A reader writes regarding the news that the former Florida governor Jeb Bush's politically ambitious son George P. Bush (whom George W. Bush has nicknamed "44" to go along with his being "43" and his father "41") has joined the Naval Reserve as an Intelligence officer:
As The Simpsons put it: "The Naval Reserve:
Gotta give Bush 44 (ugh) credit for cleverness. There is not an easier way to get "military service" on your resume then as a Naval reserve intelligence officer. I know at least one congressman (Mark Kirk of Illinois) has already taken this path. And of course Jack Kennedy would have spent World War II in Georgetown as an intelligence officer but for the FBI discovering he was having an affair with a suspected Nazi spy. Instead of being bounced from the Navy, his father arranged that he be sent to a war zone (but for his reckless libido, he never would have been a war hero)
What's curious is that George P. Bush is an attorney, so the best use of his skills in the reserves would be as an Army National Guard (or Army Reserve) JAG )Judge Advocate General) officer-- the Army is the only service that lets lawyers serve as JAG officers without already having served active duty. But the Army has a disconcerting habit of sending its reservists to Iraq and, after Jessica Lynch's captain screwed up a convoy and got people killed, the Army has required every officer (excluding chaplains and doctors) to go through at least several weeks of infantry training. That can't possibly be fun.
The Navy Reserve, that's the life. I was thinking of joining the reserves as a JAG officer a few years ago and I learned about NRIP--- the Naval Reserve Intelligence Program. On a continuum of difficulty of military training--- if Navy Seal training is the toughest, NRIP is clearly the easiest. High school football players train harder. In your first year, active duty training is two weeks of Direct Commission Officer School. A knife and fork school that basically teaches you the difference between the uniforms you must salute and the ones you should expect a salute from. Oh and the two weeks is business weeks, its 10 days of training.
After that rigorous ordeal, you'll need to take a breather. You go home and attend drills once a month, study at home for a year and then do two more two weeks of intelligence training. The home study course is hardly top secret-- its online.
That's it for your active duty training. At that point you serve two weeks a year at a Navy base or an aircraft carrier. The unit closest to me sent people to the NATO European naval headquarters--- two weeks a year on Uncle Sam's dime in a backwater English town called London. 8 years later, after you've had your fill of the West End nightlife, you get an honorable discharge and run for office on your military record.
If I hadn't gotten that sleep apnea diagnosis (at the time, it meant an automatic fail in the Navy physical), I probably would have joined. Of course, the military gives medical waivers all the time now and since the Navy Reserve take people up to 42, I still have a few years to decide if I ever want to go into politics.
The noblesse just aren't as obligeing as they used to be.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
Is Jeb that stupid? His son can't possibly be no. 44; he's too young. How about something like "47"?
ReplyDeleteYou're not 42 yet? How young are you Steve?
ReplyDeleteYeah, good point- how old are you Steve? This post btw is the reason I'm checking this site constantly. There are only a fe wpeople ZI search out on the web 1. Sailer 2. Derbyshire 3. Steyn 4. Coulter 5. Nordlinger 6. War Nerd
ReplyDeletekeep up the good work. Dan
Ben, it is George W's nickname so yes he is that stupid.
ReplyDeleteLuke, most of the post was an email from a reader.
As someone asked on another thread...does George P Bush hold dual citizenship with Mexico?
ReplyDeleteCan anyone with a knowledge of Mexican law weigh in, please (his mother is Mexican).
I wonder if the Naval Reserve part-time OCS your reader mentions is similar to the the Army Reserve's version. You can also attend OCS in the Army Reserve over two two-week active duty sessions and 12 monthly drills, but:
ReplyDelete1) This is only available to previous enlistees (who have already attended months of basic training and advanced individualized training).
2) Newly commissioned officers still need to spend several months on active duty for their Officer Basic Course (training in their branch -- infantry, intelligence, etc.).
Also, in the Army Reserve and National Guard, one isn't usually guaranteed a specific branch -- you can pick three preferences instead.
BTW, as someone who played high school football (poorly) and went through Army basic training around the same time, I'd say the pre-season high school football training (two-a-days) was physically more demanding.
Its not Steve who is 42, its 'a reader'.
ReplyDeleteI've a friend who's been in the Naval Reserves for going on 15 years. In spite of the fact that we've been at war now for almost 6 of those, he has yet to be called up to active duty.
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard that "P" was joining the Naval Reserves, I thought the same thing your reader did.
But what the hell: it worked for his unlce, didn't it?
This piece and the commentary Steve posted, which was authored by someone with no apparent credentials to discuss the topic, pisses me off.
ReplyDeleteFirst, there is no organization in the US military called the "Naval Reserve." It's the Navy Reserve, and there is little that is easy about the job of the Navy (Reserve Component) officer. I should note that we are legally entitled to give our affiliation as US Navy. Example: Bob Smith, LT, USN. This is because we will serve extensively alongside our active duty brethren during our careers and be called to perform to the same standards they do.
