“Journalist and best-selling author Sebastian Junger discusses his book, “War,” an account of his time with a US Army platoon on the battlefields of Afghanistan. For one year, in 2007–2008, Sebastian Junger accompanied 30 men–a single platoon–from the storied 2nd battalion of the US Army as they fought their way through a remote valley in eastern Afghanistan. Over the course of five trips, Junger was in more firefights than he could count, as men he knew were killed or wounded and he himself was almost killed. This lecture contains graphic language.”
Is there any evidence that someone involved in a competitive sport or game has a mental state substantially different from that of a soldier in combat?
T. Beholder: Phileas Frogg says: The, “Russia is backwards and militarily incompetent,” bit is a recurring narrative among the Western military class that crops up every few decades As Saltykov-Schedrin joked, “You think about us Russians: northern bears! And we meanwhile have terminology…” Well, yes, but in this case we see a more amusing “they are damn tough…” (runs off to overeagerly gather morbid rumors) “…but at least we are morally superior, so there!”. It’s hard to be speshul....
Phileas Frogg: The, “Russia is backwards and militarily incompetent,” bit is a recurring narrative among the Western military class that crops up every few decades after a sufficient number of individuals with real experience fighting Russians has died. It happened during the Great Northern War, the Napoleonic Wars, WWII, and it’s happening again today. The pattern goes as follows: - Russia visibly falls behind in some capacity - A Western power trounces Russia, or else Russia struggles...
T. Beholder: …reverse-engineered after the Iranian Shahed-136. Why not just license Harop, which after all had results? https://www.isegoria.net /2024/10/the-armenians-b asked-in-the-glories-of- their-past-victories-and -prepared-for-a-repeat-o f-the-first-war/ The platforms are also immensely more cost-effective — and scalable — compared to the more advanced munitions in the U.S. arsenal …and even products of Israeli R&D, which must be noticeably healthier (between presence of HAMAS and absence of...
T. Beholder: General Eisenhower wrote of his own feeling of shock on hearing Marshal Zhukov say that the Russians did not bother to clear minefields; thev marched their infantry across the mined area and took their losses. Much less of a shock for anyone who has read anything about Zhukov produced neither by himself (actually mostly by ghostwriters, but he checked and directed v.1.0 of his “autobiography” personally) nor by Brezhnev era GlavPur drudges. “Unknown Zhukov” by Sokolov (2000) is fairly good,...
John Dougan: It’s an excellent talk and quite revealing. As I’ve said before he still is thinking of himself as an insurance agent who writes, and not “best-selling author Tom Clancy”.
Isegoria: The hot subsonic round right now is the 8.6mm Blackout.
T. Beholder: Product placement, yes. Which helped to keep some oddities (including recoilless rifles and gyrojets) remembered. Fallout jumped on 10mm too. Then again, for subsonic variants those heavier bullets were more suitable. Oh, and the high caliber fashion may be back, with high-caliber intermediate rounds like .50 Beowulf or .499 LWR or 12.7x55mm this time.
Isegoria: S.L.A. Marshall earlier made the point that training with a heavier load didn’t improve soldiers’ ability to march with such a load, which caught my attention. I suspect that lifting weights would help, but that was almost unthinkable at the time.
Bruce: I’ve believed this stuff for years. I said so to a vet who smashed his knee jumping for cover. He landed wrong, felt his knee go, and then the weight of the pack came down. So he’s limping for life. I told him I thought carrying a quartermaster’s shop on your back under fire was a bad idea. He said it was a good idea. Sometimes transportation breaks down. This probably won’t ever be decided. Play different lose different.
T. Beholder: Voxday stopped clowning and started posting coherent and to the point analysis. This is not a drill! Mike in Boston says: That’s why the US launched the “Maidan” coup against the elected Ukrainian government. You think the CIA isn’t ready to run the same play in Taiwan? Obviously, another “color revolution” coup is possible. This would stave off any closer dealing with China, sure. But what would they do next? China in turn would have options to either overthrow it quickly while the junta is...
T. Beholder: Kgaard says: I’ve always wondered what happened to soldiers when they got attacks of sciatica from those heavy loads. The drills probably helped to prepare for march with the usual load well enough. If it still happened, just one more illness commonly contributing to non-combat losses. At least, easier to deal with than dysentery.
Mike in Boston: ”[The US] cannot defend a government that does not wish to be defended. It cannot maintain an alliance with a country whose leadership has chosen the other side.” That’s why the US launched the “Maidan” coup against the elected Ukrainian government. You think the CIA isn’t ready to run the same play in Taiwan?
Phileas Frogg: Isegoria, Great article, and I agree wholeheartedly with its thesis. Aimee was a chaotic dumpster fire in her personal life, but the rigor and discipline she imposed on us in class was nuts by modern standards. We had to memorize and give examples of over 75 literary devices, essays were edited and refined ad nauseam, and the end of the year poetry project was a bear; 12 poetic analyses, 2 pages each, 9 assigned, 3 of our own choosing, with strict guidelines and a rubric on how to...
Isegoria: I’m reminded of the case against Dead Poets Society.
Phileas Frogg: Isegoria, I had a phenomenal 9th grade English teacher who introduced us to T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, and W.H. Auden, and got my friends and I regularly writing short stories for fun in our spare time. Amazing woman. She ended up pregnant with her 2nd child, abandoned by her boyfriend (who cleared out her bank accounts before leaving), addicted to drugs, got fired and ended up homeless. Best English teacher I’ve ever seen, but life just wrecked her. I’ll always be grateful for...
Isegoria: I don’t remember any 20th-Century poetry being taught in school — except Robert Frost.
Albion: There is something about what might be called the ‘Golden age of popular poetry’ — alas, long since faded — where vaudeville and radio brought poems and ballads to the attention of millions. Robert Service was one, and of course, Rudyard Kipling another who made people listen. The appeal was these poems could be remembered because they had not only rhythm but also a certain cleverness, which appealed to many. I sometimes find myself reciting parts of these poems but alas, can only...
Bob Sykes: I am astonished you had to look up Robert Service. I suppose this reflects the death of poetry since WW II. The last refuge of the poet was popular music, but even that was replaced by Rap a generation ago.
Related: Why Men Love War by William Broyles.
Also Junger, War in Afghanistan (47 min):
“Journalist and best-selling author Sebastian Junger discusses his book, “War,” an account of his time with a US Army platoon on the battlefields of Afghanistan. For one year, in 2007–2008, Sebastian Junger accompanied 30 men–a single platoon–from the storied 2nd battalion of the US Army as they fought their way through a remote valley in eastern Afghanistan. Over the course of five trips, Junger was in more firefights than he could count, as men he knew were killed or wounded and he himself was almost killed. This lecture contains graphic language.”
Is there any evidence that someone involved in a competitive sport or game has a mental state substantially different from that of a soldier in combat?