ALLIES, THEN AND NOW

GOOD MORNING ALL.

JOHN, i was in the RVN " during Australia's last martial glory" or whatever
was y'all wrote.

i was damned happy to see Diggers and Kiwis, and knew i could count on them
when the crap hit the fan, unlike sooo many of my ARVN allies.

and i was damned glad to have all of those Canucks who enlisted in the US ARMY
to fight on my side too evn though their government was not an ally at all.

ditto for the Brits, Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, and Mexicans, private
citizens, who joined the US ARMY and fought as allies even though there own
governments were not officially involved.

they earned their US citizenship the hardway, but most went home after
honorable discharge.

and i was also happy to have Philippinos, Thais, and Koreans on my side as
allies too.

yes, i know they got payed the same pay as Americans of equal rank and time in
service for their duty, and had the same privelages as GIS. no sweat.

i was also greateful for the few ARVNs who fought for their own country.

the males in my famly who actually fought in WWI, WWII, and Korea were glad to
have Brits, Canucks, Aussies, Kiwis, Springboks (?) and other Commonwealth
troops as allies too.

And the other european allies of WW I and WW II also.

i am also glad to see the same familiar national faces with our troops in the
other world shitholes too.

they do not have to be there just because we are there.

and i am not referring to those blue beret wearing scarecrows called UN
peacekeepers either.

bigger is not always better, and size does not always count.

it is how the forces at hand are used, led, trained, equipped, supplied, and
motivated that counts.

i think that y'all and DEREK got into the typical www faceless,
mis-speech thing.

DEREK, as a grunt, or other combat arm knows just what combat engineers do and
where they are in assault operations.

DAWGIE, end of speech, dismounting from soap box

[quoted original message omitted]

hey KARL!

i do not blame the UN peacekeeping soldiers for being scarecrows, and i know
they have a really crappy job.

and i know they bleed and suffer just like anyone else.

i blame the UN for tying their hands and creating comic opera chain of command
situations, comic book rules of engagement, unreal operational objectives, of
being too damned PC, having no unified level of training and equipent
standards required before bozoland can hire out its soldiers as peacekeepers.

( have read there is a restriction on the use of soldiers of some countries
armed forces because of extrememly high HIV leels among the troops. this makes
since)

no, the soldiers are not to blame for being scarecrows in impossible
circumstances-the damned sleazy politicians are.

as usual.

G'day guys,

There's currently a series running on Aussie ABC TV about "Future Warriors".
I'm not sure if its a UK or US production, but its worth watching for the
insights that current heads of large UK/US/UN operations have and
opinions from the guys who ran the Gulf etc.

e.g. 1. The main point of the show before last was that "elite guys get there
arses kicked by militia on home turf if they don't try and adapt their
tactics.... e.g. Somalia..." (and this was from the guys that were there)

e.g. 2. The main point from last night was that Peace Keeping Operations
require troops to operate in completely opposite ways to they would in a "war"
of the past and that it takes 4x as long to UNtrain them afterwards and that
"routine obeyance without thought" is not something that can feature in future
armies (especially if they are to have peacekeeping roles).

Its been very interesting to see these guys takes on topics and how technology
is changing the "traditions" of the military and warfare. I'd strongly
recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

Cheers