"A Brand New Military" What an ass!

Just heard the orange god deliver this line at the daily CODIV-19 task force briefing.  For this fool, the military is a pile of new "stuff,"  He bought it, he paid for the "stuff" so, he has created a "brand new military."  What about the people who served throughout the miserably stupid war in Iraq and the equally stupid post 2009 attempt to pacify Afghanistan, a country that never was and never will be.  Think of the money and blood that we pissed away there.  Even the Pompous one sees the necessity to withdraw our support from the wretches who run the government there or pretend to do that.  Or perhaps Trump told him to stick it to them, at long last.  Trump's experience of "military service" was his corrective enrollment at  a private military high school, but he has stated that he knows "all about it.

Someone remarked to me once that it had been a miracle that the US could create an army for WW2.  I asked him in response what sort of occupation Marshall, Eisenhower, MacArthur and Patton had been involved with before the war.  Shoe sales?  Gas station ownership"  Insurance sales? What?

It would be tempting to think that one might vote for the Democrat.  Biden the demented?  Sanders the Marxist dreamer?  Cuomo the massive NY City creep egotist?

No, we Deplorables are stuck with El Trumpo.  pl

Comments

[Fred]

Col.,

"we Deplorables are stuck with El Trumpo."

On a bright note today is another day where Hilary is not President.

[Deap]

If MSM were in the business of posting facts instead of partisan hyperbole, you would think the Dems would have run something far better than a Sanders or a Biden at this particular juncture of history.

So did we get are handed a choice among "deplorables"; or an echo of equal deplorables. Right now, I will continue to dance with the gal who brung me. Trump is seasoning well and growing into the job. I would like to see what his next four years will bring. He knows the inside game now.

Who was it who said ask a government insider to do something and you get a string of excuses why it can't be done. Demurr to a business person who asks to get something done, and he/she will say fine, now go find me someone who can get it done. KAG 2020.

[Harry]

Great post.

[JamesT]

Sanders partnered with Tulsi would have been viable - at least worth a roll of the dice. The best part about this ticket is that it would have put Tulsi in Pole Position in 2024. Alas, it is not going to happen.

[turcopolier]

James T

Is it a sin to hope for someone's death? Tulsi would be a great president.

[blue peacock]

The limited amount of commentary that I have read of the "corona" spending package wafting through the halls of Congress is that both political parties have determined that some folks get $1,200 as a one time payment from the fiscal package but Wall St and big business managements get both $trillion from the fiscal spending and $4 trillion conjured up by the Fed.

I see many Trump supporters who are active on social media rather unhappy!

Is this going to be another 2008 redux? Bailout for Wall St speculative losses while underwater homeowners foreclosed.

[Seán]

But, the best corps commander on the western front in WW I was a corrupt, former, real-estate speculator from British Columbia with a vanity commission in the local militia, Lt.Gen. Sir Arthur Currie. Not being burdened with a military education that would incline him to fight the new war as though it were like the immediate past ones, he carefully studied the realities on the battle field, and created new strategies and tactics, including combined-weapons, infantry companies, and full disclosure down to the lowest buck private of tactical plans. No officers left, no NCOs left, the privates still knew where to go and what to do. His commander of artillery, a former physics teacher, used sound ranging to locate the German artillery and obliterate it, so as to preclude any artillery support for German counterattacks.

[different clue]

The Dems were never going to permit a Sanders nomination. They have achieved that. All he can do now is keep running through the primaries to the bitter end and make the Dems suffer at DemCon 2020.

Keith Harbaugh's earlier-thread comment shows me that I am not the first to suspect the Dems have signaled the MSDNC-Industrial Complex to prepare the public for sending in Cuomo to substitute for the failing Biden. They won't want to make Hillary the VP choice, but Hillary and her Bucket of Despicables will scream for Hillary regardless.

I begin to think the DemParty Leadership has already secretly decided to throw the election. If they are afraid they won't lose it fair and square, they will throw it to make sure of losing. Their hope is that by 2024 things will be "so bad" that the Deplorables will come "crawling back" and beg the Democrats for a Catfood Despicable to "take us away from all this."

[Upstate NY'er]

You're taking Trump too literally.
He's not a scholar, not a lawyer.
He's a salesman.
He deals in hyperbole.
Be grateful that he's there, not the Clinton crime family.

[different clue]

( This comment is entirely unrelated to the subject, but I am afraid an Open Thread may not be offered before the end of March.)

