美国国家公共电台 NPR U.S. Army Green Berets Accused From Within Of Lowering Standards

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Members of an elite¹ American fighting force are asking if they're quite elite enough. Here's more from my co-host Steve Inskeep.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The Green Berets are often first in a war zone, whether it's in Vietnam or Afghanistan or Niger, where some were killed in an ambush² earlier this year. They are supposed to be trained to the highest possible standard and now face an allegation that they're not. NPR's Tom Bowman has been following this story. Hi, Tom.

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE³: Hey, Steve.

INSKEEP: Would you remind us what it is the Green Berets do?

BOWMAN: Well, they do a number of things. First of all, it's - foreign internal defense⁴ is what they call it - basically training foreign militaries to be competent soldiers. And the other job they do is called direct action - actually going after terrorists, leading the charge, let's say, with local forces.

INSKEEP: So they have to be really tough as soldiers but also culturally smart.

BOWMAN: Exactly. They have language skills, cultural training. And they tend to be a bit older than your average soldier, sometimes late 20s, well into their 30s.

INSKEEP: Well, who's raising questions about them?

BOWMAN: Well, there is a letter - a scathing⁵, 12-page letter that's making the rounds on websites and chat groups, and it's written by what it says is a concerned Green Beret. There's no name attached to this letter. He claims to be an instructor⁶ in the Green Berets. And he's basically saying the standards have dropped.

INSKEEP: This is one of the very first sentences of the letter - the Special Warfare⁷ Center and School - that's the school we're talking about here?

BOWMAN: Right, in Fort Bragg, N.C.

INSKEEP: This school, according to the letter, has, quote, "devolved into a cesspool of toxic⁸, exploitive, biased⁹ and self-serving senior officers who are bolstered¹⁰ by submissive, sycophantic¹¹ and just as culpable¹² enlisted¹³ leaders." And it continues in that brutal¹⁴ tone page after page.

BOWMAN: That's right. That's why I say it's a scathing letter. And the letter claims that standards are being lowered. People are given multiple chances to pass physical fitness exams, and it's pretty hard to fail, according to this letter writer, unless you get an injury or just decide to quit.

INSKEEP: OK. First, is there any doubt that this is a real letter, given that the writer is anonymous¹⁵?

BOWMAN: There is no doubt. First of all, he has a lot of detail in the letter, some details as recently as several weeks ago. He mentions names of instructors¹⁶, names of students - again, a lot of detail that only someone in the community would know. And the important thing is the command down at Fort Bragg at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School are treating it as authentic¹⁷. And the general who runs the school, Major General Kurt Sonntag, has actually sent out his own letter.

INSKEEP: OK. So what is the command saying about it?

BOWMAN: Well, the command is basically saying these charges are baseless, that the training changes all the time and that, basically, you know, people would wash out in the past for failing certain physical tests, but now they're using these tests as what they called diagnostics, meaning they want to give them more chances to try to pass these physical tests rather than just have them wash out.

INSKEEP: Because they want to work up to standard?

BOWMAN: Exactly. They just want to give them more chances to get through the course.

INSKEEP: Is there something larger happening here, Tom Bowman? For example, trouble in the Army and finding enough really highly-talented people to go into these Green Beret slots?

BOWMAN: That's exactly what's going on here - is they're having trouble recruiting and retaining special operators. And the big reason, of course, Steve, is, as we all know, we're going into 17 years of war. These guys deploy¹⁸ all the time. And they also have trouble recruiting Green Berets because people realize what their future is going to be - constant deployments overseas. Now, the Green Berets say they could lose hundreds because of the recruiting and retention¹⁹ challenges in the coming years - hundreds out of an estimated 7,000 in the active force.

INSKEEP: Which could conceivably create pressure to lower the standards. But what are you hearing when you talk with current or former Green Berets?

BOWMAN: Well, I've talked to nearly a dozen former and current Green Berets, and some say, well, this guy's kind of disgruntled. Maybe he's a bit young. He hasn't been in the force long enough. But others I talk with say he raises some very good points. And one Green Beret I met in Afghanistan a number of years ago said, this guy is right on the money, that the quality of the current Green Berets isn't what it used to be. This guy's been in the force well over a decade. He said, if it were ten years ago, and I saw what's going on, I would leave.

INSKEEP: Tom, thanks very much.

BOWMAN: You're welcome, Steve.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Pentagon correspondent, Tom Bowman. And if you want to read this full letter, as well as the general's response to it, go to npr.org.

1 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

2 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 scathing   

adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词)

参考例句：

• a scathing attack on the new management 针对新的管理层的猛烈抨击
• Her speech was a scathing indictment of the government's record on crime. 她的演讲强烈指责了政府在犯罪问题上的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

7 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

8 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

9 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

10 bolstered   

v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He bolstered his plea with new evidence. 他举出新的证据来支持他的抗辩。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The data must be bolstered by inferences and indirect estimates of varying degrees of reliability. 这些资料必须借助于推理及可靠程度不同的间接估计。 来自辞典例句

11 sycophantic   

adj.阿谀奉承的

参考例句：

• Qinhui was a notorious sycophantic official in the Song dynasty,and was spurned by later generations.秦桧是宋代著名的佞臣，受尽后人的唾骂。
• We heard the sound of sycophantic laughter.我们听到了谄媚的笑声。

12 culpable   

adj.有罪的，该受谴责的

参考例句：

• The judge found the man culpable.法官认为那个人有罪。
• Their decision to do nothing makes them culpable.他们不采取任何行动的决定使他们难辞其咎。

13 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

15 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

16 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

17 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

18 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

19 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。