--A license to do something--I help people with problems
--Problem solver?
--More of a problem eliminator
--License to Kill (1989)
How can you mend this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart
and let me live again
--How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,
The Bee Gees
We are here to help the Vietnamese,
because inside every gook
there is an American trying to get out
--Full Metal Jacket (1987)
And the day came when the risk to remain
tight in a bud was more painful than the risk
it took to blossom
--Anais Nin
________________________
Below is an excerpt from "365 Bottles of Beer", the story of a young troop's drop into the COIN zone (published @ RAW in its entirety. Links are HERE and HERE.)
Any personal observations are appreciated:
"Like every other soldier, whether draftee or enlisted, [I] was fully prepared to do whatever my Army required to win the war. Every last one of us were willing to kill or be killed in the process of doing what our country required of us, but therein lies the crux of the biscuit: What was required?
When I stepped off that airplane wearing jump boots, crossed rifles, junior jump wings and a Ranger tab with a Green Beret on my high and tight head, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing on the ramp of that airplane, stepping into a war that almost everyone knew was lost (it was 1970). What I did possess was every infantry skill required to kill people, be it on an organizational or personal level.
After I stepped off that plane, 18,000 soldiers died for a policy that was as dead as an old man's dick, but we soldiered on because that is what soldiers do. We are not quitters."
Can't believe you've still got that ID card. Me, all that's long gone. Pocket litter doesn't survive with me.
ReplyDeleteWeren't we all just handsome dudes back in the day?
Might be that we need more quitters and fewer that just soldier on. Imagine how different our world might be if young French, German and English men had been quitters during the period 1914-1918, the time when our modern era was signed, sealed and delivered.
The older I get the more I think the better life plan might have been to "soldier on" less and to have been good to my loved ones and other members of my species (and others) more. You get one time around and it may be that thinking more about what you're doing with your life isn't a bad plan.
Publius,
ReplyDeleteWhat i wish i retained was my sog get out of jail free card. That's worth a few bucks on the collector market.
My definition of WARRIOR is somebody that sells his ass for an OER and a few pieces of silver.
You can throw in a few colored pieces of cloth.
Thanks for replying and being a constant friend.
I feel like a marginalized dude here at milpub and understand why you seldom comment.
jim
Always got your six, Ranger, but I don't get where you, or I, for that matter, should ever feel marginalized around here. These guys don't work that way. To be honest, I've been focusing elsewhere for a few months now, which has led to diminished participation in the game. Further, it's seemed that by the time I catch a post or get energized enough to make a comment, just about anything I might have thought of has already been said. Old and tired as I am, I'm rarely in the mood for "me, too," posts.
ReplyDeleteSome pretty smart folks posting here. Quick on the draw, too.
Quite often I smartmouth - - but hope I never marginalized you or anyone else on this blog. Publius is spot on re his opinion of "me too" posts. IMHO it is OK to disagree, otherwise you get a circle jerk.
ReplyDeleteI have not been commenting much for the past week or so either as have been on the road.
mike,
ReplyDeleteWe have no problem as i consider you a friend.
You are not a smart mouth , but rather to the point.
best,
jim
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