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
George Orwell said it well, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
Or to quote an old Chinese proverb, “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”
Much of the world has enjoyed a half century, and more, of a Pax Americana.
But between fundamentalist Islamics, and a resurgent Russian Bear, people should be thinking of the need to find enough of those rough men, providing them with the tools they need, and providing sufficient training so that the sheep can sleep undisturbed.
Looks like most of the European nations need remedial courses in how to defend themselves in so-called “small wars.” The U.S. is becoming fatigued with having to be the go-to country to settle regional disputes. The Europeans, who love to sit back and take pot-shots at America had better settle down to learning modern warfare so they can protect themselves, or we won’t respect them, or ourselves for being suckered once again.
Marianne
Quote from Strategy Page article:
” Lots of training, lots of practice, and decades developing combat leadership, is what it takes.”
And no thanks to Jimmuh Cahtah we almost were in that boat with our betters in Europe. (that’s a joke for those who missed it. The “betters” that is.) We paid for that lack of training and leadership in several ‘minor’ skirmishes in the ’70s and ’80s and I believe only through extraordinary leadership and vision lately have we begun to overcome that deficit. I just hope that whomever the next leader we elect may be, that he doesn’t emulate our betters in Europe and let our military grow into social services and forget what ‘military’ means.
When the Belgian Army marching band is the best trained unit in the Belgian Army they’re in trouble.
I think it was either Nathan Fick or Robert Kaplan who wrote about seeing a USMC captain or major calmly standing and directing a firefight in Fallujah. The officer was doing his job and he was good at it.
These things take practice, and there’s no practice better than getting shot at (after you’ve first been properly trained). We’ve got at least two or three combat generations of NCO’s and platoon and company grade officers who’ve actually seen the elephant. In fact they walked right up and patted its trunk and tusks.
With the war in Iraq winding down (although it looks like Afghanistan is picking up) the “edge” will finally go off those combat tools. But right now I can understand why the French got hammered in Afghanistan–and the U.S. post was picking the jihadis off at 300 meters range in the last attack. It’s not a good idea to attack well equipped people; it’s even a worse idea to attack well equipped and experienced people.
Kinda like naval aviation, methinks.
I just finished viewing, for the second time, the last and at the end a very moving episode of Generation Kill on HBO. The whole seven part series while overly chatty, was a sometimes laugh out loud, pean to the American grunt…in this case a group of very recognizable, sympathetic and admirable Recon Marines…the all to fimilar bull-shit is there up and down the chain of command, no one is spared, heros and idiots abound… all thankfully without the usual or expected (for me anyway) PR Ho Ha …grab -ass.
What I find unusual is that no one here, especially the Jarheads, you know who you are, has seen fit to comment, either way, on the series. The fictional, but all to realistic,Recon Marines depicted in the series represent our boys who are at the very tip of the spear fighting the good fight while, as I’ve said before our useless flippen NATO Allies, with a few notable exceptions, are sitting in cantonments with their thumbs up their collective butts… Best
Snake,
Don’t get HBO, so haven’t seen any part until the finale tonight, while visiting my sister; as a result I don’t have a hard opinion. Although I am curious how people would compare it to Band of Brothers.
Army Girl reviewed it on her blog.
Bruce J.Thanks for the link to Army Girl and to her excellent review.
I think Generation Kill, with a much narrower focus and vastly raunchier fast paced dialouge compares very favorably to Band of Brothers….and like Band of Brothers, it’s well worth viewing in it’s entirety and some episodes are even worth a second look. For me the very last scene of the last episode was a moving almost silent summation of what these grunts have just gone through… it’s well done on all points. Best
PS, Bruce, You and Lex appear to be among that dubious .005 % of American who don’t get HBO…no excuses accepted…please get with the program
Being part of the few, the proud, the parsimonious who lack access to HBO, I’ll wait until it comes out on DVD.
Count me in with the .005% who don’t have HBO. The occasional good programming is often hamstrung by endless reruns of “Weekend at Bernie’s IX” and the like.
I’ll get Generation Kill on DVD and watch it all at once.
i’m cheap too.
will borrow someone else’s DVD copy when it comes out.
Great line, Lex … “the few, the proud, the parsimonious.” I like it. I live it.
Marianne
I only make a virtue of necessity, Marianne. What with supporting the All-Girl Spending Team in their competitions.
“the few, the proud, the parsimonious.” It sounds eloquent even, especially when collated to “the few, the proud, the stingy ( by necessity of course) .”
“The Few”……Ah yes, the realities of life……unless one is Bill Gates, of course.
Nota Bene… Parsimony in a foppish quest to remain ignorant…is no virtue…
… whilist expenditures of modest sums in the eternal search for enlightment… is no vice… Best
No HBO here.
Dummodo sit dives, barbarus ipse placet.
(So long as he is rich, even a barbarian is pleasing)
I spent all my HBO money on Cubi Specials.
You parsimonious, Cheap Charlie, Pecker-Woods deserve each other…you have my sympathies and will be in my prayers. Best
PS, XAB, You are most assuredly a grand master of the patently obvious.
I stopped getting HBO when they cut 3 eps. off of the final season of The Wire to spend more on their lesser content.
Snake:
I think you envy how handsome I am. Best.