I did 4 years active Army. I’m also a marketing professional.
It blows my mind how hard the Army screwed up.
TL/DR everyone in the Army knows who the useless shitbags are and those dumbass recruitment campaigns were appealing to exactly the kind of soldiers that everyone hates serving with.
I was an intel analyst in an infantry brigade. I did time in brigade s2, which was about half women and half men. I also did a year in an infantry battalion s2 shop, which was all men.
My experience was that the support units have way too many unaccountable dregs. These are the people who signed up for the easiest jobs they qualified for and were the first people to go on profile or take other actions to make themselves non-deployable.
Enlisted Women were particularly guilty of this. Hard-charging women were rare as fuck. Lazy women were the norm. There was a huge gap between female enlisted and female officers, in terms of quality and usefulness. Female officers were generally pretty good. It takes a different breed of woman to forego the easy route of college to white collar job and trade it for ROTC and them Army life.
I love women, but my time in the infantry battalion was my easiest time in the Army because I wasn’t carrying anyone else’s weight for them.
The Army majorly fucked up by trying to recruit the complainers, the idiots, and other groups that simply weren’t going to ever fit in to a “We do hard shit and bitch about it but we fucking get it done” culture.
Amen bro. I went from enlisted infantry to warrant officer pilot. I was shocked after 6 years of active duty infantry how fucked up the rest of the army was. There were prolly 5 infantry/SF types in my WOCS class. We tried to blue falcon the shit bags they were pushing through. Mostly females, particularly black females. We wrote a memo and all the WO candidates that were infantry signed it listing names and stating that these people shouldn’t be in the army let alone officers. Fell on deaf ears and we just got smoked for it. Well, they though they were smoking us. Can’t smoke a rock….My easiest day in the infantry was much harder than any day in the rest of the army. Other than haji loves shooting at helos.
I was on Battalion CQ one day as the runner, and I got tasked with running a packet of stuff over to the post admin building. These were the soldiers who handled all the S1 paperwork from the line units for the entire post.
Sooooo many fat/pregnant ugly white girls and black women. All of a sudden I understood why S1 paperwork was always getting fucked up. It wasn't the poor bastards in battalion or brigade S1. It was the legion of non-deployable shitbags in the room I just described.
Why do non-deployable positions need to be filled by soldiers? Real soldiers don't seek out non-deployable positions unless they're in their last 2 years before retirement. A non-deployable position, by definition, seems like a perfect fit for a civilian DoD employee.
If you think HRs fucked now wait until the contract runs out…
…or there’s an election.
At a base non deployable and frankly much higher more centralized level, after a total regulation review and massive reduction YES civilian contractors make sense for HR/S1.
We don’t need S1 daily and they can’t do the job with the systems we have, which are 1970s meets 1980s at best. The print outs look like assembly language because they are… then there’s automating the manual forms 🤪 …unnecessary echelons aka layers.
A lot of stuff can be handled without additional layers aka echelons.
We quit Afghanistan because it’s not worth it. Just like Russia in 1989.
The last “war” we 🇺🇸 lost militarily was the Philippines 1942.
The last military victory that can be claimed on us was North Korea 1951. We kept South Korea, status quo ante.
But by all means savor the victory.
I forgot , I’m dealing with people who think stabbing 2 women on a train is victory. It’s that asymmetrical resistance thing…
Have fun with your new friends.
We already know them.
PS - If Russia 🇷🇺 wants to keep Iran, good luck. Everyone under 60 hates them, they hate Hizbollah more, Hizbollah is Iran’s muscle against the Iranians.
Don’t forget the Houthis, because Iran will… They can’t afford the Hooties… PS the Red Sea was closed 1967-1977 because of the 1967 war, yet here we are…
Now hopefully in 50 days this will all be changed when Trump is sworn in. We don’t need the hassle, as you’ll discover neither did you.
The Marines still get it. Perhaps that’s because they school both their officers and enlisted ranks in their history and traditions. BTW, the Napoleon quote is spot on. Read any good war memoir, especially by an infantryman, and you’ll learn that they didn’t fight for “benefits.” They fought for their comrades and for things that don’t have a price tag.
That's one of the interesting things I noticed, it's the US Army numbers that tanked. The rest don't seem as bad but I'm not sure why if anyone has insight on that.
