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 ...
To keep the Europeans from killing each other, again.
Nothing wrong with that, as long as they get the job done and are properly maintained.
I certainly don't object to deploying new technology that would be truely beneficial. I just don't care much for useless bells & whistles that needlessly complicate matters.
The USAF's enlisted force is there to support the pilot warriors, and simply doesn't have the mission (rifleman) that Marine enlisteds do (there is a very small cadre of Air Force enlisted forward air controllers and pararescuemen that do fight with small arms, but very few). We could, of course, hire civilians to support the combat pilots, and move all the Air Force enlisteds into the Marines or Army, I guess. But until and unless some power decides to do so, I'll still be proud of my enlisted service to this country, and those I knew who are still in the Air Force.
i think you did not mean to flame my service, but remember the roles the Air Force and Marine Corps in fighting our country's wars are very different.
Semper Fi to you, too, Mac.
Whoa!!! I forgot about the vaunted AC-130 gunships, which do have enlisted gunners aboard. There are, however, very few of these overall.
To keep the Europeans from killing each other, again.
LOL,LOL, That's what hubby said. The same exact words.
Several years ago I stayed up most of the night listening to the DoD budget briefings to the Senate -- only Gen Mike Ryan and the Chief of Staff of the Marine Corps told it like it was. Will never forget Cohen and Shelton trying to shut them up. After that General Ryan was not welcome at the White House.
This is a coup for the Corps since they also were picked as the Vice Chief to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Never did like Ralston who was clinton's boy but he was never as bad as Wesley Clarke!
No other branch ever produced guys like this.
How about like this?
A Tanker that got hit by a jeep ?? Come on .... Marines kick a$$ ...
Agreed. And I speak as an Army veteran. Peacetime has a way of softening up the services and there has been no better example of this that the present day U. S. Army.
This is not to say that there aren't good men who could lead combat units in a shooting war, but they're few and far between. The wreckage left over from the Clinton PC hurricaine is vast and extensive. The Hidebeast and her husband did more damage to the Army than any enemy ever could. The Army isn't lean and mean so much as it's kinder and gentler.
In contrast, the Marine Corps seems to resist this creeping peacetime complacency better than any of the other services. Could be their reputation as first to fight. Or their tradition of having to get more out of less. Nevertheless the proof is in the pudding. They've maintained their high level of training, discipline and competence better than any other service branch.
There is hope for the Army IMO. Shooting hot wars have a tendency to cull out the UNSATs as they say in the Airborne. The downside of this is that a lot of good men may have to die in the process. But the end result will be a tougher, meaner hunter-killer Army. And there won't be any women leading air assaults when it happens.
True, but Patton and Eisenhower (then captain and a major I believe at the time) rode with him at the time and followed orders that were tantamount to murdering American civilians.
The Hidebeast and her husband did more damage to the Army than any enemy ever could.Two things:
Point one - We may still have to put up with Hitlery when she runs for president. (Boy is this a scary thought.)
Point two - I got out of the Army in 1969 but I witnessed how drugs were taking over then. A relative of mine was in the Army during the Carter years when drugs were everywhere and it took Ronald Reagan to get the Army back on track so I know the Army can shape up. I'm not sure if there is enough of a political will in the Bush administration to do what needs to be done to get this "hunter-killer" Army.
An interesting side point is both my son and daughter have been in the Army in the last 5 years. I got to see my daughter who was always assigned to infantry units get pretty tough in 3 years. My son who was an 11B got pretty good training too. But they've both told me enough horror stories of the support troops to curl my thinning hair.
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