Hack Takes A Whack!

[gunnyg]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/756875/posts

[USMC0311]

AWARDS & DECORATIONS
COLONEL DAVID H. HACKWORTH
(U.S. ARMY, RETIRED)

Individual Decorations & Service Medals:

Distinguished Service Cross (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
Silver Star (with nine Oak Leaf Clusters)
Legion of Merit (with three Oak Leaf Clusters)
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star Medal (with "V" Device & seven Oak Leaf Clusters)(Seven of the awards for heroism)
Purple Heart (with seven Oak Leaf Clusters)
Air Medal (with "V" Device & Numeral 34)(One for heroism and 33 for aerial achievement)
Army Commendation Medal (w/ "V" Device & 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Good Conduct Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Army of Occupation Medal (with Germany and Japan Clasps)
National Defense Service Medal (with one Bronze Service Star)
Korean Service Medal (with Service Stars for eight campaigns)
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Vietnam Service Medal (2 Silver Service Stars = 10 campaigns)
Armed Forces Reserve Medal
Unit Awards:

Presidential Unit Citation (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
Valorous Unit Award (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
Meritorious Unit Commendation
Badges & Tabs:

Combat Infantryman Badge (w/ one Star; representing 2 awards)
Master Parachutist Badge
Army General Staff Identification Badge
Foreign Awards:

United Nations Service Medal (Korea)
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960)
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with two Gold Stars)
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with two Silver Stars)
Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal (1st Class)
Vietnam Staff Service Medal (1st Class)
Vietnam Army Distinguished Service Order, 2d Class
Vietnam Parachutist Badge (Master Level)
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
Republic of Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation (with three Palm oak leaf clusters)
Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal, First Class Unit Citation (with one Palm oak leaf cluster)
World War II Merchant Marine Awards:

Pacific War Zone Bar
Victory Medal

Note: As per a Department of the Army audit conducted by COL Pam Mitchell, Chief Personnel ServiceSupport Division on May 6 1999.

If He can make Bush sound good..He should get another Medal

[USMC-FO]

Hack made the same comments on a local radio show here the otherday, and frankly when he speaks you have to sit up take notice. 0311 aptly has noted Hack's credits to speak of these things.

I have no problem at all with any first strike concept--has always made sence to me--but I am not convienced Bush has made his case yet. And I, like Hack, worry tremedously when folks, who have never spent any time sweating out incoming fire, and in many cases ducked the opportunity, are the ones who are the most hawkish yet will never spend any time with their faces in the sand.

Semper Fi Marines !

[gunnyg]

DEFENDING AMERICA
David H. Hackworth
6 Jan 98

SEND IN THE MARINES

"If the Army and the Navy ever looked at heaven's scenes, they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines."

So goes the Marine's Hymn.

Maybe the heaven bit's a stretch, but as we enter 1998, the Marine Corps is the only outfit in Clinton's armed forces that can still fight the hard fight.

The Army, the Navy and the Air Force have caved into political pressure that has marginalized their fighting ability and made the often quoted statement that "America has the finest fighting force in the world" the biggest lie since the Pentagon said "Gulf War syndrome doesn't exist."

I'm an old Army doggy not a Marine. So saying this is out-right heresy and will cause a lot of Army loyalists to want to nail my dog tags to my forehead.

But I'll take the risk. Because if our armed forces continues to slide down the gender-bending tube -- which is destroying fighting spirit and driving out fighters -- we'll lose future battles, wars and eventually our freedom.

The Marine Corps hasn't rolled over as much as the other services. For example, it hasn't allowed the women's liberation army, led by such advocates for women in the trenches as former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder and former Assistant Secretary of the Army Sara Lister, to have their anti-warrior ethic way.

Schroeder, Lister and thousands of others who have never spent a night in a front-line foxhole believe that GI Janes should have the same opportunity as GI Joes to fill bodybags. This way, they figure, women will have equality and can someday become Colleen Powells and Norma Schwarzkopfs.

These misguided and tireless fighters for female equality-opportunity have become so obsessed with liberating women that they've forgotten the purpose of our military is to defend America.

