Rent-a-Soldier
Nothing succeeds like success
--Alexandre Dumas
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U.S. Defense secretary Robert M. Gates said this week,--Alexandre Dumas
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"rapidly building up the armed forces of friendly nations to combat terrorism within their borders was 'a vital and enduring military requirement' — and one that should be managed by the Defense Department (Pentagon Seeks Authority to Train and Equip Foreign Militaries."
Yep, and why not? It has been such a tremendous success thus far in Afghanistan and Iraq.
posted by rangeragainstwar at 7:35 PM
4 Comments:
let's look in the ol' histry book fer some parallels. . .
we had the athenians who used rhodian and creten mercs during the war with sparta. . .
we had the romans who used gallic cavalry (the romans never really did understand horses or how to use them in a fight) and later, spanish and african shock troops (a division that eats the losers is the very definition of shock troops)
we had the british who used sepoys and sikhs from india all over the world, and gurkhas.
let's not forget the time they used their rent-a-soldier lads from the german province of hesse.
yep, hiztorical pressdent is something this preznit honors above all else.
i picked a fine time to stop sniffing glue.
MB
And the public don't even question nor are they aware that this question impacts on our lives.
And of course lets let DOD supplant the DOS.War always makes more sense than diplomacy. jim
Grateful thanks to the Minstel Boy for lighting up the mood balloon that began leaking when I read the original post.
I wonder, however, looking over the abbreviated list...(1) Did they suck at it as badly as we seem to do? and (2) Do you suppose anyone in charge of spitting out that stupid line in the post actually KNOWS that much history?
:::Locks up Glue:::(But dude, those Hessian hats were the bomb!)
an historical aside:
the bitter folks of western pennsylvania are, in many instances, the descendants of the hessian troops (who were not willing mercs, they were rented out by their prince, who was george III's cousin). washinton's policy of good treatment and no torture or reprisal against prisoners had the result of many hessian troops, once they realized that the american rebels would treat them better than their own officers and non-coms, would kill said officers and non-coms, and desert as whole units, with arms, artillery, rations, and all kinds of good stuff. their subsequent settling in western pennsylvania was appreciated by the non-combatant quakers as a great buffer to the natives, along with a superb first line of frontier defense against a british third front coming down from detroit.
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