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/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:50:03 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 1. Complacency kills. It's hard to maintain the edge. And it is really hard for junior leaders to impose discipline when it seems mindless and mundane. Until after the rocket lands. How many of *you* guys, as junior leaders, would have allowed this situation? I know it would have been hard on me not to have allowed it. "We had already been there a week and there had been a siren almost every hour, and it had already started to become routine. We joked among ourselves that wherever we were was a safer place to be than Kiryat Shmona. In... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html Mon, 07 Aug 2006 08:03:54 -0600 I have some thoughts, comments, and stories about US military complacency in Iraq. Unfortunately, I won't be able to write/talk about it until I am safely out of the country in 90 days, and even then if I decide to leave contracting. Know what I mean. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html#comment-48752 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html#comment-48752 Tue, 08 Aug 2006 06:28:00 -0600 Were those soldiers in the shade detached or totally unassigned to a sergeant, lieutenant, or captain? I wonder if compacency is really a euphemism for lack of leadership. I hope there's no place for compacency in the American Army; especially in a war zone. I want to see all our soldiers back and whole! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html#comment-48740 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html#comment-48740 Mon, 07 Aug 2006 10:30:20 -0600 Complacency does indeed kill. Working a lathe? A high pressure rig? I think the world's come down with some kind of mental disorder over this Israel thing. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html#comment-48738 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html#comment-48738 Mon, 07 Aug 2006 09:31:48 -0600 As a young infantry sergeant, waiting to go to OCS so I could become an artilleryman, I had the privilege of serving under the tutelage of a Viet Nam veteran first sergeant. He taught me to soldier and explained the importance of training as we fight and always being ready in a combat environment. In later years, as an XO and battery commander, I remembered his sage advice. When my guys took field baths, they did it tactically - one section establishing a secure perimeter, while another section bathed. When we went to chow, we did so tactically. As a captain I ensured that my lieutenants did the same. I hope that those early lessons for my LTs that went on to command battalions, and those young NCOs who became 1SGs and CSMs, eventually saved lives. There is no room for complacency in the battlespace. Game face on, always ready - even when it's uncomfortable. It saves lives. ML http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html#comment-48737 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/08/wars_a_tough_business.html#comment-48737 Mon, 07 Aug 2006 09:22:04 -0600