by rawk » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:35 am
Hi
I posted some of this before about the Brits, but I think its relevant here. The British are not only by nature a warlike race but they have managed to institutionalise it into a way of life. Britain can punch above its weight because its armed forces are small but highly effective, mostly due to its unconscripted recruits citing their more favourite pastime as getting into a well organised punch up as part of their recreational weekend entertainment. As the Duke of Wellington remarked as he looked at the motley British regiments strung across the hillside at Waterloo, " They may not scare the French, but by God, they scare me!"
Blair is here today, gone tomorrow. The next PM will pick a fight somewhere to keep our forces up to speed, its a Brit thing, soldiers kept locked up in barracks or busy on rep[ressing civilian populations for dictators are crap at fighting, thats the secret. OK you have to police N. Ireland but then send them off to Liberia, Iraq any where there's combat, if there isn't a conflict, make one always keep a fight going somewhere, best training ever!
That's how the British forces are kept up to speed by this process, small professional army, airforce and navy, you can punch over your weight. The Yanks are crap because although they have great equipment, they rely on it too much and supplement their forces with reserves and National Guard, equivalent to conscripts. My mate was in Iraq, he said when the Iraqis flew over, the coalition forces dived for shelter, when the Brits flew over the Iraqis dived for shelter, when the Yanks flew over, everybody dived for shelter!
rawk