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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! February 8, 2005 Sucking all the Fun out of WarBy GreyhawkWhat's wrong with this paragraph from a Miami Herald Editorial (I'll make some parts bold, italicized, and underlined as a subtle hint): Lt. Gen. James Mattis should have gotten more than a slap on the wrist for bragging about how much fun it was to shoot enemies in Iraq. ''Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. . . . It's fun to shoot some people,'' the three-star general said at a San Diego conference. ''You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,'' Gen. Mattis added. ``So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.'' Iraq, Afghanistan... whatever! Guess those "raghead countries" are all the same to editorial writers in Miami. The writer goes on to point out that the military already has enough of an image problem due to high rates of domestic violence among troops, thus has no business insulting the Taliban for slapping women around. Posted by Greyhawk / February 8, 2005 2:26 AM | Permalink 3 TrackBacksGreyhawk and Mrs. Greyhawk are on fire over at the Mudville Gazette. US Raid Frees Hostages (no journalists were killed) Sucking All The Fun Out Of War (I hate it when that happens) Who Says? (This something that Greyhawk started Read More From The Mudville Gazette, via Blackfive (again): Sucking all the Fun out of War What’s wrong with this paragraph from a Miami Herald Editorial (I’ll make some parts bold, italicized, and underlined as a subtle hint): Lt. Gen. James Mattis... Read More Sounds like more media "two-step" to me. Defend your enemies and insult your protectors - our military deserves more support from the anti-military liberal press. Read More 21 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
Ah, the "they do it toooo" cry again. Except I get the feeling that wife-beating is considered a bad thing in the US military, no matter what rate it actually happens at. The Taliban have no such reservations against it.
The word "fun" was over the top, IMO.
"Satisfying", on the other hand...
This is news to me about a problem with OUR troops and domestic violence. Of course I was only in for 20 years.... I always got the feeling we were living in a glass house. Everybody knew everything about everybody. You couldn't so much as bounce a check or your commander would know.
I can't say it was fun. But, I remember quite distinctly a fierce exultation when the forward air controller reported back the bomb damage assessment in terms of estimated enemy KIA after striking the ansar al-islam bubbas in extreme NE Iraq. My navigator yelling "GET SOME" as we returned a little american made death and destruction on some sorely deserving folks. I also remember somebody on the radio screaming at us that we would be fired upon if we crossed into Iran, I thought, "Wait your turn, little man".....
If anything, I believe the good General understated things.
The "slapping women around" should have been replaced with "executing women in the middle of the sports stadium while forcing their small children and family members to watch."
Yeah, nice guys those Taliban..wouldn't want to insult them or anything.
Call me crazy, but it helps me sleep at night knowing people like this General enjoy their work.
Hey,
Thought I would "stick this in here" for you to look at. It struck a nerve with me as I was there and couldn't finish the Mission.
Rough men
There's a character trait that's decided by fate
Comes (sadly) to many, far too faint, far too late.
They won't face the aggressor,
stand up to his ire
They have not the will to fight
his fire with fire.
So they bend over backwards
to see all sides as fair,
Till they're faced with dragon
breath fire in their hair.
Like our brethren in France,
who'd know better than we,
Yet seem never to learn,
seem doomed never to see.
Yes, it seems there are some
who're determined by fate,
To possess not the courage,
to step up to the plate,
Who shrink from all threat
because nothing's worth war.
But how can they know lest
they've been there before?
Thank God some have courage,
the will, yes, the grace,
To stand for the shirkers,
stand strong in their place.
Thank God we have stalwarts
who'll stand for us all,
Who will rise to the challenge
at their nation's call.
The faint-hearted, who fear,
whose reaction is flight,
Have no comprehension of those
who will fight.
To hide their own trepidation
they attempt to demean
The rough men, who defend them,
as barbaric, obscene.
Yet these rough men stand ready,
hard weapons to hand,
To put placaters behind them,
draw a line in the sand,
To preserve for the peaceniks
what they won't defend,
So their own unearned freedom
won't perish, won't end.
To appeasers, rough men
are coarse government tools.
To rough men, appeasers are
dumb delusional fools.
Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66
http://jarheaddad.fotopages.com/
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
Hey Papa Ray, how did you find that old site? The fotopage was just a place where Da Grunt could look at stuff and a way for us to stay semi-in touch on his last deployment. They could get internet access every couple of weeks without long lines. I didn't know anyone even knew of it's existence!
Now that's funny! :-)
As a grandma, I should probably be shocked by the General's comments. But I have to say, I agree. It would be 'satisfying'.
