Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Army feels stung as Marine gets command post (SACEUR) in Europe
St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 4-27-02 | Harry Levins

Posted on 04/27/2002 6:32:09 AM PDT by FairWitness

Edited on 05/11/2004 5:33:34 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

"Organizational issues tend not to have a great deal of interest broadly out in the public." Even so, Rumsfeld said, "They can make an enormous amount of difference internally."

Amen. One such "organizational issue" has sandbagged the Army.

The next SACEUR - the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe - will be Marine Gen. James Jones, a Kansas City native. He'll replace Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, who got the job in 1999.


(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: army; marinecorp; military; nato; saceur
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last
To: Teacup
"MARINES RULE!"

OOORAHH!

No other branch EVER produced guys like this:


21 posted on 04/27/2002 7:28:48 AM PDT by COB1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: FairWitness
The first "STAR" that has the nerve to complain should be the first one out the door. Marines have served under army command in many wars, now it is desk warfare and the army perfumed have their panties in a frenchtwist. Time to clean out those that got ahead during the Clinton era of PC toadies.
22 posted on 04/27/2002 7:31:46 AM PDT by cynicom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: COB1
OOORAHH! Chesty Puller, my favorite Marine. Next to my hubby of course ;^)

How ya doing? ya ole jar head?

23 posted on 04/27/2002 7:33:08 AM PDT by Teacup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!
Willie, I spent 1991-1997 closing most of these bases in Europe. There are very few left actually.

Thanks for the info.
While I certainly support a strong military, it's also necessary to go through reconfigurations when conditions change, such as they have in Europe. With the Euroweenies banding together and the Soviet bloc gone, I see no reason to maintain ANY bases on European soil. (Good Lord, we've been over there for over a quarter of our own nation's history.)

Without the land bases, I would suppose it might be wise to build a few more flattops for the Navy, just to make sure we can get to where we need to be when necessary. That'd be fine with me -- it'd also help assure that we retain such construction skills in our domestic shipyards. Makes more sense to me to spend the money domesticly rather than pumping up the Euroweenie economies.

24 posted on 04/27/2002 7:38:15 AM PDT by Willie Green
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Teacup
Cup.....

Plush??????

Damned if I ever saw one. Course I was a short term enlisted peasant. WWII barracks, sand blew in year round, froze in winter and sweat in summer, food that most did not eat. Yessir, real plush.

25 posted on 04/27/2002 7:39:07 AM PDT by cynicom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Teacup
"OOORAHH! Chesty Puller, my favorite Marine. Next to my hubby of course ;^)"

Well, heck, in the company of those two I don't mind being third.
LOL!
I'm doing good, TC!
Has that old Gyrene of yours gotten used to being outside without his "cover"?
LOL!

26 posted on 04/27/2002 7:43:19 AM PDT by COB1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Euro-American Scum
Army gets feminized.
Yea, I guess the women in many jobs have made the large Tank Divisions of the Cold War Army slower and less potent. But let's face it we don't need big tanks anymore. My son went to infantry training at Fort Benning and all 11Bs are trained there and it is all male and very disiplined -- I would put it on par with Marine training.

Most of the Army equipment is too big, too complicated and too hard to maintain. Dicipline is lax and the inclusion of females hurts the readiness and the deployability of any Army force. There are lots of lessons to be learned from the Marines who have old and simple equipment and are light and fast to deploy. What is the mission of the modern Army?(The answer to this question will lead us to how sensitive the Army really needs to be.)

So congrats to the Marines they deserve the job!!

27 posted on 04/27/2002 7:56:01 AM PDT by BeAllYouCanBe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: COB1;cynicom;willie green
ERRR! And don't even get me started on military housing, and Tri Care. I'll never forget. At a Bar b que in base housing, the porch to a housing unit fell off with several people on it. No one was hurt, but the house was so old it had rotted away. In Coronado, the homes were usually without toilets. They had toilets, they just didn't flush. The pumbing didn't work. I could go on and on, but why? PLUSH???? I never saw one.

Cobby, he's doing fine. Goes to work everyday now without looking for his cover, LOL,LOL.

28 posted on 04/27/2002 8:03:22 AM PDT by Teacup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!
(Not directed at anyone in particular...just a response and observation)

I spent a total of 27 years, four in the USN with most of that as a USMC rifle platoon corpsman. I know from whence I speak.

Take a look at some facts...look at a USAF base and the "titles" and "trappings"..."Special Assistant to the Deputy Commander to the Adjudant for Special Programs Resource DeplOyment and Aquisition"...See all of the E-3s running around at all hours of the day in the commissary and BX...note that they have expensive laptops, pagers, two way radios? How important are these guys?

Did you realize that our Navy LEASES Cruise missles? Yep...we lease the damn things and only buy them if we fire them!

At one point in mY career, a Wing Commander decided to do the "real deal"...a "recall" at 13:30 on a weekday (instead of the usual, expected....if not clearly anounced...recall fo all personnel and immediate lauch of all fighter aircraft. In reality, this should be a no brainer reaction and should work! We got 31% of the aircraft in the air in a period of two and a half hours!

