War is Stupid, Discuss

Dr. X posts this from the Presidio Cemetery:

"A few notes on war and the American soldier.

"In the Clausewitzian sense of an armed conflict between sovereign states, Europe (excepting the Balkans) has been war-free for over 50 years. With one the exception of the Ecuador/Peru rumpus, national armies have not crossed borders in South America for decades, and even in that instance an agreement was quickly brokered by an international coalition. North America has been, of course, free of warfare between sovereign states since the Japanese voluntarily vacated Kiska. And it is the same around the world. Right now there's really only one country on earth with a demonstrated propensity to cross borders in force and fight. Ours.

"The American soldier, disrespected by 'experts' as diverse as Lord North and Hitler, has always had very different strengths and weaknesses from his (now his/her) opponents. Americans are viewed as soft, and tend to be poor prison camp inmates (there are some countries where the army is way worse than a western prisoner-of-war camp).

"But looking down the list it is possible to discern some special qualities of the American soldier. Courage, of course, although it is not exclusively an American franchise - every Army has troops who will act bravely under stress. But I do think you see a few more of these in American uniform - men who, in the bright sunlight, will decide to lay their lives on the line to rescue others, even when the odds are long. Independence of action is also more typically American. An isolated unit fights on behind enemy lines, taking out tanks with grenades and handguns. A unit disobeys orders and counter-charges to prevent another from being cut off.

"And I say this in all sincerity - no other Army in the world could have hung in there in Iraq as we have. In a war that is decentralized, squad-to-squad, and televised, chances of success are zero without a lot of skilled soldiers and NCOs. And casualties have been very high - of 150,000 deployed we have 3,400 dead and over 11,000 seriously wounded (many whom would have been killed in earlier conflicts). Yet the U.S. forces still seem functional and able to execute the missions they are assigned. After the Gulf War many conceded the U.S. military's technical prowess, but questioned its staying power and resilience.

"Yes, the political leadership has been a disaster. But in the context of history and the world today, the American soldier has delivered far more in this war than could reasonably have expected. We can take pride in that, but should also remember that stress is cumulative - the resources we have drawn on are not inexhaustible.

"In a recent interview in Marine Corps Times, Sgt. Maj. John Estrada reflected on recent breakdowns in discipline and morality: 'What aren’t we doing as a Marine Corps that’s allowing fools to make those decisions? Training. We’re a stressed force. Commanders need to find the time. You got to find time so those individuals make the right decision on the battlefield. A lot of good things have happened out there and it takes the Hadithah, the Hamdaniyah, to wipe all that out. It takes just one. It takes one Marine to do something like that to cause the nation to change its international policies. We need to find time to discuss it. It can’t be done alone in boot camp.' Amen.

"Finally, as we remember and honor our dead, let us also take note of the Iraqis, who have lost far more, in numbers and as a percentage of their population, than most Americans could imagine."