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
“Strategies” within the military chain of command – from the CiC down through to the platoon leader and his Sgt. – exist at all levels. They are as greatly varied as the circumstances, and level of authority and responsibility dictate. Nevertheless, while the varied strategies at all levels may differ, they are all important in mission accomplishment, and subject to approval from a higher level of authority.
Indeed General McChrystal has a strategy. And his strategies are mostly his own.
And so does the CiC.
But McChrystal’s strategies would be irrelevant without President Obama’s higher-level strategy that enabled him.
It was President Obama that enacted McChystal’s strategy. It was President Obama that dismissed General David McKiernan – the 1st US flag officer to be relieved from command of a theatre of combat since MacArthur during Korea!
That sir, was a major and exigent, strategic move!
While we frittered away years and lives fighting guerrillas via conventional warfare means until Gen. Patreaus finally gained favor, finally and at long last under the prior administration, it only took months for the new Chief Executive to fire the ineffective old school warrior and put in a star.
General McChrystal’s strategy is only operative because of Obama’s fine and perceptive strategy. One does not likely exist without the other.
BTW, nice to see some concern about the troops, casualties, and the seemingly everlasting wars rather than Palin and MJ hyper-hype.
You could have left off that last sentence and not demeaned the others here and thereby tag the rest of your commentary with a distinct malodor.
Take that last statement to the Code Pink sites.
Fliterman, I can’t believe you wrote that line. For all the political disagreements you’ve had with our host over the years, you know him better than to imply he doesn’t remember/acknowledge and deeply feel the loss of fellow servicemembers. I trust we can chalk this up to a late-night over-indulgence on your part or simply a misunderstanding on our part…
FbL,
Some are truly blind and willfully so the heavy hand of policy on the scales of war. The NYT hires a lot of them. Some of us might point out that ruination first came to our efforts in Iraq when policy in Iraq was entirely surrendered to L. Paul Bremer who proved more devastating and ruinous than the 7 plagues of Egypt. He was kind of the Strange McNamara of the decade. It was obvious that the war was always winnable until “policy” changed based on the monthly turnover of state department creeps punching their tickets in the Green Zone.
The military understands that winning a campaign involves a deliberate strategy of fighting certain battles until one arrives at the culminating point at which point victory is achievable. (deliberate planning, study the effects, apply the force, etc) After that, maintaining the focus on the campaign’s desired outcome is vital. Bremer and the other losers had no idea and just tacked from one idea to the next in the hope that something would work by the weekend news conference.
FBL – You are mostly correct in your observations. And my final line was not meant as an indictment of lex, this blog, or even of most (but not all) of the commenters here.
But have you not noticed how so many, from the man on the street, the various political blogs, and the MSM have seemingly forgotten to report on men and women being wounded or dying for their country half a world away in the heat and sand?
Even the so-called conservative media [faux news] seemingly has forgotten our two wars and skirmishes elsewhere, while they concentrate more on the ad-selling, ‘celeb’ and prurient news – Michael Jackson, Sara Palin, and other unimportant shooting stars, while ignoring what is going on in Russia, Honduras, world economies, Iraq, Afghanistan, and places we aren’t supposed to know about.
I lost a number of friends many years ago to enemy fire. But few knew nor cared. In other venues, I today help to keep their sacrifices – including my best friend killed at age 20 – alive today…. every day – now going on close to four decades.
You may know a lot about political and celebrity names in the news this month. But do you know the names of anyone who died for their country this month? Do you know how and why they died for you? Do you know how they are doing? Do you know when they will return? Do you know if they will return?
I can’t help thinking if people don’t know, or don’t care how and why our youngsters are dying, why are we allowing them to die in the first place? And why did my best friend die in Vietnam, when he could go to Hanoi today and drink toddies in a 4-star hotel?
Recent lost lives are no less important than lives lost decades ago for their country. But they by their heroic lives and deaths far eclipse our celebrities, forever. Unfortunately, our nation – left and right – has seemed to forget those sacrifices in favor wanting to discuss and debate celebrity, politics, and hype.
