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2005-02-08 Iraq-Jordan

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Posted by Steve 2005-02-08 11:06:59 AM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The quality of society's military derives from the nature of that society. Tribesman will fight like tribesman, and no amount of traning can change that.

Posted by gromgorru 2005-02-08 1:46:22 PM|| 2005-02-08 1:46:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Another aspect of armies that are very familiar with the US military: they realize that it would be suicide for them to ever fight the US. The "Bright Star" exercises with Egypt, for example, have convinced every officer and NCO in their ranks that this must be their very last option, behind even replacing their government, like the Turkish army. On the plus side, American tactics are the very best on the market, and they are learning them for free, making their army far more formidable than their neighbors, even those who are numerically superior. Once the Americans are gone, the Iraqis will be more than able to whup the Iranians in a land war, if needs be, for example.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-02-08 1:51:26 PM|| 2005-02-08 1:51:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 "American Style" means putting ideas to the test, improving designs when they are successful and scrapping them and trying something new when they aren't. It's a fearless and constant striving for excellence. Others often fail-not because of nationality, history, geography, money, etc-they fail because they are too arrogant to admit when an idea is wrong so they can never go back to the drawing board and start anew. The idea of failure for some is so devastating that carrying through on the illusion is far preferable to starting from scratch and working, sweating, scratching your way to success.

The great part of American culture is that any race, any gender, any religious belief, falls away as insignificant in the face of the American freedom to pursue excellence-in any field, including the fields of the military. Add to that a cultural loyalty to working together and a commitment to treating others well and you have the formula that leads to success.

Posted by Jules 187 2005-02-08 2:33:50 PM|| 2005-02-08 2:33:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 I'd say the foreign militaries I dealt with that I knew were obviously inferior was a direct result of their culture.

Posted by Jarhead 2005-02-08 2:48:25 PM|| 2005-02-08 2:48:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Iraqis can perform as well as American troops if they have good leadership and training.

But it's easier if your Dad fought in Korea, your Cousin in Vietnam your greatgranddad in Belleau Wood. JarHead knows. A lot is handed down generation by generation. Why are the Finns so damn good and the Iraqis so bad? Why are the Japaneese so much more efficient in war than the Chinee? (zf for the last 400 years). It's culture.

Posted by Shipman 2005-02-08 4:19:37 PM|| 2005-02-08 4:19:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 A biography on T. E. Lawrence I read a decade or so ago contained a list of rules (written by Lawrence himself) in the index that all British officers under Lawrence's command had to learn by heart when dealing with Arabs. The most pertinent one for today is that when the officer has discussed with the Arab a plan of action, it was up to the officer to remind the Arab of the plan at every opportunity when the plan was being disregarded. Remind, remind, cajole. We agreed on this before and now you want to change?

Posted by chicago mike 2005-02-08 6:32:20 PM|| 2005-02-08 6:32:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Training Troops to Fight Like Americans

Then have General Mattis as commencement speaker!

Posted by BigEd 2005-02-08 7:22:51 PM|| 2005-02-08 7:22:51 PM|| Front Page Top

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