Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
Do you have any specific examples of this? Because that kind of attitude runs completely opposite to my military experience.
When I served with the Canadian forces, we were told pretty much from the very first day of basic training that an individual is essentially worthless and success can only be achieved through teamwork. In fact, many of the exercises in boot camp were designed to hammer this point home. For example, we would have room inspections shortly after breakfast each morning. A few times we returned from the mess hall and discovered that the trainers had been into our quarters and completely tore our bedding apart, throwing sheets, blankets, and even mattresses all over the room -- with inspection looming in five minutes or so. If each man tried frantically to reassemble only his own bed (self-interest), it was impossible to complete the task in time to and nobody passed inspection. On the other hand, if the group worked together for the common interest and everyone assisted each other, the quarters could be returned to their immaculate state before the reviewing officer arrived.
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I'm not communicating well then, because this is a great example of what I'm referring to.
As an aside, I thank you for your service.
You and your bunkmate return to your quarter and see that your beds are both mussed. Inspection is in five minutes. You both know it takes six minutes to make your bed alone. You also know that together, it takes two minutes.
You and your bunkmate can work together to achieve both of your goals, and you and your bunkmate can identify that and act accordingly. You and your bunkmate working together IS SERVING your own self-interest, these do not have to contradict.
You seem to be describing a scenario such as the this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma
where if you each act out of fear/suspicion/ignorance you will both lose. I don't know why you are arguing this is the common sense result.
The army is doing that drill to teach you exactly what I am arguing, it is in your best interest to work together.