Wow man. You nailed this. In my 20 plus years in the army I watched it go from WWII inspired bad assery to having more meetings about sexual harassment than about war fighting. We lost our way as a nation, the military is just a part of it.
Thanks man. Yeah. How the hell did the army stop being about projecting power and more about protecting mentally ill they thems from "micro aggressions?"
How many leave Corporate life to get away from Karen at HR?
Or government, the academy?
Etc?
Our current problem; this stuff was always background, make work jobs. They have pushed HR to the foreground. It takes up 30% or more of training time.
This time stolen is killing people or equipment later-
The Anglo-Zionist Empire (London, Rome, DC) is in terminal decline. A controlled demolition like 911. The litmus test for an intelligent person is have they figured out 911? They have had 22 years to figure it out. Do not waste your time on marketing a flaming pile of dogshit that even Goebbles would have the dignity to avoid.
Btw, Nazis/CIA and Zionists/Israel are two wings of the same genocidal bird. It is called the Hegelian Dialectic and is not just used in Democrat vs Republican.
Just an observation but seems like things started to go south when women were admitted. That seems to have opened the door to all the FUBAR cucks we’re seeing now. As Rush Limbaugh used to say, “the military’s job is to kill people & break things”, not practice “diversity” & all these other touchy-feely, limp-wristed practices.
ok, I’m Russian who’s been living in the States for 30 years and right now visiting Moscow for the first time since Covid. Women wearing dresses and heels for breakfast at restaurants. Men looking serious and polite. Low obesity, few homeless - saw two in 3 days, no dyed hair land whales sipping from 32oz cups. I loved the States of 50s and 60s and it looks like Russians are trying to recreate it. At least for now.
My heart goes out to all Matts, Dicks and Bobs who had their posterity and purpose taken away.
This definitely resonates. These ads totally do alienate the usual demographic.
When I was heavily considering military service after college, one of the main factors in my deciding against it was that the experience would be more like working under an HR department than going on an adventure with the boys. The military can't be that sort of place.
irony is watching people howl over men claiming to be women dominating women’s sports while proclaiming that women can serve as well as men in combat positions. a big rule in marketing is selling something that people want. another huge rule is not pissing off your largest demographic. niche markets may suffice for some products, but thats not the military. there are some niche requirements, but combat arms isn’t it.
The US Gvt is deathly afraid of White Patriots, especially those with military training. I wouldn't be too sure any of this has been a recruiting mistake.
Politics is power. The Army doesn’t wield it, but our loyalty to the Constitution is a definite barrier. We also will not frankly repress the American people.
We’re a large dangerous body that is an obstacle to unconstitutional and authoritarian power.
“ a willful desire to destroy the Army.” Comprehensively. You’re just looking at marketing.
Yes of course the Marketing was destructive, you should see what they did to training and morale.
Leadership is over- they’ll drive you out.
The Army could not be co-opted so it was destroyed.
Thanks, Marcellino! Great work in analyzing the brand (and actual) deterioration of the Army.
I like your application of brand analysis and development to church dynamics also.
Most mainline churches have been far ahead of the Army in promoting brands that are all but guaranteed to drive away current and prospective members.
The brand that might actually work for churches would be like the early Apple ad of the 1984-style dissident smashing the image of Big Brother.
All age groups know in some way that they live in a quasi-real environment shaped by relentless commercial/political herding. Blade Runner, Truman Show, The Prisoner, Blade, Matrix, etc. have introduced generations to the current and future omnipresence of technological mind/life control.
Torah/Gospel has always proclaimed a separate people/Kingdom of God that is not of the "world."
Perhaps someday a brand will emerge that popularizes and celebrates a rejection/unmasking of the matrix and a turning to the eternal/divine. Living in the world and in the kingdom of God is a balancing act, but a genuine task. "Find your greatness."
Bottom line, via Kierkegaard, "The crowd is untruth."
But the churches (what K. calls "Christendom") love to follow the crowd and the "truth" of the crowd. My church is installing solar panels. Very virtuous!
Even the intro to marketing students would do better in making an add. It’s simple voice of the customer research, benefits are manipulations that sweeten the pot, they don’t make the pot.
