When the Army is overseas, we work with many other nations and national Armies. The was once a time when I was able to observe a formation of British troops moving in formation from place to place. I like the British and am always impressed by their polish. After serving some time with them recently, I am even more impressed by their politeness as well as their polish. The British formation particularly impressed me by the way they were conducting routine tasks of movement in an organized manner. It is impressive because while we were overseas, we never saw this by our own troops. Most of the time our formations become large gaggles of soldiers wondering to the assigned spot for training. Particularly when overseas, Soldiers simply have a set to be at a set spot, and the Soldiers are very responsible to be there. While there are reasons to simplify movement to “an appointment” rather than movement by a “formation”, the illustration lendsitself to understanding our society.
It seems that we become so undisciplined that we cannot gather in a formation to walk across post? Gone are the days, when American Soldiers would march through towns in their traditional dress uniforms. In the same way, we have become so undisciplined that we cannot follow the rules of basic decency. We have become so undisciplined that we cannot maintain our marriages longer than two years. We also have become so undisciplined that we cannot debate different views without it turning into a shouting match.
As our society becomes more and more undisciplined, it shows our dire need for a shepherd.
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This post is a fresh rewrite of a post titled “Gaggle Army” posted in April 2008.
Photo from Pixabay.com