Wouldn't mind droppin the hammer on one of them varmints myself but some stuff is better left to the pro's. You go General!
Adapt, improvise, ..hell, I forget the rest,so go here to learn a little and admire what it is and means to be a United States Marine:
http://www.usmcpress.com/
Hey, JarHeadDad, Us recon guys have ways...your never safe if we are coming after you!
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
I don't know how domestic violence rates in the military compare to the civilian population, but I do know that the "glass houses" sentiment is right on. The *reported* rate may be higher simply because it's a whole lot easier to get ordered into counseling. And then, of course, is the informal corrective system. As I recall it was something like this, "If I find out you've beat her again I'm going to beat the sh*t out of you, and you know I can." I noticed domestic violence in the service but I never noticed *acceptance* of it.
With the Taliban it wasn't only accepted, it was institutionalized. There isn't a comparison.
I wonder what this lady would say about that?
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!" - Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
Common Papa Ray, did Eleanor Roosevelt really say that?
Here's one site that lists the quote : http://strategypage.com/respect/articles/military_2004721.asp
Unfortunately, they don't note where/when she said it.
I've had the plesure of serving under Lt. Gen. Mattis and I would follow him anywhere.....just not to the Pentagon. I've read that Harrison Ford is going to be playing Mattis in some movie about Fallujah. Yeah right...that is one movie I will not see.
The Warlords are looking forward to the movie Jason. They want to see if the movie people get anything right. I'd like to be in that theater. Talk about hysterical! Just hope no civilians are trying to watch it with the Grunts. They would for sure have to get their money back!!
But then they thought Fahrenheit 911 was a comedy and were roaring at all the wrong places in the movie! Mikie "Cheeseburger" Moore would've been surprised. It definitely wasn't the reaction he was looking for when he interviewd a couple of Warlords and butchered their statements through magical editting! :-o
It's that perverse sense of humor thing! Now "That's Entertainment"! ;-)
I have known "Mad Dog" Mattis since I began to work for him in 2001. I have to say I have never met another Marine not to mention a C.O. that was held in such high regard by his troops. His troops are everything to him. He leads from the front lines and he ran the attack on Iraq like no other. I am totally behind everything that he said. He was talking to warriors about war. As any Marine that reads this knows, in boot camp they teach you about the great individual Marines of the past, I hope his name is added to the list. I also hope that the silent majority out there will stand behind him and let the left know that these men protect everything we have and everything we stand for. We ask them to do a job and then you try to crucify them when they say something you don’t like. He has done nothing wrong.
I forgot please send support for Gen. Mattis to sentry.quantico@usmc.mil
My note to the Herald:
Jeez! Lighten up! The audience was soldiers, was it not?
And he was talking about Afghanistan, not Iraq. And this:
" Frankly, it isn't as if the U.S. military doesn't have problems
with domestic violence and the abuse of women among the troops. "
What in the name of "God's Holy Trousers" (Google that one) is
this non sequiter doing there? Or is it one of those journalist
techniques like, "This comes as Dora Munson, once formerly married
to someone who was once an ex-soldier, visits the hospital for the
fourth time with black eyes...blah, blah,blah" Or maybe something
current: "This comes as Eason Jordan of CNN hunkers down in an
increasingly desperate attempt to backtrack on his slander.
Jordan, speaking at Davos, Switzerland, accused American soldiers,
without proof, of targeting journalists." See
http://www.billroggio.com/easongate/ Listen . Very. Carefully.
We. Need. Men. Like. Gen Mattis. He is in a long line of warriors
whose names are Washington, Morgan, Jones, Farragut, O'bannion,
Sherman, Grant, Lee, Jackson, Forrest, Roosesvelt, MacArthur,
Pershing, York, Halsey, Nimitz, Patton, Bradley, Puller, Ridgeway,
Smith, and many others. They've kept the First Amendment alive
these past 229 years. The only reason Gen. Mattis was
"counseled" to "choose his words more carefully" is the ridiculous
we-occupy-the-moral-high-ground moralistic prudery of the writer
of editorals like this silly bit of priggery. And your statement
"The punishment should have been tougher." This is astonishing!
Is a newspaper demanding someone be punished for speaking out?!
You need a physic! Come in out of the sun!
Mudville readers, God's Holy Trousers comes from the film The Man Who Would Be King, spoken by Sean Connery as an exclamation of astonishment and some incredulity. Thanks.
The chap who said that needs to see a psychiatrist. His words are live ammunition to be used by the armed opposition to be pumped into the bodies of our troops.
If you don't believe me, look at "Bring 'em on!"