Discussion of Obama's military service

[hothulamaui]

Originally Posted by Greenery9

Obama was never in the military and has no clue how it operates!

neither did Bill Clinton, Franklin Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, Warren Harding, Woodrow Wilson, William Taft, Grover Cleveland, Martin Van Buren, John Q. Adams and John Adams. what is your point?

[monkeywrenching]

Originally Posted by AnUnidentifiedMale

The last few candidates for President who had military experience lost the election. Obviously, Americans want something other than a warrior to lead the country.

too bad the current president has no earthly idea of how to lead anyone let alone the military. maybe he can be a standin for the catholic diocese and lead the priests to the NAMLB association.

[Opyelie]

Originally Posted by Greenery9

Obama was never in the military and has no clue how it operates!

Was Clinton? Oh that's right, and HE never 'deserted", just ran like a bunny to the UK

I'm with ozgal on this one (as a fellow Aussie) - I really don't "get" the significance or otherwise of military service to the office of POTUS

[artemis agrotera]

Originally Posted by Opyelie

Was Clinton? Oh that's right, and HE never 'deserted", just ran like a bunny to the UK

I'm with ozgal on this one (as a fellow Aussie) - I really don't "get" the significance or otherwise of military service to the office of POTUS

hmm, apparently it either means that they can lead.

Or that they can follow.

With our upcoming elections, I'm wanting to understand each party's policy on things like health & education, fiscal responsbility, infrastructure planning, immigration & so on - whether they served in the army is not even considered.

Originally Posted by zuendel

Alright, I'll bite.

As he hasn't served in the military, it might be necessary to first establish what implications military service or lack thereof have on a person. Pros/Cons respectively.

ProServe:

- sense of camaraderie
- discipline (at least while serving)
- contact with social strata that one normally wouldn't get to know
- learn the ability to deal with excessive boredom
- get a sense of how the military complex wastes ressources (human and material)
- introductary course in leading smallish groups of people (if not already learned on other occasions)
- having fun making loud noises and blowing up training targets


ConServe:

- confirmed excessive abuse of alcohol in free time
- possible total obediance/total resistance to military authority
- lack of other education while serving

This from the serve-side.

Perhaps people like avengerfire, momonkey or others who didn't serve can illuminate the nonserve-side.

whilst you make some interesting points, at what point does this make you a better president?

[zuendel]

Originally Posted by Ozgal

Whilst you make some interesting points, at what point does this make you a better president?

True, my post was intended to start an actual discussion about possible advantages/disadvantages to military service. That obviously didn't happen, as such non-servers as momonkey or avengerfire decided not to participate.


As to usefulness of military service to a president: the president is commander-in-chief, he has to oversee his generals and/or decide on strategical goals.

A normal serving member of the military never rises to the ranks needed to understand/excel in these situations. Most military service(wo)men stay on the 'grunt' side of war, and rarely get to higher comissioned officer ranks.

In my view, the only valid military experience for a president would be the rank of general (lt./mj./br.).

So, no: I think military service is irrelevant to a president (exception: if he was a general). But I hoped to get some insights from the people who claim that it indeed matters.