Run, Forrest, Run
Paresh Nath (UAE)Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun
--Army of Darkness (1992)
The race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong
--Ecclesiastes, 9:11
Mama says they was magic shoes.
They could take me anywhere
--Forrest Gump (1994)
______________
By all MSM reports, General Stanley A. McChrystal is the Man With a Plan (instead of the hired assassin he actually is.)
Most press indicates the war in Afghanistan is reverting to Square One, and we will now kick ass and take names. No more of the screw up it has actually become. Been there, done that. General McChrystal will be the New Spartan Messiah, a savior ushering in that smell of victory.
The warm and fuzzy McChrystal stories invariably note that the General runs 10 miles before he begins each busy day, spreading democracy like Neufchatel on toast. (Not too thick, mind, or Afghanistan couldn't propagate the stifling Sharia snatch-and-catch marriage laws perpetuated by U.S. tax dollars.)
But why is the running even mentioned? We had a Joggin' President in Bush, and that didn't seem to help matters much. (As an aside, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked on NPR what she would title Bush's autobiography, to which she answered without a blink, "Exercise, Exercise, Exercise.")
Could Generals Washington, Knox, Scott, Lee, Grant, Pershing, Eisenhower, Patton, Creighton Abrams or Powell run even half a mile? When did jogging ability equate with the fitness of a Theatre Army level Commander?
Ranger wonders if any of the Taliban leaders ever jog, or can even run a mile. Even so, they can hump their gear and traverse their terrain as their wars with the Greeks, British, Russians and Americans clearly indicate.
General McChrystal can run like Forrest Gump, but that is not going to alter the outcome of the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) in Afghanistan. The Taliban leaders are going to persist a lot longer than Runnin' McChrystal. It is not the hare that wins the UW/GW war, but rather, the turtle.
Physicality is not the measure of how one wins wars. Advertising campaigns keep us thinking that the Army of One and the "General-Corporal" idea will keep us Army Strong. It was with General David Petraeus that the idea of physical fitness = success was first pressed upon us.
The Rangers and Special Forces may be able to march 40 miles with a ruck and full battle rattle, with minimum rest breaks. But the Vietcong were skinny little malnourished, malaria-ridden fighters, and they held their own.
Just ask Generals Washington, Sam Houston or Giap. Even Mao Zedong, to keep the spirit of Counterinsurgency thinking alive.
Labels: guerrilla warfare. PWOT, phony war on terror, stanley mcchrystal, UW/GW. unconventional warfare
posted by rangeragainstwar at 2:43 PM
8 Comments:
I'd kinda like a guy ( or gal for that matter ) with a brain, no pre-conceptions, and the ability to learn from previous successes and mistakes.
There's a quote I vaguely remember from somewhere and I cannot pin it down. Something about someone being a military expert being called in to give his advice, which was like this: "Make your peace and go home."
Maybe I'm making it up.
bb
Once again you're spot on, Ranger!
Aloha, Ranger and Lisa! I'm busy on my lot prepping for a pour... Hopefully, I'll have most of my home up by October...! Come visit for the holidays...! You can rent a hog and see the Big Isle in style...!
bb,
I like the advice, even if it's yours :)
CTuttle,
Good to hear from you, and congrats on the home front progress. Wow, that's an offer one can hardly refuse! I'm keeping it under my hat :)
Likewise, you know the offer to visit is always open on this end. Ranger has a commodious pad.
CTuttle,
What Lisa says is true . You can visit here but you'll be on lp/op duty.
jim
I was thinking of McChrystal the other day - the higher they hoist him the harder he's gonna fall. And I can't believe he doesn't see it coming. Of course they'll never put in a commander that tells the truth because they don't want to hear it.
Terrible,
There is no need for an Ambassador or Theater Commander in AFGH. All they have to do is take all the message traffic from RVN and change the names and dates and it'd work. It's exactly the same sheet of music.
jim
one of the things that really separated the SF lads from the rest of the pack was when you looked at our training programs you saw our officers right there with us. sometimes if our team fucked up our officers were singled out for extra shit detail, they were supposed to lead us in ways that would head fucking up off at the pass. when we humped in full kit, our officers humped with us.
leading from the front is a time honored tradition of great soldiers. the position for a greek general was in the front rank at the center, carrying his spear. alexander had a helmet enhanced with silver and gold with a huge white crest of horsehair to make sure that his men saw that he was right there in the thick of the fight. patton was an olympic contender in the modern pentathalon, an event he helped to create, he was wounded once while serving in mexico with pershing, again, wounded in ww1. during ww2 he was constantly at the front lines, sometimes beyond them directing artillery support from his jeep radio personally.
sherman had two horses shot out from under him at shiloh, wounded three times, but he personally rallied fleeing troops and stood with them to hold and defend the main ford so that the link with grant would not be broken. my favorite exchange came with sherman and grant the evening of the first day's battle:
WTS: Well Grant, we've had the devil's own day.
USG: Yep we did. Lick 'em tomorrow though.
when i see pictures of this bastard rucking up to go on foot patrol, when i see him saddling up with the troops who are in the bradleys and helos. when i see him jogging somewhere that he needs full kit and his head on a swivel i'll be impressed.
not until.
MB,
A wiki search indicates that Stanley M. has all the right ticket punches but if you notice there is no wreath on his little EIB. A wreath goes on the CIB which he doesn't have. Also note a lack of Valor awards and not even a CAB which is almost a gimme.
This is not surprising.
jim
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