So if I come across a little acerbic, I have reason.
Just a couple of buck$ worth of opinion to throw in the mixed pot.
We all here think of them all the time, and the daily body counts trumpeted by the MSM and hard-wone successes ignored while Bush was president is what stands out in my memory of 2003->2008. Just as the memory of Walter Cronkite declaring the Vietnam War lost after the incredible defeat that our enemy suffered in the Tet Offensive. I saw the picture of a S Vietnamese policeman executing a Viet Cong over and over. But never heard of the incredible massacre of the tens of thousands in Hue by the VC, simply because they worked in government offices. Not a word about the 5,000 nuns executed one-by-one with a bullet to their heads.
I saw the same type of “news” coverage going on during the Iraq war that I saw in the Vietnamese War.
I get my news of what is going on from Michael Yon, billandbobsadvenure, Maj Pain, blackfive, mudvillegazette, MichaelTotten and other sources rather than the MSM. Yon in particular has warned for some time that Afghanistan is in trouble and that the fighting would be heavy this year.
Our returning military must NEVER AGAIN be treated as they were returning from Viet Nam.
One thing that separates us from those trapped in the past is that we do forgive and forget if the other side reciprocates. As with the Japanese and Germans, so with the Vietnamese. If the veterans who fought at Iwo Jima can forgive, I have no right to hold a grudge.
Flit,
It’s more personal for some than for others. I understand how you feel about the loss of your best friend.
In my case, a neighborhood boy was drafted about the same time I was in late 1966. He was the same age and was a best friend of my younger brother’s, and that made him a good friend of mine. We all went to elementary school, junior high school, high school, and junior college together. We did all the things that young boys did in the 1950s and 1960s.
I got diverted to OCS, and he went to Vietnam. When I was home on leave in December 1967 following OCS, his death was announced in our local paper. He was just 21, a corporal, and we were stunned.
I packed off to Vietnam a few months later, and on my third day in country read the ‘Stars and Stripes’ and learned that one of my high school buddies had been killed the day I arrived. He was 23, a first lieutenant, and I could not believe it. His dad had a church about a block away from my aunt’s home.
It is a rare day that goes by that I don’t think of Mike and Benny and what we lost when they were killed. Men in my unit were killed during my time, but it was never the same. It still isn’t.
It’s been 42 years, and they are still important to me.
Thanks Uncle Mike. Your post means a lot to me.
We seem to have had some similar experiences. I truly understand and appreciate your sincere words and sentiments. And I shake my head in sadness and empathy upon reading of your own personal losses.
My apologies to others for letting a deep past personal pain of mine bubble to the surface and become an unrelated response to the subject at hand, rant. (again)
FWIW, it has been a difficult week. This past week I laid flowers on several graves a thousand miles away from my home of old friends and family – and especially the fallen Marine who was my best friend, ambushed in his 1st month in-country – I celebrated life with some people I haven’t seen in decades at a high school reunion, and yesterday I learned my old lab retriever will have to be put down. (Don’t need no sympathy; just ‘splain’n things as they is.)
Thank you! And for me too! Now years later it seems, evermore… the ones I knew and even the ones I didn’t, but who served.
They will live forever in my memory.
fliterman out.
Fliterman,
Thank you for your service, and my most sincere apologies for the “welcome” you and your comrades received upon returning home.
So many good men and women suffered enemy fire both abroad and at home and carry them still. I did not serve, but had junior high and high school comrades who did. Every time I encounter the incredible story of Landing Zone X-Ray, I think of one who was hit by napalm in a friendly-fire incident. I have a special respect for the USMC.