Defending America starts in the front lines, where it's always inhumanly brutal. And getting young women in the front lines as grunts has been their endgame. Since the Vietnam War, the Schroeders and Listers brilliantly picked away to get your daughter -- not theirs-- on the killing field.

They have been far more strategic and effective than the weak-kneed politicians and the senior brass who swapped their souls for stars and went along with these fanatical hare-brained ideas.

First the "feminnazis" integrated Air Force basic training, then the Army went coed, while the Navy, in an attempt to deflect the bad press from Tailhook, surrendered in 1994.

But the Corps stood tall and said "No way. Won't work."

And now the Corps can say "I told you so."

A panel led by former Sen. Nancy Kasselbaum Baker recently concluded that the Army, Navy and the Air Force should stop coed training because "integrated basic training is resulting in less discipline, less unit cohesion and more distraction"

The Marines fought this wrong-headed thinking from the beginning. They said sex would get in the way. The liberating liberals counterattacked and said Marine leadership was prehistoric and out of touch with American society.

The proof of the pudding that the Marines were right can be easily measured. Their morale and combat readiness are the best. Unlike the others, recruits are rushing to join and its quit rate is a fraction of the other services. For example, 37 percent of all first hitch Army enlistees quit before their enlistment is up and male noncoms and junior officers are deserting squadrons, ships and battalions as if there were a post-war demobilization.

This exodus in our best and brightest talent is gutting combat effectiveness and costing the taxpayers billions of dollars.

I receive over a 1,000 e-mails a week from service personnel. Most are rightfully grousing about bad leadership and conditions and lousy readiness. Few of these letters are from Marines.

Dozens of times a week, young men ask me to recommend a branch of the service. My answer: If you want to be challenged and forge stronger values, better character and develop into a better person, join the Marines.

As the Marines say, they won't promise a rose garden, but they'll give you something you won't find in any of the other services --and that's being in an outfit with strong leaders who have the guts to stand up to confused crusaders in order to keep doing the right thing for the Marine Corps and America.

The End

[gunnyg]

DEFENDING AMERICA <br />
David H. Hackworth <br />
March 23, 1999 <br />
<br />
A RARE BREED OF GENERALS <br />
<br />
What is it with most Marine generals? Do they get inoculated with double <br />
shots of truth serum in boot camp? From...

[gunnyg]

THE MARINES HAVE LANDED -- AGAIN
By David H. Hackworth

The first non-Special Ops unit deployed to Afghanistan is the U.S. Marines Corps -- no big surprise to this old Army doggie.

In World War II's South Pacific, Marines were "the firstus with the mostus" into the Solomons, and they led the way into Vietnam. In Korea, they landed second, but unlike the Army units initially deployed there, Gen. Edward Craig's Marine brigade hit the beach ready to fight. And without their skill, sacrifice and courage, the beleaguered Eighth Army would've been pushed into the sea during the early months of the conflict. A similar scenario occurred during the early stages of Desert Storm, in which Marine units came in ready to fight while the first Army troops -- the 82nd Airborne Division, with its insufficient anti-tank capability -- were a potential speed bump waiting to be flattened.

The Corps, which has never lost sight that its primary mission is to fight, remains superbly trained and disciplined -- true to its time-honored slogan "We don't promise a rose garden." When, under Clinton, the Army lowered its standards to Boy Scout summer-camp level in order to increase enlistment, the Corps responded by making boot training longer and tougher. Now under USMC Commandant James Jones, that training has gotten even meaner for the young Marine wannabes waiting in line to join up, as well as for Leathernecks already serving in regular and reserve units.

Unlike U.S. Army conventional units -- their new slogan, "An Army of One," says it all -- the U.S. Marine Corps remains a highly mobile, fierce fighting team that has never forgotten: "The more sweat on the training field, the less blood on the battlefield."

The Marines are flexible, agile, ready and deadly, while the Army remains configured to fight the Soviets -- who disappeared off the Order of Battle charts a decade ago. For example, right after Sept. 11, the two Army heavy divisions in Germany -- with their 68-ton tanks that can crush almost every bridge they cross -- deployed to Poland for war games.

