L’anti-américanisme
Tough to maintain in the field, at least for this representative from l’armée du terre:
Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins and creatine – they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to them – we are wimps, even the strongest of us – and because of that they often mistake us for Afghan…
Even if recruits often originate from the hearth of American cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold high and proud the star spangled banner…
And they are impressive warriors ! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be… Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seem to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. On the one square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight unmoving in the directions of likely danger. No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. …
And combat ? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all – always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay. That is one of their tricks : they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting : they just charge ! They disembark and assault in stride…
How do you say “huah” en français?
(H/T to l’armurier)
Heh, Great minds think alike…
How do you say “huah” en français? you can’t. it’s one of those un-translatable words…
heck, those froggies don’t even have a word for “elan” or “entepreneur”!
You know guys, when I first read the article my eyes watered, but please read the comments section and focus on a different take given by “me2.” As I contemplated his point, I reflected on the fact that even as I read the article, in the back of my mind I fleetingly thought the author was laying it on a bit thick. After re-reading the article with me2’s critique in mind, I must say that I am now ambivalent about my
original “take” on the article–now admitting of the possibility that it was a sardonic spoof. Any thoughts, guys (and gals)?
PS: I mean, if you read most of the other comments, it appears that all us “Yanks” hit the hook like a starved 90lb Muskie
going full-tilt boogie.
Good example of what I’ve tried to explain to the TV generation for years – that there are many world-wide who are knowledgeable about and grateful for US efforts, only they (as many like-minded in the US) don’t get the airtime. I was excoriated by my dau’s for referring to “frogs”, but they don’t get it and they don’t recall the Legionnaire officers they met in infancy who sought us out for copies of Ranger Handbooks and our tactical genius…ok, maybe not MY tactical genius. And I recall as a youngster meeting French officers at my house in Ft Benning who fought at Dien Bien Phu – and I was, and still am certainly grateful for what they did and what they represent.
Virgil,
I can see where your skepticism may come from, but IMHO, the sentiment is genuine. I’ve read similar missives by Australian, British and Dutch soldiers over the past few years. They are all impressed by the quality of the young men and women serving today. They are often jealous of the magnificent equipment they have. They are usually astounded by the level of training that our troops receive (Special High Intensity Training, anyone?) and amazed at the levels of responsibility and authority that we routinely devolve to very low levels.
That isn’t to say these other forces aren’t quite competent. Rather, working from their own preconceived notions of how Americans are supposed to be- cowboys and ruffians and what not- they are a little surprised to see that their prejudices may not have been prescient.
Not my impression at all, Virgil. On the contrary, after reading the comments you can count but one who was of like mind to the writer.
Having read it all, I believe it’s sincere… and I can relate to what the writer says, having spent a recent evening with a Ranger deploying in January. Speaking of bench presses and lifts, he spoke of loading up on protein in his two previous deployments to Iraq.
For me, I agree with the majority… it’s for real and… so are our soldiers!
If it’s a spoof, it just happens to be true, as many spoofs often are…(-*
Lex, I loved it, of course.
virg, I didn’t get that it was a spoof and I was truly looking for it after your comments. Maybe I, like the other “Yanks” just WANT it to be sincere, but I think it is. I’ve been wrong before, but I’ve also been right a few times.
“Each man knows he can count on the support of a whole people who provides them through the mail all that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location : books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission. And that is a first shock to our preconceptions : the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention”
And, what he is describing is Operation Gratitude.
OpGratitude.com
We are the people bringing comfort to individual soldiers. We are the organization that literally has a warehouse full of product we would like to send to our service people in the field but… don’t have the backing of the American populace for the postage… We have to go begging for the right to send individual soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines a package of cheer from the states.
As our wars have gone on, the American populace has grown tired of them. Now, it is my opinion, that many think Obama will bring “everyone home.” So, why bother about sending boxes of love to those still engaged?
I’ll tell you why: My son is deployed currently fighting the “pie rats.” Do you think he will be home anytime soon???
He just recently got a package from OpGrat. It contained a hand made scarve, a pictue drawn by a young child and a hand made Christmas ornament along with a bunch of candy, cough drops, DVD’s, magazines, grooming aids etc. He emailed me how thrilled he was to get this package.
Why can’t we send a package to every single service person deployed by the American military the world over?
I’ll tell you why; we just don’t care all that much.
Please consider donating to Operation Gratitude.
Thanks,
Babs
My experiences with the French Armed Forces were in the Balkans and they were nothing but positive, at least mil to mil- at the fieldgrade and GO levels. Their troops were disciplined and sharp. I found that they were privately embarrassed at the attitude and policies of the Chirac government and, frankly, hurt by our corresponding dismissal of them as an ally because of it. And their PX was outstanding- at least for those Americans not under the imposition of General Order #1.
This young guy’s accessment of our troops is reminescent of something that D’tocqueville might have written.
Lastly, I will never forget how I was royally treated by the people of Normandy when I visited the invasion beaches and battlefields there in 1980 as a young lieutenant.
Glad to hear from guys like geo6 and xbradtc about the latest re-incarnation of the French forces. When I was in USAFE in the late 60s-early 70s DeGaulle had just pulled France out of NATO not that long before and relationships were rather frosty. We were slightly irritated about having to go the long way round from England to get to the MED–whether to Tripoli or to Athens or Incirlik–instead of overflying France.
But given that I got all three of my degrees from three different colleges in
South Louisiana, live in N.O., and am marries to a half-French (Lacoeur-Martel) Creole gal from Opeloussas (home of Jim Bowie) whose 82 yr-old Mother-in-law still speaks in Cajun-Creole French to half her friends on the phone while local all French-speaking radio stations blare in the background–I’m more given to appreciate things French than perhaps most.
Besides, without Admiral Compte de Grasse and his French Fleet at Yorktown and the help of the Marquis De Lafayette (I met my wife in Lafayette, La.) and French money, we perhaps wouldn’t be flying the Stars and Stripes today, n’cest pas?
Oh, and the food, did I mention the food?
PS: And the Louisiana Purchase–can’t forget THAT–just GOT to thank Napoleon B for that deal…..
Virgil, I bet you know how to pronounce dommage and you wouldn’t believe how important that is around here!
Curtis:
I also know how to pronounce “tant pis,” an equally useful term. Btw, I was fortunate enough to grow up on a college campus and attend the Lab school where we had instruction in the French language and culture from the second grade on–only this was in Illinois!
As a Scots-Irish person, I am always willing to express comradeship with fellow Celtic folks, when not fighting with them.
We really do need to confer together and decide how we are going to handle the Saxon problem.
Another PS: Illinois, which is French for Illini (as in fighting) has a rich history of French affiliated places and names, thanks to the likes of LaSalle and Pere Marquette and all the other French explorers who ranged up and down the upper Mid-West through the Illinois and Missouri & Mississippi rivers down to N.O. For example one may find Pere Marquette Buildings
in Chicago, Peoria and New Orleans for starters, and there is a LaSalle St in both Chicago and New Orleans. LOTS
of French influence. St. Louis, Louisville
(I’ve lived there too) New Orleans–all with the Fleur-de-Lis in their Coat of Arms and statues of King Louie abound as well as of Joan of Arc.
JTS: I’m Scots-Irish too(1/4)–as well as English(1/2) and Dutch-German(1/4).
My answer to the Anglo-Saxon problem was marriage to a partial descendant of the original Normans.
Sorry JTG!
Virgil, you are truly living in heaven (unless you live in the Big Sleazy itself. Ain’t NOTHING like the food there. My grandmother was like your mom-in-law, didn’t speak a lick of English till age 12 when she moved to the big city.
I was so happy that Mandinas didn’t go away permanently after Katrina, that’s the only really good restaurant I still know of. Took the wife and stepdaughter there once, they can’t wait to go back.
Oyster loaves!!!!! Gumbo!!!!!! Crawfish Bisque!!!!
