[Editor’s Note: Second of two parts. See Part One, “Here Is a Lefty Who Deserves to be Swift-boated,” ran last Wednesday, Nov. 21.]
Senior military officers who retire often go into the private sector, using connections and expertise gained
in the military.
The Ranger, SEAL or Special Forces
operator goes into the private sector and uses these very same items gained from military experience and training. Some write and teach about war. Others
continue to participate at the gut level.
After all, in war, actual gun-toting warriors should be treasured and
rule supreme. "Mercenaries"? Kiss my fourth point of contact, pal. After all, it is the war "managers" who do not grasp unconventional wars/insurgencies, not
the warrior on the ground.
Who would our diplomats prefer riding shotgun — a private of Infantry or a
retired warrior with decades of experience?
The answer should be obvious.
Wrong Usage
Trained professional security personnel have as primary functions to protect specific persons and property.
One would hope the infantry soldier not on patrol today will be on ambush tonight. If he is not, then he is being under-utilized. Senior officers
are demanding control of the missions of private contract security elements.
In the next breath, they bemoan not having enough troops to clear a road.
"Security" plays no role in this bunch coveting control of private security contractors. But ego does. It is about control. Period. The basis is
jealousy. These self-congratulating “managers” are attempting to try and convict as many soldiers and
Marines as they honor.
Example of Childishness
One cannot truly protect critical installations/persons and hunt down and kill the most wanted terrorists by playing "Mother, may I?" with his troops.
Look at the recent investigations of snipers and others.
We have one general who spends an inordinate amount of time trying to punish trained warriors for not saying "please" before killing the bad guy.
If you want pristine warfare, buy a video game because you will not find it in actual combat. War is a messy,dirty business.
Manicured, perfumed princes of
management would have been better off hawking shoes for a living — and so would the Army.
Squeaky-clean freaks need not apply.
But they do.
The True Lie
After the attack on America in 2001, we declared war on terrorist entities worldwide. That is the true
lie of this war, and not whether we should have invaded Iraq.
Like Vietnam, much of our society, and even our military, have business as usual outside of Iraq and
Afghanistan, except for Special Forces.
There is ample intelligence tracing our enemies preparing and then launching a worldwide war on us. If we have
investments in those countries supporting or participating directly, covertly, in terrorism, we seem
to choose to ignore it even as our allies are being attacked.
“You have an internal problem, pal.”
This is a lying statement made by our diplomats worldwide. It is not based on available intelligence but on naked
professional fear.
Asia is aflame, and America is
fleeing the scene or sleeping with the enemy.
Just ‘Between’ Us
Time and again, the enemy will place innocent civilians, or not-so-innocent civilians, between you and him.
He is the guilty party, not our troops.
When you blame our troops, you assist the enemy in accomplishing all he hoped to gain from this terrible, criminal tactic.
Would you prefer our troops to
run or to stand there and be shot without responding because civilians are present?
You cannot “manage” your
way out of that questionregardless of where you got your MBA.
Deaths Will Happen
The “better life for locals” will only happen after you win. This does not rule out civic action and nation building.
But understand and be prepared to
explain that in the interim civilians will in fact die and be maimed. That is the enemy plan and not the intention of our brave fighting a hard war.
The seeming inability to explain the above to the American people and local people appears to be the over-riding problem and not our troops in most
cases.
Put into this mix childish inter-service
rivalries and you have U.S. Marines being thrown out of a country by the same general who wants snipers to
play “Mother, may I?' before killing a known enemy.
Expensive Lessons
We are putting our fighting warriors through grueling investigations, and even on trial, in a frantic search for
scapegoats on the outside chance they may be guilty of something.
It appears the “girls in the band” not only
wish to use Blackwater as a convenient excuse for not clearing and securing roads but their own troops in uniform. Perhaps they should learn to secure roads before calling for even more responsibility.
Is the left-leaning cry that Iraq and Afghanistan are “just like Vietnam” valid?
Only in the fact that intelligence is ignored on territorial grounds. Once again, “arrogance is ignorance with a light coat of oil” has been validated.
Running Away
If you are told by a local criminal that well-known terrorists are lurking nearby
and you do not use all national technical means to verify, you are fleeing from the intelligence.
If you attempt to cover your butts and careers with the broken hearts, spirits and careers of your subordinates, you are the lowest form of military life.
No Place for the Un-brave
It is war. And there is no place for fearful
leaders who even consider themselves before those who live, work and die at the tip of the spear.
When valiant sailors and returned POWs exposed Sen. John Kerry as the military fraud he always was, the Left said he was “Swift-boated.”
It is my earnest hope some will read the above and claim I am guilty of Swift-boating.
It would be the highest
compliment I have ever received.
Of the Left and Mirrors
War, fought in earnest, leaves no room for self promotion at the expense of the troops in the arena. If the Left truly
cares about the genesis of PTSD among returning veterans, look no further than the mirror.
No battlefield horror could match the damnation and scorn of those who sided with our enemy in Vietnam. That is
the most over-riding similarity between this war and my war. The enemy is the same and he is you, Lefty.
Maj. Mark A. Smith, U.S. Army (ret.), served in Vietnam. He was a Prisoner of War.
