tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070229262860530921.post7462192824423895872..comments2023-06-20T19:32:32.299+04:30Comments on Bill and Bob's Excellent Afghan Adventure: AFJ; Breakfast Of Champions: Part 1Bill and Bob's Excellent Adventurehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04340122322147987992noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070229262860530921.post-34259607064132419382009-04-24T02:01:00.000+04:302009-04-24T02:01:00.000+04:30"That includes training for the doctrine that..."That includes training for the doctrine that is the only doctrine that makes sense when you are embroiled in a fight against an insurgency, which would be counterinsurgency, and getting the damned job done."<br /><br />I once posted on my blog a memorandum to the troops by GEN Petraeus on values. It read in part:<br /><br />"From General Petraeus:<br /><br />Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen serving in Multi-National Force-Iraq:<br /><br />Our values and the laws governing warfare teach us to respect human dignity, maintain our integrity, and do what is right. Adherence to our values distinguishes us from our enemy. This fight depends on securing the population, which must understand that we—not our enemies—occupy the moral high ground. This strategy has shown results in recent months. Al Qaeda’s indiscriminate attacks, for example, have finally started to turn a substantial proportion ofthe Iraqi population against it."<br /><br />I was flabbegasted when a young Specialist whose career I had been following from enlistment through, training to deployment to Iraq, made the following comment:<br /><br />"I wish more of us on the ground were properly informed and had the big picture put out to us, but I guess you have to try to keep yourself informed huh?<br /><br />Thanks for posting that."<br /><br />https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8234857&postID=7617435714298770941<br /><br />Now, thanks in large part to your continuous championing of COIN, I know why.membrainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01527550651850993396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070229262860530921.post-38262111756593766332009-04-22T02:40:00.000+04:302009-04-22T02:40:00.000+04:30By the way, this was great.By the way, this was great.Pope Incontinentius XIIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08841765401787854137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070229262860530921.post-3724936100451984502009-04-22T02:36:00.000+04:302009-04-22T02:36:00.000+04:30Let me give my favorite analogy for this whole con...Let me give my favorite analogy for this whole controversy over learning COIN: So some people say that now that we have this doctrine, we'll fight more counterinsurgencies. So in their mind, knowing how to do something = doing it more. I know how to have sex. But that doesn't mean that I will have it more. Heck, it doesn't mean I'll have it at all. It just means that if I need to know how to do it, I'll know how to do it.<br /><br />Also, let me note that the idea of simply hurling explosives at a problem without addressing the root causes was a bad idea before 9/11, and it's not a better idea now.<br /><br />Let me just close with this thought from Gaius Caligula: "Let them hate, so long as they fear."Pope Incontinentius XIIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08841765401787854137noreply@blogger.com