tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581401473844438605.post6115485370022464895..comments2024-03-26T19:46:33.565-07:00Comments on Random Walks: "We're 21-2-3!"John Kurmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04607323621206823686noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581401473844438605.post-59856110844091264182012-10-22T12:17:33.511-07:002012-10-22T12:17:33.511-07:00Hey Barry,
My understanding is that the winners i...Hey Barry,<br /><br />My understanding is that the winners in Vietnam were professional soldiers going all the way back to French colonial times. Pity they were not as competent in peace time as they were in victory.<br /><br />The volunteer movement hit its "zenith" in the Mexican War (another glorious moment in US history, I say with biting sarcasm). The volunteers in the Mexico campaign were pretty much responsible for every brutality committed down there. Not that you don't have that problem with regular troops, but, this was pretty bad - rape, murder, theft. It's a wonder the Mexican people didn't rise up and kick our ass. Fortunate indeed that where we are evenly matched, we so often face incompetents. In this case, Santa Ana.John Kurmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04607323621206823686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581401473844438605.post-31676570939120510242012-10-20T15:59:12.645-07:002012-10-20T15:59:12.645-07:00Not that our all pro military did so well in Iraq ...Not that our all pro military did so well in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe the profit-making contractors are the problem. <br /><br />And weren't the winners in Vietnam, more or less citizens? Maybe not all volunteers, but I'm not sure that the state militias were not all volunteers in 1812 either.<br /><br />Face it, war is essentially a crap shoot, and no amount of cheering, or statistical prognostication is going to guarantee winning. Even worse, sometimes, winning is losing.Barryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12273356287913837673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8581401473844438605.post-37165795687017591152012-10-19T06:39:26.934-07:002012-10-19T06:39:26.934-07:00I don't see how you can't count the wars a...I don't see how you can't count the wars against the native americans. I post this all the time, that America has been at war for nearly every year of its existence, so 'kicking ass for 200 years'! should be 'kicking ass forever!'<br /><br />you know what the worst part of this is? No one really seems horrified by the fact that we have been waging war basically since out inception and that we have started nearly every one of them. that's sad.ellen abbotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00535475792150335186noreply@blogger.com