We depended on the Home Front in error. It's the same today with the war on terror.

 

A terrorist is a military man or like man pausing as an equal with civilians in making deals. Eg. when an Arafat is there pretending to be a reformed civilian, it's ludicrous, the man is a military man with no excuse for losing the mission he has: destroying the enemy. Civilians on the other hand are taught to compromise, to make deals, to even be allowed making excuses.

 

Having the like of Maos or Arafat make deals with our civilians politicos who use systems and other agencies and excuses to get things done is simply not a fair political fight.

 

I say the US Army lost because the US Army failed to take somehow control of the situation and to inform, and we still are failing nowadays in understanding how terrorism works: it is backed by foreign military structures and use demoralizing tactics while blending in a hostaged civilian population which cannot be possibly be responsible, let alone blamed, for losing wars they are not trained to fight.

 

In any case, I digress. The point I really wanted to make is that a US Army soldier relies on the heart for motivation and bravery, the Jar Head relies on blunt tool like resilience. If troop morale goes down the Marine unit should not be affected in combat, but the US army unit might be affected, and this is what the Japanese general meant.

 

If I were a General, I'd want the Marine Corp, but as a grunt, I'd rather fight with a US Army guy because I am confident that I can help my combat morale, pushing myself, and inspiring my buddies to follow on, maintaining morale as the enemy challenges me in demoralizing hostage taking and suicide bombing tactics.

 

British Army NCOs complain even that US Army units are made of primitive soldiers, but let us face it, the jar head factor is invaluable when confronting a demoralization based enemy like the terrorist. Sure, I agree, we need units which are based on fighting morale so as to win also the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, but the Marine stop gap safety is needed to gain time when newly challenged by nasty tactics. Each branch has its key disciplines and attributes to contribute, and it is not a competition between who is better or which attribute is better, but a combined armed principle that even predates Napoleon. The Knights of the Round Table competed in how each could add on, and not against each other in pointless skirmishes and duels of strengths and wits, Pokemon style. The weakest of them all in fact brought all the morale support the others lacked when they got divided, in his successful quest for the Graal itself, which others had failed at.

Just to be clear, I don't mean any offence, but your recent posts have just been the usual nationalistic bs.

 

 

Its not nationalistic at all.  But your trying to compare the British Army against the US Marine.  A unit w/ an unparalleled combat history and capabilities well beyond the British Army.

By the way Yimmy, how are you liking the infantry (I believe you are still in, right?) and how's college coming? I start junior college next year (I'll be a HS senior), but I'm going to get a few credits out of the way in the junior college.