And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Military Tactics - Alfred Lyndon Grace (1867–1949)
That wonderful painting sparks my memory of the most recent past Commandant of the Marine Corps, a non-combat-experienced "leader," telling the Pentagon that 251 years of successful USMC history are wrong, and that he is fixing it with his totally fu*cked up "Force Design 2030 is the way to go.
Maybe so John, but I think the old “train hard, arm up with whatever the Army and Navy will give you, go somewhere horrible, and then kill everyone and destroy everything “ philosophy works pretty good too.
Great advice on how to fight the previous generation's useless war. Better advice to youth would be to make sure the wars your leaders are getting you into are in your best interest and not somebody else'. Looking back with the advantage of hindsight and history was WW1 to our advantage? Was WW2 to our advantage? The list continues from Korea, Viet Nam and the adventuring in the Mid East and Afghanistan to today.
Really no need to wonder. Always follow the money. Munitions manufacturers and financiers are the winners. General Smedley Butler wrote the booklet "War is a Racket" 90 years ago. Nothing has changed. The enlisted man's life is always going to be squandered for the enrichment of a man out of harm's way.
WWII - we really didn't have the opportunity to ask that question. We were not interested in war, but war was interested in us thanks the the Imperial Japanese Navy and Air Force.
That wonderful painting sparks my memory of the most recent past Commandant of the Marine Corps, a non-combat-experienced "leader," telling the Pentagon that 251 years of successful USMC history are wrong, and that he is fixing it with his totally fu*cked up "Force Design 2030 is the way to go.
ReplyDeleteMaybe so John, but I think the old “train hard, arm up with whatever the Army and Navy will give you, go somewhere horrible, and then kill everyone and destroy everything “ philosophy works pretty good too.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice on how to fight the previous generation's useless war. Better advice to youth would be to make sure the wars your leaders are getting you into are in your best interest and not somebody else'. Looking back with the advantage of hindsight and history was WW1 to our advantage? Was WW2 to our advantage? The list continues from Korea, Viet Nam and the adventuring in the Mid East and Afghanistan to today.
ReplyDeleteReally no need to wonder. Always follow the money. Munitions manufacturers and financiers are the winners. General Smedley Butler wrote the booklet "War is a Racket" 90 years ago. Nothing has changed. The enlisted man's life is always going to be squandered for the enrichment of a man out of harm's way.
DeleteWWII - we really didn't have the opportunity to ask that question. We were not interested in war, but war was interested in us thanks the the Imperial Japanese Navy and Air Force.
DeleteNo drone warfare back then.
ReplyDelete