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| O-2A over Laos 1970 National Museum of the U.S. Air Force photo 110316-F-XN622-005 (Source) |
I have to tell you, anytime I look into the Vietnam War I get...
Emotional.
I grew up watching our government fritter away everything our troops paid for in blood.
Sound familiar?
I am too pissed for words.
Georges Clemenceau once said, "La guerre! C’est une chose trop grave pour la confier à des militaires." (War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.)
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| Georges Clemenceau |
Well, in my book he was dead wrong. He was one of the architects of the Versailles Treaty at the conclusion of World War One. For his efforts we got World War Two and all the horrors that entailed and all the misery which followed.
Politicians are, in general, assholes.
Pardon my French...
Perhaps we should negotiate with our enemies?
Works for me...
Street Fighting Man
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Ev'rywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
Cause summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy
But what can a poor boy do
'Cept to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
Cause in sleepy London town
There's just no place for a street fighting man
No
Hey!
Think the time is right for a palace revolution
But where I live the game to play is compromise solution
Well, then what can a poor boy do
'Cept to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's no place for a street fighting man
No
Hey!
Said my name is called 'disturbance'
I'll shout and scream, I'll kill the king, I'll rail at all his servants
Well, what can a poor boy do
'Cept to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
Cause in sleepy London town
There's no place for a street fighting man
No
Yeah, when I'm pissed, certain Rolling Stones tunes work for me. That was one.
YMMV...
PA corollary to Clemenceau’s dictum: Civilisation! Ceci est une affaire trop sérieuse pour confier à des hommes de gouvernement!
ReplyDeleteTwo questions. Is it government of, by and for the people or people of, by and for the government? Are, the progs right, are we all part of the government? Crazy talk!
Observation. The Fifth Element is the greatest motion picture of all time.
Great corollary.
DeleteConcur on your assessment of the Fifth Element. When my daughter handed me her Metro Pass so I could go down to the National Mall for the Flyover this past VE Day, everyone groaned when I gleefully held it aloft and squealed, "Multi-Pass!"
Well, I know which version of government is provided for by the Constitution, which I swore to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic.
DeleteIt's the only government I recognize.
DeleteI have read Lex's account of patrolling the Iraqi no fly zone, stopping for Ramadan while Saddam put a lot of SAM batteries in.Making it exponentially more dangerous to patrol.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think of Vietnam where targets were picked from Washington - flyers had to ignore bridges and go for only approved targets.
Meanwhile the Russians are sending in new SAMs every day at Haiphong Harbor.
I think of the Ho Chi Minh trail all in Laos and we were prohibited from going in there. Yes I know about Nixon's incursion in 1970.
I think about Iraq these days - how many were killed and maimed, all run by politicians.
You are right about Georges Clemenceau and the Versailles Treaty. Just finished an excellent series on WW1 - 14 Diaries - and I could see why the French had a visceral hatred of the Germans - after all it was much of France that was destroyed.
But the Versailles Treaty just set things in place for WW2 and allowed Hitler to take charge.
Years ago I read an excellent book on the 30s - by William Manchester. The Last Lion is a biography on Churchill and his times, but of course Manchester delved into the political situation of 30s Europe.
Every time the Weimar Republic was going to get on its feet the French demanded more reparations.
Politicians.
Politicians like Kerry voting us into Iraq then making it a career opposing it.
Yep, they're the ones we should put our faith in.
MiG sanctuaries, sending "messages" to the enemy via on and off bombing... The ee-jits in DC have learned nothing from the past.
DeleteI do believe that there is a special place in Hell reserved for politicians. Not all of them, but most.
14 Diaries is on my list of things to watch on Netflix.
Good emotions that apply often enough to the scum in DC.
ReplyDeleteSad but true.
DeleteJust because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.
ReplyDeletePericles
I imagine the above quote doesn't apply to most of your readership. Unfortunate that most of our fellow citizens aren't interested. I think of my daughter-in-law, a person I greatly admire most of the time, saying she wasn't interested in politics. Bit my tongue instead of asking her, "What the h#$l do you think has put your husband in Kandahar"?
I keep an eye on politicians. Politics does interest me, much the same way a rattlesnake interests me when I'm walking on its turf.
DeleteSorry about this question and I think it would take a pilot to answer it, but, it looks to me like the Oscar Deuce is preparing to land. Flaps down and gear down. But he still has rockets in the launchers. Our pilots usually didn't come back with any rockets. Could he be trying to slow way down to observe something?
ReplyDeleteMight be photo phorm.
DeleteNot a FAC, nor flown an O-2, but I wouldn't think you'd want the gear down in a hostile environment. It is conceivable that you'd want to put the flaps down in order to fly at a slower speed, but having the gear extended doesn't add anything to that while greatly reduces the rate at which you can speed up if you need to get out of Dodge. (and the O-2 doesn't speed up rapidly on a perfect day),
DeleteI'm thinking photo op.
DeleteOr maybe he just took off? Can't speak to the flaps part, they're used during take-off and landing neh?
(I'm also still trying to figure out how DoninSacto spotted he still had rockets loaded! Old eyes here, I'm lucky I can read the tail number!)
When you have loaded as many 2.75s into those launchers as I have, it stands out like a sore finger. O1s, O2s and OV10s then A37s. Seems like I could still do it after 44 years of being away from them. Bein Hoa 1971, 8th SOS.
DeleteThought ya'll would get a kick out of how those O2s got to Vietnam
Deletehttps://thelexicans.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/how-to-get-an-o2-from-wichita-to-vietnam/
DoninSacto - That explains it very well!
DeleteWilliam - I remember that story and it's a good one!
DeleteI loves me the O2. Still looking at buying one if the right one comes along cheap. 22gal/hr. fuel burn...
ReplyDeleteThey are cool looking birds.
Delete22 gal/hr? Damn! Someone needs to play the lottery!