That's not true. The article wasn't written to denigrate privates in basic training, or to bust on everyday Army personnel. He busts on the Army leadership, not the soldiers. When I say leadership, I don't mean company CO's or BN CO's, I mean the folks in the pentagon. He uses the actions of soldiers as examples. He busts on the Army leadership For being more worried about their careers and PC than about keeping their soldiers alive. He busts on them for lowering training standards and not taking war seriously.
Considering Hack was in the Army for more than twenty years and has more combat time than the whole JCS and staff combined, I tend to take his opinion seriously.
Ok, fair enough, and I have indicated that I think he makes a good point. But do you agree with him? Are we going to lose this war? And if we don't why wouldn't we have?
There is no way to train for combat. The best training for combat is combat itself. You can drill a man for a thousand hours, but until he's had the bullets coming at him- "He hasn't seen the elephant".
Our guys are getting good training right now in Afghansitan. They will apply this training elsewhere. They will learn in short order what it takes to survive combat and triumph. When they win, what will we say then? It was a fluke? These men are giving their all for us. I think we could hear more on a conservative forum for our boys than they're a bunch of cupcakes (or Twinkies?) and softheads. We WILL win this war and the next one and the one after that. And if China finds itself on the ugly end of our military, they will get smoked too- bet on it.
This reminds me of all the liberals talking about how terribly we're going to get whipped by Saddam. About how bad the Afghanis are going to whip us. BS! You don't fight the enemy's fight- you take your fight to him. Why should we put huge task forces on the ground in Afghanistan if SpecOps and AirForce can pulverize them with minimal casualties on our part? When we come across the war that dictates massive troop numbers and overwhelming ground force- that's what we'll do. I say, use whatever tactics beat the enemy- not fight the way the last guys tried it. We are a nation and military the likes of which have never been seen. Why should we fight by an outmoded doctine?