Hey lets cut to the chase and stop all this flippen yammering…all of us who were in country (RVN) during the hot times lost good buddies and good troopers we had the privilege of commanding and of whom we will never forget…now some forty plus years later… some feel the need to thank us for that service…your very welcome… or otherwise engage in unseemly mawkish meanderings of those long ago times…well include me out. Best
Snake,
Something you ate disagree with you? You may not have forgotten those troops, but doesn’t much sound like you care(d) about them. Could be wrong, hard to tell. If so, I apologize.
Go ahead and get back to your HBO and your war movies (in HD!).
Be glad to include you out so you can spend your time dreaming of real (or imagined) past glories.
Wasn’t glorious for me.
U/M, It sadly appears that the salient points of my rant have gone completely over your presumed “Jar-Head”…so let me re-state them for you in four simple declarative sentences:
1. For me RVN service was over forty-one years ago…one very meaningful year of many that have since followed .
2. That year does not define me…its not the hight point of my life… nor am I stuck in that time re-playing and re-burnishing events like some over the hill high school jock.
3. That I served with and lost some of the finest men both round eye and local goes without saying…as I’ve stated before it was my privilege to have known and served with them..I shall never forget.
4. “Thank you’s”, however heartfelt and well meaning, from the good folks who comment here…are a tad late …and for this cynical old dog mean little…
…I hope this helps clear things up, Best
PS, Strongly suggest you leave the snarking to your betters…your attempts are an embarrassment.
I’m standing with Snake on this one. I got the finger from most of society when I got back, and it went on for years and years. You want an illustration? In’86 I went back to school and applied for college credit for my service schools. After the nice lady had figured out how much credit i could get, filled out the form and gave it to the registrar, she asked why I didn’t finish college when I was younger. I told her I had been in the Navy for 20 years, and she said, out loud, “Oh, if I had known that I wouldn’t have given you so much credit.”
More? How many hundred news stories have you read that included ‘ a vietnam veteran” as part of the perpetrators description? How many with “a WW II veteran, or Korean War veteran”?
That attitude went on until Desert Storm went so well, and all of a sudden it was socially acceptable to like the military. I’m sorry, but 30 years of “f*ck you,chump” has made it’s mark here, and its deep and wide, and as you might notice, a little sensitive.
Hey, TwoFive Zulu my friend, I know its hard but try to keep an even strain on this one…it was, after all a lifetime ago…and as for expecting a “thank you for your service/welcome home” greeting from the civilians…over the years I’ve come to expect nothing…I’ve not been disappointed…that said …Welcome Home Brother. Best
Snack Eater,
Sorry. Did not mean to hurt your feelings. You were sounding dyspeptic, and I thought it might have been one of those snakes that you apparently eat that was making you irritable.
Now that you’ve explained it as a rant full of salient points, I’m good to go with that — even if the ‘salient’ points weren’t in the original bilious rant.
Your assumption that I’m a “Jar-Head” would have my Marine friends questioning your sanity. Nope, as stated I was drafted, and to my knowledge was never offered to the Corps (or for all I know, was offered and rejected). The Army kept me for three decades and did the best it could with my limited (as you thoughtfully pointed out) abilities.
Unlike you and 25Z, I was never treated with anything but courtesy and respect by civilians while in or out of uniform here at home. Even when I went back to college, the other students I got to know, and who were mostly ten years my junior, were curious about the Army, Vietnam, and the military in general. Of course, that was in the town where our host currently resides. Might have been different had I been smart enough to qualify for boot-strapping at some Ivy League institution.
As far as the “thank you’s” go, they are generally too little and too late to mean anything when they come from any source (usually a politician) other than an individual. On the extremely rare occasions that I get a ‘thank you’ from a person, I respond as graciously as I can. They didn’t have to offer it, but they did, and I sincerely appreciate that.
Back in the olden days (late 70s, I think) before he was stricken with senility, Dan Rather said something about Vietnam Veterans that has stuck with me over the years, [paraphrasing] “They may have gone to the wrong war, but they went for the right reason. Their country asked.” Not sure about the first part, but he nailed the last. Might be good for you and 25Z to remember that you did what your country asked, and only a small percentage of the population knows what that really means. You both do. And so do most who post here.