I'm sure I'll get pushback. I'm too old to fight. Three young "Matts" I am a father to. I am activley teaching them to not serve. Not for this country's values. Not their blood. Not this time. I saw exactly what happened to my cousin "Matt" in Iraq. My line is done defending this current constitution.
You missed Sir that our service is generational, same families over generations. It isn’t, or wasn’t called the family business idly.
The majority of new recruits came from the same families generationally. That is, or was the core. My uncles and Grandfather served, my brother and I served. Not dissimilar to the police- with significant overlap BTW. The Validation is to, frankly, your ancestors and family. It may not be a career but you’ll serve.
Well sir , it emphasizes what we already know and what military families began telling their children. The real problem is the nonsense we endure daily, some of which is lethal. That and all efforts bought to naught. Generations fought, fathers and sons living, for naught. Shame was our reward. Meanwhile vast amounts of money were made by shirkers. We had long learned to be stone faced at nonsense. Real betrayal and futility? You can’t gloss over such.
There’s something else; we swore to the Constitution …and… it’s GONE. Just GONE. 💨
There are no words for how unmoored that leaves us and America. Pushkin* himself if American could not explain what that means…. Beyond… unmoored. Not just us, the nation. We may be a leading indicator.
By the way, much of the fighting is done by “contractors” now, which is the legal word for mercenaries. Mercenaries are illegal, so they’re “contractors.”
More words. Same people as us exactly of course.
Unmoored- but look, here is 💰.
This is madness, of course.
Patriot to cynic? Armed, dangerous Cynics?
Very well. Inshallah (in GI speech, Inshallah is 💩 happens).
*Pushkin was a genius Polyglot, Russian Patriot, 16 languages fluently, invented the Russian dictionary. I don’t know if he ever put what Russia meant to him, but we see now again they so love their soil.
As a "volunteered" veteran of the USMC, and a couple of our wholly unnecessary foreign wars, I no longer encourage young men to join, because I can't do it in good conscience.
And the DoD is definitely hard at work to "do something", which certainly appears to be "destroy our military".
However, and this might sound strange, but perhaps this is all a good thing.
It won't be if we get defeated and conquered, but short of that, here's why-
One thing that the volunteer service has afforded for, is an endless litany of unneeded foreign wars; Wars that were 100% optional. Now, with the US military increasingly impotent and feckless, misguided and ill-prepared, perhaps "we" (The People) can agree that we are sick of these endless, pointless, forever wars of profit, carnage, and death, and finally stop doing them!
Perhaps it's better that our military be reduced to a barely functional entity, that at best, can provide for the DEFENSE of this country, AND NOTHING MORE!
Maybe the hobbling of the US War Machine, will be the death nail for US military imperialism, and begin the dissolution of the MIC, and it's many, blood thirsty acolytes.
It may take us one more try, at using the current military, to go get really humiliated and crushed, in one last stupid foreign war, but if that is what needs to happen, so we can stop bankrupting the country and killing our youth, once or twice per generation, just to satisfy a bunch of soulless ghoul politicians and their MIC co-conspirators, then so be it!
It's the only possible silver lining I can find on this cloud.
I did 4 years active Army. I’m also a marketing professional.
It blows my mind how hard the Army screwed up.
TL/DR everyone in the Army knows who the useless shitbags are and those dumbass recruitment campaigns were appealing to exactly the kind of soldiers that everyone hates serving with.
I was an intel analyst in an infantry brigade. I did time in brigade s2, which was about half women and half men. I also did a year in an infantry battalion s2 shop, which was all men.
My experience was that the support units have way too many unaccountable dregs. These are the people who signed up for the easiest jobs they qualified for and were the first people to go on profile or take other actions to make themselves non-deployable.
Enlisted Women were particularly guilty of this. Hard-charging women were rare as fuck. Lazy women were the norm. There was a huge gap between female enlisted and female officers, in terms of quality and usefulness. Female officers were generally pretty good. It takes a different breed of woman to forego the easy route of college to white collar job and trade it for ROTC and them Army life.
I love women, but my time in the infantry battalion was my easiest time in the Army because I wasn’t carrying anyone else’s weight for them.
The Army majorly fucked up by trying to recruit the complainers, the idiots, and other groups that simply weren’t going to ever fit in to a “We do hard shit and bitch about it but we fucking get it done” culture.
