Decay

There's no political or military solution to what is, at its core, a spiritual and cultural sickness

Canvassing the wreckage of last week's election, where contraceptives trumped a multi-trillion dollar debt, and the circus of a sex-scandal sweeping the military's top brass, you don't need lightening to strike you to arrive at the conclusion that the United States and Western society are knee-deep in the quicksands of moral decay and decline. It leaves no institution untouched. G. Murphy Donovan, a Vietnam veteran and former Intelligence officer, excoriates General David Petraeus and exposes the widening moral dissolution taking hold within the military. It jibes with what others who've served (Navy, USMC, Army) have told me. Here's an excerpt, from the American Thinker:

Ironically, cheating on your wife seems to be a moral misdemeanor in the Army; while cheating on your trigonometry quiz could lead to dismissal.

And be not distracted by any "honey trap" nonsense; cheating on wives is a military tradition, not a scandal. Officially, a remote tour is designated "unaccompanied," but overseas orders seldom require celibacy. Alas, unaccompanied officers are known in the trade as "geographic" bachelors. A senior officer is not busted for cheating; he gets drummed out of the corps for getting caught -- too visibly. ... 

And morality only becomes an issue when it embarrasses the Service. In this respect, contemporary military culture is no different than American political culture. If and when, Holly Petraeus, sings a few choruses of "Stand by Your Man," as did Hilary Clinton; the triumph of the bimbo ethics will be confirmed. Men behave like swine because the women in their lives, mothers and wives, have low or no expectations.