[StBernard] Too well said to not share

[Westley Annis]

	Old Marine's 2 cents worth on the wet-Taliban furor: The objective
of war is victory.  

Obviously our politicians and military leaders have forgotten this simple
theme since WWII.  The following was sent by a former Marine who served
both in Korea and Vietnam ...  

 My Two Cents   Okay, I have to say something about the Marine pissing
incident. 

Was it inappropriate? Yes. Would I  have done it? Probably not. Would I have
done it when I was 19? Maybe. Were there times that I may have done it in
Viet Nam if time permitted? There is a good chance for, "probably". 

I was 22 when I was there and was called the old man and Pops.   We send
kids a year out of high school to the worst hell holes on earth and expect
them to behave better than they did at their senior prom. So many Americans
have lived for multiple generations with security at home that they can't
comprehend what goes on in other parts of the world.   

"War is Hell", isn't just something they say in the movies. First of all,
you are exhausted all the time because you never sleep deeply. Your body is
running on high idle even when you try to rest. 

The places we send these kids to stink from lack of sanitation.   There are
bugs and mold and mildew and trash and human waste everywhere. You are in
some level of fear all the time. You have seen, smelled, heard, touched and
done things no sane person would ever want to do. There is no script for
war. It is improv at its best. Shit happens and it happens fast. 

 A blind eye should be turned to many, many things.   

We have no idea what led up to this incident. Did these kids eat in the past
24 hours? Have they slept in the past 36 hours? What did these talibaners
do?  War is about killing people and breaking their things. 

We have forgotten how to fight. You can't win peoples hearts while shooting
their Uncle Fred. 

We knock down a dung and stick shed, and then replace it with a $12,000,000
hospital! Well who won that one?   This is how we need to fight. 1. Go in,
kick ass on those who pissed us off. 2. Destroy their  infrastructure. 3. Go
home when you are sure they won't have the desire to screw with us again for
at least two generations.   

I hate war. I'm glad my sons didn't have to go to war.   In reference to
current times, we will never win the hearts of Muslims. They don't even like
themselves, hate their family and kill their neighbors, so what chance do we
stand. The only course to follow is to convince them that the cost of
messing with the West is way too  high.     

Back to the pissing kids.    Slap their hands, tell them not to do it again
and not to try to figure out how pissing is bad and killing is okay.   War
is HELL, it sucks, smells  bad and is bad for your physical and mental
health. Don't sit in your recliner watching CNN and pass judgment on these
kids.    Semper Fi