Amen bro. I went from enlisted infantry to warrant officer pilot. I was shocked after 6 years of active duty infantry how fucked up the rest of the army was. There were prolly 5 infantry/SF types in my WOCS class. We tried to blue falcon the shit bags they were pushing through. Mostly females, particularly black females. We wrote a memo and all the WO candidates that were infantry signed it listing names and stating that these people shouldn’t be in the army let alone officers. Fell on deaf ears and we just got smoked for it. Well, they though they were smoking us. Can’t smoke a rock….My easiest day in the infantry was much harder than any day in the rest of the army. Other than haji loves shooting at helos.
I was on Battalion CQ one day as the runner, and I got tasked with running a packet of stuff over to the post admin building. These were the soldiers who handled all the S1 paperwork from the line units for the entire post.
Sooooo many fat/pregnant ugly white girls and black women. All of a sudden I understood why S1 paperwork was always getting fucked up. It wasn't the poor bastards in battalion or brigade S1. It was the legion of non-deployable shitbags in the room I just described.
Why do non-deployable positions need to be filled by soldiers? Real soldiers don't seek out non-deployable positions unless they're in their last 2 years before retirement. A non-deployable position, by definition, seems like a perfect fit for a civilian DoD employee.
If you think HRs fucked now wait until the contract runs out…
…or there’s an election.
At a base non deployable and frankly much higher more centralized level, after a total regulation review and massive reduction YES civilian contractors make sense for HR/S1.
We don’t need S1 daily and they can’t do the job with the systems we have, which are 1970s meets 1980s at best. The print outs look like assembly language because they are… then there’s automating the manual forms 🤪 …unnecessary echelons aka layers.
A lot of stuff can be handled without additional layers aka echelons.
I think sabotaging is succeeding, I don’t think it’s a fuck up.
Anyway I’m out now too, for the present.
Remember a lot of this is DOD civilians, or lawful if idiotic orders from politicians.
Damn, that Russian ad is so good. Like, really good. I'd show it to my husband but I don't want to break his heart.
I thought the purpose of the Army was to be a lethal fighting force to defeat our adversaries.
Maybe that's a bit too blunt these days.
We’re so out of our league anymore. Can’t win a war against goat herders but we are going to take on the Russians face to face?
Now do one on how the army weapons systems are over complicated, cripplingly expensive, and of no use if they have to go off-road.
Ha. Dude I’m a marketeer. You do that and I’ll share it.
We’re not losing in battle.
We’re betrayed over and over again at table. By our Diplomatic service and politicians.
We haven’t had a military reverse since 1950 when the Chinese army drove us out of North Korea.
I am taking wars, not every battle or skirmish,
France 1940 is military defeat.
The Philippines 1942 is defeat.
Were the wars lost ?
Generally they’re won then the peace is squandered, and not by the military.
OP Bari Alai
Define OP? I know what it means.
You don’t apparently.
100-200 Taliban vs 33 ~
Killed 10, take 23 prisoner or so.
A skirmish for an Op isn’t a war.
We quit Afghanistan because it’s not worth it. Just like Russia in 1989.
The last “war” we 🇺🇸 lost militarily was the Philippines 1942.
The last military victory that can be claimed on us was North Korea 1951. We kept South Korea, status quo ante.
But by all means savor the victory.
I forgot , I’m dealing with people who think stabbing 2 women on a train is victory. It’s that asymmetrical resistance thing…
Have fun with your new friends.
We already know them.
PS - If Russia 🇷🇺 wants to keep Iran, good luck. Everyone under 60 hates them, they hate Hizbollah more, Hizbollah is Iran’s muscle against the Iranians.
Don’t forget the Houthis, because Iran will… They can’t afford the Hooties… PS the Red Sea was closed 1967-1977 because of the 1967 war, yet here we are…
Now hopefully in 50 days this will all be changed when Trump is sworn in. We don’t need the hassle, as you’ll discover neither did you.
Were you a field grade or general officer by chance?
The Marines still get it. Perhaps that’s because they school both their officers and enlisted ranks in their history and traditions. BTW, the Napoleon quote is spot on. Read any good war memoir, especially by an infantryman, and you’ll learn that they didn’t fight for “benefits.” They fought for their comrades and for things that don’t have a price tag.
That's one of the interesting things I noticed, it's the US Army numbers that tanked. The rest don't seem as bad but I'm not sure why if anyone has insight on that.
