Comments on: The Softer Touch

By: Glyn

Glyn — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 01:16:18 +0000

I am glad to see that some units are doing this, but still worried that this is so uncommon it is note worthy. The British have been trying to explain this to the Americans for some time.

By: JSAllison

JSAllison — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:33:26 +0000

perhaps things have simmered down there to an extant where adopting a ‘kinder, gentler’ persona has become an attractive alternative. You wouldn’t think so from the ‘all jihad all body count all the time’ news networks, but apparently the folk on the ground are thinking differently. Now why would that be? Hmmm? Perhaps quagmire is in the eye of the beholder…

By: Thomas

Thomas — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 07:08:14 +0000

So now the US Army is “…shifting its tactics…” because it is “…recognizing that the consent of the local populace is the foundation of progress…”, and consequently the US Army will now be “…generally treating Iraqis with the same respect you might treat a fellow American”.
Should we rejoice that they have FINALLY seen the light, or be depressed that it took them so bloody long ?
The only way we can do any kind of good in Iraq (good to the Iraqis, that is, not to US political and financial interests) is by being the good guys. And that means acting like the good guys. And if that’s too difficult, go home.
Thomas

By: Moose

Moose — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 08:09:23 +0000

Well they’re gentlemanly enough in public and at home, in non-combat situations most of out GIs are quite polite. But most haven’t learned how to apply manners and respectfulness in place of the combat mentality when called for.

By: Harry Toor

Harry Toor — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 01:54:58 +0000

Being a gentleman. In times of war, as history has proven, it is the soldier who is the gentleman that wins the hearts and minds of the people — and rightly the enemey.
While the British burned churches and razed cities during the American Revoloution; it was the gentleman in Washington that brought the war to the outcome we all enjoy today.
Yes, somewhere in history we American’s lost that gentleman character in our fighting uniforms. (Granted it may exist in some folks of the fighting type, but in quite the fewer numbers then there should be.)

By: James

James — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 21:30:25 +0000

Bernhard: I didn’t want to be the first to say it, but yeah. It would be a happy story if we hadn’t heard this logic before: before the war, from Vietnam vets; at the beginning of the Occupation, from the British officers who were shocked at what was going on in Baghdad; when the insurgency started, from startled diplomats who were trying to piece together a consensus.
I’m hoping this lesson might be useful in the next war, but they’ve learned and relearned it so many times already, how can we have any confidence that it will take? Can you imagine a National Guard unit going out to somebody’s farm and testing their weapons by shooting them off into the distance? Why did it take them three years to figure out that was going to piss off the neighbors?

By: Dale

Dale — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 20:41:04 +0000

For the Canadian Military the respectfull behaviour described above is an common, everyday event by every member deployed overseas and has been for decades. It is probably due to the differences in the way we look at the world versus the way Americans look at the world.

By: Moose

Moose — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:31:03 +0000

We need to ship some of these guys stateside and turn them into instructors ASAP. Winning this thing is gonna take alot of this kind of work.

By: Bernhard

Bernhard — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:30:13 +0000

It took three years to learn that lesson. Embaressing.