To the Editor:

At the onset of the Vietnam War, our military was second to none. It prevailed in all the initial battles.

As that war dragged on, military efficiency, morale and leadership crumbled. It followed the political corruption within our government.

Now, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, we see it all over again. We, the United States, have once again lost our moral compass and direction.

David Petraeus and his high-level command officers demonstrate this obvious deterioration of our military. Recent articles in the media highlight the “perks” available to our top brass.

Things like servants, valets, lavish quarters and personal aircraft like a 727 tailored for comfortable commuter flights between Washington, command centers and the war zone enhance this corruption.

As our lower-ranking field grade military do their best, we see high-level military leadership become more and more corrupt.

Meanwhile, troops and field grade officers live under harsh field conditions. Multiple deployments destroy morale, especially when the military is tasked with all these public affair issues.

They are trained to battle; that means fighting, not sitting around with hokey village elders passing out compensation dollars, building “relationships” with people that want nothing more than our dollars and revenge for their alleged tribal matters.

Fighting men on the ground are expected to act as squabble litigators and facilitators of road, school and community projects. And all the while during these mini-missions, they are subject to hostile fire and terrorism.

Something is very, very wrong with this picture. Whenever a war drags on for other than military objectives, corruption and moral destruction flies in. Meanwhile our troops shed blood, tears and misery, and for what I ask?

John Murphy
Franklin