Wow man. You nailed this. In my 20 plus years in the army I watched it go from WWII inspired bad assery to having more meetings about sexual harassment than about war fighting. We lost our way as a nation, the military is just a part of it.
Thanks man. Yeah. How the hell did the army stop being about projecting power and more about protecting mentally ill they thems from "micro aggressions?"
I think it’s so much bigger than just negligence. It’s gotta be intentional. No F-ing way Miley doesn’t know his actions are treasonous.
It’s intentional sabotage and undermining.
Let’s look outside the military.
How many leave Corporate life to get away from Karen at HR?
Or government, the academy?
Etc?
Our current problem; this stuff was always background, make work jobs. They have pushed HR to the foreground. It takes up 30% or more of training time.
This time stolen is killing people or equipment later-
The Anglo-Zionist Empire (London, Rome, DC) is in terminal decline. A controlled demolition like 911. The litmus test for an intelligent person is have they figured out 911? They have had 22 years to figure it out. Do not waste your time on marketing a flaming pile of dogshit that even Goebbles would have the dignity to avoid.
Btw, Nazis/CIA and Zionists/Israel are two wings of the same genocidal bird. It is called the Hegelian Dialectic and is not just used in Democrat vs Republican.
https://open.substack.com/pub/juliekelly/p/the-silent-insurrection-general-milleys?r=14enoz&utm_medium=ios
Scary shit that.
Exactly. I read it two days ago and it’s still bothering me. That’s pretty close to a military coup.
But not so close to as COMMIT
to an actual Coup.
Yes, that’s our “leadership” 🤮
Just an observation but seems like things started to go south when women were admitted. That seems to have opened the door to all the FUBAR cucks we’re seeing now. As Rush Limbaugh used to say, “the military’s job is to kill people & break things”, not practice “diversity” & all these other touchy-feely, limp-wristed practices.
ok, I’m Russian who’s been living in the States for 30 years and right now visiting Moscow for the first time since Covid. Women wearing dresses and heels for breakfast at restaurants. Men looking serious and polite. Low obesity, few homeless - saw two in 3 days, no dyed hair land whales sipping from 32oz cups. I loved the States of 50s and 60s and it looks like Russians are trying to recreate it. At least for now.
My heart goes out to all Matts, Dicks and Bobs who had their posterity and purpose taken away.
This definitely resonates. These ads totally do alienate the usual demographic.
When I was heavily considering military service after college, one of the main factors in my deciding against it was that the experience would be more like working under an HR department than going on an adventure with the boys. The military can't be that sort of place.
It isn’t.
But everything that can be done to put up the worst possible image, is done.
I never met anyone in military marketing, btw.
People should know that if it’s not related to war, it’s DOD civilians, and it’s Karen.
irony is watching people howl over men claiming to be women dominating women’s sports while proclaiming that women can serve as well as men in combat positions. a big rule in marketing is selling something that people want. another huge rule is not pissing off your largest demographic. niche markets may suffice for some products, but thats not the military. there are some niche requirements, but combat arms isn’t it.
watch the video of the recent knife attack in mannheim. look for the female cop.
The US Gvt is deathly afraid of White Patriots, especially those with military training. I wouldn't be too sure any of this has been a recruiting mistake.
^Alex Jones consumption level: Appropriate
This thought has crossed my mind too.
Politics is power. The Army doesn’t wield it, but our loyalty to the Constitution is a definite barrier. We also will not frankly repress the American people.
We’re a large dangerous body that is an obstacle to unconstitutional and authoritarian power.
“ a willful desire to destroy the Army.” Comprehensively. You’re just looking at marketing.
Yes of course the Marketing was destructive, you should see what they did to training and morale.
Leadership is over- they’ll drive you out.
The Army could not be co-opted so it was destroyed.
Thanks, Marcellino! Great work in analyzing the brand (and actual) deterioration of the Army.
I like your application of brand analysis and development to church dynamics also.
Most mainline churches have been far ahead of the Army in promoting brands that are all but guaranteed to drive away current and prospective members.
The brand that might actually work for churches would be like the early Apple ad of the 1984-style dissident smashing the image of Big Brother.