Byron,
Most people don’t know this, but when my Father-in law (A WWII Army vet-arty) was up in the VA in Alexandria, LA before he died (actually closer to Pineville, is set in a beautiful wooded 1930s built campus arrangement–on the National Register of Historic places!) when you call the hospital and if put on hold, part of the running FYI announcements
include the statement that a Cajun French language interpreter is available on site if needed!!!! LOL. GOT to be only place in entire VA system like it! (For the un-initiated, Alexandria, LA sits right at the northern apex of the Cajun pyramid/triangle in south central Louisiana.)
I keep telling the wife that the next trip back to La. we’re gonna stay in New Iberia so she can see what Cajun country is like. I plan to do some driving aroun down there, like Avery Island and Grand Isle if we can get there. First thing, though, is an oyster loaf at Mandinas and cafe au lait and beignets at the Cafe du Mond!
Byron — you are SO right about Mandina’s. Haven’t been to NOLA since the storm — thinking about JazzFest next year. But would never go, and not have Trout Almandine at Mandina’s. Or the Shrimp Loaf, dressed. Or the bread pudding. Or the soft shelled crab……
http://www.bob-west.com/PATTON-SPEECH.html
b2
head on up to Mamou and stop on by Fred’s Lounge, they’ve got a table waiting for you, and the pig is roasting while the beer ices down…
Wow! I can’t believe how many memories you guys are bringing back. Mom was a RN at the VA hospital when she met dad. I lived in Pinevill until i was 4. In high school, I lived three blocks from Mandina’s (cant believe no one mentioned the oyster and artichoke soup). Got my degree from USL (I refuse to recognize the change to LUL) in Lafayette and probably did some serious dancing at fais do-dos in every town mentioned. Probably had a few cold ones too.
Wife and I are on the way to Covington Tuesday for Thanksgiving. After pigging out on deep fried turkey and cornbread and oyster dressing, followed by left overs Friday, we will all head for Drago’s in Fat City for oysters on Saturday. Think I’ll have a dozen raw, a dozen char broiled and 6 or so en brochet, the ones wraped in bacon and served with a Jack Daniels sauce. Might have a salad for some roughage and finish things off with a creme brulet. I can’t wait.
Byron, E.Yat,
How about a muffaleta at Central Grocery and some BBQ shrimp at Pascal Manale’s! What about Mosca’s? mmmm
Y’all got me hungry and that’s dangerous! I need me a po’boy.
b2
b2:
Sounds like you could finish off a Fowl de Cochon all by yourself. For you non Cajuns, that’s a deboned sucklin pig stuffed with a deboned turkey, deboned duck and deboned chicken (Turducken) stuffed with Cajun sausage and spicy cornbread dressing. All for $250 and feeds 50-60, unless you invite b2 and Snake. They might leave you some scraps. Man, I’m ready for Thanksgiving.
can i get me some boudin on the side of that?
Geez, you guys just LOVE to eat!
I gotta stop reading all this and go get some lunch. Nothing that exotic though, I’m afraid.
I think a French word that might work for “Hooah” might be, “Allon!”
I don’t speeka da langwadge, but I see it on Unit crests.
Un biere, sil vou plait?
Michelle,
New Orleans (or just about anywhere in South Louisiana) is one of the few places in the US where you can go into any bar in town and hear a bunch of the regulars discussing what they’re going to eat for their next meal, or where, as well as the relative merits of the restaurant where they ate last night, etc.
New Orleans, for example has a daily M-F 3-hr radio talk show devoted entirely to food, restaurants, etc., as well as several others on the weekend!
xairboss: Where ya at, yer mutha?
I got my Master’s at USL !(Glad to see I’m not the only one that hates the name change!) You know what everyone calls the newly renamed Univ. of Louisiana-Lafayette now? The “U la-las” Ever been to the Cochon du lait Festival in Mansura? Sommmm
good eatin’. Mandinas was/is always a favorite of mine too. (Some day I’ll tell you the story about why their BBQ
shrimp is no longer on the menu–we started going there for it originally to avoid the long wait at Manale’s.)
RetRsvMike
What kind, shrimp, pork or blood? Both Opeloussas and Lake Charles seem to excel, with Lafayatte not too far behind. The stuff made in N.O. is distinctly sub-par, IMHO. Marksville/Mansura/Cottonport area places will give you a run for your money too…..
