Losing touch with the military... and getting back again

During my tour as a recruiter, I noticed that many younger parents, who were of college age or slightly younger during the late Vietnam era, still thoroughly distrusted the military. Rather than focus on what the military does as a group, and can do for its members individually, they focused on issues of a dead war, 30 years gone.

More recently, an email that compared the reaction to the death of Dale Earnhardt to the lack of reaction to the helicopter crash in Hawaii chained its way through the server system (see my previous column for more on that).

Many service members have for a long time thought that the civilian community has lost touch with its military. To be blunt, the civilian community, in general, doesn’t know what we do, why we do it, or how we do it, and many just don't care. In many ways in the modern U.S., patriotism is a dead feeling, but it is alive and well in the military. Just look at the recent China incident. 40% of people polled thought it was more important to bring our people home than to defend our interests in the area (more on that another time).

But the worst thing about this lack of common ground doesn’t manifest itself until a military member departs the service. It can translate into a lack of opportunity once a sailor gets out.

I have spoken to retirees (officers, no less), who, with college degrees and years of experience find themselves starting in business at entry level or low management positions because the company doesn’t understand or, worse yet, trust the experience and abilities of their new hire. Believe it or not, enlisted sailors, often being trained in highly technical areas,

I’m certainly not saying this is so in every case, but I’d bet it happens more than it doesn’t.

So what do we do about it?

First, I’d love to see some positive press coverage from outside the services themselves. The Navy has numerous volunteer programs, and I don’t think I’ve seen an article or TV news story on any of them outside of the Navy’s own press. Leaders in the chain of command and in Public Affairs need to do more to publicize this aspect of Naval service. And, gee, wouldn’t it be too bad if sailors who participate in community programs, Navy sponsored or otherwise, publicized themselves for a change too? Also, considering the recent Greeneville and China incidents, we could use some good press.

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