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S.N.A.F.U. - 2004

Kasserine Pass – Tunisia 1943

"In Africa we learned to crawl, then walk, then run."
General Omar N. Bradley

Almost everything the Americans believed was wrong. The M3 Lee and Grant tanks, mounting a 75mm fixed gun, had a high silhouette and was difficult to operate in combat with the heavy German pzkpfw Mark IV and Tiger panzers. Also, the Americans fought tank-to-tank, while the Germans concentrated their fire. The M3 would burn when hit and the riveted construction would shoot hot flying rivets around the crew compartment when it was hit. Also, tactical doctrine was inflexible and did not account for the rapid German advance. The Americans suffered heavy losses of 1,000 dead, hundreds taken prisoner, and the loss of most of their heavy equipment.

Operation Market-Garden: Holland September 1944

In my prejudiced view, if the operation had been properly backed from its inception, and given the aircraft, ground forces, and administrative resources necessary for the job, it would have succeeded in spite of my mistakes, or the adverse weather, or the presence of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps in the Arnhem area. I remain Market Garden's unrepentant advocate.
- Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

British 1st Airborne Losses in Market-Garden:

Of the 10,000 troops of the 1st Airborne Division who landed at Arnhem, only 2,000 escaped

US Aircrew Losses: European Theater 1943-1945

We have built up slowly and painfully and learned our job in a new theater against a tough enemy. Then we were torn down and shipped away to Africa. Now we have just built back up again. Be patient, give us our chance, and your reward will be ample--a successful day bombing offensive to combine and conspire with the admirable night bombing of the RAF to wreck German industry, transportation, and morale--soften the Hun for land invasion and the kill
– Gen. Ira C. Eaker – Casablanca Conference Jan. 15, 1943

"Battle casualties, Died, Missing, Interned and Captured" for the 8th & 9th Army Air Forces, operating from bases in Great Britain, amounted 54,997, (i.e. 63,410 less 8,413 wounded and evacuated), of which 19,876 are classified as died and 35,121 as "Missing, Interned and Captured".


US Air Force Losses in Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, it became apparent that the overwhelming concern about flying safety in peacetime compromised air-to-air combat training to an unacceptable degree. The most tangible symptom of this failure was the decline in the exchange ratio (enemy losses vs. US losses) between USAF and enemy forces. The exchange ratio obtained in the Korean War had been a highly satisfactory 10-to-1. In the Southeast Asian conflict, however, that exchange ratio fell to less than 1-to-1 during a period in the spring of 1972

Walter J. Boyne – Air Force Magazine November 2000.

Operation Iraqi Freedom December 9, 2004

"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?"

-Army Spc. Thomas Wilson of the 278th Regimental Combat Team

"As you know, you have to go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank, and it can still be blown up."

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Apparently, Army Spc. Thomas Wilson has discovered that the Army is a dangerous place to work. I look forward to his breakthrough research paper on how water is wet and fire is "bad".

I once worked with a guy who graduated from West Point in 1968 and at the time of the First Gulf War I asked him what his greatest fear was in regards to our military.

He said:
"Americans as so used to being invincible and that there are never any large scale casualties that they simply don't understand that in any war, you really never know how it will all turn out until 10 years after the war is over. War is messy, uncoordinated, full of unpleasant surprises and every one of them is different from the last one."
I wish he would have told that to Army Spc. Thomas Wilson.

Runsfeld is still a big bite in the ass, but I love the guy. On September 11th, Mr. Rumsfeld was in his office when it was struck. He ran to the impact site and began to coordinate operations. He had to be ordered to leave by the President.

Donald Rumsfeld is a former Naval Aviator. Donald Rumsfeld has my vote of confidence.

Army Spc. Thomas Wilson, try and show a little leadership and stop whining about what you dont have and improvise with what you do. It's a bad situation that wont be made any easier by your whiny piss pants attitude. If you joined the Army and are shocked to find people shooting at you, you might have a case against your recruiting officer, but this was not the best way to resolve it. If you had any hope of a career in the military, you can forget all about that now. Welcome to pariah-land. All you effectively did was lower your units effectiveness by one man - you. Nobody likes a smartass, no matter how valid your question was ( and I think it was valid) pissing on your bosses pantlegs is not a good way to get the problem fixed.

And Army Spc. Thomas Wilson, thanks for being the new "goofus and gallant" poster child for who is and who is not, a Marine.

UPDATE: News Flash! June 10th 1944. Secretary of War James Forrestal took rough questions from US troops over the lack of planning on the part of himself and the high command. Asked one trooper ' Sir, How long will we be forced to take scrap metal and weld it to the front of our tanks?" . The trooper pointing out to the secretary that for all the so called planning by Supreme Allied Headquarters, no one anticipated the French Hedgerow country which has rendered our tanks useless and resulted in many US casualties during the "unilateral" invasion of France.

Posted @ December 10, 2004 08:29 PM | Current Events

Comments

Give Spc. Wilson his due. I read that he was interviewed later and said, "I'm a soldier, and I'll do this on a bicycle if I have to," but that he just wanted to be sure he and his guys were getting the best equipment they could. Is that so wrong?

It's also notable, as others have pointed out, that nobody at that press conference, including Wilson, was asking "What are we doing here?", but rather, "How do we get the job done?"

Posted by: Steve Teeter at December 11, 2004 09:33 PM

I did say that I thought was a good question, but had the soldier phrased it diferrently he could have both made his case and helped his boss and not come off like a whiny little snot, which im am very sorry to say, he did, and thats too bad because it takes away from his sacrifice and puts the men who serve with him in a bad light as well. Those are all things he should have considered before he decided to 'stick it to the man".

There are ways to do things and there are ways to say things to accomplish your goal. If your goal is to throw the stinkfinger up at the secretary of defense, you can do that, but there are consequences.

You can ask a hard question in such a way that does not demean the character of the man in charge. I wish he would have understood what he was trying to say well enough to understand the impact of his saying it was going to have on a) himself B) his men c) his command.

Posted by: Frank Martin at December 11, 2004 10:03 PM

I htink you made a few very valid points, Frank, and I"m really glad to see someone raise them. Let's not overlook the impact of the involvement of that liberal reporter either.

I'm surprised at the reaction of many of the bloggers who support the war.

One thing I haven't seen much (any?) of, is analysis as to the effectiveness of the armor. Does it make a large difference? What are the tradeoffs (speed?) ?

As you said. Perhaps it's a legit beef, probably is, but the way in which it was done really sucked. Giving ammunition to our enemies (i.e. demoralizing liberal MSM), is not the way to bring up what one perceives as a serious problem. There are MANY facts that Spc. Wilson was not, nor should be, privvy to.

Posted by: s at December 12, 2004 01:38 AM