As the shock-and-awe of conventional warfare has given way to the unpredictable carnage of terrorism, much of the job of keeping America safe has fallen to the military's most elite soldiers. Delta Force. Green Berets. Navy SEALs. The special operators. But with new threats every day and the men stretched thin, can this new strategy last?
On his last flight home, three months before his death, Joshua Wheeler tore through a copy of D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. It was the only book he could find in English at a store where he was stationed, near Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Wheeler was a master sergeant in the Army, a former Ranger, and a member of Delta Force since 2004. He was the recipient of eleven Bronze Star medals—four of them with the letter V, signifying valor in combat. This was his fourteenth deployment to either Iraq or Afghanistan. As he sat on the plane back to North Carolina, he read a hundred-year-old novel about a struggling London artist.
It was one of the things his wife, Ashley, loved most about Josh—his appetite for knowledge. "He would read whatever he could get his hands on," she says. They were married for two years, and in that time Josh had read more books than she could count. He especially loved history and anything related to international travel—anything that might help him know the world better. He kept a pocket dictionary in his car so he could look up new words at stoplights.
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WNU Editor: My must read post for today.
4 comments:
I thank the sons and daughters of America who give of themselves in service to our country!
To ask this question is a bit like asking "is the earth round?" "Is the sky blue?" "Will humans die if deprivded of oxegen?". "Will I survive a fall of 5,000 feet without a parachute?" Basically to even need to ask such a question reveals stupidity of extreme measure. Of course American forces are spread to thin.
The next POTUS needs to do a top down review of all fofeign opdrations with the idea that foreign deployments will be reduced by 90% in short order. Deployments and support for Ukraine and other former Soviet Bloc and eastsrn European countries will be eliminated immediately. We should NOT risk conflict with Russia, the world's most powerful military force. NOTHING there is worth this.
The deal maker has indicated that perhaps he thinks he can work with Russia. Vladimir Purin is the world's alfa male whether anyone likes it or not. Maybe the dealmaker grasps this and will act accordingly.
The sanctions against Rusdia have run their course. Mr. Putin likely used his agents in America and the "West" to implement them. As he understood, the result would be to unify Russia behind him. With that goal achieved he and his agents are going to end them soon.
America's response should be to get out in front of this and do all it can to undermine and end sanctions against Russia in both word and deed punishing anyone to the best of our ability that would try and harm Russsia (last time I checked the US $ is still the world's reserve currency.)
Maybe Russia and it's leaders would appreciate such a gesture. With proper decision making there is no downside to such behavioral changes and there is much upside potential. What does seem clear is persuing policies that Russia may deem as hostile to their intersts liklely cannot end well.
Russia has the world's most powerful military force. We should ask "how can we add value to Russia and it's people?" Do so and the "gratitude" of the world's most powerful nation and it's leaders could be achieved.
We need help with regards to Iran and the transition away from the US dollar as world reserve currency which is going to happen no matter what we do. We need a " soft landing" when this happens. Perhaps with the world's top power assisting us all of this is possible.
Want is the color of the ski in your reality? The Russian military is the most powerful in the world? The US needs to end sanctions against Russia and work with it or it will go bad for the US? Obviously your Russian and a nationalist. That's fine, but the reality is that Russia is a regional power on the verge of bankruptcy. The Russia military isn't on the same level as the US military or NATO. Economically it's worlds apart. The US is a superpower, the only one in the world. The only thing the US is concerned with regarding to Russian is its nuclear capabilities, and that comes from the old USSR. The US has little concern about the Russian military on the conventional side. The good news is that the US is not a colonial power and has no interest in occupying or taking over other countries. The US is the original anti-colonial power. Which is why when Russia threatens it's neighbors and attempts to take the over, the US pushes back. Russia needs to get use to it, it simply lacks the ability to match the US on almost any level. As for Putin, he isn't a great leader or an Alpha male (by the way those images are looked upon as comical in the US, absurd it the best way to describe the feeling), he is simply an insecure dictator. I hope this glimpse of reality isn't too painful
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