And speaking of Our Man John, here he is interviewing Max Boot on Afstan:
http://www.foreignpolicyi.org/node/22912
Good work. I agree with much of what is said there, and only my constrained circumstances at the moment prevent me from saying more.
What say you?
]]>Our Man John wrote in to alert us to a thought provoking article by a fellow alumnus in the ever-zesty SWJ:
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/journal/docs-temp/529-modarelli.pdf
A good concept, and Major M has certainly read his history. Is it viable in the US? would it be a non-starter in the age of shrinking budgets? It's worth a look.
What say you?
]]>Put away the matches and cancel the Koran-burning. IF YOU DO IT YOU WILL BE ACTING AGAINST THE INTERESTS OF YOUR COUNTRY. Yes, you have the right to do it, but you have no business doing it.
Regards,
LtCol P
***
Commentary hits the nail on the head--
"The Third Reich burned books; those who are citizens of the United States should not."
]]>- The Tommy cookers from the British ration packs
- The chocolate from the Italian MREs
- The curries in the Malaysian rations, which made me shit liquid fire for days
Anyone else out there care to weigh in?
]]>But the weekend here sure was spectacular.
I did get out Monday morning for the early antlerless archery season, and although I botched the one shot offered to me-- bad position, rushed draw, clean miss-- I saw lots of deer. Pics to be posted later.
]]>History will pass judgment on these foreign adventures in due course, but in my view Gordon Brown’s malign intervention, when chancellor, on the SDR by refusing to fund what his own government had agreed, fatally flawed the en tire process from the outset.
“The seeds were sown for some of the impossible operational pressures to come.”
Mr Blair “lacked the moral courage to impose his will on his own chancellor”.
I'm out for dove this afternoon, and then deer Monday morning.
We'll be checking in periodically. Have a good one.
UPDATE... I brought home a pair of doves. It was a light day-- but a FUN day-- with not a whole lot of bird movement. But what birds did come in gave us a good time, and as always it's the hunting party that makes the day. And dove hunting is, I think, the most social of all sports. The Bird of Peace is numerous, fast, and delicious; long may he take flight over America's corn fields.
Also, three huzzahs again for the Remington 870-- the most versatile, reliable and sturdy game-getter you can buy. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
]]>Tom Ricks linked a great article on the Army War College that appeared in the Small War Journal.
]]> This is an important article as it lays out a good and convincing reason that the Army War College should be closed. I have been informed by friends that combat arms officers are being sent to the National Defense University and that only Combat Support and Service Support are going to the Army War College. This is an admission by the Army that future Strategic Leaders are not produced by the Army War College. In fact the Army War College is considered to be the weak sister of the service and joint War Colleges.My experience with graduates of the Army War Colleges has not been good. Most are a mile wide and inch deep. The Army attempts to make them Strategic thinkers in one year. This is not possible when they have been raised on a diet of what to think and not how to think. In fact most do not come out of the Army War College with a basic understanding of the role and responsibilities that the Army has as a service. The ignorance of what the responsibilities and authorities as specified in 10 USC section 3013 (b) is appalling. I do not make these statements lightly, as for the last several years I have provided an introductory block in our Staff Training on Title 10 and role the Army Service Component Commands play in exercising those responsibilities. In the session in which the new O6 assigned to Third Army have attended I have been shocked at the gross ignorance of just the basic responsibilities of the Army as a service. Given that most graduates from the Army War College will serve in a variety of staff assignments on the Army Staff or other staffs I find this to be just plain wrong.
]]>NRO: "Some Thoughts on the Speech." "
WaPo: "What was Obama's Oval Office address about, exactly?"
The President cannot lead our armed forces in battle, even though he's the CINC. (In the case of this POTUS, that's a good thing.) He has to lead with words and with direction, and with inspiration. His speech-- only the second from the Oval Office-- fell flat when it needed to ring true. Neither here nor there, it was an opportunity lost. The nation is the worse for it, and for him.
]]>Sailors and Marines can all agree that NMCI has been a disaster, and an expensive one at that. It appears to be a system that is set up to fail, and could scarcely be more destructive of military efficiency if it was run by the paid agents of a hostile foreign power.
GET RID OF IT, NOW.
(Thanks to MDL for the link.)
UPDATE... The link has been fixed.
]]>I did not come away inspired.
""Ending this war is not only in Iraq's interest, it is in our own," Obama said... NO! THE WAR IS NOT OVER. The combat phase of this campaign might have been declared over, but The War goes on-- it predates 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq. What is our plan to wage it and win it?
""The United States has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people."" That is true, but nowhere that I could tell did he talk about v-i-c-t-o-r-y, the ultimate triumph of civilization and liberty over submission and tyranny, however long it might take, however hard it might be. I don't think he believes in it.
How nice for us, so good to hear. So very reassuring.
Tell me what you think.
]]>"Pair held after odd items turn up in luggage," runs the WaPo headline, but the wording belies a more sinister reality:
"Dutch police have detained two men who flew from Chicago to Amsterdam on Sunday night after U.S. screeners found suspicious-looking items in their checked luggage before they departed, U.S law enforcement officials said.
"Security screeners found a cellphone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cellphones taped together and a number of watches taped together..."
Odd indeed.
Let me guess-- fine young Irish lads out protesting Protestant rule in Ulster! No? Huh. Maybe Basque separatists? No again. Orthodox Jews gone wild?? Nope. Who then?
]]>"Bill Millin, piper at the D-Day landings, died on August 17th, aged 88"
Aug 26th 2010
"ANY reasonable observer might have thought Bill Millin was unarmed as he jumped off the landing ramp at Sword Beach, in Normandy, on June 6th 1944. Unlike his colleagues, the pale 21-year-old held no rifle in his hands. Of course, in full Highland rig as he was, he had his trusty skean dhu, his little dirk, tucked in his right sock. But that was soon under three feet of water as he waded ashore, a weary soldier still smelling his own vomit from a night in a close boat on a choppy sea, and whose kilt in the freezing water was floating prettily round him like a ballerina’s skirt.
"But Mr Millin was not unarmed; far from it. He held his pipes, high over his head at first to keep them from the wet (for while whisky was said to be good for the bag, salt water wasn’t), then cradled in his arms to play. And bagpipes, by long tradition, counted as instruments of war. An English judge had said so after the Scots’ great defeat at Culloden in 1746; a piper was a fighter like the rest, and his music was his weapon. The whining skirl of the pipes had struck dread into the Germans on the Somme, who had called the kilted pipers “Ladies from Hell”. And it raised the hearts and minds of the home side, so much so that when Mr Millin played on June 5th, as the troops left for France past the Isle of Wight and he was standing on the bowsprit just about keeping his balance above the waves getting rougher, the wild cheers of the crowd drowned out the sound of his pipes even to himself."
A fighting man, there.
Many thanks to T-S for the tip, and tomorrow I'll pick up a bottle of scotch-- like I need an excuse-- and raise one to Mr Millin and all those like him. I cordially invite all of you to do the same.
]]>