Tom Anderson of Slate on Jeeves Goes to War: Why is the Pentagon sending soldiers to butler school?
Somewhere in Iraq, a young soldier is handing his three-starred boss a bottled water on a platter, or pressing the general's uniform, or serving his dinner guests dessert—from the left side, of course.
The military has always provided personal assistants to top brass: There are 300 "enlisted aides" who cater to three- and four-star generals and admirals. But now the Air Force and Navy are sprucing up their service by enrolling some aides at the Starkey International Institute for Household Management, the country's premier school for domestic help. The Pentagon, in short, is now training butlers.
Having spent a significant amount of time around many general officers, I can attest to the fact that active duty military men and women are indeed used as personal servants for some, but definitely not all general officers. However, for those who do get such treatment, it is an extravagent waste and a misuse of a trained fighting man or woman. As a former Marine I find this to be a wasteful and demeaning practice, but I'm sure that plenty of hawks, who never donned a uniform, will be ready to defend it in all of their knee-jerk splendor.
Link courtesy of Radley Balko.