The Men Who Won The War (Excellent!)

National Review ^ | May 19, 2003 | Jim Lacey

[may18]

nice article fred, thanks

[Ann Archy]

They showed the mosque mob o TV with Col Hodges telling his soldiers to SMILE!! SUPER!!

[baseballmom]

Excellent article bump.

[Stultis]

Bump!

[Gritty]

Thanks for sharing this with us!

[VOA]

Historian Stephen Ambrose said of the American soldier: "When soldiers from any other army,
even our allies, entered a town, the people hid in the cellars. When Americans came in,
even into German towns, it meant smiles, chocolate bars and C-rations."

Now hold on there...I think the UK and other Commonwealth soldiers
probably fit into the humane treatment of non-combatants category as our US troops do!

But when the Brits break out their version of food, then the frightened civilians might run away!
(OK, I know British cuisine has improved much in the last couple of decades,
so I'm just ribbing our Coalition friends.)

[VOA]

Medics later said that the Iraqi wounded they treated were astounded by our compassion.
They expected they would be left to suffer or die.

IIRC, some of the Iraqi wounded tried to give money (or other items of value) to the
medics, thinking that was necessary in order to get good treatment.

Must have freaked out these folks to find out part of the world doesn't run on
corruption and bribes...

[IncPen]

ping

[WaterDragon]

To quote our President: "The Greatest Nation on the Face of the Earth

And for foreigners who might not get it, the President was talking here about the American people, not the government. The government is only as great as the men in leadership roles. At THIS moment we also have great government....President Bush and his team, and those in Congress who share his magnificent vision for America.

[CyberAnt]

You are so right!

[WaterDragon]

Thank you, CyberAnt.

Bump for the American troops!

[hedgetrimmer]

Bump

[nutmeg]

read later bump

[Fred Mertz]

read it now bump!

[nutmeg]

LOL, your timing is impeccable... just finished!

Great article! Thanks for posting it. I'll ping a few of my FRiends here so they can also read it.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Excellent article... While reading it, I'm remembering all those amazing photos you posted in your Iraq "GOTTA SEE THIS" threads.

[nutmeg]

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ping list.

[LurkerNoMore!]

This is pretty great, Fred.

[thasea]

Thats our military! I'm so proud of them. Thanks for the
ping. That was excellent.

[ken5050]

Excellent article....about the only line I would question, and at that gently, is "that the brigade's leaders had made a cult of bravery.." Not quite sure what the author means...."Cult" has a negative connotation, and in combat, about the LAST thing you want is some overzealous type in charge. Gen Patton's timeless reminder is best: "Make the OTHER SOB die for HIS country"

One of the intriguing issues with the short duration wars of the last 20 years is that we don't have time to sort out the best combat leaders before it's over. It's not a knock, but some officers just can't hack it under fire..problem is, despite the best and most realistic training...you never know until you're there....

BTW, on a somewhat related note, has anyone seen any updates about the Marine Col who was relieved of his command?