thedrifter
03-27-03, 11:29 AM
Smart-Weapon Wars Still Scar the Old-Fashioned Way
By David H. Hackworth
So far – except for an early, unprogrammed slam at Saddam Hussein when embedded U.S. spooks pinpointed the Butcher and his key brutes hunkering down in a Baghdad bunker – Operation Iraqi Freedom is proceeding on plan. And thanks to flexible leaders from George W. Bush on down and heroic U.S. Air Force and Navy combat crews with some very smart weapons, that particular command post is now one big, smoking crater.
Few war plans survive beyond the first shot, and battles seldom go smoothly, but this time around, the air campaign has been Star Wars brilliant, the ground phase straight Patton: “bypass, haul ass and damn the flank security.”
The bottom line is that our fighting forces are doing a whiz-bang job, even though their dusty trip has met a few deep potholes that combat muscle along our supply routes would fix. But we should still stay braced for bigger bumps on the road to Baghdad. The drive to the Iraqi capital city could be like compressing a huge spring, the resistance getting harder the closer we get to the war's main objective – unless The Mustached One is feeding worms.
Even in a worst-case scenario, the conflict should be comparable to Mike Tyson taking out Woody Allen. So far, most Iraqi soldiers are showing the same sorry fighting skills we saw during Desert Storm in 1991: hiding, running or waving white flags.
But hard or easy, there will still be a complex, bloody price. Wars always cost far more than the fallen warriors who come home on their shields. And often the emotional fallout that comes with the body blows takes months, if not years, to surface.
Only last week, my wife, Eilhys, and I were the featured players presenting a new book project at a command performance scheduled long before war reporting usurped our lives. I was just wrapping up our pitch about the 27th Wolfhound Raiders, a unit composed of cocky kids who became great heroes during the Korean War, when I told the story of how my dearly loved friend Jimmy Mayemura – whom I'd fought alongside of for almost a year – was killed. Suddenly, as two giant steel fists grabbed my chest and squeezed, I choked up in the conference room in front of the entire publishing team. Then tears started streaming down my cheeks. Grief I'd repressed for 52 years had totally overwhelmed me when I invoked my buddy Jimmy's name.
A few hours later, ironically, a woman called me out on “Larry King Live” for daring to smile as I was commenting on the war. Apparently, she saw this military correspondent as an unfeeling Attila the Hun, getting off on the gore that's been pouring out of the tube into most homes and offices.
Combat leaders are conditioned to always wear a positive face – and I've worn mine through eight Purple Hearts on several distant battlefields. If a leader projects doom and gloom, the morale factor that gets his troops through the crucible of combat will disappear faster than the Iraqi army.
Not to mention that we all had reason to smile at that moment over the relatively low casualties our side had suffered so far!
Regardless of how we feel about this war, we need to be responsive to and protective of any soldiers who take physical or emotional hits, as well as their loved ones sweating the operation from the home front. We all need to understand that the scars of war disappear from the hearts and minds of those who've either experienced them firsthand – or those who are their nearest and dearest – only when taps is finally played.
Marine Corps chopper pilot Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre was one of the first warriors to pay the ultimate price in the Iraqi War. His sister said, “You kind of get that sick feeling in your stomach” when she heard a Marine chopper had crashed. A sick feeling that got a lot worse a few hours later when a Marine knocked at her parents' door. And, of course, it's never going to go away.
America's warriors who fought in Korea, Vietnam and Gulf War I were used, then ignored and abused. Let's make sure the powers that be do right by today's heroes and their significant others when the troops come marching home.
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. © 2003 David H. Hackworth.
Sempers,
Roger
By David H. Hackworth
So far – except for an early, unprogrammed slam at Saddam Hussein when embedded U.S. spooks pinpointed the Butcher and his key brutes hunkering down in a Baghdad bunker – Operation Iraqi Freedom is proceeding on plan. And thanks to flexible leaders from George W. Bush on down and heroic U.S. Air Force and Navy combat crews with some very smart weapons, that particular command post is now one big, smoking crater.
Few war plans survive beyond the first shot, and battles seldom go smoothly, but this time around, the air campaign has been Star Wars brilliant, the ground phase straight Patton: “bypass, haul ass and damn the flank security.”
The bottom line is that our fighting forces are doing a whiz-bang job, even though their dusty trip has met a few deep potholes that combat muscle along our supply routes would fix. But we should still stay braced for bigger bumps on the road to Baghdad. The drive to the Iraqi capital city could be like compressing a huge spring, the resistance getting harder the closer we get to the war's main objective – unless The Mustached One is feeding worms.
Even in a worst-case scenario, the conflict should be comparable to Mike Tyson taking out Woody Allen. So far, most Iraqi soldiers are showing the same sorry fighting skills we saw during Desert Storm in 1991: hiding, running or waving white flags.
But hard or easy, there will still be a complex, bloody price. Wars always cost far more than the fallen warriors who come home on their shields. And often the emotional fallout that comes with the body blows takes months, if not years, to surface.
Only last week, my wife, Eilhys, and I were the featured players presenting a new book project at a command performance scheduled long before war reporting usurped our lives. I was just wrapping up our pitch about the 27th Wolfhound Raiders, a unit composed of cocky kids who became great heroes during the Korean War, when I told the story of how my dearly loved friend Jimmy Mayemura – whom I'd fought alongside of for almost a year – was killed. Suddenly, as two giant steel fists grabbed my chest and squeezed, I choked up in the conference room in front of the entire publishing team. Then tears started streaming down my cheeks. Grief I'd repressed for 52 years had totally overwhelmed me when I invoked my buddy Jimmy's name.
A few hours later, ironically, a woman called me out on “Larry King Live” for daring to smile as I was commenting on the war. Apparently, she saw this military correspondent as an unfeeling Attila the Hun, getting off on the gore that's been pouring out of the tube into most homes and offices.
Combat leaders are conditioned to always wear a positive face – and I've worn mine through eight Purple Hearts on several distant battlefields. If a leader projects doom and gloom, the morale factor that gets his troops through the crucible of combat will disappear faster than the Iraqi army.
Not to mention that we all had reason to smile at that moment over the relatively low casualties our side had suffered so far!
Regardless of how we feel about this war, we need to be responsive to and protective of any soldiers who take physical or emotional hits, as well as their loved ones sweating the operation from the home front. We all need to understand that the scars of war disappear from the hearts and minds of those who've either experienced them firsthand – or those who are their nearest and dearest – only when taps is finally played.
Marine Corps chopper pilot Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre was one of the first warriors to pay the ultimate price in the Iraqi War. His sister said, “You kind of get that sick feeling in your stomach” when she heard a Marine chopper had crashed. A sick feeling that got a lot worse a few hours later when a Marine knocked at her parents' door. And, of course, it's never going to go away.
America's warriors who fought in Korea, Vietnam and Gulf War I were used, then ignored and abused. Let's make sure the powers that be do right by today's heroes and their significant others when the troops come marching home.
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. © 2003 David H. Hackworth.
Sempers,
Roger