Quote:
|
Originally Posted by firewalker
I’m not sure that would really be viable response. Even if (for arguments sake) the existing family's objection is realy based on prejudice. there going to be the ones who's military members are going to by and large repsent many of the more valuable (rank, experience what not) solders.
|
One certainly does have the issue of standing in the community. The older families are gong to expect things to go their way. However, there's a way to deal with the wives. When the post command controls the goods, the command has a lot of influence over both the soldiers and the families. Command climate really does set the tone on-post. If the CG and the CSM crank their respective chains hard, it takes a fairly hard-core group of wives to stand up to them. I believe there would be such a hard-core group initially. However, the rug can be taken out from under them by working the officer chain, the NCO chain, and the spouses' chain (through the CG's wife). The troops get it pounded into them that their Joes are bailing in large numbers. Marriage prevents this. Therefore, marriage preserves the force. The force preserves the cantonment. More specifically, the force preserves YOUR family, Sergeant Jones--so get your wife's f****** cake-hole under control. We'll look the other way if she appears in sunglasses at the ration line for week or so. We're not going to have this conversation again.
Bear in mind, this is post-nuke America. All previous arrangements are up for re-negotiation. Although a few Army wives are stupid, they are no more or less so than the balance of the population. When the choice between prejudice and menace to their families is put to them, I'm confident the overwhelming majority will choose to maximize their children's safety.1 They may not like the new wives initially, but the Army has a lot of experience handling wives under conditions where the Army has a lot less leverage.
1. Menace from deteriorating circumstances, mind you. The Army probably would not directly threaten families. Given the state of affairs in post-nuke America, it hardly needs to. The argument against things that threaten the security of the cantonment sells itself by early 1998. Although a few of the wives may be clever enough to suggest that incorporating all these new Mexican families into the community destabilizes the community, the natural reply is that continued loss of riflemen is a far worse evil. After a couple of months in which desertion and suicide cost the force rifles in the triple digits, all but the most bigoted wives will be ready for the command's "sales pitch."
Webstral