If anything, the demands on us and on our families are beyond those experienced by the active component Sailors.
We have to advance as best we can in our civilian careers knowing that we can be dragged out at any time -- as many of my shipmates have been -- to serve in the chaos going on in the Persian Gulf. We have disproportionately (to the active component) been tasked with some of the nastier jobs, and are shoehorned into roles for which we have little training. The combat preparation courses (sometimes tagged "combat survivability" classes, which I think is a more colorful name) are a sad joke. Individual Augmentation -- a scary euphemism for getting sent around the world with a bunch of people you never met -- is being foisted on Reserve Component members above the rates of active Sailors. Some of the fun jobs you might win as an officer in the IA lottery include Convoy Leader and Combat Supply officer. On the ground. With the Army. No you weren't trained for this.
Your snotty correspondent manages to cram contempt for the basic instruction of Navy (Reserve Component) INTEL officers, without really seeming to know much about the topic.
There is not an officer out there who isn't aware of the shortcomings of the education provided in these disciplines, but again, the course is likely not as easy as you think.
I am not an INTEL officer, but in my community, we spend one-and-a-half years between correspondence courses and in-person instruction before we are qualified. This was basically the equivalent of earning a graduate degree, and I should know, as I have two (most of the 25-odd members of my class had at least as many as this, and one member had a PhD). I have heard time and again that the Reserve course -- while having exactly the same content as Active -- is MUCH more challenging, since the student must motivate himself and direct his own studies.
From my many conversations with INTEL peers, this holds true with them as well.
As for drilling, we have to go to crappy, crumbling facilities, in many cases, and ensure our troops meet virtually unobtainable training goals. We do this with no money and no resources.
Oh, and we are LITERALLY dying over there. A close shipmate of mine was killed in a rocket attack, while a large cadre of Reserve Component SeaBees was injured (a few killed IIRC) by rocket.
I didn’t see the Simpsons, the League of Women Voters or your armchair admiral in the casualty lists.
And what does the following quotation from your correspondent even mean? S/he says "the Army is the only service that lets lawyers serve as JAG officers without already having served active duty."
Umm, bullcrap.
The Navy commissions JAG officers who have no prior service. Pretty sure all branches of service do.
http://www.jag.navy.mil/Careers/CareersHowToApply3.htm
Don’t let your contempt for George P. Bush tarnish Reserve Component officers. We get enough crap from the Navy – you know, stuff like mobilizations and other little things like that – without having to hear baloney like you served up here.
Anonymous, LT, USN
I didn’t see the Simpsons, the League of Women Voters or your armchair admiral in the casualty lists.
ReplyDeleteAnd not too many officers from the "US Navy Reserve," either. None yet this year so far as I can tell. (Don't go to that link unless you're prepared to cry.) Practically all of the deaths, in fact, are either from the Army or Marines.
I can understand your defensiveness, but I don't see contempt for the Navy Reserves in that post so much as I see contempt for the Bush family. Face it: given the data at hand, George P couldn't have chosen a service where he's less likely to get called up and less likely to die. Gee - kinda reminds me of one of his uncles.
News flash, Jeb and George W and George P: your family dynasty is over. It was destroyed by the mindboggling incompetence and corruption of the current president. No Bush will ever again be seriously considered for national office. Perhaps P thinks he can run in Florida because its Hispanic. But middle-class white Republicans won't have him in their party, and left-wing white Dems won't have him in theirs.
Anonymous LT reminds me a little of Chris Eigeman's naval officer character, Fred Boynton, in Whit Stillman's movie Barcelona:
ReplyDeleteFred: You think I went into the Navy because I washed out at Shearson?
Ted [Fred's cousin]: I don't know what happened in New York.
Fred: I didn't wash out. There was no disgrace. They said I could go back.
I dreaded years stuck indoors with two weeks to go snorkeling annually.
A Naval officer has the rare job that deals with the physical world all day, and it counts.
It is not theoretical.
You dominate the elements
in four dimensions without a slip-up -- or it gets very wet.
And all that fighting for freedom,
defending democracy, shining city on a hill stuff -- which as you know, I really buy.
Yeah this is pretty retarded stuff.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, the family nickname for George Prescott Bush is rumored to be 45. Jeb's is 44.
Second off, a friend of mine is a reserve officer. About three months ago he was sent to Iraq. He's still there.
Second off, a friend of mine is a reserve officer. About three months ago he was sent to Iraq. He's still there.
ReplyDeleteBut is your friend in the Navy Reserve? That's what this whole dumb thread is about. When George P. "The Stalker" Bush runs for office we can carefully deconstruct his combat record, or lack thereof.
BTW, the guy with the best combat record in the current race (Duncan Hunter) is close to invisible.
The previous commentator mangled the Simpson's line, as it was the "Mississippi National Guard" deploying along with the League of Womens' Voters.
