This is what it's like to work for government.

I've done it for a combined 13 years now. I've worked for a County Government and its as true at that level as it is at the Federal Level where I've worked as well. What's true you ask? The Government is a bloated, pointless, meaningless paper pushing nightmare.

If you enjoy working for the Government and think it's a challenging and meaningful job, you're probably a douche bag. In real life, even the military is a vast bureaucratic machine. A proud cog in the participatory wheel of the most pointless, meaningless paper pushing you can imagine. Look, if I died tomorrow it wouldn't make the slightest difference to the Army. If the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army died tomorrow or anyone in between us died it wouldn't make a bit of difference. We are all senseless cogs in a bloated, wasteful, senseless wheel.

At some point at least in the military and maybe law enforcement you get to do something that really matters. I got to fight in some battles, perhaps I saved a life or two? I don't know. Perhaps Iraq is better off today... probably. But if I hadn't participated or stayed back here in the States and pushed paper it wouldn't have changed very much. And no matter how idealistic and raring to go you are when you come into the military, I have bad news. You get about five or six years to actually carry a gun, and then after that you become a paper shoving bureaucrat that the actual Warfighters have to win in spite of, not because you helped them accomplish their mission. The military has a lot of problems, and the longer you stay, the more part of the problem you inevitably become and less a part of the solution. If you refuse to tote the line and buy into the B.S. you don't get promoted and you get thrown out for telling the truth.

You're lucky if you can avoid being a yes man past the company level. Hell, anymore the squad level.

No matter what your job is or what you think - I don't care if you're an Special Forces Guru or a Supply Clerk, officer or enlisted, combat arms or pouge you will inevitably become a Power Point slide machine. You'll write memos and reports no one will ever read that are turned into slides no one cares about or will ever bother to pay attention to. If by the grace of God you kiss enough ass over 20 years you might actually sort-of get to be in charge, and if you follow the institutional inertia which is what got you there in the first place you will make pointless policy designed to placate inept, drooling, child like superiors and elected officials instead of supporting readiness and mission accomplishment. You will NOT be ALL YOU CAN BE. Unless all you can be is a butt kissing yes man who holds to the status quo like a crack addict to a rock.

I'm half expecting some automaton 35 Lima cursed to monitor this blog to report this rant to his politically sensitive superiors and complain about me bad mouthing the military. I don't care, I'm about to retire. In six months I'll be able to really say what I think. Just wait.

Look, the public has a perception that the military is this God-Like, efficient, high-tech organization of hard working, intelligent, and focused people. It's not. It's just another bloated government bureaucracy mindlessly staggering into the 21st century. I've worked here for nigh 13 years and I'm not sure anyone is actually running this thing. When that realization hits you- and it will- it's terrifying.

We look at power point slides and attend briefings on integration of homosexuals and sexual harassment prevention courses instead of training to fight and men die as a result. When we do deploy leaders are far more concerned with force protection than killing the enemy, advancing their careers, and toting the line that spews forth from the cursed middle managers who spend most of their time blinding leaders from situational awareness to cover their asses.

The motive for this lack of aggression is to avoid a nasty (and career ending) ass chewing from their out of touch superiors and not angering the general populace of what ever country we're operating in... supposedly so that they won't continue to support our enemies. It's more "Kill em' with kindness" than "Army Strong." Of course the only people who end up dying is that poor, patriotic, sad bastard who hopefully died having not become as cynical as I have. How can you win a war in which casualties have become totally unacceptable? How can we win a war when even senior leads lack authority to give even the most simple orders?

In fact, I would argue the leading cause of death for the American Soldier is bureaucratic ineptitude, careerism, an an over commitment to force protection. Care for an example? Here you are! Make sure you take notes 35 Lemas.

Let me tell you a fairy tale.

Once upon a time a bunch of Soldiers went to this very dangerous place called the Area of Operations - to build a magic wall. They did so, under fire for most of the building. Many Soldiers died or were injured due to this building under fire.