PS — Didn’t know I was snarking, and I didn’t mean to embarrass you.
U/M, Yes indeed I was a little cranked at the whole tone of the thread…and banged out my commment in response…you were unfortunately in the line of fire and absorbed the rant…wrong place wrong time… we know how that goes…and no my feelings were not hurt nor was I embarrassed…
…so spare me the patronizing attitude you old Dog Pecker-Wood and accept my apologies. Best
Snake,
[From the Urban Dictionary] “peckerwood: A good, but much-maligned, white person. Peckerwoods do not hijack airplanes. They don’t expect society to take care of them. They never demand socialist medicine. No peckerwood ever prances in a parade wearing a jock strap. Peckerwoods mind their own business and are not a burden on society . . . .”
OK, never thought of myself in those exact terms, but I guess I can live with that.
Apology accepted.
Gee, it’s good to know no one can legitimately call me a peckerwood, anyway.
Fliterman, I apologize for misunderstanding your statement (in my defense, I will add that I did not think it was directed at the media, because I haven’t seen any increase in coverage).
I have certainly noticed how the MSM no longer covers Iraq and Afghanistan with much attention (for example, the better things got in Iraq, the less coverage it received). Even today, I had to dig on the Yahoo News page to find the report of the seven killed in Afghanistan. But more than ever, the media is not the people, and the people are not the media.
I can’t help thinking if people don’t know, or don’t care…And why did my best friend die in Vietnam, when he could go to Hanoi today and drink toddies in a 4-star hotel?
You have a far more personal experience with war than I do, so I can understand why you feel so keenly for today’s fighters. But please do not assume that those of us with less immediate understanding are ignorant or unaware of what is happening around us (I give a firm yes to each in your series of questions). Just as you do not always talk about your memories and loved ones lost (though you remember them daily), the rest of us do not spend all our time talking about what we do and what is always in our hearts. And at the times when I occasionally feel like those I encounter daily are living in ignorance, I am often surprised to find I am wrong. You are not alone in your thoughts, Dear Sir, though I would challenge the accuracy of some of them.
Respectfully and kindly submitted…
Respectfully and kindly received……
Its Obama’s strategy if it works, its McCrystal’s if it doesnt.
Flit – fwiw, I think of them all the time. No I don’t know their names. But I do know their sacrifices and those of their families. They are in my prayers, thoughts and deeds everyday – that they willingly put themselves into harm’s way to protect the freedoms of ordinary people like me.
And I daresay this could be said by just about everyone who comes to this place. To intimate otherwise does all of us a grave disservice. We may not all agree politically but it does seem to me that we all agree that we don’t deserve the kind of men and women who serve this country.
And yes, I do have a little skin in this game. The nephew of my dearest friend – she’s really a sister without the blood ties – is a Marine. He’s home from his first tour of Iraq and it seems very likely he’ll be sent to Afghanistan at some point in the too-near-future. I also have a good friend over there in a contractor capacity – I worry about him everyday. And I’ll do the same for my friend’s nephew.
They are – and have always been – a breed apart from the rest. What did we do yesterday, what will we do today and tomorrow – to come even close to deserving them.
All that said – I agree with Rob at #5 above – it will be Obama’s strategy until it is no longer politically convenient to be his.
Hard to not think about them when you have a Lcpl among your offspring. He wants so badly to get the “two way rifle range” ribbon. Probably will get his chance in the spring. And I will be nervous every day he is gone.
Hey, Flit — meet your fellow traveler.
Strange bedfellows, indeed.
Rob nailed it.
Oh, and fliterman? There’s something on the end of your nose…
So, was it Obama’s “higher level strategy” that detailed the SEAL’s strategy for freeing the Maersk skipper from the pirates? I seem to recall the president taking the praise for that successful operation.
