People Who Don't Stand Watch... ...should not call the ones standing in the cold wind pussies. I'm just putting that out there and letting
others learn. With all possible respect, of course.
Seriously, the wind chill up at the lighthouse that some people only saw from a distance was severe, but the units up there were ready for it. Also, the first class petty officer I talked to who stood watch on a boat last night, while aforementioned others were in their heated tents, said he just couldn't stay warm or get warm after watch.
Tonight as I tuck into my cot, I will dream pleasant dreams of talking to certain others after they spend a night in an unheated gym. Some of us remembered to bring plenty of handwarmers...
From the Land of the Morning "Golly It's Cold" I left for annual training without as much briefing as I would have liked regarding conditions or expectations upon arrival, I operated on a worst case scenario. Good choice, that. Although rainfall has been minimal, every night has been cold, and the wind has been piercing.
If anybody who knows my phone number is reading this before I get back, please call my wife and tell her that I'm fine and that she should read her email. Back soon.
The Long Run Al Haig is Still Wrong After All These Years Former Nixon adviser Alexander Haig said military leaders in Iraq are repeating a mistake made in Vietnam by not applying the full force of the military to win the war.
“Every asset of the nation must be applied to the conflict to bring about a quick and successful outcome, or don’t do it,” Haig said. “We’re in the midst of another struggle where it appears to me we haven’t learned very much.”
Gen. Haig's remarks make sense in the context that he has not learned very much.
As a nation, we are outspending every other nation on earth, and we can afford to do so. Although we could be spending a lot of that money better, we have the money to spend and can maintain this expense indefinitely. Although the New York Times would do almost anything to avoid you becoming aware of it, our economy is as strong as it has ever been and getting better. We can maintain this pace.
Gen. Haig is from an entirely different era of military thinking, one that assumed that you fought a war and then rested. In effect, during the 20th this resulted in four major binge and purge cycles and a hellishly large number of dead troops. We do not have the luxury of resting on our victories anymore, so we can no longer afford to sprint.
The rest of the world has always wanted the US at least humbled; now they are wealthy enough to make it happen if we let them. Regrettably, there is no longer a margin for allowing ourselves to be defeated. The will it takes to attempt attacking the US requires more than humiliation as a goal. The only reason people attack us is because they want us to die. While we can still afford to engage in limited wars, all of our opponents are fighting total wars. Thankfully, the coordination of our enemies has been weak, possibly because each of their total wars is for individual extreme reasons and on different timetables.
After we finish Islamism to the point where they are a controlled annoyance, there are the warlords of China, and our grandchildren will have to clean up the sewer of Africa. Beyond that none can see without transitioning straight to science fiction. Who knows what intolerant people will someday be adamant in their insistence that the US must fail? As a child I dreamed of peace but history proved me wrong. Gen. Haig is still dreaming if he thinks there will ever be a time when we can afford to rest again. If we cannot rest, we cannot sprint.
We are engaged in the longest and most crucial marathon ever run. Gen. Al Haig is still thinking in terms of war as a massive but short event. We can no longer afford anaerobic engagement. If we overwhelm Iraq now, what well we do when Iran attacks? Or will we ignore a resurgent Russia annexing Ukraine? Do we sacrifice Lebanon to Syria or Iran or Hezbollah? Who else do we throw to the wolves so that we can finish this fight quickly?
Gen. Al Haig is still focusing on the conflict, not the consequences.
Hat Tip:
Michael Totten and Co.
Professionalism in Home DefenseOn
Miss Kelly's web site there was a request for advice about what to get for home defense. In addition to a flood tide of advice, there were more than a few people terrified by the
level of knowledge available, and the people who were knowledgeable. Somebody asked who we were and why we should know such things.
I am a reservist who used to be on active duty in bad places where unpleasant people were. On Saturday I go to Korea for two weeks. My best friend has arrested senior members of the Crips while a security guard and been shot at while walking a regular warehouse post. A lot of people have been worse places than you and lived more dangerous lives than you live. Ignorance is not a protection because the scope of violence is no longer limited to the bad parts of large cities, like it used to be. There is now economic incentive to be violent in small markets.
What you are seeing is the results of some fairly serious people getting together and talking seriously and honestly about the effective, professional use of violence by law abiding citizens. In many cases this is due to a rising of violence in the criminal element requiring greater professionalism to survive. In other cases, this is the practical result of failures in Vietnam driving the professional military to adjust to the difficulties of urban counter-insurgency. Part of it is that unprofessional enforcement personnel and unprepared homeowners get raped by lawyers in wrongful death suits. In no small part this is due to honest practitioners of military and law enforcement trades utterly fed up with listening to braggarts and frauds. In your lifetime, tactical skill and knowledge have advanced tremendously.
About 18 years ago I started playing paintball. After a couple of months, I had spent a few hundred dollars on a gun, mask, some surplus camo, and a bit of the accessories. One week I pinned down this new guy behind a bush for fifteen minutes. The very next week, he was on the field with $1,200 worth of the best gear he could get. We asked him why, and his answer essentially was that he wanted to be as good at this as quickly as possible, he made plenty of money, and he wasn't going to let shoddy gear be an impediment to his progress. We are a lot richer as a country than we used to be, and our hobbies and professions are a lot more advanced than they used to be and they get that way a lot faster than they ever did.
It used to be that a policeman was unlikely to ever draw his firearm in the course of his career. Ten years ago my friend the security guard was drawing his firearm to arrest people once a month at the least. Part of that is because the compliance of the criminal element has diminished considerably. A critical part is the unwillingness of citizens to allow criminals to rule them by fear.
Finally, the most important aspect is that knowledge of the effective use of firearms is saving the lives of law abiding citizens every single day. Criminals do not get to spend time on the range in prison, ever. Free people trained with firearms can resist criminals trained with shanks, and it happens all the time.