After the wall was built at the cost of many lives and injury to the Soldiers, the Colonel who led the Soldiers told his boss The General that everything was peaceful and quiet in the Area Of Operations... but he was lying to get promoted. He falsified reports to The General to make things look better than they were so his "Master Plan" wouldn't be exposed for the failure it was! The General wanted violence in the Area of Operations to end, and if he found that the Soldiers fought in the Area of Operations with insurgents every day he would be very mad and the Bad Colonel's promotion would be in jeopardy. The Bad Colonel had gone on 60 Minutes and told everyone the Area of Operations was safe... but he was lying to everyone. He was afraid people would find out and he would no longer get to be a Colonel or not be promoted to Brigadier General, which is what he wanted most of all.

Despite the Bad Colonel's lies, eventually they became suspect when some Soldiers died in combat, and the General wanted to know why they were killed by the enemy after the Bad Colonel had told him all the enemy had left. The Colonel said... I'm not kidding... that there was a problem with the wall which was supposed to magically stop terrorists somehow. How the magic wall worked I'm not sure, but the General believed in the power of the wall and that's all that matters in Army Land. The problem with the magic wall wasn't that it didn't work- it wasn't of uniform height! You see, the Colonel had very snazzy Power Point slides which magically put Generals to sleep. In their slumber, they can be easily influenced by wicked Colonels.

Never mind the EARTH isn't of uniform height so making a wall that long is impossible. Never mind the construction of walls built while being shot at is difficult and Iraqi materials are rarely made to uniform standards... the Colonel told the General all he had to do was rebuild the wall so that it was exactly 15 meters tall and the top had a nice smooth surface. This way he told The General, bad terrorists couldn't hide IEDs between the sections of the wall and kill Soldiers. Then all the Soldiers would be safe and the war in the Area of Operations would be won! Or re-won or whatever... the General's attention span isn't that long, so he forgot the first part about Soldiers dying and falsified reports of enemy attacks and why he and the Bad Colonel were in a meeting in the first place. He was happy to have something to tell his boss The Secretary who was busy sucking up to the Evil Liberal Media and needed an answer that "Measures are being taken."

So the Bad Colonel Jedi Mind Tricked The General into thinking that things weren't really bad in the Area of Operations... and all that need be done was tweeking of the magic wall... and being an idiot The General believed him!

The Bad Colonel sent his Soldiers back out to rebuild the wall under fire... again... this time with the added difficulty of making the top smooth. More Soldiers died making the wall the exact same height with a nice smooth top, and even more died painting the wall blue. Yes, they had to paint the wall blue so the Iraqis who hated the wall would think it was pretty. Soldiers died painting a wall blue while being shot at... that happened. The Iraqis continued to hate the wall and didn't like the paint job.

Both times building the wall, many insurgents were killed but their leadership was never targeted because The General and the Bad Colonel's boss The Secretary signed a truce with the terrorist leader, promising while the wall was being built not to try and harm the terrorist leader in any way... even though the terrorists were shooting and blowing up the Soldiers every day. This didn't make much tactical sense, but it looked good in the news paper put out by The Evil Liberal Media. The moral of this story is Soldiers died and the Bad Colonel got his star. He's a Brigadier General now. The End.

We fight for good and noble causes, we really do. We have bright, talented young people who volunteer to fight. But at some point... it happens to us all eventually... the idealism fades, the brotherhood becomes either and you are left in your cubicle pounding your head against it's walls. War after this, would be a welcome relief if it too hadn't become infested with the officious, lack luster yes-men the military has chosen over it's warriors. Patton famously pissed into the Rhine to teach the Germans a lesson. Today, he'd have never been a General Officer let alone had a chance to lead an Army to the Rhine to piss in it. A Patton or Sherman or even a Washington couldn't exist in our Army today. They'd have been too busy at the front leading to make their morning "Battle Rhythm" meeting... and that in this man's Army is frankly unacceptable. So our leaders look at slides and make minor decisions with their limited authority under an illusion of situational awareness and an abundance of tactical caution and the war drags on and on and on until the citizens grow so weary of it that they demand it's end. Then the ultimate paper pushers up at the Pentagon can go back to planning a cold war decisive conflict they call "conventional war" that will never ever happen so that we can be caught unprepared for future conflicts again without enough troops to fight again.

So my thoughts after 13 years of service to this country? Despair. Nothing will ever change. Those young, patriotic, selfless grunts will go on dying - often with their deaths gaining no actual advantage. I cannot save them.