This military is full of fat, usless and multiple echelons of paper pushing pencilneck careerists. Physical fitmess is a joke (a stationary bike test???) Ammo is so short that the USAF rarely has any troops on hand who have fired an actual weapon in the past year, and then only with an "adapter" that allows and M-16 to fire .22 cal. rounds! Prego uniforms? "Profiles" to avoid deployment?

The USMC has a ocuple of sayings/logos that make sense and are pretty damn accurate:

"The Change is Forever"; and, "227 years of tradition and effectivess...unhinered by modern progress"!

Once a Marine/Always a Marine...When the balloon goes up, I want a Marine in charge...at least I know there is a warrior at the helm, in the fighting hole, and that the job will get done...without a myriad of "NCOIC of REMF assistants to the comand deputy assistant for the special expeditionary directorate of operations planning and training subdivision"....instead, I'll have a Marine...each one a Devil Dog rifleman who can shoot straight, run hard, and is prepared for war...that is the job of the military!

SEMPER FI!

29 posted on 04/27/2002 8:07:57 AM PDT by NMFXSTC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: AmriGandu
And since the Marines will have to make Iraq safe for the Army, it's only right for them to be in this leadership role...
30 posted on 04/27/2002 8:14:11 AM PDT by Jim Noble
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: BeAllYouCanBe
Most of the Army equipment is too big, too complicated and too hard to maintain.

I certainly believe in providing individual soldiers with all the best gear available to perform their mission. But it always amazes me to see them bogged down in all the crap they gotta carry. Half the time, they look like an overbloated version of the Michelin tire man. If a high-school linebacker knocked one onto his butt, he'd probably lie there flailing his arms and legs until they brought in a crane to set him back upright.

IMHO, an outfit that would provide a little more freedom of movement would seem desirable.

31 posted on 04/27/2002 8:15:27 AM PDT by Willie Green
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: FairWitness
As one might expect in Vermont, the home of Leahy, Sanders and Jeffords, the three little piggies, the Vermont Adjutant General, leader(?) of the Vermont Air and Army Guard........is a woman.

Her experience since 1979 has been in aircraft maintenance. She has never been out of the country, never saw combat.

Go ahead, flame me, I don't feel comfortable with warriors who wear bras.

Check her out at VTANG

Can't get the link to work. Search on Martha Rainville

32 posted on 04/27/2002 8:17:41 AM PDT by JimVT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: COB1
No other branch ever produced guys like this.

How about like this?

33 posted on 04/27/2002 8:19:25 AM PDT by 91B
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: 91B
Or this:


34 posted on 04/27/2002 8:25:52 AM PDT by JimVT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: JimVT

35 posted on 04/27/2002 8:30:00 AM PDT by 91B
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: NMFXSTC
I've had dealings with 2 marine squadrons. One was outstanding in its professionalism & tactics. The other failed to meet a scheduled deployment to the Gulf - eventually got there a month late, then couldn't launch more than 25% of its aircraft for a month.

The Army, with its weight, has a purpose. You want to take a huge chunk of land & hold it? Get the Army.

That said, I agree with the assessment that most Army Generals can't see beyond their desks.

36 posted on 04/27/2002 8:36:01 AM PDT by Mr Rogers
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Willie Green
(The modern Army)"they look like an overbloated version of the Michelin tire man."
A friend in the Austrailan Army thought the US was a bunch of pansies because the Aussie basic pack and gear was 20 pounds heavier than the US's. I feel that we have the remnant of a great fighting force in the US Army and it can come back to be great again. Let's face it the country needs a strong Army and the Marines can't do it all alone.

I had a talk with a Marine about huey cobras and he said the Marines planned to use them for 20 more years.(The relibility and effectiveness trumps new fangled gizzmos in the USMC.) I remember the cobras being introduced in 1968!! The cobras will be in service for 50 years which is amazing. So the Marines learn to make due with what works and the Army could learn a lot from them.

37 posted on 04/27/2002 8:37:48 AM PDT by BeAllYouCanBe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: FairWitness
I'm glad to see a wake up call for the Army and for the militar in general. I'm tired of seeing people like the knucklehead that came up with the "Army of One" slogan being allowed to have such power. I'm tired of seeing men who earn the right to wear the coveted black beret have to share it with everyone else in the Army. It's just not right. I hope that Army generals' everywhere will stand up and heed the call to do what's in the best interest of their personnel and our country. Not push politically assanine feel good agendas.
38 posted on 04/27/2002 8:38:15 AM PDT by MoJo2001
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MoJo2001
I'm glad to see a wake up call for the Army and for the military in general. < snip > I hope that Army generals' everywhere will stand up and heed the call to do what's in the best interest of their personnel and our country. Not push politically assanine feel good agendas.

Double-plus dittos.

39 posted on 04/27/2002 8:44:30 AM PDT by FairWitness
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: 91B
Yep, now there was a man. There ARE more like him in the army right now, they've just been passed over for promotion. They've been shoved out of the way by the political officers who are better at smoozing then fighting.

That's exactly the kind of man that Rummy is trying to locate and promote.

40 posted on 04/27/2002 8:47:35 AM PDT by McGavin999
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson