Update: This was worse than expected. An indignant military commentator was given pretty much free reign to bash Stephen King on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. Here's how it started, "A deputy undersecretary for the Department of Defense says Maine author Stephen King cruelly perpetuated an incorrect stereotype when he suggested last month that military service is a refuge for the illiterate."
Barbara Cariddi's angle is "repercussions." A. J. Higgins does the meat of the 4 1/2 minute piece, connecting postponement of a planned fund-raiser for Democratic Senate candidate Tom Allen to the "controversy." Higgins does mention that these "repercussions" are sourced from the likes of O'Reilly and Limbaugh. My sense is that MPBN follows the lead of these preachers in the halls of wingnuttia.
I suppose Higgin's angle on literacy problems in Maine is a bit of a counterbalance in Stephen King's favor. But I think you could have done a much better report on this important issue if the dose of "repercussions" for King had not been ladled on top of it.
The Pentagon spokesperson really did not deal with Stephen King's intended point, that lack of literacy limits options in life, instead tacking against what is essentially a red herring, the myth that the military is full of illiterates. I did not hear that at all in King's remarks and I certainly do not believe that to be true.
However, recruiting standards certainly have taken a hit in recent years. This was not investigated at all by MPBN, even though mainstream stories have been available for months, sourced from the Pentagon itself, including this February Bangor Daily News story blogged by Gerald at Turn Maine Blue (thanks, Gerald).
I would note that a problem amongst some troops may be a lower level of thinking skills with respect to understanding the consequences of displayed attitudes and actions, not necessarily "illiteracy." This comes out big time in the Winter Soldier testimony.
These consequences are significant and terrible for people in countries America occupies, and for America itself. See below. Previous posts on this topic HERE and HERE.
Here is the audio I promised (4 1/2 minutes):
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Meanwhile, here are facts MPBN could have found as easily as I did, if they'd wanted to do a decent report:
Six Questions for Eli Flyer on Military Recruiting and Abuses in Iraq
July 27, 2006 · Washington Babylon
By Ken Silverstein
Eli Flyer retired as a Pentagon senior military analyst in 1979 and has since served as a consultant to U.S. armed forces on personnel issues. He has spent the last fifty years analyzing the relationship between military recruiting and military misconduct; of note is his 2003 report to the Pentagon, “Reducing the Threat of Destructive Behavior by Military Personnel” (PDF). Looking back on the shock and outrage expressed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld when the Abu Ghraib scandal came to light, it's interesting to note that at around the same time U.S. soldiers were torturing Iraqi prisoners at that prison, Flyer was delivering a report to the Pentagon stating that some U.S. troops were in positions “where destructive acts could have the most serious consequences.” Clearly, people should be paying attention to what Flyer has to say. He replied to a series of questions on the links between poor recruitment practices and abuses against Iraqi civilians.
...
3. Doesn't the pressure to meet recruiting quotas also affect the quality of those brought into the military?
FLYER: It is widely known that some recruiters will go to extraordinary lengths to help qualify applicants for military service. Providing a fraudulent high school diploma, ignoring an arrest record or a history of mental disorder, coaching for an aptitude test or medical exam—all these unacceptable recruiting practices, and many more, will be used by some recruiters to meet their quotas. A shortage of applicants leads to an increased pressure on recruiters to disregard regulations and use unacceptable methods to meet their quotas."
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