To Americans, who unlike the Brits are self-consciously class-indifferent, this piece might be a load of old nonsense, but here we are:
When your job involves abseiling out of helicopters, kicking down doors and taking out the bad guys, you might be forgiven for thinking that it doesn’t really matter what school you went to.
But the SAS is getting worried that not enough posh officers are applying to command its high-stakes operations.
The elite regiment has typically been led by former public schoolboys whose privileged education is said to instil the leadership skills and poise required.
‘The typical SAS officer is confident, relaxed, bright and unflappable,’ said one of the regiment’s warrant officers. ‘Many of the most successful officers have been to the top public schools, but recently we have seen a number of guys coming forward who just don’t cut it. It’s a shame, but they are just not posh enough. The bottom line is that the officers shouldn’t be speaking like soldiers. We don’t want officers who are shouters or know-it-alls.’
…Former officers of the SAS include General Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the Army, and Major Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, a former Private Secretary to Princes William and Harry, who one source described as ‘the archetypal SAS officer’. Both were educated at Eton, while other recent commanding officers attended Winchester and Harrow.
Over There, the term “officer and a gentleman” used to be something of a redundancy — one could only become an officer if one was of the privileged class — but it seems like it has been somewhat undermined, and not to everyone’s liking, either. Imagine taking orders from this guy…
Round about now, Mr. Free Market (who was an officer in the Paras under the old regime) is chuckling into his whisky.
Wait…”whisky?”
He drinks Canadian?
Scotch. All others are “whiskeys”…
Over here, the same sort go to the CIA.
The American Ivy League was the original source for the O.S.S.
How does anyone over there expect modern Woke Culture to instill Noblesse Oblige in the upper classes, when the mark of status is victimhood and acting like a street thug?
Tom Hiddleston went to Eton College.
And now I have the image of Loki masquerading as an SAS officer.
Well, it was that, or becoming Prime Minister. Although… that said, Loki would appear to have all the attributes necessary for the job.
As the military becomes more and more pozzed and woke, you will start to see more of this spreading beyond class. Can you imagine taking orders from some overweight lesbian who can’t pull her weight? Or some under qualified affirmative action vibrant? Or the guys responsible for the Afghanistan debacle? If I were a young man today I wouldn’t consider the military a career path for a second.
+1 to this.
I have too many friends that are lifer’s getting out at 20 +1 day. Which isn’t terribly surprising, but some of them are 3rd generation military, and encouraging their kids, to NOT get in.
This is the reason I’m never ever flying American Airlines again. I want the pilot and anyone else in the Cockpit Crew chosen on ability to fly the damn plane, not where their skin appears in the Pantone charts or what they do for membership in the LGBTQEIEIO spectrum.
I first typed Pannetone, so I probably should eat lunch.
….if only there were a society in which class membership was determined by behavior rather than by your stud book. Heavy sigh.
.
This.
Otherwise inbreeding occurs, as is demonstrated by what’s going on today.
That probably explains a lot of the activities, policies, and statements in the American government today as well. We’ve had this vile experiment in semi-hereditary managerial government for almost 150 years, and we see the natural and expected results in the news every day now.
On the other hand, you also end up with trailerpark scum like Bill Clinton.
Yeah but his daughter and grandchildren are to the manor born.
Plus Hunter Biden, in spite of his privileged background makes trailer park scum look like upstanding citizens.
Not correct. He is not the father. There is a friend of the family that filled in for him on that job. Look for the guy that has a matching chin to the kid’s original one, prior to her rather necessary bio-sculpt.
I knew several people who spend 20+ years in the enlisted ranks who retired in the past 10-20 years and they’ve all said the same thing. The officers have become more politicized over time. It used to be limited to the generals but it has now seeped down towards the company ranks now.
Not one person can tell me how lifting restrictions on the sexual orientation or transgender soldiers helps achieve the missions of the military.
JQ
I assume you can no longer buy your commission in the British military?
Not since the Crimean War, I think.
What I want to know, and no one seems to be able to even consider the question, is how can we be assured after the politization of the military as evidenced by General Milli Vanilli, and Colonel Vindman, that the colonels will stay in the barracks? I have studied enough world history to recognize that the problem in South America in particular is that the Colonels are not apolitical and won’t stay out of politics. We’ve had enough Argentinas, Perus, Brazils, Bolivias, and even Chiles to last until the end of time.
Why should we hope the colonels sit still? Someone needs to fix the problems caused by the idiot generals meddling in politics.
It is a shame that there are no qualified “Lord Lovat’s” left
(See: The Longest Day – portrayed by Peter Lawford).