ReplyDeleteToo bad, as the Missisppi National Guard's largest formation, the Army Guard's 155th Armored Brigade, already served a combat tour in Iraq. A Minnesota National Guard unit (Army's 1-34 BCT) is currently serving just about the single longest combat tour of *any* reserve component over in Iraq. Oops.
The Navy Reserve gig "P" wrangled is about the easiest freaking thing to do in the militar. Unlce W will deploy Miami Cub Scout Pack #437 before his happy ass goes anywhere.
If Steve joined up,they could call him 'sailor Sailer'!You know,kind of like Major Major! :D
ReplyDeleteThe noblesse just aren't as obligeing as they used to be.
ReplyDeleteWell, I, too, used to deplore the fact that our elites no longer share the burden of military duty, as was common in the past. However, presented more and more with commentary like that in, say, this recent post on the Borjas blog, and recognizing what Our Betters would like to implement for our moral improvement, I'm beginning to think that perhaps it's a very good thing that they be alienated to as far a distance as possible from our military class. (At least, I hope that the class in possession of our powers of organized violence hasn't adopted the same vapid tranzi utilitarian ethics...)
There's no doubt that JFK was one of the great sexual pigs of all time, but his military service was honorable. Due to his back problems, he probably could have gotten out of having to serve at all. He is believed to have been originally rejected by the Army for that very reason. His older brother, of course, not only fought but also died in the war.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it was Steve's correspondent who claimed to be under 42, not Steve himself.
ReplyDeleteI bet there are more Hispanics serving in combat in the U.S. military than there are white nationalists.
ReplyDeletethe wily marmot:
ReplyDeleteyes, he's in the navy reserve. i thought that was clear from the context, but see that i forgot to spell it out. anyway, he signed up after 9/11 and is lawyer. he's assigned to a prison in iraq.
I bet there are more Hispanics serving in combat in the U.S. military than there are white nationalists.
ReplyDeleteAnd I bet there are more whites serving in combat in the US military than there are hispanics who've played ina amriachi band. So what the hell's your point?
If, by "white nationalist," you mean members of some particular group or other, or you mean folks who specifically identify as "white nationalist" ideologically, then I bet you're right. If you mean there are more hispanics than there are whites who oppose amnesty or who want to reduce immigration, then you're snorting some of that stuff they grow in Colombia.
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ReplyDeleteThere's no doubt that JFK was one of the great sexual pigs of all time, but his military service was honorable. Due to his back problems, he probably could have gotten out of having to serve at all. He is believed to have been originally rejected by the Army for that very reason.
ReplyDeleteUpperclass men of the WW2 Era knew - knew - that to have any chance of achieving position or rank in the postwar years they would have to serve their country. I think it's just that simple. Would JFK ever have become president if he'd gotten out of duty as 4F? He barely "won" as it was.
The same could probably be said for men of the Civil War era.
It's still fair to say that in both of those wars that, disproportionately, the best men never walked off the batttlefield.
Vietnam, however, was different. It was something like 90% of young men "of age" who didn't go - especially the college kids.
The inside scoop was, Jeb hates W with a passion.
ReplyDeleteJeb was always rumored to be the smarter of the two brothers. After three generations, the Bush family dynasty is finished. Most Republicans thought the elder Bush suffered from bad luck, running for re-election during a recession. Today we all realize that while gladhanding is a Bush family trait, managerial incompetence and verbal ineloquence are, too.
My guess is that Jeb probably wouldn't have done a much better job than his brother. He seems equally averse to taking real political risk. He seems equally invested in the multiculti agenda - or even more so (look at his wife.)
Many states, including Texas and California, have created plans that guarantee a college spot at any state institution to anyone from the state who graduates in the top 10% of their high school class. When Jeb tried to eliminate affirmative action in Florida he doubled that, making it 20%.
And, of course, he's been a big, huge supporter of open borders.
Based on what I've seen, Jeb might've been more competent at getting an amnesty passed. But that's not the kind of competence anyone should want. Maybe that's why he's ticked off at Bro.
You have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to Naval Reserve Intelligence. Did you know that NO branch of the naval reserve is more likely to be mobilized to a combat zone? In fact, it's hitting a point where within the next year, we will have mobilized everyone possible, and started to have mobilized folks for a second tour! The only places we've sent these folks over the last to years have been combat zones, as well.
ReplyDeletethe old days of the "knife and fork" direct commission school for Staff Officers (i.e., doctors, nurses, lawyers, chaplains and intel-types) are over -- I am a former enlisted sailor and used to see these new officer candidates being marched and run around NAVSTA Newport back in 2007. The instructors are all ball-breaking petty officers who take their training role very seriously. Sure, it's not BUDS hell week, but it's a far cry from the old days where all they did was teach these guys to salute and dress.
ReplyDeleteLots of merit to this thread. You could be a true, operational idiot in the Navy Reserve, but as long as you keep your record looking good, you'll be promoted at every step.
ReplyDelete