Musings of a Canadian Slacker |
|
|
my thoughts, for what they are worth, on politics, history, military affairs, computer gaming..etc. Meryl Yourish A Small Victory Ghost of a Flea The Command Post WarBlog Argghhh!!! Gaming and such Penny Arcade Excessive Overkill news Call of Duty.org Goodfellas (NCR Elite Blog Mafia) Shenanigans Trudeaupia Inkless Wells Autonomous Source Bound By Gravity All Things Canadian Minority of One Ravishing Light Obsidian Tempest Highway 401 Blog The Phantom Observer Italics Mine Contact me E-mail me 
Archives 
|
Sunday, October 17, 2004
The CBC begins its series on "The Greatest Canadian" tonight. The part of it that I saw is a bit more than strange. Who decided that Bret Hart would make an appropriate advocate for this? The descriptions of Louis Riel as "the Che Guevara of the North" (Wendy Mesley) and "the Nelson Mandela of the Metis" (Murray McLauchlan) are more than a little much. Pretty classic CBC, I'd guess. Blackfive gives us the 411 on a stellar action by the PPCLI, reported by Peter Worthington. The parts about the French officer are particularly interesting. But I think Blackfive may be reading more into that than is really there. My feeling is that the French officer was just reacting without looking into what the Canadians found. Good work on the part of the Patricias involved. Victoria Patricia! Hat tip to John of Arghhh! Saturday, October 09, 2004
Through a military history list-serv (H-War), I came across this interesting story of how the American Army does the occupation 'thing'. This has to be the nicest army of Occupation in history...Despite the insurgency and everything that goes with it, the US forces try their best to do what needs to be done, without bruising Iraqi feelings unnecessarily: The clearing team goes in and comes out with seven men, including two who are neither related nor extremely close friends of the family. They are cuffed, blindfolded, and kept silent, kneeling against the wall. But they are handled gently by the GIs, more gently than they practiced on each other. Only a few hours ago, four Marines were killed—murdered, to be honest. And yet these troops submit themselves willingly to a rigorous discipline, maintained not by fear of punishment but by self-respect, self-interest, and not a little empathy for those who have lived through the unimaginable. Another interesting point was how the US Army uses traditionally non-combat arms troops such as engineers and gunners for patrolling..a job usually done by grunts: Artillerists and engineers alike, this is pure infantry work. |