John Adams once said something to the effect of (and i'm paraphrasing): "I just don't believe we have men in this time, like we have in times past, that are up to the task we have ahead of us." Think about the men of Adams' time. Think about how revered they are today. Think about the collection of great minds. There is a tendency to underestimate the abilities of our contemporaries. Besides...tough troops? Wars aren't fought that way anymore. And what we called on our troops to do in Iraq (twice) they did with precision and pride. You can never be overconfident, but I'm encouraged by what I've seen of the men and women who serve this country today.
Is this a serious point I should respond to, or were you pulling my leg...which, considering I'm wearing a kilt, is an awkward situation...or is it?
Oh, I agree that our standing army is at least as good as back then...We were talking, or at least I was talking about the combat effectiveness of the kind of general populace based WWII massive army situation. I have no doubt that our current armed forces can handle small actions like Iraq effectively...But were we to go to war with China and Russia, and needed a general population based amrned force to carry the bulk of the load, I'd not be crazy about our odds of kicking in like they did back in 39-45.
Doc Ryan who is often mentioned in Bastonne lives in my town. he owns a horse farm now and is a damn cool guy. I have had the pleasure to talk to him quite a bit when i used to work at that farm back when I was 20. as far as heroism, or a cultures ability to fight the good fight or whatever. It all comes down to one thing. have you guys noticed that when anyone is interviewed on camera about a particularly brave dead they have done, they always answer the same? " I was just doing my job" It is humans nature to crap its pants at first, but once you do somewthing it is easy to repeat. it does not matter weather it is running across a beach towards a machine gun or driving a car for the first time. eventually, you are just doing your job so dont worry about our generation. Worry about the idiots that endevor to push us closer to war. Closer to global conflict.
I agree. My grandfather (who lied about his age to join the marines at 16....became a machine gunner....fought at Iwo Jima, Guadacanal, and other islands in the Pacific campaign....and was decorated for bravery) died last week after a long battle with cancer. He was always saddened that the govt took so long to honor his generation while the Korean and Vietnam vets got their memorials so quickly. He had survived a brutal war, a typhoon in the Pacific, and 5 heart surgeries....for some reason I thought he would kick this too. We will be burying him at Arlington in late June. It is so sad that most of these heroes wont live see the memorial that Congress has been bickering about for so many years....
I'm very sorry mateo. I contributed to the WWII memorial and I can't wait to go back to DC to see it. [proud] I have the utmost gratitude for your grandfather and his generation. [/proud] I started watching BOB again last night. It is possibly the finest DVD that I own.
Not to dis WWII vets or anything (they are the only vets I respect), but I just thought it worth mentioning that Stephen Ambrose (author of Band of Brothers) is a plagerist. That may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but it is a huge deal to me. Ambrose made millions on his pop histories stealing much of the material from underpaid community college professors.
I've heard the same thing, I've just never seen anything concrete... I found a couple of articles. Seems like he used some material and didn't quote it, but he footnoted it. Which technically isn't plagirism. The guy was in his 60's, if that's all I'm forgetting when I get that I age I will be pretty dang happy. Mr. Ambrose's website
