Elite Athlete

Bikesport - Michigan ^ | April 2, 2003 | Tom Demerly

[The Shrew]

I do not know if this is true! But, I found it to be an absolutely riveting story!

May God Bless our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines!

Regards,

TS

[The Shrew]

Well, when I read this I thought of you guys!

Semper Fi!

TS

[The Shrew]

Bump for our service members!

Semper Fi!

TS

[The Shrew]

Thought you ladies might enjoy this as well!

Regards,

TS

[The Shrew]

This is a great read! Check it out!

Regards,

TS

[doug from upland]

This is the guy who deserves $10 million a year; not the prima donna athlete who plays a game.

[ironman]

Way to go Mike from a fellow triathlete! I also have done the Lake Placid Ironman (4 times) and Hawaii (5 times). I looked up some of his results. He's a pretty solid triathlete.

[paul51]

BUMP

[The Shrew]

This is the guy who deserves $10 million a year; not the prima donna athlete who plays a game.

You know Doug, that was exactly my thought! In fact, I have been thinking and advocating that both here and on Radio FR for over a year. Ever since I read William S. Lind's - "4th Generation Warfare" I have been stricken with the disease that there has to be a better way to structure our military.

I am very, very proud of how our military - all services - have performed in this war! Their performance stands in stark contrast to what the "Rent-a-Generals" are saying! It isn't just a matter of them disagreeing with current Pentagon policy. The RAG's are oblivious to the fact that the nature of warfare has changed.

That change to the nature of warfare is so complete that we have to rethink our military structure from top to bottom. This requires such fundamental expertise in fieldcraft that can only come from constant and realistic training for war. NOT constant deployment as a meals on wheels or as a economy boost for a downtrodden third world populace.

We really should be paying these top SPEC OPS forces top dollar! But we should also be looking VERY HARD at weapons systems procurement, Up or OUT promotion policies, massive Cold War mentalities. Those problems don't solve our current defense needs!

Regards,

TS

[The Shrew]

Thanks for checking it out!

Regards,

TS

[SeeRushToldU_So]

I hope the story is true, if it isn't, it oughta be! I saved the story anyway just in case.

[The Shrew]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I think it's one of the finest about Special Ops I've read. I am anxious to hear what the real operators think of it!

Granted the piece was written for an elite athlete magazine!

Regards,

TS

[SeeRushToldU_So]

I went to the web site in your link and checked the story out. I also printed the story and I am currently passing it around to my team members.

Great find!

[vikingblood]

Beautifully written and inspiring.

[The Shrew]

Thanks I appreciate your kind comments. A triathlete friend of mine - former 20 year Army - emailed it to me!

Sadly it doesn't look as if FR has appreciated it as much as you!

Regards,

TS

[The Shrew]

I thought this might interest you!

Regards,

TS

[kms61]

more than likely it's the writer's imaginative depiction of what some of these guys "might" be doing. It's indisputable that you'll find a number of SOF types among triathletes, adventure racers, etc. But it's highly doubtful that some writer for a bike website would even know what unit a particular person is in, much less what they're doing right now...and I even noted one rather glaring technical error, which I won't mention.

For what it is, it's very interesting reading. But I don't take it as gospel.

[The Shrew]

As I said, "I don't know if it's true!" but, I found it to be very interesting reading.

What do you think the odds are that the author knows Mike?

Regards,

TS

[kms61]

Possibly. But since Delta still doesn't officially exist, I doubt "Mike" would have owned up to being in it.

I think this guy knows a few people over there, has done some reading, and constructed an imaginative narrative of what they MIGHT be doing.

Nice job. But I don't think it's a factual account, nor do I think the author intended his readers to take it that way. Just my 2 cents.

[1L]

But I don't take it as gospel.

Nothing here is out of the ordinary. It may be a cumulative story, i.e., bits of truth over several events strawn together. The technical errors you speak of may be intentional for security reasons.