Questions for Independence Day: QMN050

Martial Mental Models: The Quartermaster, Wednesday, 3 July

(Today’s report is a 5 minute read)

NOTE: The Quartermaster’s 2-month experiment has come to a close and KS and I are now moving to a weekly newsletter model. We’ll be back in your inbox late next week with more models and deeper looks into martial topics you can use at work and at home. Thank you to everyone (you know who you are) who has provided feedback on format, content and theme - and if you haven't yet please give us your take at thequartermasternews@gmail.com. Enjoy the holiday. (BJM)

BLUF: We have a system that lets everyone have a shot - where it doesn't matter what your parents did or where you came from- if you work hard and you're smart you can improve your position. Many increasingly feel like we’re losing this key feature - how can we arrest a slide away from widespread opportunity to keep this alive for future generations?

Brady here. Growing up on the West Coast, Independence Day meant a few things to me: fireworks, barbecues and rodeo. One side of my family comes from Prescott, Arizona and the World’s Oldest Rodeo is what’s happening there this time of year. There were plenty of flags, meat and explosions - and I think it was a great way to spend the holiday most years. But back then I didn't have much understanding of the ideas behind the holiday - at least beyond what I’d learned in elementary school happened 200 years prior.

Since then I’ve spent three years of my life overseas in foreign conflicts, moved to the East Coast and had three kids. My impression of the holiday has changed, mostly due to comparisons with other nations I've worked in, and a few key conversations. I find I'm a lot more grateful now for what I have - grateful to have a system that still works and grateful that my ancestors chose this place over where they were before. But I worry that in my generation we’re losing them.

In 2010 I was working in a regional capital city in South Asia. Paired with a Green Beret intelligence sergeant and a Lieutenant Colonel from our host nation’s military, our job was to enhance our hosts’ intelligence gathering and processing ability so they could fight extremists and organized crime more effectively. We were all discussing global politics (always a good idea) over lunch at work one hot summer day, when our Lieutenant Colonel, named Amir, asked me “How do you Americans do it? You find one thing to focus on and you don't finish until it’s completed. You have a focus- how did you get that?” I wasn't ready for that question or compliment and I brushed it off with a “just lucky I guess” cop out and Amir called me on it. Thinking some more I told him that I thought it's because we have a system that lets everyone have a shot - that it doesn't matter what your parents did or where you came from- if you work hard and you're smart you can improve your position. Having a stake is what motivates people in the US, and it's what motivates people to come to the US. I think I gave a good answer, but the exchange haunts me about this time every year - is what I said true? If what I said is true are we maintaining that? And is what Amir asked about our drive true? Do we really have a singular focus and a commitment to resolution? Are we exceptional?

Now as a civilian and the father of three small children I spend a lot of time thinking about how to teach my children the important things and give them experiences that convey the truth and the kind of values I find important. I'm not nearly as invested in our nation's conflicts and my opinion of their value has changed. And the social isolation that can come with today’s technological abilities and our current political fractiousness creates other problems to overcome. Gallup reported yesterday that the self-image of our nation is faltering along several lines and it's not a surprise. Just a few years ago The Atlantic reported that social mobility, that motivator I told Amir about, has been declining in the US since the days when I watched bullriding on the Fourth. Legendary economist Tyler Cowen recently released a book that describes this trend in detail, which is borne out in examinations of multiple trends from geographic mobility, to marriage, and to mass customization. And a growing divide between those with options and those without has been called out most recently by the youngest sitting Senator in the US. It makes me ask myself - are we slowly losing what brought my ancestors here, and what makes the US a good place to live?

Today I believe that the US is a good place to live, that social mobility is alive for me and that per the Gallup question that I’m “extremely proud” to be an American. I may have gotten that from watching rodeo as a kid and I might have gotten it from my military service, but I hope I pass it on to my kids. It comes with the responsibility to ensure that economic opportunity remains a driver for all Americans and aspiring Americans. If we’re going to remain a people that guys like Amir admire, the US has to be a place worth living in not just for a few, but for all of us. (BJM)

If the World’s Oldest Rodeo interests you this holiday, you can go to Prescott and check it out or watch the 1972 Steve McQueen movie Junior Bonner, where some of my relatives are extras (bar fight scene). (BJM)

LONG TERM DIGITAL SOCIAL EFFECTS: Early Indications June 2019: Watched and Lonely? (7 min) “Never before have so many people been micro-targeted in massive behavioral experiments with little or no regulation or accountability. This is deeply concerning. Given the resilience of the human psyche, it's unclear what will turn out to be injurious, enhancing, and/or background noise in the long-term view of these matters: at the same time that people can survive horrific experiences, little nudges can also add up. Looking back from 2030 or 2050, what will people view of today’s world with amusement, horror, disgust, or bewilderment? What will be the equivalent of Big Tobacco, asbestos, margarine, or the moon landing?” (BJM)

HEROES OF ADAPTATION: Cockroaches are evolving to a point where they’ll be nearly impossible to kill (2 min) “Cockroaches are being born impervious to bug sprays and it’s happening fast. A Purdue University study found that the commonly found German species of roaches are being born with an immunity to toxins with which they haven’t yet been in contact. The shocking study, published on Live Science, concluded the evolution of the German cockroach, also called the Blattella germanica, develops an immunity to new poisons in as quickly as one generation of offspring.” (BJM)

HOW TO SERVE OTHERS: Leaving It All on the Field: Selfless Service in Building Your Team (4 min) “During the death march to the prison camp, Kapaun never ceased helping to carry the wounded and offering pastoral care to all of the men with him, even as he was suffering from his own severe frostbite. Upon arrival at camp, he was forbidden to conduct his priestly duties by the communists, but he fearlessly refused to stop. He helped bandage men, picked lice off those too weak to do it, cleaned filthy latrines so that illness wouldn’t spread even more rapidly, and gave up what little rations he had to those who needed it more.” (KSA)

Remarks Complete. Nothing Follows.

KS Anthony (KSA) & Brady Moore (BJM)