Posted on 11/27/2001 1:03:46 AM PST by JohnHuang2
This is terrific news, thanks for sharing, but ya know, it takes the special skills of very special people like that favorite Drill Instructor of yours to train and keep those "great kids" motivated to face the challenges they must face once deployed.
From my past teaching experiences I know that some children are naturally gifted and would make terrific doctors, educators, athletes, or businessmen. But there are some careers which take skills from each of these fields and combine them with the leadership talents required to instill pride, motivation, and the tremendous physical fitness demands required of young marines to go out and risk their lives for the rest of us. Thank God for people like your favorite Drill Instructor!
He isn't jealous, that's why he writes "heartbreaking as it is for me to admit, the forward-based and highly deployable U.S. Marine Corps is the fittest." No, he's not jealous - he's just cognizant of reality.
May their will be strong, their path be sure and their aim be true.
Sounds to me that Col Hackworth's words a grating on your ears. He is the MOST decorated living veteran, a retired US Army colonel.
I guess good medicine doesn't have to taste good. He makes some very good points about decision making policies that you should read with an open mind.
Perhaps that is why the Army's mascot is a mule.
Paratroops are nice to sieze things, but armor is too heavy to air drop, it needs a ship. If Army doctrine changes to include Naval deployments, it would still be called a Marine force.
From a strict definition, there is no difference between a Marine Force and an Army Force. The only difference is in the method of deployment. Training can make the man and the unit. While I am proud to have served in the Marines, I have no doubt that the Army Rangers/Airborne are some bad boys!
Rangers have some great reputations as do Marines. What gave the Army the bad reputations are the lack of preparedness in Korea and Japan after WWII, the outright retreat of U.S. Army units because of poor deployment of forces in North Korea before China intervention, the 'average GI' in Vietnam Stereotype caused by the draft and those who just didn't care if they served or not, and the introduction of women into the combat arena. Marines never had this problem.
I will relate something I saw personnaly in Hawaii. I was attached to a RECON unit for an overnight deployment to hump a PRC-47 for them. We humped all night, then paused before calling in Naval guns in the morning on spot.
They cancelled the gunfire, and we just waited for extraction, when we saw an Army Battalion come in by CH-47, all at once! It was quite a site.
After they all disembarked, I saw them line up and form on the dirt road we were near, I was surprised to hear the personal conversations. Every time I ever got off a bird, we got rightto work, and no one talked. these guys were waiting to go somewhere, though, so I just passed it off.
Their C.O. told them to take their packs off and sit down a spell, and man, they almost took off all their clothes! These guys stripped off shirts, packs, boots and even turned on radios.
I was an Air Winger, that means I wasn't a grunt, but a radio/radar operator, and we were more lax than regular Marines, but what I saw shocked me. These guys were on a party, not a deployment.
They milled around for about 20 minutes, and then their C.O. told them to saddle up. I thought I was shocked before, but what I saw next was the worst thing I cold ever imagine: 50% of the troops all started to complain that they just sat down and started griping about having to move out.
I was stunned. I asked the RECON guys if they ever saw this, and they all looked at me and said yes, it is common for Army Troops to respond to their officers like this, in fact they saw it all the time whenever they were near the Army.
I will never forget that. This unit was from Schofield Barracks on Oahu, and I sincerly hope it was an isolated incident.
Well said, Lady X!!
"We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the goddamned Marines get all of the credit".
Hey, we are all part of a TEAM that is for one purpose: defense of our country. So what if there some internal squabbling?
Yes, I do. With all due respect to his service, he's a complete idiot. This is the same jackass who was jumping up and down about how the Bradley, M1 and Apache were over complicated pieces of crap which would end up getting our soldiers slaughtered. If you've read About Face, you know everything you need to know about him. His editorial commentary is sadly offbase on nearly every point. I guess some people don't have sense enough to quit while they're ahead.
Never stand when you can sit down, never sit down when you can lie down, and never lie down without going to sleep.
And therein lies the difference!
Well said!
I agree with a previous Freeper--you post outstanding stuff!
Airlift for this Army is costly. Even our wonderful C-17 (at about $350 million per copy) can only bring ONE tank at a time to the battle field. The C-17 is designed to land and take off at short, unimproved airfields--yes--BUT--there is no way our strategic lift can get the Army in great quantity where the fight is because they are TOO heavy! 94% of the lift for DESERT STORM was by Sealift--and that was even with the CRAF (Civil Reserve Air Fleet) --meaning the airliners--augmented for Phase II war.
SkyPilot's rules for war:
1. Get there the first-est with the most-est
2. Don't bring a knife to a gun fight
3. There is never enough airlift
By the way--our Marines are outstanding. I have never seen a Marine who was not sharp as a tack.
And anyone who wants a "Barf Alert" post--find Lt Gen Claudia Kennedy's (retired) book and post stuff here. I am sure it will generate about, ummmmmm, 549 responses.
Thanks again John!
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