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When I was taking the Intelligence Officer advanced course in 1985 we had the former Naval Attache to the Soviet Union talk with us for the whole day. One of the sections of his slide show were photos he took of Soviet bathrooms. It is amazing what you can learn about a country from its plumbing. Most of the main highway from Moscow to Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, was still a two lane highway. Can you imagine the main highway from Washington DC to New York being a two lane highway?

During the question period I asked what the Soviets most admire about us (meaning the Navy but I'm sure it applied to the other services), what do they fear about us, and what do we do that most annoys them.

For what annoyed them it amounted to the quote about doctrine. This immensely complicates their planning. And as Fred Thompson said in The Hunt for Red October, "The Russians don't take a dump without a plan." Unfortunately, for them, when the plan didn't work, they didn't know what to do. Their system didn't exactly reward independent thought.

As to what they admire, it is our flexibility in thinking. In 1983 we took a Marine Amphibious Unit loaded out for an exercise in Turkey, made a right in the middle of the Atlantic and made an amphibious landing on the island of Grenada 48 hours later. This scared the Soviets more than you can imagine.

As to what the Soviets feared, it was the petty officers, especially the chiefs. If we killed all their officers they couldn't fight. If they killed all our officers the chiefs would take over and we would continue the battle.

WWG1WGA

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)