UNIFORM POWER CHANGES PEOPLE

Buffalo Men In Blue Serving And Protecting

If you’ve never seen uniform power up close, keep reading. This post might shed light on how people change when they put on a uniform with a bunch of other people.

Or you might want to skip the read, after all, it’s just another old white male boomer, one of those so lost in their past greatness that the recent world changes don’t register.

You have my permission to feel any way you choose, even if you didn’t ask. All I say is, “Thanks for stopping by.”

Here we go:

The U.S. Army in the mid-70’s was volunteer, no draft. From across America the young men showed up on Army bases on a bus, some from the airport, some from the bus depot.

The first gathering of everyone together happened in what’s called the Receiving Depot where everyone gets a good look at everyone else. And the Drill Sergeants take notes.

Private Brown was a kid from LA, tall, good looking, and shy. This quiet spoken guy was hardly noticeable in the crowd he stood over.

He seemed reserved, even frightened, and didn’t care or know how to cover his feelings.

Like thousands of others before him, he signed up to serve, and that was it.

Within a few days he had a transformation. He was selected for leadership and had the orange rank of a sergeant pinned on his fatigue blouse collar. The pin removed his early demeanor.

In no time at all, Private Brown turned into Sergeant Rock, the baddest bad-ass in the Army, except he was a trainee like everyone else. The orange rank created uniform power over his equals.

He turned mean and caustic, angry and demanding, instead of the natural disposition he showed up with. The man adopted uniform power to please the Army structure. He made demands, dropped people for twenty push-ups if they didn’t comply.

In the vernacular or the times, Private Brown was a real fucking asshole to his fellow trainees, and got rewarded for his act.

Uniform Power Today

Private Brown is important today, more important. Why? Questions come up about police actions, not the serve and protect version, but the nasty version. Nasty?

I saw nasty, but not the same nasty Mr. Trump accuses women of being when they ask a question he doesn’t like.

When Officer Friendly pushes an old man over and leaves him laid out bleeding from his head, it’s nasty. When Officer Just Doing My Job can’t resist kicking a girl over for sitting and leaves her laid out with a head injury, it’s nasty.

When Officer Boob Grabber wraps up a girl, and she starts bucking when he goes in to feel her up, it’s nasty. Even nastier is when his buddies, Officer Clubber and Officer This Is How We’re Trained, start swinging sticks on her like tennis pros.

Add more nasty when her friend comes forward and four more officers kick her ass while they hold her down.

Uniform Power Display

The boys in blue are doing what Private Brown did. They may be kind and decent men and women where they live, but once that uniform and hard gear and weapons get strapped on, they are society’s protector.

And they bring a few extra features. These guys embrace Mr. Trump’s wish that they don’t coddle suspects they arrest, that they knock the crap out of them. Who do they hit?

When a message from the top suggests violence, it trickles down. Trickle down economics may not work, but trickle down violence does.

Agree, or disagree, these violent characters, along with Mr. Trump, enjoy the suffering they create. They get off on jamming and sticking and kneeling on weaker people, vulnerable people.

Say it’s not the uniform? Okay, then listen to the military generals, men who’ve spent their careers in uniform, surrounded by some of the hardest men ever born, men who’ve been to battle and back; listen to their evaluation of Mr. Trump and his decision to use troops where they don’t belong.

Get back to me if you hear them answer the question of, “How would you have trained someone like Mr. Trump in bootcamp.”