Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
I wonder if there was a unit changeout – sometimes it’s hard to get past an incoming commander’s ego the fact that the guy who’s been there for 12 months actually does know how to do it right.
What’s so upsetting is that we not only used to know it.
Hell, once upon a time we did it ourselves!
And now we are forgetting it again and
again, a thousand times.
New unit in the AO. SSG Jeff has it right. Arrogance begets unnecessary casualties.
I don’t think that this is a new story…it’s about what happened a while ago. So it would appear that we have learned that lesson and are and have been doing the neighborhood policing and gaining success as reported by guys like Mike Yon – not that there are many such as Mike Yon.
When I was last deployed our job was escorting troops coming in or out via Kuwait, and we saw a lot of unit changes. One unit had developed excellent relations with the local population, had good intelligence and as a result had a very peaceful AO. They were relieved by a unit who wasn’t interested in the turnover info and who’s command felt their purpose was to kick a$$ and take names. Since they wanted a fight, they got one. The AO went to h3ll. Interestingly enough they were relieved by the original unit who in short order restored the situation. For the record, I don’t believe this was Bill T’s current AO.
BillT has some comments on the post that might help answer some of the questions being asked here.