Category Archives: Troops

Playing at war

I often think the Seablogger, Alan Sullivan, is too pessimistic by half. And considering that he’s struggling with cancer, that’s not too surprising. But he’s just dead-on right about the current situation in Iraq.

"…we are not taking the fight to the enemy, and we never will. Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia continue to support Iraqi ‘insurgents.’ If we were at war, we would have assailed the regimes of those countries for warring on us. But we are merely playing at war…"

Indeed, I am starting to cringe everytime I read about another American casualty in Iraq, partly because it’s as though Bush wanted to set up another Vietnam losing proposition, with sanctuaries for the enemy, sanctuaries that (so far) have not been assailed, and may never be. Unlike Sullivan I won’t say never, but it does look that way. Some say we should cringe at all the dead Iraqi civilians, but we aren’t killing them, and the people who are won’t stop even if/when we leave.

UPDATE  Still some hope in the recent infighting among the "insurgents." 

1LT Phillip Isaac Neel, R.I.P.

Neel, a 1998 graduate of Fredericksburg, Tx, high school, and, in 2005, of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, died in Iraq April 9, of wounds from a grenade assualt while leading his 8th Cavalry Regt. platoon:

“Phillip was an inspiration and leader to his five siblings,” his family said in a prepared statement… “He led by example and consistently challenged them to do the right thing in all circumstances, no matter what pressures were involved.”

A memorial service for him is planned Saturday in Fredericksburg.

UPDATE  The San Antonio Express News report on the memorial: "Phillip Neel often sat and prayed at the West Point cemetery overlooking the Hudson River in New York, and it was there he watched smoke rise from the World Trade Center in 2001, his dad said."

Racism in the Bundeswehr

How far Hitler’s mighty Wehrmacht has fallen. Cursing in English, at African Americans. How weird.

Blockading Iran

I have liked the idea of a naval blockade of Iran to stop their development of nuclear weapons. But George Friedman of Austin’s Stratfor says even the idea of imposing one for the limited purpose of forcing release of the Birt hostages was not seriously considered because of Iran’s ability to retaliate in Iraq, among other places. Although one supposes stopping the nukes would be considerably more incentive than a few military prisoners.

Via the ON Point Blog 

Incoming

"A few days ago, the loud siren sounded, and the ‘big voice’ speakers bellowed ‘INCOMING! INCOMING!’. A group of new Marines scattered like ducklings under the shadow of a hawk. Several ran around the corner of a concrete barrier and into a group of us chatting on as though nothing had happened. We watched as they collected themselves and tried to pretend as though nothing had happened, and then returned to conversation."

More news from the front by Teflon Don at Acute Politics

Army strong is strained

"…consider for a moment the peculiar lack of tanks and armored Humvees in the Fort Hood motor pools. An acute and worsening equipment shortage has robbed soldiers of stateside training opportunities and decimated the readiness of units that have not gone to Iraq or Afghanistan."

A lengthy look at the strains–including three years needed to replace shot-down helicopters–that the Army is going through. Clearly, improvements are needed across the board.

Meanwhile, even as the surge shows some results, there are many contradictions at play in Iraq:

"If the insurgents are to be defeated, it will have to be by local tough guys in town after town, as happened in the American West in the 1870s. These guys will likely be more ruthless than we would like. But if we don’t let them establish some control—and give them help in maintaining it—any strategies for phased withdrawals or grand political bargains or international constabularies will be irrelevant."

Via The Elephant Bar

Uniformly problematic

Badger Six says the new velcroed blue-gray Army Combat Uniform isn’t up to the job and the cotton-poly material can even be dangerous in a fire:

"…patches are much more likely to be lost now that they can be easily removed. And, more obviously, Velcro repair kits are beginning to appear in the exchange shops – a tacit admission the Velcro does not last. Instead of shelling out cash to put new patches on the blouse, Soldiers now have to buy new Velcro to replace the material that failed."

They also should ditch the beret. Let the Euros look like Frogs. We should return to our distinctive garrison caps.