Hello SD,
What do soldiers in the US army think of Trump? Are they unquestionably supportive of him? How about COs and higher-ups? I understand how important soldiers value the idea of fighting for one’s country, but does that mean they automatically would obey military commands from Trump? He has been very polarizing for sure, and I am just curious if soldiers who disagree with or don’t like him are finding themselves loath to be representing him. If so, how does a soldier reconcile this with his superiors? Do those who hate Trump fear being labeled traitors, and vice versa, do those who support him fear being labeled ignorant or morally bankrupt? Also, is it getting harder to enforce a culture of military groupthink with millennial culture encouraging individuality in all aspects of life? It seems to me recruits are smarter and more aware…less gung ho than in previous generations. People might not be as willing to die for their country now that they know exactly how Trump thinks.
Thanks,
Dave
I don’t see how you’re going to get a solid answer to the first question. Lot’s of people who are (or more likely were) in the military can answer what they think of Trump politically but being in the military is just one factor in a person’s political outlook. I believe the generalization that current and ex-military members are more likely to be conservative/GOP leaning than the electorate as a whole is accurate, and a lot of people voted for Trump because he isn’t a Democrat (or says he’s not anymore anyway) and/or wasn’t Hillary Clinton. but there are certainly a large number of military/ex-military who are left/Democratic leaning and would never vote for Trump. A forum like this is where you’d be more likely to find them.
But on the further statements about being willing to follow orders with Trump as CinC, this makes an enormous leap beyond ‘what do they think of him’ as in ‘would they vote for him’. Likewise you seem to conflate ‘support’ as in give thumbs up in a job approval poll as president with being willing to obey orders, two extremely different things. There is a positive and necessary ‘groupthink’ in the military to follow lawful orders. There isn’t supposed to be a groupthink to politically support somebody, and again I’m sure there are plenty of serving military who don’t politically support Trump, though perhaps not as large a % as those who didn’t politically support Obama. But there was no real world inkling of mutiny against Obama (anonymous people say all kinds of stuff on the internet that is meaningless), and there’s no reason to expect any v Trump IMO, unless you add a hypothetical about Trump issuing illegal or crazy orders…but that’s a hypothetical.
I can only talk about my own direct experiences during the G W Bush administration.
At boot camp, they have photos of the entire chain of command posted. Each is in a picture frame, and it goes I think President, Secretary of Defense, General of the Army, and so on down until the drill instructors are near the bottom. I had to regurgitate what the chain of the command was, and the names of who is currently occupying those positions.
So on a formal, institutional level, yeah, you are part of an organization that is prepared to do the bidding of your leaders. If Trump orders an operation, it’s going to get done. If the mission were exceptionally dangerous or ethically questionable, a few lower ranking enlisted - maybe even a few junior officers - might refuse, but they would simply be removed from duty and others would take their place. They would then be court martialed.
In addition, the attitude of many junior enlisted I knew is they *want *to see a war. They are soldiers - this is what they signed up for. This is what they are training for. They want to go and shoot the people designated the enemy. The idea of going into Iran or North Korea and cleaning out that nest of ‘evil’ people is appealing to them.
The NCOs who had actually seen combat were not nearly as gung ho, of course. I personally was in the middle, and today I just think about how if I had seen combat and had to try to kill enemy fighters, there’s a real risk I’d be the one killed instead and I’m glad I didn’t have to go.
They did show Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 at the on base movie theatre, I recall. And there was open talk about how a specific missions seemed excessively risky, or how the wars in the middle East seemed like they were not going to be won, etc. But it’s just talk - in general, the military is at Trumps disposal.
The veterans I work with (most of my office) are generally conservative older white males. Most of them like Trump but regularly complain that he should keep his mouth Trump. As far as I can tell, the biggest motivator for most of them is distrust (and sometimes hatred) of immigrants.
I’m a veteran and I’m appalled by Trump, but most of my office seems to be with him, at least nominally.