I have mentioned Acres USA ( the paper) before and sometimes their bookstore section. They have a sale every March on some books. Normally I would not feel time-sensitive about writing this, but this year because of the corona situation, the Acres USA people say that any orders for books by Canada and Australia ( as well as America itself) will be sent free of shipping charges. If that is a real and huge expense to Ausralia, then this might really be interesting.

Some of the books are for the devoted hobbyist but many are for the working professional grower. Subject areas are soils and soil science/ field-row crops/ livestock from big to small and other things. Some of the soil books are recent translations from German not available otherwise or otherwhere. The sale ends on March 31st. Here is the link to the book descriptions and how to order.

https://www.acresusa.com/collections/books-videos?utm_source=Acres+U.S.A.+Community&utm_campaign=5649018d27-BOTW+3-24-20+Soil+Fertility+Animal+Health&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65283346c2-5649018d27-184789077&goal=0_65283346c2-5649018d27-184789077&mc_cid=5649018d27&mc_eid=f874b279b6

And here is how they describe their "last week offer" of free shipping to America, Canada, Ausralia.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Get Free Shipping During the Last Week
of the March Book Fair Sale!

We know that it's a tough time right now for a lot of folks, with many things uncertain, so we wanted to extend an extra savings offer the final week of our March Book Fair Sale – Free Shipping to select regions.

March book Fair Sale
At checkout, enter the code COMMUNITYSTRONG and get free shipping on any order within the U.S.

We're also offering free shipping to Australia and Canada on any order over $100, with the code: AUSTRALIASTRONG or CANADASTRONG

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

( I will not be hurt or offended if this is not posted, considering its total variance from the subject. But in case it would be considered worthy of inclusion, it might be wrong of me to have withheld it. Either way, here it is).

[Procopius]

I wish I could remember the source -- maybe S.L.A. Marshall -- I read that at the beginning of America's entry into WWII a British general expressed their opinion, based on centuries of experience, that it tool at least two years to create an effective Army, but here were the Americans churning them out in less than a year. I remember reading (I was stationed in Germany at the time) about the Big Red One being beefed up at Fort Riley to be sent to Vietnam. I'm pretty sure that took more than a year. I am tempted to think that it was indeed a miracle that we had a real genius, George Catlett Marshall, to lead the effort. Since then it has been people like Richard Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. At one time I greatly admired Colin Powell, but he blew that up with his horrible speech to the UN.

[CK]

It is much easier to deliver new stuff than it is to replace deadwood.
Which four current timeservers are you suggesting are the equal of those four generals? I think Schwarzkopf was the last winning general and that was a generation and a half ago.
As for wishing someone dead, it is a common sin; I've heard it happens in the best of marriages.

[turcopolier]

CK

I knew Schwartzkopf and you exaggerate his worth. Fat Norman couldn't devise a good plan for Desert Storm and the JCS had to take control of the process.

[ked]

I’m surprised of how stuck on Trump so many remain. Equally stuck on past evils too (Hillary!). He’s a fragile horse being propped up by 2nd & 3rd rate talent. My standard of quality & performance is too high to let him have more time behind the wheel. My vote won’t count given I’m in a GOP dominated Southern state, though in my view the election isn’t about policy, criminal behavior, the depth of the state or the cut of their jibs. It is about speeding the implosion of both political parties. It is long overdue & more important for the American Experiment’s health than what animates day-to-day noise across the commons. And I know no more effective means of doing so than whip-sawing the parties by throwing them out as early & often as possible.

[William Fitzgerald]

Procopius,

The two year schedule is about what it took. Mobilization, call-up of the National Guard and Reserve, selective service, procurement of materiel, and specific planning began, or were already underway, in the autumn of 1940. Significant ground operations began in the autumn of 1942. Also, I don't think that the 1st DIV took a year from being alerted to shipping out to VN.

WPFIII

[The Twisted Genius]

SWMBO and I heard this "brand new military" comment at the same time you did. We had the same reaction, although I'm pretty sure the TTG household spewed more vitriol than the Lang household. Our military has been in constant flux since 1775 and even before that. It has never been "the stuff" that made our military what it was and what it is. In my case, I was an infantry lieutenant in the days of the "Hollow Army." My platoon averaged 25 men strong rather than the required 44. I had more high school dropouts than graduates. Our equipment was old and not plentiful. Our first contingency mission was to immediately reinforce Korea. Our second mission was to reinforce Europe. The thought of holding some German village against the Soviet Third Shock Army was sobering.