Following on Scott, Anyone, has the Army’s “two-way rifle-range” badge, the CIB, been diluted by expanding those eligible, or has that new “Combat Zone” badge–or whatever they call it–taken care of the problem? I know that Dad valued his WWII Cmbt Inf Badge even over his Silver and Bronze Stars, if you can believe that. (BTW, Dad, as an enlisted prior to OCS, was given one award that I NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS WOULD HAVE EVER, EVER, BEEN ELIGIBLE FOR–the Army’s GOOD CONDUCT medal. LOL–and unfortunately so really. really true!
)
The CIB requires you to have an 11 series MOS and be assigned in an infantry function. You must actually see combat to get it. Even if you’re an 11B and in actual combat, if you happen to be assigned as an MP at the time you are not eligible for the CIB. (You would be eligible for the CAB in that case.) The CAB is requires combat action but is not limited to any specific MOS. There is also a Combat Medical Badge for medics that is similarly restricted. Lowest on the list is the wartime service unit patch that can optionally be worn on the right sleeve. That one requires that you be assigned in a war zone for at least six months or have seen combat action. (Similar to the requirements for the Viet Nam Service medal) There is an Expert Infantry Badge that can be earned by any MOS that is a non combat badge awarded by meeting specific requirements. The Army does like to give us shiny stuff, though…
Pogue/
The Expert Inf Badge is the one that looks just like the Combat Inf Badge except w.o. the wreath, right?
Yep, just the musket in the rectangle.
VX,
I think the Army went a little badge crazy. I remember meeting ARCENT and he had jump wings, air assault wingies and 2 other little badges sewn on his pocket flap plus more sewn above it.
I remember a SEAL buddy who wore the Budweiser and said that was enough for him. He had over 800 jumps but didn’t feel any compulsion to wear jump wings. Still, we were both proud to wear the CAR on the rare occasions we wore other than cammies.
The EIB is a CIB with a blank adapter… but harder to earn.
Dust/
Coulda’ fooled me. I thought the “EIB” was Rush Limbaugh’s deal–the “Excellence In Broadcasting” network with el Rushbaugh his own-self broadcasting to the nation over the “golden EIB microphone” in all his bombastic glory. I didn’t realize the Army had named an award after him….Was it because Rush always takes the high ground?
Dust/
But on a more serious note, if you’ve already been awarded the CIB are you still eligible to jump through the different, harder hoops, you say it takes to earn the EIB? i.e., the specific skills needed to be mastered–as opposed to just “being there” under fire which the CIB in a way basically denotes?
Yeah, if you earn the EIB during the EIB test you can wear either but not both at the same time. Of the 160 guys who took the EIB test when I went thru it, only 9 got it first time with zero ‘No Go’s. I believe you can be awarded the CIB if you are engaged by hostile fire in a 24 hour period or are in an Infantry Brigade in a combat theater for 30 days or greater. As Pogue says, you have to be in an infantryman’s billet at the Infantry Brigade or lower echelon and c ome under hostile fire, direct or indirect, to qualify. During the Vietnam Era you could be a different MOS but if you occupied an infantry billet you could get the CIB. The regs have changed since I believe Another and different example MG Petreus as CG, 101st Abn Div earned the Combat Action Badge but because he was at the Division level could not earn the CIB. He did get the 101 Combat patch for his right sleeve though.
Yeah, the Army does love its shiny stuff; I have a buddy (currently an Army chaplain) who has the CAB, CIB, EIB, jump wings, air assault badge, rigger’s wings, and the German Leistungabzeichen (military proficiency badge) & Schutzenschnurr (shooting badge) – though he can’t wear them all at the same time. I guess the only thing left for him is to get HALO and/or Pathfinder qualified…
The funny thing about all of this is that there’s no consistency, either between services or over time–it’s much like fashion trends that come and go. Might be interesting if Lex instituted an open forum on uniform design and awards and decs. policy., etc. Would be a sure-fire topic to inspire LOTS of commentary…