SIDENOTE: This is just sad. First we had a Marine Corps journalist post a story that has the Marine Expeditionary Unit supporting the Maritime Raid Force and then we have this person proclaiming that the 31st MEU "leads humanitarian missions around the Pacific with the help of aircraft like the UH-1N helicopter"...she didn't even get the aircraft designation right in the caption to the video.
Its here....the USMC's forward deployed elements are now MEALS ON WHEELS. Put away the weapons. Close up shop. USAID can do this mission. Or the Salvation Army...or Catholic Relief Society or any of a number of other organizations. The pussification of the Marine Corps needs to stop. I can guarantee you this. Young men aren't joining the Corps to be part of a glorified relief society.
Its here....the USMC's forward deployed elements are now MEALS ON WHEELS. Put away the weapons. Close up shop. USAID can do this mission. Or the Salvation Army...or Catholic Relief Society or any of a number of other organizations. The pussification of the Marine Corps needs to stop. I can guarantee you this. Young men aren't joining the Corps to be part of a glorified relief society.
Maybe because the military feels to ensure future funding and (possibly) enlistment, they have to sell themselves as a pseudo peace keeping UN type force.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at some of these cases of wrongful killing being brought against servicemen in Afghanistan, and I'm starting to think to myself, that we already have a global peace keeping force whose purpose is to get shot at and die a lot.
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ReplyDeleteIt seems you fail to realize the importance of also making friends in the world instead of just patrolling the seven seas. You never know what good some food and shoes will do, especially when you're asking that now full and shoe'd local where the bad guy ran.
ReplyDeletethat's an argument without reason. we can put shoes on the entire world and not get the information that we need to further our interests. look no further than Afghanistan. look no further than Africa. look no further than Haiti and Mexico.
ReplyDeletebesides you're also missing the primary issue. the US has MANY MANY MANY organizations to do the welfare relief type activity.
USAID.
Catholic relief society.
Salvation Army.
and numerous other government, religious and social aid arms.
THE US MARINE CORPS DOES NOT NEED TO HIGHLIGHT THIS ACTIVITY. IT IS A WAR FIGHTING ORGANIZATION. IF YOU LOSE FOCUS ON YOUR CORE COMPETENCY THEN YOU WILL NO LONGER PERFORM IT AT AN ACCEPTABLE LEVEL.
but thanks for being politically correct.
I'm laughing pretty hard right now. I saw first hand what good will can do for intel gathering. I'm going to go out on a huge limb and say you retired way prior to Afghanistan and Iraq.
ReplyDeleteyou are comparing the gathering of intel with handing out food and clothes and building schools and such? i'm laughing myself right now. that's new age thinking for an old age problem. more to the point its putting an American value system on a problem that has its roots in the different ethic, religious and socio economic belief/operating systems of a particular region or country.
ReplyDeletetake Afghanistan for instance. i was never special ops but believe that it should have remained a special ops heavy war....specifically a Special Forces war. they gathered intel from talking and understanding the people and when it came to providing them with gear or food it was towards completing the mission, not some humanitarian bullshit.
but to each his own. i see trends and i purposefully buck them because they provide no guidance, just socially accepted direction. that's crept into the military and now into the Marine Corps.
The idea of providing people with things they want or need in hopes of building a meaningful relation is not a new age thought. It isn't PC. It's strategy, and one that has been proven it's usefulness.
ReplyDeleteSince you're such an expert on Special Forces, what is their primary mission in Iraq and Afghanistan?
i never said i was an expert on Special Forces. you're not convincing me and i'm not convincing you. and this conversation just went from slightly amusing to you just pissing me off. pound sand.
ReplyDelete