We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:05:00 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification ...any echelon can lose a battle, campaign, war.... but in this era, they are won by companies. Which means junior officers and non-commissioned officers. The proverbial Strategic Corporal in the three-block war. 2nd Lt. John Herman, a platoon leader with B Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, and one of his Soldiers pass out candy to children while on patrol with Iraqi police in Kirkuk, Iraq. This photo appeared on www.army.mil. From the New Yorker article linked to late in this post: [article opens with an anecdote too long to stick in here without making this an... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html Mon, 10 Jan 2005 11:21:07 -0600 I read the linked to article, and mostly I agree, however, Mr. Dan Baum clearly is trying to make a case for something he does not fully understand. He wrote (and pardon the long copy, but he is wrong almost in everything he wrote in this paragraph): "Gen X officers, often the product of single-parent homes or homes in which both parents worked, are markedly more self-reliant and confident of their abilities than their baby-boomer superiors, according to Army surveys of both groups...." This is more likely the difference between youth and wisdom, 'cause I remember solving problems in whatever way suited the situation for the most part of my military career. And I was always sure I knew better than the next guy, especially the boneheads I worked for. In fact, this is both an American and an age issue; we all tend to be careful after falling more than a few times, but most people I grew up with were more than willing to do dumb crap, which--as the saw goes--if it works, it ain't dumb. "Baby boomers moved up the ranks during the comfortable clarity of the Cold War, but the Gen Xers came of age during messy peacekeeping missions in Kosovo, Bosnia, Somalia, and Haiti." Possibly some merit, but this is only an issue of experience, and most folks in charge now were the young go-getters in Gulf War I, not the cold war. "Gen Xers are notoriously unimpressed by rank, as Donald Rumsfeld discovered in December, when enlisted soldiers questioned him sharply about the lack of armor on their vehicles." Clearly this person has no experience with the Army. I haven't known many soldiers who were ever "impressed" with rank, or who ever had a problem questioning superiors about dumb things. In fact, a friend told me a year or so ago that the Army under Rumsfeld had become much more "CYA" than before him, and that a lot of folks had become cautious about disagreement. I saw that with my own eyes at Leonard Wood when I was there. What the author also fails to note is that it was an NCO who spoke up, not an Officer, most of whom (of any rank) would never have dared ask that question in public like that, and would have been reprimanded by someone if they had. Not for the question, but for the forum. "This turns out to be a positive development for the Army, because the exigencies of the Iraq war are forcing the decision-making downward; tank captains tell of being handed authority, mid-battle, for tasks that used to be reserved for colonels, such as directing helicopter close-air support." This is a natural evolution of America at war, and pretty much always has been. In peacetime, we keep control of the bullets at high ranks because experience counts, as does responsibility. In war, Americans tend to "whatever gets the job done bestest, fastest, cleanest, with the fewest people hurt." That's one of the lessons a military person learns throughout a career. Which brings me to an excellent book I may have mentioned before: "An Army At Dawn," by Rick Atkinson. It's about the American Army in North Africa in 1942-43, and it describes in almost painful detail how really, really bad the U.S. Army was then. What it also describes, however--and that's the point of the book--is how Americans learned fast, unlike their British counterparts, who went on to make similar mistakes throughout the war. It is not a flattering account of America, but it is heartening, and relevant to today's army too. To close, I will say this, as I have said numerous times to anyone who cared to listen. The Army I left was so much better than the Army I joined that they were like night and day. The differences were not just in equipment, but in attitudes, and leadership and enforced rules, and standards, etc. That Army I left was the one that fought the first Gulf War. Those people are now running the Army, and to my mind, it is as much better today as that Army was over the post Vietnam-Army I entered. Dan Baum has the right idea, but he is trying too hard to be clever, and he insults without meaning to because he doesn't really understand. 'Nuff' Said. -SangerM http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11456 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11456 Mon, 10 Jan 2005 20:10:33 -0600 'Specially since they got that stuff from me... who got it from someone in the Puzzle Palace. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11450 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11450 Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:32:47 -0600 OH, yeah...as that EUCOM LTC said (circa 2002) "Mark my words--someday this Internet thing is gonna catch on!" (ya gotta love StrategyPage...) ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11449 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11449 Mon, 10 Jan 2005 15:52:45 -0600 Hey, We didn't have no internet, back then we would have said " we don't need no stinking internet". But it would have been great. The only info FNGs got was from the guys in their unit that had been there awhile. Sometimes that info was useful, like in saving your butt. But, sometimes it was lacking. Sometimes you get a walking, talking guy to transfer in or "thrown in" your unit. We lucked out and got a guy that had been there in SF earlier (gotten busted) and returned to the world. That's a long story in itself. He wrangled hisself back into the war, but not with the green weenies. He showed up and everyone thought he looked kinda old for an E4. He was quite and it took awhile but before I was hit on my second go around, (about 8 months) he had taught us a lot of priceless stuff. For example he could make friends with the locals (he spoke a lot of their language) and could find out intel that proved valuable time and time again. He helped us with the language and customs and how to get along with the locals (expecially the kids). We did a lot better and had fewer kia because of him. Lessons learned...ha ha..it seems we just keep on having to re-learn the same lessons over and over and over..... This is my post Papa Ray West Texas USA http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11446 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11446 Mon, 10 Jan 2005 15:27:33 -0600 Oi! Where is the camera when you need it! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11439 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11439 Mon, 10 Jan 2005 13:55:39 -0600 I have nothing serious to add. When Lenny Wong was a very young Engineer LT at Fort Leonard Wood, members of his platoon got drunk one night and changed the sign at the main gate to read "Welcome To Fort Leonard Wong." True story. Told to a close friend by then CPT Leonard Wong, his Military Leadership instructor, circa 1991. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11438 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/01/as_ive_said_before.html#comment-11438 Mon, 10 Jan 2005 13:44:06 -0600