War is not Pong
Saddam has got the wrong idea. A videogame scoring system is not going to help.
During the Vietnam war the Vietcong would chain cowardly soldiers to their anti-aircraft guns, they therefore had no choice but to shoot at anything that came near them. How are we supposed to have a war if the enemy refuses to fight? At this rate we'll have higher loses from friendly fire than enemy action.
There are more Foxholes up on Acerbia, plus a story of D's dinner with some retired Marines. He's turning into quite the little warhawk these days.
(posted by D as he continues to pretend that he is Michele and steal her audience)
Comments
michele
we already have higher losses incurred by the people (government contracts) that make our equipment (helicopters in paticular) than has been causes by the enemy in this war. While I appreciate the administration's success so far to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, it seems we could do a better job making sure our men and women are getting the finest equipment to train with and to use in battle.
Posted by: peat | March 21, 2003 09:32 AM
Peat,
Actually, this (unfortunately) happens all the time. It has only come to your attention due to the war.
When I was on F-18's, I saw one do cartwheels on the runway. When in the Huey's and Cobras, I saw several just fall out of the sky (thank God for autorotation!).
I've also seen many of the aircraft simply taxi back because something broke between the time they started the aircraft and hit the runway.
These machines, especially the jets, undergo stress that just doesn't happen on regular commercial craft. Add in the fact that you don't have all the time in the world to get them fixed and you're being shot at, and accidents happen.
We worked hard to keep those birds flying, and nothing is more depressing than to see one fail. But it really is the minority, not the majority.
Posted by: Robb | March 21, 2003 09:50 AM
Robb's point taken. Actually, it has always been true, it's just a fact of life (and war).
Still, as of right now the non-combat to combat ratio is 16 to 2.
Posted by: Ken Summers | March 21, 2003 11:05 PM