Ooh la la!
Posted on 11/21/2008 11:13:02 AM PST by DogBarkTree
hockingly positive views of our forces in Afghanistan are revealed in this translation of a post by a French OMLT (Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams) infantryman working with our toops there. A couple of brief excerpts:
Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins and creatine - they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to them - we are wimps, even the strongest of us - and because of that they often mistake us for Afghans. [....]
Each man knows he can count on the support of a whole people who provides them through the mail all that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location : books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission. And that is a first shock to our preconceptions : the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention.
And they are impressive warriors ! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how. Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seem to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. On the one square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight unmoving in the directions of likely danger. No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. At night, all movements are performed in the dark - only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on the move. Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered - everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump.
The superb Jules Crittenden brought this to our attention. Read the whole thing here or here.
It is still popular, among conservatives in particular, to depict the French as implacable foes of everything American. Certainly the French left can be despicable, and nobody does snobbery better than the French. But I have been urging American conservatives to understand that we have many friends in France, that President Sarkozy is a worthy ally, and that we must remember the mutual aid that has characterized our relations from the American Revolution through two World Wars. The French are a highly accomplished nation, with some faults (who lacks them?) and many virtues.
And combat ? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all - always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay. That is one of their tricks : they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting : they just charge ! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later - which cuts any pussyfooting short.Gen. Patton would be proud.
Lafayette, we are still here.
Ooh la la!
I agree.. it was a wonderful translation to read. Our troops fully deserve such grand recognition!
ping
I’ve heard wonderful things about the French people outside of Paris. My wife and I hope visit the French countryside someday.
Bookmark.
To hear the Brits tell it (at least one's I've heard), American soldiers are best at accidentally shooting & bombing themselves and their allies.
Clearly you were off the beaten path.
In the tourist towns there are either obsessively polite (because they want your money) or obnoxiously critical (because they think they’re superior).
Sarkozy might be President but they are still French.
Question: how do know a French rifle?
Answer: never been fired and only dropped once.
Wonder if the author met my son who is a Specialist serving with the First Infantry Division, 2-2 Infantry Regiment, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
If you would like to say “Thank You” to Garrett I have posted his mailing address in Kandahar.
SPC Garrett D. Harriman
Charlie Co 2-2 Infantry
K.A.F.
APO AE 09355
Hooah!!
PresidentFelon
According to the ones I've met, once I was able to cut through the automatic bias they were as warm a people as I've met anywhere else.
Thank you both. I truly enjoyed reading this. We hear so much negative from our own press, it’s surreal sometimes to hear praise.
A French Soldier’s Tribute To The American Soldiers He Served Beside In Afghanistan at http://patdollard.com/2008/11/a-french-soldiers-tribute-to-the-american-soldiers-he-served-beside-in-afghanistan/
This really needs to go out to somebody’s ping list....
No compliment is so moving as that which arrives from an unexpected quarter....
Doesn’t say, might be the L’OMLT de la Legion Etrangère - but they (the French) alsouse Para and Mountain troops (Troupes de Montagne or one of the three numbered Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins )
I doubt the person quoted was Legion Etrangère - they tend to trash talk anybody NOT in the Legion.
Actually he liked the food a lot, even the MRE's.
I agree. In that cause I am pinging the greatest Pingster I know, LucyT
Maybe she will know of someone who operates a military Ping List.
That’s not called biscuits and gravy, it’s proper military name is $hit on a shingle, or just plain SOS!
Cool
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