Posted on 03/02/2007 6:17:20 AM PST by Brujo
Forgivable in the days of M2 and lensatic compasses in the hands of Second Looeys or Ensigns, less so in these days of GPS. They MAY have been practicing without GPS, in which case good for them, but a heavy company-strength group of 170 troopies should have been run by an experienced OF-2 Hauptmann, with at least one senior OF-1 premier-lieutenant in the group.
In an army with a quarter-million first-term conscripts that includes around 75,000 reservists with a hard core of only about 3,500 full-time professionals to lead and train them, there are bound to be some training goofs. But it's also interesting to note that the Swiss are training not just to hunker down in rearguard defensive positions, but to move out and control every inch of their territory right up to their borders. We should have a military with that mindset.
Having been to Liechtenstein I can say the border between it and Switzerland is simply a sign. There is no checkpoint. The Austrian border might have but its mostly mountainous on that side.
Great book. I have a copy.
L
I dismiss all Europeans quickly - and I make no apology for that. As for why they were not attacked, they did make a lot of financial deals and they managed very well to defend their airspace.
But I don't doubt that those Swiss that I so quickly dismiss know many things that I don't.
The Mexican army invades us every day.
It wasn't my response. It was her response. She is a Swiss citizen. She could've informed me. But she has been living in the US for more than a quarter of a century, badmouthing it the whole time and voting Democrat through a profundity of ignorance.
I'm glad they're capable of total resistance. Thanks for letting me know.
Thanks for the info. I had no idea, and I'm glad to hear it.
Ah yes, The Grand Duchy of Fenwick.
ping
Apparently, it's easy to get lost in Europe...I think it was the first year we were stationed in Germany that hubby's company had a company wide ruckmarch and one of the other squads somehow got seperated or something...and got lost and ended up in a little village. They called in from the Biergarten (so maybe it wasn't such an accident that they got lost).
Because they let the other Euros bleed and die for their benefit. What if the USA took that very same attitude (and we're not even in Europe).
Because they were everybody's bank?
Seriously, though, I've been to Switzerland and they do indeed have tunnels built into the mountains all over the country that house their military hardware.
It was the bushes fault!
(The soldiers got lost between their brambles .. ....)
If I were Lichtenstein, I would find out the point where they turned back to the border, erect a monument and bill it for tourism. Surely it is a close second or so to the Napolionic line, halting of the French advance in Russia.
The Swiss army and their knives were forced to retreat and Lichtenstein is free still!!
That was before the Swiss *Army XXI* reorganization, which restructured the Swiss Army, including the formerly 524,000-strong militia down to around a quarter-million conscripts and 75,000-plus reservists, plus 3,500-4,000 full-time professional instructors and staff officers.... with some 2,000 positions expected to be eliminated between 2004 and 2011.
Though all able-bodied Swiss males between 18- 30 years of age are required to serve from four to five months initial entry training and then do three weeks (four for officers) per year until they serve 300 days of duty or reach the age of 34. There's also a new term of volunteer service for soldiers, single-term conscripts, who volunteer to their term of 300 days of active duty in one straight shot, with no following reservist obligation, a popular option for those Swiss Catholics considering a future term with the Vatican's Swiss Guard. Entry to recruit school may be delayed for highschool and equivalent education, but it is no longer possible to delay it for university studies. About one third of them are excluded for various reasons, and these either serve in Civil Protection or Civil Service, the Swiss version of our *Homeland Security* and *Emergency Management Agencies*.
With the *Armee XXI* reorganizations, women can take on any position within the armed forces, can serve in all the armed forces and can join all units, including combat units. Which makes me wonder if maybe one of them was leading or navigating for that unintended cross-border operation into Liechtenstein.
The Swiss woman is ill-informed about absolutely everything. She thinks, for example, that the Supreme Court makes laws for the country. She's been living here for more than 25 years. She and her British husband had to come here because 30 (or so) years ago, this country had facilities for people with muscular dystrophy (from which her son suffers) that Switzerland and Britain did not have. Apparently, they have now caught up and if she were a young woman today, nothing would inspire her to come to this hellhole. I just wish she would go back. Her children are grown now. There's no reason for her to martyr herself here.
No problem. We had to do a briefing on a country of our choice when I was in NCO Leadership School, and I chose Switzerland. The information I had surprised a lot of people who had the idea that "pacifist" Switzerland was so militaristic.
True. My favorite Liechtensteinian was skier Hanni Wenzel:
BTW, did you know that John Kerry served in Vietnam?
they make clocks that are perfect, did they ever hear of a compass.......lol
wouldn't need ammunition for the French
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