[March 25, 2022] For a long time now, there has been a developing trend feared by senior leaders in the U.S. military. That fear is that those new to our nation’s military are more likely to lie than others who preceded them.
From what we see, young men and women are more willing to lie today than ever before, and that propensity to lie has a detrimental effect on our nation’s readiness posture.
Many of my friends say that “kids will be kids” and that lying is part of growing up. They believe that lying will become less effective and less desirable as we age. Getting caught in a lie as an adult has greater ramifications than lying as a child.
There is a severe problem with this way of thinking. Kids who are prolific liars tend to be prolific liars as an adult. And, interestingly the more intelligent a kid is, the more likely they are to lie, lie earlier, and lie more frequently to both their peers and parents. This translates directly into young adults who are socialized to continue their lies, even when lying no longer serves a significant purpose.
We also know that kids are encouraged to lie by their parents and peers. And we know that the only way to reduce lying is through both parents setting firm rules (and enforcing them) and having open, active peer groups.1
“Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying!” – William Shakespeare
But lying is not so much a kid’s problem. The real problem is that those same kids are taught by their teachers, peers, and parents that lying is okay. We see teachers and parents lie all the time. It is easy to see them lying to others and themselves. I’ve written a lot about the behavior of lying during the span of this blog. And, I see an increase in lying among adults, either young or older.
There is, unfortunately, a slowly developing problem with more young adults entering the U.S. military. They are prolific, unrepentant liars. It is disturbing that they lie to their NCOs and Officers; they lie to themselves and anyone who talks with them. Lying, it seems, is a way of life, and if you call them on it, they bristle with an offense.
This is a dangerous trend, and senior U.S. military leaders have no answer about what to do about it.
Learning to lie is now the American way, unfortunately. And I don’t see any change about to happen to reverse the trend.2
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- https://nymag.com/news/features/43893/
- https://www.theleadermaker.com/leader-trends-do-we-encourage-lying/
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Please read my new book, “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” at Amazon (link here).
Our senior generals and admirals are liars. Nuff said. 🤬
Talking about the fall of the American military, has anyone seen the Secretary of Defense? Has he said one word? I hear his spokesman nutjob but never Lloyd Austin. What a puss!
Nope, nothing. Good! When you are stupid and ignorant and incompetent, best keep your mouth shut so no one finds out.
CRAZY. You cannot lie in the military, encourage it, or tolerate lying. That gets you killed fast.
This is sad. The point of military core values, always centers on truth and integrity. Now, we see our leaders actively encouraging people to lie. Down with their privileged lying and telling us to lie. 🤬
I pray for those who are lost the the evil of lying, stealing, and cheating. These betray the trust we humans must have. When you break trust, you break humans and that is evil and why these things that Gen. S. talk about so often are evil.
This is what you get when you have a woke politician in charge of the US.
And….. Joe Biden is still loved by millions. Millions of lemmings, that is.
Ha ha ha, got that right. 😀
Excellent article, Gen. Satterfield. This is the kind of information and analysis that we are all looking for in our media these days (and often not getting it). Your leadership blog is a fresh-air departure from the nutty stuff I see all day long.
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. —Mark Twain. Yep, the basics.
Learn fast, learn good, and never forget. But the truth will always haunt the liar.
Unless you are Joe Biden and you can’t remember what day it is, or tell your wife from your sister, or know what kind of ice cream you ordered five minutes ago. Crazy!
Pow, got that right.
Regardless of how far a person runs, a lie will eventually catch up to them. —- Donald L. Hicks
Gen. Satterfield, “This is a dangerous trend, and senior U.S. military leaders have no answer about what to do about it.” This is a really scary thought.
OUCH, “The real problem is that those same kids are taught by their teachers, peers, and parents that lying is okay. ” Gen. Satterfield, you nailed it. We show kids how to lie by our own actions, small and large. Happens every day. And the smarter the kid, the faster he picks up how to lie and without getting caught. And, then what excuse to give if he is caught. We need to change the direction of our formal educaiton system because it is headed off a moral cliff.
Our formal education system is broken totally. Esp. the public school system and public colleges. I see it every day when one of these “kids” tries to get a real job. I don’t hire them, they are just too privilieged and stupid.
Becoming harder and harder to ignore. ✔
Well said, Max and I agree …. “Ouch”!!!!!! This is what happens when you take Christianity out of the public square, there are no longer any values of importance, but relative agreements subject to change at a whim.
,,,, and our political elites do not see it ,,,,, ✔️
We need to put God back in our everyday lives. A friend told me the other day that his child was saying the pledge of allegiance in school and he said God where it was removed. The class had a moment of silence and continued with the pledge. The next day every student in the class said the pledge and included God in it.
Powerful article, thanks Gen. Satterfield for bringing this out in the open. Yes, it is a national security issue. The corruption that President Biden, GEN. Milley and Sec of Def Austin have allowed is staggering. It is up to those in senior positions to root out corruption, not encourage it like we have here.
You would think more folks in the military would be stepping up. Where is the so-called brave Marines? They are missing in action.
TGIF. By the way, take a look at the articles Gen. Satterfield has in his daily favorites.
https://www.theleadermaker.com/daily-favorites-new/
We are also seeing racial and sex discrimination (and lowering of standards) in the US military. Why? Wokism.
Great article identifying a real problem. Others have asked it but I will repeat it, why is there such a lack of moral courage in our military ranks? Why don’t they step forward and call out the sham being perpetuated on our troops? Makes me sad to think our military lacks this level of courage.
Right, you would think this would be an easy one. Sometimes it is hard to overcome an obvious lie when backed up with power.
Sad, very sad. 👎 This is what our military has come to under Pres. Biden and his ilk.
What I don’t understand is why our military officers don’t have the guts to stand up to this.
Great question and that should be asked of racial-hire SECDEF Lloyd Austin – he should know because he wasn’t hired because of his ability but because of the color of his skin.
Yep, that question should be asked but it is verboten.
You get cancelled if you ask normal questions or you are a traitor. Just like the communist Soviet Union — and look what happened to that empire. 😊
Yeah, I wish someone would try to answer that.