Disorder in the Ranks

Drugs, insubordination, racial animosities and fragging are all a part of the disintegrating discipline in the U.S. Army in Viet Nam. But exactly how bad is the situation in the ranks? According to an Army study, there may well exist such a profound crisis of discipline that the Army's ability to function is in doubt. So says an unusually revealing Army memorandum surveying military discipline in the entire Pacific Command that is currently being circulated clown to the battalion level.

Who commissioned the survey, or when, is unclear; the Army will not discuss it. The need for such a study, and its conclusions, was inescapable. Discipline, the memo finds, has "eroded to a serious but not critical degree" that in some cases has brought on "degradation" in the carrying out of unit missions.

The causes? "Virtually all commanders place strong emphasis on permissiveness within American society as being a primary cause of disciplinary breakdown. The point is made that the draftee, the draft-induced enlistee and many of our junior officers have been influenced by permissive homes, permissive schools and permissive courts."

But there the buck stops. The tendency, states the memo, is "to employ permissiveness as a 'crutch' in rationalizing disciplinary problems."

The memo also deals with "the presence within the ranks of a sizable number of individuals of 'anti' persuasion --antiwar, antimilitary, antiestablishment, antidiscipline." Specifically in Viet Nam, it says, withdrawal is a contributing cause to the malaise since officers and men feel it nullifies "justification for their having been sent to Viet Nam."

But the most serious factor in the disciplinary breakdown, the report concludes, "is weakness in the chain of command, particularly at lower unit levels" where experienced officers and NCOs are not available and where those who are "may be dominated by the view that a mistake on their part spells career ruin. Within the chain of command, it is well known that communication has broken down." Attempts to bridge the gap through mixed councils of officers and enlisted men have "served to dilute or bypass" the chain of command.

Although "media influence" has contributed to the situation, "it must be recognized that through their own actions the services have impaired the military image." The Army, the report concludes, "must set its house in order."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.