodder
for
comedians, movie makers and quite a few former soldiers who know that the
military mentality is often centered around nonsensical layers of red tape
and inefficiency.

The "...military mentality...". Exactly what is that? An example of
exactly the kind of bias that some people find oh, so clever and
sophisticated, but aggravates the bejesus out of me. You will find as much
or probably more rigidity and tunnel-vision in *any* large bureaucracy [such
as the Dept. of the Interior, or Dept. HHS, for example] without nearly the
corresponding skill and benefit to our society as a whole. And yet, people
still love to toss out the derogatory lines about the military. Sad,
really.

"John Gaquin" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
newsHxNb.946


Of course it's not a written policy. But, it's a major source of fodder
for
comedians, movie makers and quite a few former soldiers who know that
the
military mentality is often centered around nonsensical layers of red
tape
and inefficiency.

The "...military mentality...". Exactly what is that? An example of
exactly the kind of bias that some people find oh, so clever and
sophisticated, but aggravates the bejesus out of me. You will find as
much
or probably more rigidity and tunnel-vision in *any* large bureaucracy
[such
as the Dept. of the Interior, or Dept. HHS, for example] without nearly
the
corresponding skill and benefit to our society as a whole. And yet,
people
still love to toss out the derogatory lines about the military. Sad,
really.



The "mentality" would sound like fiction if I hadn't been hearing about it
from my father since I was old enough to understand it. He spent 8 years in
the Navy beginning in 1941, flying a Grumman TBF Avenger (torpedo bomber).
He and his cohorts used to get flak for using too much small ammo. The
pilots' theory was that a little cannon fire caused Japanese ship side
gunners to get rattled, which bought the TBF Avengers the 30 seconds they
needed to get down nice and low and line up their gifts. The people who kept
track of the ammo didn't understand what it meant to be in warrior mode.

If the "mentality" exists in other government organizations, it's somewhat
less meaningful because it doesn't involve human lives. There's always a
place for people who are only comfortable in church committes, where the
blame for mistakes is diffused. But, it has no place in the military.