Jumpin' Jack Flash
Mohammad Al-Rayies, (The Arab News, Saudi Arabia)I was schooled with a strap right across my back,
But its all right now, in fact, its a gas!
--Jumping Jack Flash, Rolling Stones
Gripweed: And I'm not a thief, really.
I've never found anything worth keeping.
--How I Won the War (1967)
__________
Ranger is often asked what he would do to "win" in Iraq. This hearkens him back to 1968.
While attending Infantry Officer Basic Course at Ft. Benning, Georgia, Ranger had a Company Tactical Officer name of Charles Willoughby, Cpt., Infantry.
Cpt. Willoughby was a Silver Star recipient from the Battle of Lang Vei. Without a doubt, Willoughby was a combat-hardened Special Forces veteran of COIN, and as such, his opinion should be considered relevant and pertinent. In fact, it is as valid today as it was in 1968.
One morning during PT, several of us young, dumb and full of cum freshly minted 2nd lieutenants were hung over from the previous night's drunkenness. This was a frequent occurrence. Well anyway, we were doggin' it, merely going through the motions, when Cpt. Willoughby's wisdom was bestowed.
During jumping jacks, Willoughby pulled yours truly out of the formation and chewed me out from head to toe. The core message was, this type of behavior (=laziness in PT) was the reason the U.S. was losing in Vietnam. As noted, if anybody knew we were losing, it would be a guy like Willoughby.
So that is the long and short of it. We were losing because lazy 2nd LT's were not doing their PT ministrations with vigor. It did not matter that the war was unwinnable. It all boiled down to lax side-straddle hops, jumping jacks and push ups.
Using the Willoughby formula, add more repetitions to the jumping jacks and the war is as good as won.
(Note: Willoughby retired a Major, and passed on a few years ago. Requiescat in pace.)
Labels: Charles Willoughby, how to win the war, lax calisthenics leads to failure
posted by rangeragainstwar at 1:37 PM
8 Comments:
CPT Willoughny was right. I often opined that if only more green-eared butterbars had jumped up and down and flapped their wings we'd have been much better off.
Ha ! Good one lurch. That made my day. Glad to see that the officer corp had to endure a few of the shall we say inconvieniences that the Enlisted Men had too endure. Hell, when I got out of basis I thought pushups were the cure for everything from insubordination to the clapp!
Naw, you're wrong, TW. You get the clap while doing pushups.
lurch and tw,
I'm glad that the clap was a disease of the privates. It was the only benefit of being an officer.
Lurch, I agree there is nothing as dangerous as a 2 LT with a map and a rifle. Fortunately we had good NCO's to provide guidance and assistance.
train hard. fight easy.
master chief boatswain's mate norr
who also once told me from the main deck while i was manning the hand pumps below
when the water passes your knees lad, follow the rats.
MB,
I love that bit of advice.
So, should we extrapolate that bit of wisdom to current times?
master chief norr was a legend. he trained two generations of UDT/SEALS and was prone to saying, on the first day of training, if you lads never meet an enemy that scares you more than i do i will consider my training a success.
his training was a success with me. i never faced an opponent that was as frightening as the master chief.
i've heard him say the old nautical proverb about the rats many times when somebody else leaves their white house gig "to spend more time with my family."
MB,
Your Master Chief Norr sounds frightening, but legendary.
The rats know best how to navigate murky waters (like Mu(r)kasey [?]), so good advice during precipitous times, if one wants to save one's neck.
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