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I will provide some personal observations, take them for what they are worth. First, a few disclaimers. I was a career infantry officer, serving for 25 years with command experience at the Lieutenant, Captain, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel level. I am a combat veteran, and I was an Assistant Professor at West Point. In 1994, shortly after I retired, I went to Bosnia as part of a White House study to determine what to do to train and equip the Bosnian and Croatian forces to bring a military stalemate to the Balkans. Myself, and the other retired officers on this mission were sent because the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs would not agree to a military team given the upcoming military mission of IFOR that might compromise our neutral stance.

I have run across a number of Bateman’s ilk over the years. They are well educated, smart, and masters of their craft at the theoretical level. They are not, generally, very good soldiers primarily because they do not really like soldiering at the retail level. It’s pretty nasty down there, cold nights, wet days, miserable food, and people shoot at you. They prefer the more lofty perch of academia and they peddle their limited military experience as augmentations to their CV. But, they are academics, and pose academic solutions to military problems. Liberals in Battle Dress is the best way to describe them.

I mention my experiences in Bosnia because it was there that I saw first hand the efforts of the Yugoslav Army to disarm the populace. They were quite familiar with how the Nazis had done this, and simply implemented the Nazi plan. The Croats and the Bosniacs would have done the same thing, but they didn’t control the Army, so were held powerless to counter what happened. Thousands were safely rounded up and slaughtered once the populace was disarmed. World history is replete with similar examples.

Bateman would have done well in the Yugoslav Army. He would have known quite well what the Nazis had done, and we would have been eager to carry out the plan. After all, people usually voluntarily comply, so no shooting is required and when the day is done you can have a nice meal with a good wine, sleep in a warm bed, and have your pick of the comely local women. That’s Bateman’s kind of military operations.

I don’t care much for these types.