dieseltaylor

As half the Economists sales are in the US and I would think it reasonably likely the journalist could be American I do not get to eager to ascribe a nationality. I simply do not see the article as particularly lauding the Brits over the Yanks. If that were the aim of the article I am sure it could have been punchier and not mentioned any plus points. I suppose if the article had compared the US Army to the Japanese contingent, or Spanish it may have been less contentious for some but a lot less useful to the vast majority of readers who are primarily American or British.

Nidan I am not being too rash in suggesting that understanding your enemy has always been seen as a good thing so as to take most advantage of them. I think the article is actually very positive about what the US Army is doing now and the article would be all the less if it did not mention the past faults, and yes the British also. As for journalists lying I assume most of them do however in certain journals you tend to believe that accuracy, and not being caught out, are far more important. This story is not important enough I suggest for anyone to risk their career on. You believe otherwise. With regard to the US view of the world I can only go by the National Geographic survey which is I suspect a reasonable indicator of knowledge National Geographic survey I understand that with manpower low and enlistment targets being missed that the requirement that people complete high school has been watered down and is hovering about 10% of enlistees . Furthermore that a blind eye is in place so that unsatisfactory soldiers are not being discharged in Iraq. Having said that I still do not view the average US Army soldier as badly as you appear to. It does seem to me that it would be wise to restrict Navy and Air Force recruitment as I assume the more intelligent sign up with them for all the benefits and none of the danger. Interesting info here zmag Washington Post

Your first link goes to M$oft! The other one works fine. Excellent stuff.

PBEMHelper here Helper

Steve I re-read the article and was surprised by how little of it actually mentioned the British or lauded them. Comments on such as "The 1976 edition of “Operations”, the standard manual of best practice in warfare, did not mention counter-insurgency, and the army's dedicated counter-insurgency doctrine manual was last rewritten in 1965. But the section of the current edition of “Operations” dealing with counter-insurgency is now being revised, and a new version of the counter-insurgency manual, written with British help, was distributed as an interim draft on October 1st." Shows a lack of forward planning - especially given Somalia "In Afghanistan's violent Helmand province, an American special-forces captain—with broad experience of counter-insurgency—analysed his furtive Taliban enemies thus: “They're cowards. Why don't they step up and fight like men?” Apparently, he had not considered how he might fight if he had no armour, no radio, an ancient rifle and the sure knowledge that if he fought like a man, he would be obliterated in minutes." Shows remarkable stupidity - to believe it, to say it to a journalist - doubly stupid. However I have no doubt that there are a lot of good men out there and some very fast learning going on and it will benefit the US Army. I have a slight niggle that the US Army perhaps suffers from a surfeit of not too bright GI's who have no interest in the cause, or feel that understanding Iraqi's is of any benefit whatsoever.

"Do you know how many Frenchmen it takes to defend Paris? It's not known, it's never been tried." Rep. R. Blount (MO) History not his strong point then. It was tried and the answer is 146,000 1870-1871.

Steve you may not agree with the article but your grasp on history and the British Empire seems more than a little askew. "British ejected from Israel" only too eager to leave I think you will find. Your reference to African countries makes me curious as to which African countries have been blessed with good government in the last 100 years. As you say it is not the British ones tell me which ones have been OK. To more recent history the "jail break" I understand that the "police" were not to be relied upon to keep the men safe. To see who is correct will no doubt come out in time ... however if this helps you

pBEMHelper files all the movies in a single folder. You can then set it up from the beginning and pressing a single key will advance from one of your movies direct to the next one. Great for AAr or working out if you missed something ina previous turn Brilliant and free, and does loads of other things too http://www.nic.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm

I use PBEMhelper which allows me to send it normally, send it as a Zip, or send it as a PBM file - and all of this done automatically once I tell it how I wish that particular game sent. And of course you can wrap it and then send it via your normal e-mail program : )

John Kettler has suggested I repost the link here aswell as the GF as it is perhaps more relevant to you lot : ) web page

Do not write off ATG's so easily. I have had one of them take out 6 tanks in a rich battlefield environment. Whether it is because I was dropping 105mm on them or the infantry firing at them it seemed to work just fine ............. of course he was keyholing. And it was against a human.

Both guides sent From the Primer by Krag [ynosky] "IMPORTANT! If you’re using a web based email account other than Microsoft’s Hotmail you’re not able to let PBEM handle your email sending. You can only use PBEM Helper to automate the loading of turns, but you will have to manually send the turns to your opponent! If you ARE using MS Hotmail as a web based mail provider, there’s still an opportunity to experience the ‘full PBEM Helper experience’!  Please refer to ‘Microsoft’s Hotmail and PBEM Helper’ section further down this document for more details. (Credits go out to Sivodsi Glow for pointing out this issue! Thanks!)" I imagine then you may still be able to play fast & trusted and all other features work other than the sending. No big problem then.

Elmar Stick with it. I will send you the two help manuals written to guide players to the promised land : ) Believe me I have easily saved two weeks of my life with all the speedy bits it does: Filing all old moves in their own folders Running through all the films - a key press a film Trusted mode for saving lots of crappy e-mailing Starting the game with a single click from e-mail to Helper, and another click to game running

Tiger Valley has been the most fun/interesting game I have played all year! Thanks Richie.

Firstly - size of map - are there flanks effective range of likely opposition range of LOS on board accounting for terrain[hills and vales] and trees ..... and weather Are the flags important in the context of total scoring [4000 point game 600 points of flags!] Then, and only then do I decide on my tactics. It miht be ...the map stinks ... what is the minimum I have to do to get a draw : )

Makes note. Hide squad in ambush position behind trench about 200 metres : )

So whats wrong with CMAK then?

http://forums.mzocentral.net//index.php?showforum=120 The MZO comparative battles is a great insight into various "generals" thoughts on how to do the same battle. You can play the battle first to see how you do ..... The site is very down on what it used to be but those comparative battles and the graphics put up by POS showing sighting distances etc are very very useful for noobies. Off hand I think I only played the first or second of the comparative battles and I know some posted some very detailed rationales to whichever one I posted on : ) I have been playing pretty much since CMBO came out but still found the site worthwhile to go to.

52 in a recent HSG scenario to a 150mm battery. One I did not see but a close friend and his nephew played was in CMBO. Mark was an infantry rusher to the flag maniac. Entire force - I believe six platoons occupies small town with extreme speed. Shortly afterwards entire town disappears to 14" salvoes : )

I have many many complete series of moves/movies from th eoff but they are not annotated in any way. If I use PBEMHelper in movie mode I can flick from one minutes film to the next film within a second or two. Very useful if you are writing AAR's : ) I have written brief AAr's for ROW but not relating to turn by turn decisions. I can send them to you but depending on the battle some files are over a megabyte , times 30 files about.

Snipers are very diffcult to spot therefore not only good intelligence but the possibility of killing something juicy : )

Ditto

http://www.nic.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm For PBEMHelper which automates the filing and sending of e-mails . The greatest free gift to the CM community : ) If you have a trusted opponent you can get teo moves and two films per sent e-mail - really the best way to play : )

http://www.nic.fi/~fuerte/pbem.htm For PBEMHelper which automates the filing and sending of e-mails . The greatest free gift to the CM community : ) If you have a trusted opponent you can get teo moves and two films per sent e-mail - really the best way to play : )

I wonder if the survivability of guns in trenches as compared to pillboxes is a reflection on the limited amount of plunging fire that you see in games? I have had MG's in trenches suppressed by multiple enemy firing small arms but never whilst in a bunker .... is this the difference? What experiments did you carry out Matt?