I'm phobically allergic to the conservative Republican types the military is rife with, but I've only been in country four months and already I hate liberals.
At first I though he was being smarmily sarcastic but 'twould appear otherwise; he is careful to tell us "The U.S. is an empire" and "I don't think we should be here [Iraq]." ...And then proceeds to relate,
One thing I learned quickly is that the military's officer corps is filled with the best of America's minds--kids that aced their college entrance exams, were the captains of their ball teams, and had to be nominated by senators to go to the schools they did. These are the guys (along with their much more experienced superiors) that are deciding strategy--and they're fucking smart.
I did not think there were any real journalists remaining, the old-school kind, clear-eyed despite professing political views I despise. It seems I was wrong -- or at least that some time spent in a war zone with Marines can still open some eyes.
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It is indeed strange how a few months at the sharp pointy end of American policy can focus your thinking.
And, regarding the officer corps, it has long been so. And it bugs the hell out of the libs.
...or if not open them entirely, at least inspire them to take a less jaundiced peek at reality... Here's hoping we see more of that in future.
It makes me wonder then how the heck John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, could make such an insane comment on how if you weren't smart enough to get in a school and had no other options, then you're ripe for the military. He, more than anyone, should've known better.
But it's good to see that at least one person out there took off the rose colored John Lennon style glasses long enough to actually do the job of a journalist, which is to accurately observe and report. Good for him.
*starts humming The Ballad of the Green Berets.* David Janssen, anyone?
"Custer was a pu**y, Sir. You ain't."
--CSM Basil Plumley, Ia Drang
Well...the service academies are filled with the best and brightest. ROTC officers can range from being as damn good- but less arrogant- to horrible. I've known both.
Custer really was something of an effeminate fop. His troops always wondered how he managed to keep his hair so purty and stay so fresh...He was definitely ballsy enough, though. May be a tad too much so.
mts1,
Doctorates could be written about the Vietnam war, from a military in transition from the WWII model to the modern "All Volunteer Force" and that wouldn't even scratch the surface of policy, tactics, and strategy.
One of the enduring myths of Vietnam is that only those who couldn't get out of it served. This is very far from the truth. But the left will keep bringing it up because it supports their worldview of the military being populated by a lower class of human. By casting pity on us they can dismiss us.
The liberal view of the world is based on the superiority of the liberal worldview, and that everyone else wants what liberals want because it is superior. Sen. Kerry is just a liberal who tried to use a stint in the Navy as springboard for his political career.
I like conspiracy theories. One of my favorites is that what gets published in the main stream media is determined by the publishers, not the reporters. The publishers have two criteria: if it sells, and if promotes their particular agenda. Reporters who don't toe the party line soon find themselves writing blogs for free.
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