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Show S Hilltop Times COMMENTS!"!! May 3, 1991 r o s Military warriors examples; improvements gain respect Editor's note: David Gergen is editor at large for U.S. News and World Refxvt. His commentary appeared Feb. II and is copyrighted. Used with permission. by David Gergen U.S. News and World Report wenty-thre- e years ago, a soldier in Army uniform hobbled through Grand Central Station in New York, clutching a cane with one hand, his dad with the other. He had just returned from Vietnam, where he had been so badly wounded by bullets and mortar fragments that he had received last rites. As he d slowly wended through the station, a woman swept out of the crowd to greet him in the spirit of the time: with filthy shouts and a vile stream of spit. That incident left an imprint so deep on John VVickham that he, like many other officers of his generation, dedicated himself to restoring the reputation and esprit of the armed forces. Mr. VVickham rose through the ranks to win four stars and to serve as Army chief of staff before retiring. The task of rebuilding was not easy, especially during the 1970s, when drugs and desertions were everywhere and cutbacks created a "hollow army" whose planes wouldn't fly and ships couldn't sail. But in the late Carter years and then in the Reagan years, the turnaround came, and today, Mr. VVickham and company can take enormous pride in what they have achieved. well-dresse- s? America now has a new military -- and suddenly, gratefully it has new heroes, too. President Bush's recent State of the Union address was less a speech than a happening, as his audience exploded in wave after wave of applause for the troops. A Washington Post poll reveals that public confidence in the miltary has soared to 85 percent, far supassing that of ever)' institution in our society. Even the protestors have decided to oppose the war but support the warriors. The extraordinary accuracy of precision-mad- e weapons is obviously part of the allure. They restore our faith in American technology after ' years of watching helicopters fall from the skies, the cost of a military toilet seat hit $600 and a forlorn soldier in Grenada call collect to the States so that he could communicate with troops down the beach. But the heart of the transformation is in the people themselves -- the calm, decisive manner of a Colin Powell or a Norman Schwarzkopf and the cool professionalism of the men and women in the field. Col. Ray Davies summed it up, watching 5 pilots in Saudi Arabia: "It's like the Dallas Cowboys in their heyday. They weren't a real emotional team; they just got the job done." Today smart weapons are now matched with smart people. Today's officer can expect to spend at least 18 months of his first five years in the classroom. A study by the Center for Creative Leadership in North Carolina found that 88 percent of brigadier generals have at least a master's degree, compared with 19 percent of top corporate executives. Asked a question in a recent public forum, NATO commander John Galvin-w- ho holds a master's -in with an literature answered English degree F-1- ntfG woo exchange between Anthony and Cleopatra: "And that's from George Bernard Shaw's version," he added, "not Shakespeare's." Among enlistees, 98 percent are high school graduates, compared with 75 percent among civilians of comparable age. To stay in the service, a recruit must also go back to school: The Army demands a year of additional training, for example, before a soldier can fire a Patriot missile. Scholar Larry Korb points out that beenlistments last cause the force is vs. of two under the four longer (average years are up (50 percent vs. draft) and 10 percent). As a result, enlistees stay in a unit long enough to bond with their compatriots. Moreover, the military has lifted racial bars so that blacks can rise to the top -- without benefit of racial preferences. There are lessons here for all of us. If our military is successful because it provides equal opportunity and achieves personal loyalty within the ranks, why can't our major companies? If military officers learn how to compete by reeducating themselves, why can't our CEOs? Training, good management, discipline, community: These are values that should take root across the nation. We should not welcome our new warriors because we want new militarism. Exactly the opposite. In his book, Iron John, poet Robert Bly writes of our loss of heroes since the 1960s. We need to regain them, he says, so that in admiring their best virtues, each of us growing up can eventually become an "inner warrior," able to stand up for what is right in a decent, peaceful society, surely, today's men and women in the Gulf are helping America regain its footing. er, 9 llifev Tinl n nl A FTfl em At the n CASINO Wendover, Nevada v MEW ? RED GARTER CASINO JsL ENTERTAINMENT NIGHTLY COMEDY EVERY MONDAY Become an Exclusive Member f of Wendover's ONLY SLOT CLUB Cub SLOT TOURNAMENT MAY I For more info, call (702) 664-2- 1 14-1- 5 1 1 |