R Wing
SENIOR MEMBER
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- May 23, 2016
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It should not be news to anyone that the army feels what is going on in the street. Also note that this was not a Corps Commanders Conf. This was a Formation Commanders Conf. which means all ranks at Maj Gen and higher were there. In essence this was a sounding board for the CoAS to hear from a much larger body of officers what he/army should do.
So before people start attacking everything or anything pertaining to the army, this forum probably has given the CoAS his first real set of feedback from his own constituency.
My take is that army, traditionally, has been very sensitive to the street. If the army is being perceived negatively, hopefully this will lead to changes at top because usually people at the top have avoided dragging the rest of the institution down with themselves. I would think this calculus is playing out in the mind of the CoAS.
Blain Sb, the dangerous tendency here is not about amount of sensitivity to the street. We can all agree that they are very sensitive about that, since it legitimates their power monopoly (which, by all modern/comparative definitions is exceptional, unaccountable, and deep state-esque). Unless you include banana republics or mil dictatorships, in which case it's about right.
The real danger is how this sensitivity is perceived. They tend to become reflexively defensive rather than sympathetic to the emotional outpouring. This means that genuine criticism that they should take into account instead becomes weaponized propaganda that they must crush.
The difference in understanding (above) is subtle, but the outcome is world's apart.
Given the arrests, night raids, etc., and their history, it is pretty clear which option they will choose --- and therein lies the problem.
How any formation or Corps Commander Conf (or what have you) can take a guy who is sitting there on an extension, and has now become so controversial for the right reasons, is simply beyond me. But, of course, you will go back to the circular logic of command chain, which apparently leaves no room for moral courage, resigning, or fixing the system (since all you have are 'yes men.')