For the past several years, my wife and I have been working on our “consolidated” bucket list. We also have other items specifically for each of us.
These photos are from our trip to DC to pay our respects at all of the War Memorials and at Arlington.
If you haven’t made a a Bucket List yet, don’t wait too long.
Every wonder what characteristics separate a “true leader” from the rest. I think I finally may have figured it out.
“A ‘true leader’ pursues his vision with passion and leads his team with compassion.”
Charlie Newman
“Better to fight for something than live for nothing.”
George S. Patton
“A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.”
George S. Patton
This also applies to your personal and professional life
“Always do everything you ask of those you command.”
George S. Patton
What’s wrong with this picture??After reading the headlines about the US soldier who shot up Afghanistan civilians, I couldn’t help noticing an irony. There is all this clamor to try this US soldier quickly and execute him, never mind his having suffered a traumatic brain injury.
Yet this Major Hasan, who shot up Fort Hood while screaming Allah Akbar, still hasn’t stood trial, and they are still debating whether he was insane, even with the clear evidence regarding his motive: slay as many infidels as possible.
So we have a guy in a war zone (several tours) who cracks, and he must be executed immediately. But this Muslim psychiatrist who was stateside in a nice safe office all day murders 13, wounds 29 of our own guys, and they try to argue the poor lad suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome, from listening to real soldiers who had actual battle experience.
Two and a half years later, they still haven’t tried the murderous , traitorous Islamic jihadist.Ironic?? Or is it a very real reason for US Military members to conclude that the fix is in against them by the very politicians who are sitting in their cozy offices and telling them to go ahead and try to fight with both hands tied behind their backs ???
A recent article in the Wichita Eagle by Charles G. Koch, CEO of the Koch Companies caught my attention. The article entitled “Economic freedom key to improving society” raised several interesting and thought-provoking points.
One of the key points made was that “If we allow our government to waste resources and become the decision maker, almost everyone will suffer a lower standard of living.” In support of this statement, he cited the impact of “ethanol policies” on food and fuel prices. Think about who got hurt most by the higher prices — “working men and women, and the less fortunate.”
He further states,” “Cap-and-trade proposals, the health-care bill, federal bailouts and ‘green’ subsidies all favor a few businesses (usually large ones) at the expense of consumers, taxpayers and most other companies.” Essentially these programs are unfair as they are promoted by and favor those “seeking to profit politically.”
The bottom line is “If we all depend on the government for everything, who will provide all the goods and services our government promises?”
“A recent cartoon strip illustrated that well. The king announces that from now on there will be free health care, housing, clothing, food and jobs for everybody. To which a peasant responds: ‘If we’re given all that, why do we need jobs?’ ”
Now doesn’t that make you think about some of the government programs that have been enacted and who and what really may be behind them?
There are only two words to describe the meaning of Memorial Day. Those two words are “Thank you!”
Now here we are in the Middle East. Have we learned from our prior mistakes (i.e. Korea and Vietnam) or are we repeating them? Have politics and public opinion gotten enmeshed in military planning? Have we underestimated the passion and the commitment of the enemy? Do we have any indication of the number of enemy combatants that we face? Have we relied too much on “technical superiority to overwhelm the enemy?” Do we have sufficient forces with their “feet on the ground” to effectively fight the war we are in? When will our real allies recognize that “we can’t continueto subsidize the entire free world by acting as the globe’s policemen?”
General George Patton said it best when he said “If you cannot beat the enemy, find a way to make him lose.”
Finally, what is our vision of success, and what is the plan to deliver that vision? My suggestion would be to to look at our history lessons, specifically what we learned from our mistakes in Korea and Vietnam, apply the “learnings” to the present conflicts and bring General Patton’s philosophy to reality!
As stated in an earlier blog, “It would appear that history could provide many ‘lessons learned’ that would enable the military strategists to avoid some of the mistakes made in prior conflicts.”
Looking at what has transpired, and what is continuing to take place in Iraq and in Afghanistan, raises some serious questions as to whether any of the history lessons have been taken into consideration. Looking at what transpired in Korea and Vietnam, and the eventual outcomes in both of those “wars,” one could conclude that we continue to follow the same path and could end up with similar outcomes.
In Korea we ended up with a situation with no satisfactory conclusion and with no resolution after over 50 years of stalemate. The factors leading up to this situation included: a military that was poorly armed and trained as a result of budget cuts, serious command issues with politics an even bigger component of military strategy than usual, the US believing that its technical superiority would overwhelm the enemy and result in a quick victory and underestimation of the number of enemy combatants.
Similarly, with regard to Vietnam, the military and the Washington politicians were in constant conflict, the US believed their technical superiority would overwhelm the enemy, the commitment of enemy ground forces was underestimated and many people in the US were openly against the war which not only was demoralizing to the US troops, it actually may have served to embolden the enemy. Ultimately, the US left with no victory and no resolution of the issue that caused te US to enter the war in the first place. It was a forfeit, and indicated the possibility that the US could not be counted on to defend its allies.
So, do we have a better plan now? Look for my perspective on next week’s blog
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Beyond the Chicken Dance 
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