*sigh* the whole point of having an army is to kill your enemies faster than they can kill you. The Ukrainians have clearly demonstrated that drone operators can do this. Even I can see that he's making a mistake, and the nearest I've ever got to combat is playing History of the World (a boardgame).
It's worse than that. In a purely notional war the point of having an army is to kill the enemy before they kill you. In practice, the point of an army is to make the cost to your enemy of trying to kill you or otherwise opposing what you're doing greater than what your enemy wants to gain. (Yes, I have read Clausewitz.)
How times have changed… anyone else old enough to remember the testosterone dished out to female elite athletes behind the so-called Iron Curtain curca 1972?
How times have changed… anyone else old enough to remember the testosterone dished out to female elite athletes behind the so-called Iron Curtain curca 1972?
There’s a famous Boston square with dimensions clever-stupid and lazy-industrious. Here’s a clue to the four quadrants in evaluating officer material.
I'm not familiar with the term "Boston square", and an internet search just turns up locations in Beantown and elsewhere. You mean something listing various categories within a four part square, similar to eg. the Nolan Chart?
The classic (and horrifying) example of Stupid and Industrious was the Nazi Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel who Hitler described as follows
you know he has the brains of a movie usher ... (but he was made the highest ranking officer in the Army) ... because the man's as loyal as a dog
Keitel was convicted at Nuremberg and subsequently executed for a series of war crimes. The example I quoted above was sometimes described as the “Keitelgraf” because of Keitel’s notorious loyal stupidity and assiduous support of Hitler.
I see Iran is claiming the US bombed a wedding party today. One of the programs Hegseth discontinued was a civilian protection program in spite of all the top generals arguing it should be kept. The purpose of the program was to ensure the targets were legitimate military targets.
That is not saying civilians were not accidentally killed previously. The program only helped keep civilian casualties as low as possible.
Maybe Hegseth should be charged with war crimes once this administration is out.
I see Iran is claiming the US bombed a wedding party today. One of the programs Hegseth discontinued was a civilian protection program in spite of all the top generals arguing it should be kept. The purpose of the program was to ensure the targets were legitimate military targets.
That is not saying civilians were not accidentally killed previously. The program only helped keep civilian casualties as low as possible.
Maybe Hegseth should be charged with war crimes once this administration is out.
I suspect the purpose of the program was to give the impression of due diligence and allow the US to feel less bad about murdering kids. Again. Hegseth may be more blatant but Barack "drone strike" Obama, and pretty much every still-living President and their DoD secretaries can join them. War crimes are part of what the US does, along with avoiding accountability for them.
New nickname for Pete. "No Tabs Pete." In the Army, a "tab" is an elite combat patch, like a Ranger or even a Sapper. He doesn't have one on his Army National Guard uniform. That's right. He was never in the regular forces.
New nickname for Pete. "No Tabs Pete." In the Army, a "tab" is an elite combat patch, like a Ranger or even a Sapper. He doesn't have one on his Army National Guard uniform. That's right. He was never in the regular forces.
I think I've said this before somewhere, but Hegseth is like the closest you can get to stolen-valour while still having actually served in some capacity.
Comments
Drone pilots OTOH are holed up near Las Vegas and rarely get Purple Hearts.
Clever and lazy = leadership material
Cleve and industrious = second in command
Stupid and lazy = harmless
Stupid and industrious = highly dangerous!
So far as Hegseth is concerned, the more industrious he gets the more dangerous he is. There’s no doubt about stupid.
How times have changed… anyone else old enough to remember the testosterone dished out to female elite athletes behind the so-called Iron Curtain curca 1972?
Yep. It was a standard joke in popular culture.
I'm not familiar with the term "Boston square", and an internet search just turns up locations in Beantown and elsewhere. You mean something listing various categories within a four part square, similar to eg. the Nolan Chart?
The four quadrants of the example I quoted are.
Clever/Idle ____ Clever/Industrious
Stupid/Idle ____ Stupid/Industrious
Keitel was convicted at Nuremberg and subsequently executed for a series of war crimes. The example I quoted above was sometimes described as the “Keitelgraf” because of Keitel’s notorious loyal stupidity and assiduous support of Hitler.
Unlikely, I know - or at least I hope so...
That is not saying civilians were not accidentally killed previously. The program only helped keep civilian casualties as low as possible.
Maybe Hegseth should be charged with war crimes once this administration is out.
I suspect the purpose of the program was to give the impression of due diligence and allow the US to feel less bad about murdering kids. Again. Hegseth may be more blatant but Barack "drone strike" Obama, and pretty much every still-living President and their DoD secretaries can join them. War crimes are part of what the US does, along with avoiding accountability for them.
I think I've said this before somewhere, but Hegseth is like the closest you can get to stolen-valour while still having actually served in some capacity.