Hello, is there a brain at the top somewhere beneath that snazzy Black Beret being modeled at most U.S. airports by too many overweight Army National Guard troops?

The Army has eight other regular divisions, all designed to fight 20th-century wars. Three are heavy -- Tank and Mech Infantry -- and two are light, the storied 82nd Airborne and the elite 101st Airborne (now helicopter), and then there's the light/heavy 10,000-man 2nd Division that's in Korea backing up a million-man, superbly fit South Korean Army.

Less the light divisions, our Army's not versatile, deployable, swift or sustainable. The heavy units require fleets of ships and planes to move them, and it takes months to get them there -- it took Stormin' Norman six months to ready a force for Desert Storm. The 101st -- while deadly, as Desert Storm proved -- is also a slow mover requiring a huge amount of strategic lift -- ships and giant planes -- to get to the battlefield, not to mention the massive tax-dollar load to outfit and maintain it.

Sadly, today's Army is like a street fighter with brass knuckles too heavy to lift.

After the Rangers' disaster in Somalia -- where there were no tanks to break through to relieve them -- and the embarrassment of not being able to fight in the war in Serbia, Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki started forming light brigades strikingly similar to USMC units. When I asked, "Why the copycating?" an Army officer said: "It was either copy or go out of business. We'd become redundant because of long-term lack of boldness and imagination at the top."

The Army costs about $80 billion a year to run. It's time for Congress to do its duty and stop enjoying the benefits of all the pork this obsolescence and redundancy provides. If the Army can't change with the times -- as the powerful horse cavalry generals couldn't just prior to World War II -- then it should fold up its tents and turn the ground-fighting mission over to the Marines.

The law of nature is simple: survival of the fittest. And in the 21st century, heartbreaking as it is for me to admit, the forward-based and highly deployable U.S. Marine Corps is the fittest.
http://www.hackworth.com is the address of David Hackworth's home page. Sign in for the free weekly Defending America column at his Web site. Send mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831.

(c) 2001 David H. Hackworth
Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc.

[gunnyg]

In my opinion...a straight-talkin' old soldier!
-Dick

DEFENDING AMERICA
BY DAVID H. HACKWORTH
29 September 1999

"PREPARED OR UNPREPARED FOR WAR: THERE'S NO IN BETWEEN"

Looking back over a bunch of years, the Korean War was the defining moment in my life. I headed for Korea in 1950, going on age 20, and came back in 1953, going on 50. The things I saw there scarred me deeply. And ensuring they don't happen again has become my life's purpose.

I suspect I'm the only Doggy -- Marine slang for Army grunt -- who has a painting behind his desk of our Marines fighting their way out of the Chosin Reservoir. My Waterhouse painting perfectly captures the way it was during the winter of 1950.

The Chinese had crossed the Yalu River into Korea with the mission to destroy the Leathernecks strung out along a narrow mountain road near the Chosin Reservoir. Not only had the Chinese arrived in big numbers, but so had winter, bringing a merciless wind which drove the temperature down to 30 below zero. Weapons froze, and if fingers and toes weren't constantly moved, they turned black and fell off.

The word "horror" does not describe the conditions of the Chosin Reservoir campaign, nor does "above and beyond the call of duty" describe the magnificent performance of the 12,000 Marines who fought there.

By the end of November, eight Chinese divisions had surrounded the Marines, and the stage was set for one of the most hellacious fights in U.S. history.

A new book by Martin Russ, "Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign" (Fromm International), describes this battle. Russ, himself a Korean War Marine vet, depicts the war at its darkest moment, interweaving the political, strategic and tactical aspects of the Chosin operation with stirring first-person reporting.

The book relates an epic of bravery, endurance and military excellence on the part of the only American unit during the Korean War prepared to fight from the word go: the 1st Marine Division.

Vastly outnumbered, unsupported except for Naval air and totally isolated from the rest of the 8th Army, the Marines blasted their way out of a trap, opened a path to the sea, and brought out their wounded and dead and their equipment while inflicting horrific casualties on the enemy.

