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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Somewhere, a War Leader is Walking |
| 2006-10-24 |
| We all know where this is heading. We're in a world-wide, full-blown clash of civilizations that is about to go decidedly nuclear at a time when the West is not only suffering from a lack of confidence, but has a significant portion of its population who believe in their bones that it deserves to lose. There can only be one outcome in such a state of affairs: eventually, those of us who wish not only for survival but to prevail and to preserve what is ours and has been gifted to us by countless generations will have to decide to do whatever it takes to ensure that survival. And I'm not entirely unconvinced that such a struggle will not have a domestic component. Don't get me wrong. I don't have an answer to our predictament or even a suggested course of action. But, in my heart of hearts, I know that somewhere out there, walking around even as I type this, is a war leader, this generation's Patton. I don't know who he is or even if he is a he. But s/he is there. |
| Posted by:SR-71 |
| #22 .com...I know I sound bleak. There are warriors in the Flag ranks as well as the O-6 level. It's just that the system tends to neuter, or filter the warrior ethos. The traits that are required to succesfully navigate the O-Ring are not what is required in a good warrior. The pain of modern staff work (contractors, BS, Congress, etc.) generally drive the warrior out and leave those who relish that sort of thing. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-10-24 21:02 |
| #21 So true, anymouse. Just like Lyndie England (sp?) and the others at AG prison, Cunningham and Foley and others who lack sense, scruples, and any personal discipline have so undermined our efforts that my honest reaction is screw prison, shoot the assholes. I have no doubt what you say about the system is true. I'm Vietnam Era and saw the good ones get stymied somewhere around Major, maybe Light Col. If they had birds, then it was game over - the pull to get that star seemed to suck the honor and honesty right out of them. Sure, I'll admit there must've been exceptions, but I never knew any. I did encounter something funny, though, long after my service I was acquainted via work with 3 retired Generals - and one of them had returned to his roots as a solid guy, a straight shooter, someone worthy of sharing a beer - he'd have his beer and I'd swill coffee, lol - I don't drink. A Two-Star, I was happy to have been on good working terms with him. Though many here would find it improbable, lol, he seemed to like my company and, as a big-wig in the Co, regularly invited me to things (meetings, conferences, etc) I would not normally have been part of. I was an odd-ball there, having over 20 yrs experience as a solo contractor before joining this company, and that may have been why we connected - he liked the smartassed lone wolf who gave him shit - no one else did, lol. I guess not only having made it, but being retired, had flushed the blind ambition drive I presume he must've had and allowed him to be himself. A good guy, I thought. The other two were imperious asshole ring-knockers. Lol. Kurilla, known through Yon's posts, is clearly the kind of person we'd probably all like to see enter politics after his service. I doubt Yon is the kind of guy who'd be fooled for that long and at that close proximity - so I wager Kurilla's the Real Deal. That Kurilla doesn't have much of a chance without a lot of luck or someone deciding to adopt him as a protégé is sad. No doubt he's viewed as a threat by the Pentagon types. I only hope it's not as bad today, as it was. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 19:57 |
| #20 .com: Absolutley. Tancredo and a handful of others. However, it just makes me sick to think of whores like Randy Cunningham, Bob Ney, and other Republicans that have sacrificed this country, and the conservative movement. Grrrr. (sorry for my earlier sweeping generalization). As a senior Reserve officer I do know a few warriors. However, the system is still there....just in a different form....to keep guys like Kurilla out of the Flag rank. The skills required to lead men (and women) are not those required to successfully navigate the staff positions at the major command HQ's. And, unless you are a senior officer it's hard to explain how diversity and other issues have reshaped the warrior ethos. It is even more difficult for the true warrior to exist let alone move up in today's military. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-10-24 19:04 |
| #19 Well okaaaaay then, he's shit! Fuckin' slacker biatch! Of course, I could probably produce a list of gripes against just about anybody. Certainly myself. And, amazingly enough, even you, wxj. Go figure, huh? |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 16:16 |
| #18 I voted for Bush twice, but, I am a right winger, and as such, I have a list of Bush weaknesses. I can start with his first choices for Secretaries of Interior and Transportation. Then, with both houses of Congress, he has not seen fit to reduce the Federal Government by one single department. The borders. Expansion of Medicare. Rebuilding of a city below sea level. Allowing traitors and leakers in his midst without a serious attempt to skin one of them to prove a point. And many other points where Bush is soft. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-10-24 16:11 |
| #17 NW - I agree - and posted the story about Great Presidents because I believe Bush will be seen by historians in that light someday, when the universities are restored to sanity. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 15:42 |
