1/ Here's the thing about the military: there's more joking around and complacency than civilians know about but the serious stuff? The life-and-death stuff? That's handled with extraordinary care. That's what I'm thinking about tonight as Trump tweets penis insults. (thread)
2/ I've talked about this before, but thousands of hours go into combat training. Just the act of moving in close quarters with a rifle--let alone firing it--is given the kind of time that's equivalent to a minor for an undergrad student. The sheer monotony of muscle memory.
3/ The same drills and tactics, over and over and over. You can do it in your sleep. Even now, in moments of boredom, I'll look at a building or a parking lot or field and map out how it would tactically be taken. The precise steps. The nuances civilians never learn about.
4/ I can disassemble and reassemble an M4/M16 rifle while blindfolded in 60 seconds (probably less), right down to the little bits. And that's not special. Everyone with that amount of training can do that. It's not "cool". It represents years of boring training and cleaning.
5/ You learn these things and then you eventually instruct younger soldiers, and I swear to god, it's so damn boring. Because you've done it a thousand times. But you do it again because someone did it for you. And one day, it could be life and death. Monotony saves lives.
6/ The small things matter. You're taught that early on. If you can't put your uniform together by regulation, if you can't be on time in formation, if you can't do the daily grind, how can you be expected to perform when lives are at stake? This is drummed into your brain.
7/ Do soldiers joke around and act like idiots back at the barracks or out on the town? Yeah, sometimes enough to get in hot water. But not while training. Not in a mission. That's an efficient way to end your career.
8/ I have seen soldiers do the dumbest bullshit in their free time but flip that switch when it comes time to report. They go from laidback to deadly serious. And the rare few who don't? Pack your bags. Have fun explaining on job applications why you were kicked out.
9/ I think of what mind-blowing responsibility nuclear technicians and pilots and field officers must have and the countless years of experience poured into those roles to get them exactly right. You can bet there are no penis jokes during an arms drill on a nuclear submarine.
10/ There are just under 1.3 million active duty service members in the U.S. military with an additional 800,000 in the reserve components. They're all regularly training, many for 20 years or more, for that one moment when everything rests on getting it exactly right.
11/ And their supposed "Commander-in-Chief" is on Twitter, tonight, acting like a goddamn 6th grader on a glue high and telling a dangerous, unstable despot that his penis ("nuclear button") is bigger, so bring it on.
12/ I don't care how you feel about Obama or Bush or any of the rest. Not one has ever come close to being so thoroughly reckless, so entirely disrespectful to the sacrifices made by our women and men in uniform. There is a toddler in the Oval Office. Where is Congress? /thread