Russ provides a clear view of the big picture, with stinging criticism of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the exposure of Army Gen. Edward Almond, correctly depicted as the kind of fumbling officer who's far more dangerous to his own troops than to the enemy.

One of Almond's units, the 7th Infantry Division, was made up of soft garrison troops totally unprepared for the kind of hard campaigning the Marines took in stride. Even though they were only peripherally involved in the Reservoir campaign, they fell apart like a cheap pair of boots in the rain. One infantry battalion was totally destroyed -- a scenario depressingly similar to what's still going down a half a century later, as far as comparisons between Army and Marine combat readiness and warrior ethic are concerned.

"Breakout" is a heartbreaker. I was left grieving for the dead and again admiring the Marines, as I did as a kid in early 1951, after they executed their miracle up north and pulled back on the line near my unit down south.

The suspenseful narrative is loaded with vivid characters: 1st Lt. Chew-Een Lee, a small but formidable Marine leader whose men feared him as much as they loved him; Henry Litvin, a "combat doc" with no military training whatsoever, patching up his boys as combat swirled around him, doing his job quietly and expertly while barely controlling his mounting panic; and Gen. Oliver P. Smith, the skipper of the 1st Marine Division, whose tactical wisdom and old-soldier savvy not only saved the division but killed 25,000 Chinese in 10 days while losing 700 Marines killed in action.

One wonders why the U.S. Army never seems to learn the obvious lessons taught by all wars, especially the lessons under the rubric: BE PREPARED.

In a recent interview, Russ remarked that he regrets his fallen comrades have been forgotten, or at least not remembered for their sacrifice. Amen. Few have been braver or paid a higher price.

Russ has written a great book. As we approach the 50th anniversary of that "Forgotten War," it's time Americans had a hard look at the lessons learned.

Lest we repeat them.

***

[Sparrowhawk]

I have never liked Heck, that whimpy son-of-a-*****!

He waited untill after he had served five years in Vietnam “as an officer” before he comes home and says the higher up officers messed up in Nam.

Heck never bothered to do anything about the troubles he says were there while he was there as an officer. Only after he was ready to retire did he began to make waves.

And who crowned him “AMERICA’S MOST DECORATED VETERAN?” he did himself. I’m sure IF YOU COMPARE Heck’s medals to the actions of a plain grunt in combat, Hecks medals wouldn’t compare.

I guarantee that many a grunt, a Marine grunt did three to four times the efforts, and other heroic deeds in battle compared to him and they were never recognized or given an award for what they did.

I remember a shrink a highly decorated Army Vietnam veteran., who spent a few days with us (Marines, filming our first reunion). After two days the guy was in tears, saying that all his medals (including the silver star) could have been awarded to any one of us there. Because he had not done 1/2 of what he heard anyone of us do in battle.

So compare the doggie's medal to a Marines grunts, actions and there is no comparison as to honor and valor.

Heck, is one self serving dog I wouldn't follow in combat nor would I allow him to carry my M-60 gun ammo in Nam.

[USMC0311]

Hack can be contacted through this site
http://www.hackworth.com/

Letter to the President
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/legacy.dearpresident.html

The Man is on OUR side
http://www.sftt.org/afgan001.html

The Man served 3 WARS. he IS A Patriot
http://hometown.aol.com/gman755/arrays/hack.html


far as the medals go They represent where and when you served..and wtf U did.

Semper Fi, To the Corps and I will cover the "6" of any American Patriot

[gunnyg]

http://www.airborne-ranger.com/ranger/wannabees/OllieNorth.html

[USMC0311]

what I know bout Ollie iz He covered the Iran contra **** (Bush sr was head of CIA and drugs was gettin into the country plenty) I respect Ollie for Not snitchin..not for being part of the Bush scheme

[Sparrowhawk]

I emailed him and he emailed me back a couple of times but he wouldn't answer my questions. <br />
<br />
The only thing he would say, and the only thing he will say when you question his failure to stir the...