SOFISM

That's two thousand miles from here.
How do you expect us to get it there? Drag it?
If we have to, yes. There's always a way.
But the first step... defend the fuel
--The Road Warrior (1981)

To attack in anger
is to murder in confusion
--The Color Purple,
Alice Walker

We're just bombing around the rubble
--Daniel Schorr
__________________

A recent comment to a previous post "Ranger Tab" prompted these thoughts.

A contingent of trolling he-men are upset that Ranger writes and thinks as he does, that he does not toe the party line for being a Ranger, as they see it. However, the messenger is irrelevant, as the thoughts stand alone. The message has a meaning beyond any individual or preconceived idea.

Why such vitriol from elements of fraternal groups like SOCNET? Odd that patriots who so bravely honored their vows to uphold the Constitution cannot brook the exercise of said document. Is it heresy that a "tabbed up" person dare disturb the universe by saying that the United States has lost its ability to win a war?

The mission since 9-11-01 has been unattainable, and one should not be dedicated to a mission that does not go beyond the physicality of killing and destruction. Wars are not won or lost through the application of violence but rather by destroying the enemy's will to fight. We are unable to do this because pyrotechnics only shatter bodies, not ideas. You can conduct outstanding kills all day long, but you have not killed the ideology. This idea underpins Western civilization and its predominant religious belief, Christianity.

My thinking that current U.S. efforts are a violation of the rules governing land warfare was influenced by my Command & General Staff College (CGSC) training. It appears we no longer apply the principles of war to our planning or execution. The U.S. military is well-versed in violence and outfitted with the most advanced field technology, yet it cannot convert this into a meaningful goal.

For example, if one considers the Medals of Honor from Afghanistan it becomes abundantly clear that most fights in this war were meeting engagements. If we cannot fix the enemy after bumbling into him, then we cannot maintain contact and exploit the situation. The entire U.S. military is based upon this presumption:

• March to combat
• Develop the situation
• Defeat
• Exploit

Classic, but missing since the U.S. march into Baghdad. German tank commander Heinz Guderian said it simply when he said in a successful operation, you hit somebody with your fist and not with your fingers spread; punch, not push.

This implies the necessity of identifying your main threat and maneuvering air and land assets to achieve deep objectives. (Guderian also shouted at his Panzertroops, "Ticket to the last station", meaning go as far as you can, and -- roughly -- "boot 'em, don't splatter 'em", meaning don't do things halfway.) The Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) has substituted cheap objectives for the win, lacking any strategic and no demonstrable tactical values.

You cannot punch air or push nothing. You cannot fix what can't be fixed by blowing it up. Sometimes Ranger thinks that Tai Chi or Aikido would be more helpful to our young soldiers. (Perhaps Ranger Hazen could speak to this idea.)

It doesn't matter if we shrink wrap bundles of Ranger tabs and scrolls like the untold Benjamins we offered up on palletized altars as sacrifices in both wars. If those tabs and money were squandered, we did so freely.

If so, then that is our shame.