All age groups know in some way that they live in a quasi-real environment shaped by relentless commercial/political herding. Blade Runner, Truman Show, The Prisoner, Blade, Matrix, etc. have introduced generations to the current and future omnipresence of technological mind/life control.
Torah/Gospel has always proclaimed a separate people/Kingdom of God that is not of the "world."
Perhaps someday a brand will emerge that popularizes and celebrates a rejection/unmasking of the matrix and a turning to the eternal/divine. Living in the world and in the kingdom of God is a balancing act, but a genuine task. "Find your greatness."
Bottom line, via Kierkegaard, "The crowd is untruth."
But the churches (what K. calls "Christendom") love to follow the crowd and the "truth" of the crowd. My church is installing solar panels. Very virtuous!
Even the intro to marketing students would do better in making an add. It’s simple voice of the customer research, benefits are manipulations that sweeten the pot, they don’t make the pot.
I'm sure I'll get pushback. I'm too old to fight. Three young "Matts" I am a father to. I am activley teaching them to not serve. Not for this country's values. Not their blood. Not this time. I saw exactly what happened to my cousin "Matt" in Iraq. My line is done defending this current constitution.
I wonder why 18 year old young men aren’t signing up to join “the gay army for girls”? They must be unpatriotic or something
No America's army is needed to protect our precious gays and their gay deeds with the white masculine blood.
Banger.
You missed Sir that our service is generational, same families over generations. It isn’t, or wasn’t called the family business idly.
The majority of new recruits came from the same families generationally. That is, or was the core. My uncles and Grandfather served, my brother and I served. Not dissimilar to the police- with significant overlap BTW. The Validation is to, frankly, your ancestors and family. It may not be a career but you’ll serve.
Yes. From your vantage point how does that issue synthesize or impact the conversation about the brand?
Well sir , it emphasizes what we already know and what military families began telling their children. The real problem is the nonsense we endure daily, some of which is lethal. That and all efforts bought to naught. Generations fought, fathers and sons living, for naught. Shame was our reward. Meanwhile vast amounts of money were made by shirkers. We had long learned to be stone faced at nonsense. Real betrayal and futility? You can’t gloss over such.
There’s something else; we swore to the Constitution …and… it’s GONE. Just GONE. 💨
There are no words for how unmoored that leaves us and America. Pushkin* himself if American could not explain what that means…. Beyond… unmoored. Not just us, the nation. We may be a leading indicator.
By the way, much of the fighting is done by “contractors” now, which is the legal word for mercenaries. Mercenaries are illegal, so they’re “contractors.”
More words. Same people as us exactly of course.
Unmoored- but look, here is 💰.
This is madness, of course.
Patriot to cynic? Armed, dangerous Cynics?
Very well. Inshallah (in GI speech, Inshallah is 💩 happens).
*Pushkin was a genius Polyglot, Russian Patriot, 16 languages fluently, invented the Russian dictionary. I don’t know if he ever put what Russia meant to him, but we see now again they so love their soil.
Bravo.
Fantastic article!
As a "volunteered" veteran of the USMC, and a couple of our wholly unnecessary foreign wars, I no longer encourage young men to join, because I can't do it in good conscience.
And the DoD is definitely hard at work to "do something", which certainly appears to be "destroy our military".
However, and this might sound strange, but perhaps this is all a good thing.
It won't be if we get defeated and conquered, but short of that, here's why-
One thing that the volunteer service has afforded for, is an endless litany of unneeded foreign wars; Wars that were 100% optional. Now, with the US military increasingly impotent and feckless, misguided and ill-prepared, perhaps "we" (The People) can agree that we are sick of these endless, pointless, forever wars of profit, carnage, and death, and finally stop doing them!
Perhaps it's better that our military be reduced to a barely functional entity, that at best, can provide for the DEFENSE of this country, AND NOTHING MORE!
Maybe the hobbling of the US War Machine, will be the death nail for US military imperialism, and begin the dissolution of the MIC, and it's many, blood thirsty acolytes.
It may take us one more try, at using the current military, to go get really humiliated and crushed, in one last stupid foreign war, but if that is what needs to happen, so we can stop bankrupting the country and killing our youth, once or twice per generation, just to satisfy a bunch of soulless ghoul politicians and their MIC co-conspirators, then so be it!
It's the only possible silver lining I can find on this cloud.
Thanks for the article!