This Man's Army

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

The start of summer is here and I have just finished a book I bought yesterday called :
This Man's Army.'' by Andrew Exum It's a memoir aout an Army officer's short but good career in the US Army during Operation Anaconda. The writing style is first person and written in a layman's fashion. Its very easy to read. He describes what life is and was like as an Infantry officer,describing events in a vivid and humorous details. I personally laughed at times because alot of the book really transends military occupations and culture. If you want a good and fast read as well as getting a look into the military pick this one up. :)

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

dola: the book is a memoir and gives you a look mainly into the mind of an infantry plt. leader. My only gripe is that the book revolves around him and 35 other guys in the platoon. I would ave liked it more if he described his whole platoon instead of just a few soldiers. Oh and he also showed disdain towards Rear Echelon support troops , describing them as fat, lazy, etc.

[JonInMiddleGA]

he also showed disdain towards Rear Echelon support troops , describing them as fat, lazy, etc.

What a shock, a grunt who doesn't like REMF's ;)

[st.cronin]

Operation Anaconda is...?

[flere-imsaho]

Operation Anaconda is...?

Broadly speaking, I believe it was the follow-up operation to "mop up" scattered Taliban & Al-Qaida forces in Afghanistan. Link. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Anaconda)

My brother (Army National Guard) says they get shit on, on a regular basis by the "Active" guys, too. However, he's now going to be acting as support for a group of Marines, which he says is even worse.

[judicial clerk]

he's now going to be acting as support for a group of Marines, which he says is even worse.
Haha. Marines can make you feel two inches tall.

Oh and he also showed disdain towards Rear Echelon support troops , describing them as fat, lazy, etc. Whatever. "Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics." -Napoleon.

[flere-imsaho]

Haha. Marines can make you feel two inches tall.

It's not that. He has a highly-developed sense of self-worth that no Marine is going to take down. It's more that the Marines he's supporting are ultra-violent wackos that they get everybody into danger.

The Marines he's supporting have been in Iraq for a while. His Guard group is going in to bolster another Guard group that's essentially been supporting these Marines for a while.

Generally the Marines have been doing missions a good way from their base, and the Guard unit has mostly served to protect them while in base, as well as bail them out when they get into too much trouble. On the side, the Guard unit had done a good job with the locals, and had built up a network of contacts that led to a number of arrests and decreased insurgent activity.

Unfortunately, the Marines at one point decided to start taking an interest in local security, since they viewed themselves as the "professionals", and started kicking in doors and dragging people out of their homes in the middle of the night. As a result, the Guard's network of contacts has dried up and insurgent activity has increased.

Needless to say, the Guard in this case doesn't think very highly of the Marines. Add to that the fact that most of the Guard folks are in their 30s and 40s and have families, responsible jobs and college degrees, while the Marines in question are barely 20 and can't speak in full sentences, and I think you begin to see the problem.

[Raiders Army]

I have a great deal of respect for Marines. They dug in one of my sites and did a much better job than Army National Guard guys. They also did it in far less time. Marines= 1.5 days; ANG = 3 weeks

[flere-imsaho]

I have a great deal of respect for Marines. They dug in one of my sites and did a much better job than Army National Guard guys. They also did it in far less time. Marines= 1.5 days; ANG = 3 weeks

Well, clearly there are groups (in both services) who are better or worse. Or even better or worse at certain things.

I've got a great deal of respect for the Marines as well. But it's always been my belief that the role of the Marines, both historically and what they train for, is to be shock troops. At that, they're really good, probably the best. But they have no business being "peacekeepers", which is, I believe, a problem writ large in Iraq.

[JonInMiddleGA]

But they have no business being "peacekeepers", which is, I believe, a problem writ large in Iraq.

As a minor aside, I don't believe that's a problem unique to the Marines. Relatively few of our armed forces units have "peacekeeping" as a primary mission and I'm not sure that limited training in the subject is adequate for the task. And I dunno if we have enough MP's, etc. to cover it either.

[flere-imsaho]

Fair enough.