| #16 Sure, 2x4, I'll even accept "probably". But we don't know what he knows - either the intel or the resources or the actions that are taken that we never will hear about - or only much later after the dust has settled - and we blithely expect things, nay - demand things, sitting here in the bitchosphere, where all things are possible, lol, which aren't possible back there in the political reality he has to live within. Indeed, his position is tough. And he has every type imaginable to deal with, from the leakers to the politicians to the liars to the good guys. The job must suck like an F-5. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 15:14 |
| #15 .com, right, he's done more than anyone imagined and kudos. But, possibly, he could have done more. It is hard to judge, we may not have all the pertinent information that the administration has. But by the same token, some (that is--people that study all the aspect of the conflict) may have had information that was conveyed, but not acted upon or incorporated into long term planning, yet. It's a thrice tough job in times like these. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2006-10-24 15:02 |
| #14 All we need it to convince the peoples of the "West" that it's OK to stomp scorpions. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-10-24 14:18 |
| #13 .com, You're right about Bush. The Bush-Lincoln comparisons are going to be pretty think three years after he's gone. We don't really know the half of what has gone on duriing the last 5 years. For Clinton, history will not be kind and for Bush it will. It sort of has to work out that way. Clinton had nowhere to go but down and Bush, up. Bush also has also, keep your fingers crossed, completely beaten the year ending in zero hex on presidents that Reagan partially broke by not succumbing to the assassin, that went back to 1840. Our grandchildren and gg-children will look back and wonder at how undeserving the American people were of a leader who saw so clearly what was going down and tried to save the country from what came later because of their failure to support him. After that has happened, the leader this article is describing will rise to the occasion. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-10-24 14:03 |
| #12 Oh damn, forgot the /sarc tags. I guess I shouldn't rely too much on the smiley thingies, eh? Actually, Bush has been far better, done more, taken more chances, stood more firm in the storm of BDS, and shown more spine than the US voting public deserved. Backbone is so rare these days. We got lucky, IMHO. Pure dumb luck. I am grateful for what he has done, rather than pissy about what I think he should have done, but has yet to do. Consider the alternatives. I rest my case. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 13:23 |
| #11 You do? Well, I admit, you have a point there. ;-) |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2006-10-24 13:18 |
| #10 Jumpy? Um, no. Hinky, mebbe, unforgiving, yup, downright nasty, yewbetcha, but not jumpy, lol. I blame Bush, I guess, lol. :-> |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 13:15 |
| #9 .com, ya' jumpy lately? ;-) |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2006-10-24 13:11 |
| #8 lotp, no, not millitary dictatorship. Unnecessary. Just a state of affairs where laws are laws, not a sliding scale relativistic construct based on feel-good paradigm. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2006-10-24 13:08 |
| #7 lotp: Military dictatorship, .com. Just "temporarily"??? WTF are you talking about? Dictatorship? Show me. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 13:07 |
| #6 Many Pattons, as there would be many battlefields, discrete in time. But there is the thing... you've heard the term "assymetrical war". That seems to be the case on the surface, as this war is multidimensional, a 3-D chess of sorts. We just need to find "Pattons" that would be able to understand all the components of the war and resolve these aspects that do not seem to have a military dimension, as well. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2006-10-24 12:59 |
| #5 Military dictatorship, .com. Just "temporarily"??? I'm not as pessimistic as you about the American people, although I sometimes despair. Many are slow to wake up. Most don't follow what's happening around the world in enough detail to connect the dots. But they are going to, I think. And when they do, we won't need to abrogate our way of life and our Constitution because when the will of the people is strong, we can do what we need to do to protect this country and our way of life. We'll see how the elections turn out. A lot hinges on that. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-10-24 12:46 |
| #4 anymouse - Probably won't be a Pol, though you've got to figure out an amendment to your post to allow for the existence of people like Tancredo, doncha think? I believe that the Deuce-Four commander, LTC Erik Kurilla would be a prime example of exactly the sort that could (should) rise to the top. I'd do everything in my power to support such a leader. Everything. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 12:38 |
| #3 No we have a bunch of pussies leading our government who are too concerned about offending someone, or too concerned about getting re-elected and lose their cushy job in Congress. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-10-24 12:25 |
| #2 Wow. Excellent read. Please, please, let she / he step forward and be recognized. The time is now. Thx, SR-71! |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 12:09 |
| #1 Fan-fracking-tastic! |
| Posted by: Flea 2006-10-24 11:36 |