Yet every man, from the pot smoking PV2 to the grizzled old command sergeant major took our charge seriously. We trained hard, being in the field well over 50% of the time. We trained to operate out numbered and out gunned. We conducted emergency readiness and deployment exercises (EDRE) monthly loading everything up for airlift often with basic load and often ending in a live fire assault or defense. We even practiced combat assaults from C-130s onto unimproved airstrips. That was a hoot. I would have proudly led and fought with these men in Korea or Europe and died alongside them if necessary. I am certain to this day that our foemen would have paid dearly for their temerity to face us.

[JamesT]

Colonel

I agree with you wholeheartedly about Tulsi. I had given up all hope that anyone but Biden would win the DNC primary, and then I just read about Biden's campaign staffers taking great care to protect him from COVID-19. I can't bring myself to wish for his death, but perhaps he could become indisposed?

[Upstate NY'er]

Re. your comment on Schwarzkopf and his bad planning.
What does that say about the people around him - all career military?
A cadre of high level professionals who couldn't do their job.
No wonder, the last war the US won was by Patton, Marshall, Eisenhower.

[turcopolier]

UpstateNYer

USCENTCOM was scheduled for disestablishment as part of the"peace dividend" hoped for after the end of the USSR. Fat Norman was sent there to shut down the command over a period of about a year. He was given the command by his WP buddies so that he could be promoted to four stars. The command, located at Tampa, had always been a haven for second raters looking to retire in Florida. When the Iraqis invaded Kuwait these dregs were unable to imagine anything but a broad frontal push into Kuwait. Powell rejected that approach and a team of skilled planners was brought in (the jedi knights) to write a new plan for a a wide envelopment around the left. I was intimately involved. And hated for my role.

[turcopolier]

TTG

There was a lot of cursing here.

[TedBuila]

96 Senate votes for Socialism..not a single vote against. Democratic socialism/call it what you will, comes to the rescue of Democratic capitalism. As for 2 Trillion (and ciunting!) ... Congress/POTUS are putting it on our and our kids CCs. The buggers in Congress have drilled an election financing hole (in only a week 10 days!) that makes Citizen United look like pocket change.

PS: If Nancy wanted to sink Biden she got it done. Just who she has in mind I can only guess but I'd bet good money it's not Bernie. The "old lady" knew two things "going in." One: that before it was over Hunter would be front and center. And Two: her chance was weak to none that she could get McConnell to call up witnessess in the Senate. Just where she and the Dems go from here is her/their problem. Appologies for the sour note. Stay well all, ted

[Deap]

Dream on about VP Gabbard because the fix is in for VP Michelle Obama. Letter to the editor in the LA Times toutes VP Michelle Obama to be the team to "wallop Trump". Coming soon to a letter to the editor page near you.

I suspect this is a coordinated publicity roll out. LA Times highlighted this with the following title: "Pick Michelle Obama for VP" Writer claims Michelle Obama will "energize not only the Democrat Party but the entire nation, especially in these uncertain and stressful times."

Indeed who does benefit keeping our times as "uncertain and stressful" as long as possible? Look for similar language. When the public sector unions want something, they know how to go after it. VP Michelle Obama is thier reason to back Biden now that is looks like it will not be a brokered convention.

[The Twisted Genius]

pl,

Same here. It wasn't just TDS. It was Trump's swat at the military. It was personal for us as I'm sure it was for you.

[Eric Newhill]

Trump can be an arrogant ass and sure was in this instance. I can't image hanging out with the likes of him.

But I love his pro-America platform and associated economic and immigration policies. I will vote for him again because I don't the country overrun by illegals and our industry destroyed and handed over to foreigners. I also like that he is not for the identity politics that divide our country.

[CK]

@The Colonel:
Gen. Schwarzkopf carried out the plan he was given, correct?
And so he is the last "winning" American Army General. Given that he is everything you have said he was, what does that say for the current crop of Stars?
@UpStateNY:
There is some historical disagreement as to who won the ground war in Europe. There is also some disagreement about what and who won the ground war in Manchuria and China.
The US Navy did an adequate job in the Pacific and the Marines did likewise in the Island Hopping part of the Pacific war.
The Perfumed Princelings ( and now Princesses ) are part of every military forever.