PS to anyone else not familiar with South Louisiana: It’s practically IMPOSSIBLE to walk into any local restaurant, bar or grocery store ANYWHERE in any town large or small, that serves hot food and get a BAD meal/sandwich of ANY kind–unless you live in Baton Rouge, of course–although they’re getting better now that restaurants from both New Orleans and Lafayette have branched out.
Note to Lex: Start food blog for ex-military types–a runaway winner for sure!
Oh, Virgil, I don’t mind. Jerry Pournelle is one of my heroes and he brags all the time about his Norman (frenchified Dane)-French ancestry, and how his people came over with Bill the Bastard, and the blood was up to the horses’ tummies in the temple in Jerusalem, and his son is a reellly cool Naval Officer, and ……n.
To paraphrase the Australian National Anthem: “With all his faults, I love him still.”
LOL Virgil. Unfortunately, I never got north and west of Opelousas very much. Have a friend who flew S-2Fs back in the CVS days who went through flight training at New Iberia. We’re thinking about driving up to NI and Lafayette in a week to check out some of the old watering holes.
E Yat — first CO, Steve Todd, got his wings at NAS New Iberia. I don’t think it was open that long — 4 or 5 years at the max.
Badbob — Mosca’s. Good food, even on the Westbank. I tell people to head west on 90 towards Morgan City, and turn left when the street lights stop. Park in the eryster shell lot, and take cash.
Virgil, my grandmother lived on Cortez St, same one that Mandinas is on.
Small world Byron. I lived in the 200 block of N. Scott – one block from Cortez.
@Michelle: One thing I’ve noticed about all old soldiers and old sailors is that they are all serious foodies. This was even hinted at in the TV show, “Northern Exposure”, in which the ex-astronaut character was portrayed as quite boorish and Philistine in some ways, but also really into having really high-quality, well-prepared gourmet food.
I suspect that lots of time spent in the field or under decks might inspire food dreams, or something.
XAB, Re that part of your comment # 28 above aimed in my direction…many thanks for the kind words…and bring on the Fowl de Cochon… Best
PS, Not that anyone asked…but I’ve never met a Cajun that I didn’t immediately take to… their attenuated cousins in the EU and the Great White North, however, are an entirely different matter.
That’s Great White UP to you, Snake. Great White UP.
And no, I ain’t Cajun. Of course, I doubt anyone ever seriously thought I was.
YAT:
If you’re headed to Lafayette and want a change of pace, one of the best, truly serious up-scale Mexican-style food, sit-down white table cloth restaurants ON THE PLANET is La Fonda’s–check it out!
Virgil, you might have passed by her. She lived two blocks off Canal, and lived there from late 60s to early 90s. Shoot me an email, I’d like to know some of the better places to eat around Lafayette and New Iberia, if’n you could, you
shipfitterATcomcast.net
Snake:
Agree that Cajuns are different from the ones in the EU and great white north. They are kinda like Marines and SF – best friends you can ever have and worst enemies. Cajuns are NEVER affraid of a fight
Michelle,” Great White Up…”Great White North”…most of us in the” Lower Great Fifty” don’t really give a rats a** about it…and it’s certaintly not worth getting ones knickers in a bunch over… my deepest apologies if I’ve offended your tender sensabilities … Ma Belle… Best
Does this mean the French will now support the US at the United Nations?
dnh8f237g8g,
Re “French support at UN”
Hell no, but we shore do ‘preciate the French influence on the Cajun, Cajun Creole and Cajun Eye-talian food of N’Orleans!
b2
Snake, Cajuns can be your best friend ever, or your worst nightmare if you piss one off. They will get even, with interest, someday, somehow, and you’ll never see it coming.
Pick up a copy of the movie “Southern Comfort”
http://www.destgulch.com/movies/sc/
There’s a lot more truth to this story than you think; just ask some of your Army buddies if they ever had any Cajuns in their outfits
It’s been 5 months now that we’ve been sharing our daily life, but also our food, with our band of brothers from the States. It’s time for us Frenchies to give you a full report of our cross-Atlantic culinary experience (in Afghanistan of course).