REDLEG
And to mr. Bulldogg: This is a military forum made by and mainly for military (related) members so I have no plan to change the way the forum is operated by using staff members that doesn't have any military experience, so you don't have to worry about that happening...:smil:
Here's the problem, not all of your Threads are military related. When it comes to getting military info (for perspective recruits), military history, Gear+weapons, even History I agree that having a person with a military background makes sense.
But on other threads, it doesn't, in fact haveing ONLY military background people in fact causes problems. Take for example the often problematic Politics Thread.
People with military backgrounds tend to be VERY one sided in politics, the military may teach a multitude of different skills, but the skill for tolerance isn't one of them. There are a certain group of people that think 'ONLY' theirs and like minded opinions count, and therefore entitled to threaten, insult or bully those they disagree with. Gator is right to say that this group has included, from time to time, a few of the mods. I have remarked this as well...
More troublesome is the feeling that mods occasionally turn a 'blind eye' toward some abusive members whose views they sympathize with.
Remember the ex-member "Senior Chief', whose 'charming' behavior on the board was simply beyond belief. Within his first few days he had violated just about every rule on the board, without rebuke. I remember one week were he had engaged in full flame wars (some of the worst on the board) with at least 7 different members with only a wrist slap response. The abuse continued. I don't know what he finally did to earn his ban, but it was at least 3 months overdue. Staff WAS on duty during those incidents, they saw what he wrote (because I reported him several times) and yet he was allowed to continue his attacks MULTIPLE PEOPLE.
At the same time a member was recently banned for calling Bush 'an idiot'. Now I don't put into cause the Mods decision to do so, but it does seem like a very minor infraction compared to the absolutely murder our ex-member was getting away with for so long.
So in short, having a few 'civvies' would help keep the balance of things especially in the tumultuous forums where tempers are short and where a military background isn't required.
One final point. This is supposed to be a INTERNATIONAL forum. Why is so many of the staff (almost all) from the USA. I am American too, but this forum could benefit from a few non-US staff members. (There are plenty, even those with military backgrounds).