Perspective: The Really Overworked
The Obama kids just do not get it:
Victor Davis Hanson’s post yesterday pointing to a New York Times story about President Obama’s overworked, Blackberrying staff prompted an irritated, unprintable text message from one of my friends from Iraq. After all, this West Point grad and two-time Iraq vet had experienced his own work ordeal — but it didn’t have much to do with being irritated by the constant buzzing of his smartphone.
The workload for deployed soldiers redefines the term “punishing.” For troops on the line, they can sometimes spend months at a time under constant risk of enemy fire. Daily patrols — wearing upwards of 80 pounds of gear in 120-degree heat — are preceded and followed by extensive maintenance and briefings. And this doesn’t even consider the strain of actual combat. During my deployment, one of our units engaged in a 36-hour firefight. After it was over, many of those same soldiers had to content themselves with a short nap before going out there once again. You haven’t seen exhaustion until you’ve looked into the eyes of men in those circumstances. . . .
Look, I don’t at all minimize the fact that Obama’s staff is under considerable pressure and works long hours. President Bush’s staff faced the same pressures and worked the same hours. But the NYT puff piece? That’s a bit much.
And I think of this.