Vietnam Syndrome
(Hat tip to The Old Jarhead for making us aware of this.)
One of the reasons that the US lost the Vietnam was because it was being micro-managed by the Perfumed Princes of the Pentagon. People thousands of miles from the action were dictating what those with their "boots on ground" were and were not allowed to do.
Quite some years ago, The Old Sarge was relating a conversation he had had with a fellow veteran while a student at Albuquerque's Technical-Vocational Institute. The other veteran was ex-Army and had served over in that hell-hole. He related how things were while standing guard on the perimeter of some military base in 'Nam. It seems that if anyone were detected attempting to violated the perimeter of the base, the guards were required to yell "Halt!" three times in both English and Vietnamese. If the offender did not stop, they had to radio the Command Post for permission to fire a warning shot. If permission were given, the guard must again yell "Halt!" three times in both English and Vietnamese. Only then could he firing a warning shot. The idiocy of such a policy is readily apparent to everyone except TPTB.
Fast-forward 45 years or so, and we get this bit of lunacy. No wonder our troops are dying over there.
What did Santayana say about those who fail to learn from history?
posted by Master Doh-San @ 5/21/2010 04:08:00 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
The only CIC we had that knew how to fight a war was - regrettably - Frank Roosevelt:
1. Build the most formidable war machine on Earth.
2. Set it on course for its target.
3. Turn it on, and let it do what it does best til all the bad guys are dead, or begging to quit.
It's really that simple. Of course, back then we were fighting for our lives, not to make already-wealthy friends of the Kleptocracy wealthier!
Well, since FDR got us into that war, it was only fitting that he get us back out.
In truth, the thing he did right was turn the war over to the Generals and not try to micro-manage it like so many others have done.
Reagan was pretty hands-off in that regard, too.
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