Oh, I think we would be correct in assuming there is a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek with how the Gunner adds color to describes tactical situations that need improvement.

Most Marines of the age bracket he is describing aren't much differant than their rudderless civilian counter-parts. A big differance though is: young civilians wear defective baseball caps - not noticing the brims were put on backward at the factory, because they aren't held to as high of a standard that the Gunner would like to see.

Why is that you are always saying we should go home? Have you deployed to Afghanistan yet? The AARs the Warrant has been writing have been pretty much the same type of notes that can be found throughout history from NCOs and O's writing on what works, what doesn't, etc...so, please tell me how you got "we can't do what we've been asked to do, let's go home" out of that? I remember reading some of your past comments and you were using "The Democratic Underground" as a reliable source, I have to ask, what is your background with the military? Honestly, I am curious, it matters because a lot of commentators on here tend to now understand how the military operates and have a bit of a misunderstanding of what some of these AARs really are.

but most people, including General Petraeus, know that Afghanistan cannot be solved militarily. My point is that the strictly military tasks we have in Afghanistan are very very hard and the political tasks are impossible. Why should we spend tremendous efforts militarily in the service of an impossible goal.

For the record, I realize that "get out now" is not feasible or desirable. I'm trying to make a point and raise some hell. My serious view is closest to Rory Stewart, who I've quoted here many times, who is in favor of a long, sustainable military force in Afghanistan (say around 20,000) that prevents Kabul from being taken by the Taliban, can do very limited counter-terrorism operations, can respond to hot-spots where the Afghan army needs help, and training.

Got to go now, but I will return with some more thoughts and follow up. Appreciate the dialogue.

It isn't always necessary to have military experience to be able to comment intelligently about how things are being done. You may in fact have the advantage of not having an instituionalized mindset and the ability to look through the window onto the factory floor and see things those operating there view as, "that's the way it's done."

There is an interesting article in the January King's of War by Kenneth Payne, which I wished I had written. He offers that many feel that because they have experienced war, they alone can only comment and understand it. Of course were that true, we'd have no shortages of Napoleon Bonapartes. Although, I will admit, what these people really understand may be the terror of a pitched battle (which few have ever experienced) or the drudgery of the day-in-day-out slog, etc.

So, you keep on commenting, tactfully and ask pertinent questions that hold people in uniform's feet to the fire, something Congress is scared to do, on the strategic level, when confronted by someone with seven rows of ribbons, four abreast, with not a ribbon denoting valor. Maybe our Gunner upon retirement some day, if he survives, will run for national office?

Incidentally, does your sobriquet indicate you are one of those non-practicing Lutheran, squared headed, lutefisk eating, aquavit swilling types from Seattle's Ballard area - just asking you know! : )

non-practicing Lutheran: non-believing actually
squared headed: in spades
lutefisk eating: never
aquavit swilling: once or twice
Seattle's Ballard area: no, in MN about 90% of life, but did live in Seattle's Broadway area for two years and loved it. Only family made me move back.

Yours is alternate spelling of Tyrtaeus, yes?

PS to ES3, I've never even heard of Democratic Underground, so that's not me.

Military Service? It does help, I know very few people with overseas time who are in the ranks that are set in there thinking patterns, maybe in the Officer Corps, not so much in the real world though ;) As for having Military time, it does matter a bit if you are going to comment, many things that are printed or talked about on the news are often taken out of context and most of it is due to people not having had interaction with the military in any way shape or form, so have to really disagree on that one Ty.
Norwegian Shooter, I am all for debate, but the "Democratic Underground" Comment came from a post you put up about "Phantom Patrols" and the ling lead to a site that the "Democratic Underground" supported and worked on as well as a conspiracy Phd nut. That is why the inquiry, our posts were not as cordial as they are here and my posts tended to drip with sarcasm but that is my way. As for Afghanistan, raise hell all you want but when you post random things about pulling out, expect to be called on it and I am even getting better about not being as big of cock in my posts to people, baby steps mind you, but better none the less ;)

Ty,
How do you manage to email from the VFW hall, I thought they did not have wireless unless it was Happy Hour? ;)

ERIC_STRATTONIII - I appreciate your humor with the VFW jab and am still smiling as I type this out. You have committed your focus (forces) where you assume I'm at my most vulnerable - keep in mind, no single set of experiences or learning can claim authority over another - you may have left your flanks exposed, and find yourself enveloped.

