Sublime Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 (edited) No I understand the point completely and even different US units obviously have varying opinions of theres and or crappy track records. I was trying to generate discussion on something Im genuinely curious about, after all the British CO of troops in Afghanistan was asked by some ass reporter if he thought they.d been defeated to which he got pretty visibly angry. Obviously they werent defeated but I am curious about the events in the Helmand Province in that time period (2008 to er.. 12 I believe) and whether or why the province was transferred to US ANA control. Was it merely rotational or was it something else? A command spat perhaps. I dont know, perhaps a Petraeus type thing.I mean minor details in stories before have surprised me quite a bit. For example I thought we really pulled out of Iraq besides some CIA types and embassy people. Until that base got attacked recently. I also thought the military as a rule transferred ground combat units in and out as an entire unit. Apparently not as often as you.d think as Ive met two people who were dropped into units mid deployment almost ( way more streamlined and comfortable ) like Vietnam or the repple depple in WW2. ( oh yes another famous US disaster. That system of replacement ) I highlit the incident that I specifically recalled at the time. Id heard other things too. Of course those were anecdotal or some press idiot. And again you act as if I dont know about incredibly.dumb or inane US actions like the Rapido in WW2 or what was going on at Abu Ghraib for awhile. While yes Im definitely western biased I if nothing genuinely have an interest and like in English and Irish culture tv and militaria. Just because I want to discuss the possible bad with the good doesnt mean Im bashing England anymore than pointing out Russia really invaded Ukraine makes any of us Russian haters. I mean should I talk about every US My Lai or " Butcher of the Delta " to establish my anti US credentials before I can criticize US allies or am I only allowed to do so against Russia or Nazi Germany? Edited May 28, 2016 by Sublime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Let me put it this way. Think about it in racial terms and see if you can understand it better... "I was talking with some friends of mine who worked with some black guys once. They said they were lazy and sat around eating chicken all day instead of working. I've never worked with any black people and so I was surprised to hear they might be lazy. Is there any truth to this?". If you're curious about military culture, that's a good thing. If you're curious about other military cultures, that's even better. Though this probably isn't the best thread for it and definitely starting off your inquiry by repeating something that you seem to be educated enough to know isn't relevant gets things going in the wrong direction. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammersix Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 (edited) 34 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said: Let me put it this way. Think about it in racial terms and see if you can understand it better... Comparing military culture to any culture based on race is one of the most foolish things I've read on this board, second only to the suggestion that one think of military culture in racial terms. It simply isn't a valid comparison. One is a choice, the other a state. One is permanent, the other subject to change. The list of differences is endless. A sweeping generality can have validity when applied to a military, a military unit, or a military culture at a given time, era, location or period. Sublime's comments may annoy you, personally, for whatever reason, but your reasoning is not valid, and you handled it poorly. Really poorly. Edited May 28, 2016 by Jammersix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Oh for pete's sake! Talk about not getting my point. I'm not equating the two things in ANY WAY except for illustrating that it's equally ill thought out to make a generalized, sweeping statement about a HUGE group of people based on a couple of comments that should have been dismissed as the usual BS. Whether the statements are about race, ethnicity, military culture... doesn't matter. I chose my racial example because most people (thankfully) quickly see how harmful that sort of logic is. As for exploring generalities, sure, that's fine. People do it all the time on this forum as well as in the rest of society. But be sensitive about how it is done. Did I over react to Sublime's comments? Perhaps, but after managing this forum for 17 years I can say I've seen things like this get pretty damned unpleasant pretty quickly over national/cultural stereotype comments. And since a couple of posters were already picking up on the vibe and Sublime (unintentionally I'm sure) poured more gasoline on the fire he lit (unintentionally I'm sure), the responsible thing to do was to try and straighten it out. I could have locked it, but then people tend to whine about me clamping down too quickly. Sigh... never going to please everybody every time, but at least I try to keep these forums civil and respectful. And with that I am locking this. It was WAY off topic even before things went off the rails. No saving it now. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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