I am impressed with the response from the top US armed forces brass to Hegseth's shitshow at Quantico

[Glorious bastard]

Total silence. Not a single comment either in support or against his naked provocation to drag the army into politics.

They appear to be united against politicians trying to co-opt the most powerful military force in the world for their purposes.

That's professionalism and dedication to their mission. Worth noting.

[gordianot]

1. Choices are being made.

I guess we will find out.

[berniesandersmittens]

7. As fast as things are moving

We'll likely find out soon. We're going to witness Democracy stand. Or possibly fall.

[obamanut2012]

2. They never clap, so that tesponse was typical

[Glorious bastard]

3. Nearly a week later, not a single clap, or any comment at all.

[obamanut2012]

5. They aren't allowed to

[Glorious bastard]

6. Believe me, Hegseth will allow them to praise the shit out of his nonsense.

And there is such thing as anonymous whistle blowers for those who want to vent. The fact is, neither is evident, as it is supposed to be in the professional army which is meant to stay out of politics altogether.

[obamanut2012]

10. You argue with me than agree with me

No longer engaging.

[Glorious bastard]

11. Suit yourself

I find expectations of agreement far less engaging than exchanging disagreements. But that’s just me.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

15. I beg to differ,

you're right about the clapping, but the look of contempt on the majority of faces is not typical, during my military career, I saw that look many many times on the faces of officers and NCO's and that's the look I saw.

[cloudbase]

4. It wouldn't bother me if Hegseth were to be given the clap.

[markpkessinger]

8. I'm reserving judgment for when they are actually forced to choose between Trump and the Constitution . . .

. . . if they choose the Constitution, then I'll be impressed. I'm not holding my breath, though.

[Glorious bastard]

12. So far, no apparent rush to jump on a Trump bandwagon. Fingers crossed.

[markpkessinger]

16. Sure, but it's quite a leap from sitting on their hands during speech and defying a presidential order n/t

[Glorious bastard]

17. There is no presidential order for them to defy.

Quantico was a test of their allegiance and fidelity to their sworn duty to prevent the armed forces from serving any political interests.

They were silent during the meeting, they are silent now. A good sign that they will remain in the future and not acquiesce to get involved in politics in any way. Just as their position demands..

When and if the illegal orders come, that will be another test: whether any of them will defend the Commander in Chief, or the US Constitution, as they swore to do. So fat, the signs are hopeful they will do the right thing.

[markpkessinger]

18. Not yet there isn't . . .

. . . That's why I'm reserving judgment.

[Glorious bastard]

19. My judgement is reserved as well, with a caveat of "so far so good"

The fact there is total silence from the Army top brass is a positive sign. Not a judgement, just an observation.

[mucholderthandirt]

9. So, the Republicans have been working to put their kind in high places, including the military.

I can only hope it's not working, that the rank and file will resist being used against us. I know when I was just getting out of the USAF, Reagan was taking over (I had about two weeks of him as "CiC", and it was a rough time. We knew what he'd done, the Iran hostages being immediately released (and later more stuff). No one I knew, and I knew lots of people through my job, enlisted and officer, would follow any unlawful order.

Let's pray, hope, whatever, that it's still so. Because if we have the military against us, we are done for.

[Glorious bastard]

14. This is surely just the first step.

Co-opting high ranking officers is far easier than purging them. But in the apparent absence of cooperation from them, purges are to be expected.

[republianmushroom]

13. Yup, agree.