The old cliche of have you ever been there, should be avoided unless you have background on whom you are dealing with - "who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him?" - Shakespear : )

NORWEGIAN - Tactics are only a very small part of warfare - Xenophon

On a side note, I do not think having been there or not been there prevents people from making accurate comments, the areas I do see a problem with is in the basics of how the military actually operates. I cannot tell you how many people think that the Generals should say whatever is on there mind, that troops should be able to blog about there bosses, etc..they do not get the basics of how and why the military exists and does things a certain way. Interaction with or having been in the military does allow someone to have a bit of better understanding as to why they do things the way they do is all, it is not really about "I have been there man, you don't know", I get that line enough from the guys at the Reunions every July ;) It is about knowing why the military has to act in a certain way, due to the UCMJ, Congress, etc..A lot of folks seem to not understand that by some of the posts. One of the ones I was ref. too was about The Democratic Underground link that someone posted that implied our guys were doing "Phantom Patrols", ie; not going out and actually doing anything, just staying put in the FOBs. For someone to think that something like that would happen without notice or at least a bevy of rumors floating in the ranks kind of shows why it can be important to have insight in to how the Military as in institution actually works. Sheesh, there are still folks who think a Navy Ship downed a TWA flight and that somehow those sailors keep quiet about it! lol Point is that the Military is a VERY different institution than anything on the civilian side and having a base of knowledge about it only helps when making comments about it's actions. Cheers! Email is same as handle at yahoo :)

that Dahr Jamail claimed happened in Iraq and now possibly Afghanistan. My original comment is here.

I didn't do any background research on him or his claims, so I'll give it shot now. I was credulous, as he has put many soldiers on the record, but I'll take a step back on your advice. However, I realize that it is impossible to prove a negative - phantom patrols never happened - and the other tall tale examples you mentioned don't have any bearing on this claim.

This does relate to my main point with these AARs (which applies to organizations in general):

The highest standards can be set, promoted, incentivized, pounded on, lapses punished, whatever, you will never achieve them. The twist with the military is that when actual, instead of ideal, performance gets people killed regularly, it is not good enough to shoot for the stars and settle for the moon. You have to think extra hard about launching at all.

The big picture is that having a realistic idea of patrolling, communicating with the population, engaging the enemy, et al will lead to a better strategy, which is why I was against the Afghan surge. If we instead have a hard to execute strategy, the troops, god bless 'em, will bust their asses to achieve tactical perfection, but that is too much to ask for. What I'm trying to say is not soldiers are crappy, but they are too good to put into impossible situations.

CAPTCHA budget bleeder

The Media is often wrong on most stories it does on the military- The NY Times, The Boston Globe, The New Republic, etc...have all posted error filled stories on the Military and these are pretty MSM Papers, they all tilt left but still, hardly on the level that the Democratic Underground is, truly, those cats are nuts. It is a constant problem that the media has with the military, they have pre-set notions of what the military is and what it does and most of it is based on ignorance, so anytime they print things way off I tend to shake my head a bit. Sheesh, the Globe put out that porn movie as GIs raping Iraqi's and no one really called them to task on it once they said "oops". lol Beauchamp was a GI writing for the New Republic and had to recant all of his stories he just plain made up. The NY Times just continues to do it left and right, there is not enough ink in the world to write about how many times they get military coverage wrong. Heck, Eason Jordan accused the Military of intentionally targeting reporters! lol Point is that many people in the country do not have a realistic idea of what the military does, how it really operates and how it is supposed to function. It is those things where a lot of interaction or service can help loosen that fog of mis-conception that many have about the service. The claims about "Phantom Patrols" are right up there with "Tailwind" and the cat MacBeth's stories about burning and pillaging Mosques, ie; total BS. Just take it with a grain of salt when you see even a MSM paper printing something, they often get it wrong and it is mostly due to there own negative premise and inability to grasp how different the military is from the civilian society. That is why a lot of these "Conspiracy" theories, tales of murder, etc...are found out to be what they are-BS, the real ones that do happen ALWAYS come out and it is almost always due to other troops telling the tale, rarely is it due to the press. Read a book called "Stolen Valor", cannot recommend it enough if you want to see how poorly the media is at getting the military right.

They aren't bad things at all...but sometimes awkward and in the way, and in the case of gloves, very unpleasant when it's 125 degrees!

I think it comes down to time-in-service. I embedded with a company of the 82nd Abn in 2007, and with the same company in 2009. All of the E-4s I met in 2007 were at least E-5s and most were E-5 and E-6 team and squad leaders, several/most with just four years in the Army!

Great for them, and they were hardchargers who knew what they were doing...but with just four years experience behind them, it's a lot to ask that they expect things of junior soldiers that they have barely grown out of themselves. Unfortunately, they are being asked that - in combat, when the stakes are as high as can be.

If you read closely, I think what he was trying to say was "It's hard to find a Marine that.... WAS wearing eye protection and gloves." His point is that Company Commanders shouldn't be the one fixing the problem - this should be fixed by Team Leaders, Squad Leaders/Section Sergeants/Platoon Sergeants. (Using my Army terminology, sorry)

As NS Webster mentioned, it's not fun wearing gloves when the temperature reaches triple digits. Eye Protection can also be a pain to wear sometimes, when you're sweating, or if the lenses are scratched to hell. Even at night, too....they can fog up, which makes operating under NVGs even tougher.