Comments on: History Meets the Man

By: Kris, in New England

Kris, in New England — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:54:48 +0000

I was quite surprised at the positive article on the front page of the NY Times yesterday. At least finally someone in the MSM decided to tell the truth.

By: 11B40

11B40 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:32:19 +0000

Greetings:

1) I remember clearly when I first found my father’s World War II medals in the back of his closet. I was emotionally blown away and carried them around with me all day until he finally came home from work. He sat with me for a while, explaining them to me, and then we went in to dinner. I must have talked about them all through the meal, until my father said,
“Denis, me -boy-o, you’re making far too much of this.”

2) The most important support that all soldiers need is the opportunity to be successful in their endeavor. All else pales in comparison.

By: Grumpy

Grumpy — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:24:21 +0000

Lex, I really believe HF6 is on target about GEN Keane and the lessons learned from Viet Nam. As time goes by, I hope we will learn from MEN like GEN Keane. As we try to look at Iraq, there is a split in our thinking. We went through Persian Gulf I, which was essentially a conventional war in the style of WWII. The irony is this, during Viet Nam, LBJ, who had no military experience, he admitted it. He then went to find the best counsel. The man he found was an active duty 5-star General and former POTUS, Dwight D Eisenhower. 5-Star Generals did not retire, they were active duty until death. Eisenhower’s counsel was fight the war you have, not the one you want. This is one way to help solve difficulty of Presidents not having experience with the Military and issues of National Security. This might stop some of the arrogance we have seen. Now, if we look at Presidents with Military experience, does that make them a better President? Not always, these people tend to lock down everything in stone. There is a concept of flexible strength to help bring together the best ideas to fight the war we have. It takes a very strong man/woman to lead with “flexible strength” in a war.

V/R Grumpy

By: HomefrontSix

HomefrontSix — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:56:26 +0000

It’s nice to know that at least one of the lessons of Vietnam was learned. And everything I’ve heard about GEN Keane says that he is an incredibly humble man so his comment doesn’t surprise me.