Friday, July 01, 2005
Professional Honor, Personal Pride
An Arms Developer and Merchant Stands Up
In recent days, a few pacifists have questioned and derided my former profession. Moreover, I was asked what I thought was the honor in being an arms developer and merchant. I answered this challenge with the following statement, modified to delete argumentation not relevant to this post. The only thing I would add after some reflection is the phrase …and have enormous pride …( as in, I see great honor and have enormous pride…)
I see great honor in defending one's family, one's people, and one's nation by helping the armed forces to perform their job better and better. War happens. It seems that each generation has its conflicts. "Be ready" is my motto.
I see great honor in saving our soldiers, sailors and airmen from having to fight close up and in the face of the enemy if it isn't needed, thus saving their lives and bodies from harm.
I see great honor in providing actionable battlefield and ocean intelligence about the enemy to the commanders in the field, in the air or at sea.
I see great honor in providing the troops and ships accurate and deadly direct and indirect fires, and deadly air defense systems over their heads.
I see great honor in improving battlefield, air and seagoing communications, command and control facilities to allow our forces to be better coordinated in battle.
I see great honor, in short, in helping to create an armed forces that is supreme on the battlefield, in the air and at sea.
I hope others are creating better weapons and sensors for asymmetric warfare now, since we have largely succeeded in our plans to be first on the conventional battlefield -- for the moment.
Technology is the key to the edge we currently enjoy, just as in wars immemorial: Steel beats iron beats bronze...
If my grandson, or his son, is to go to war, I want him going there with these advantages and more, the very best that can be devised. To do less would be criminal.
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I see great Honor in promoting Peace so your grandson does not have to fight or kill or die on some forsaken battlefield for the Death Machine that is the Mighty MIC. You fail to see your culpability. Age obviously does not have anything to with wisdom. People like me brought the boys home from nam just like we'll bring the boys home this time. We are the heroes. your fellow Human
Shame on you, Human! Do you realize the enormity of what you say? After the communists took over in Laos, Nam, and Cambodia there was a wholesale slaughter of those who appeared to support another form of government. It amounted to millions of DEATHS.
Had we stayed the course, we would have won, and would have saved those millions of lives. For shame!
Think on this now! Think Human, who is the wiser? You, who may have saved a thousand or so lives, or those who saw the consequences of the Communist takeover, and could have saved MILLIONS!? I choose to save millions every time, and to make the sacrifices of our men be worthwhile in this world. You must value American lives more than you value Asians.
That is not human. Open your eyes to the real world.
Had we stayed the course, we would have won, and would have saved those millions of lives. For shame!
Think on this now! Think Human, who is the wiser? You, who may have saved a thousand or so lives, or those who saw the consequences of the Communist takeover, and could have saved MILLIONS!? I choose to save millions every time, and to make the sacrifices of our men be worthwhile in this world. You must value American lives more than you value Asians.
That is not human. Open your eyes to the real world.
"After the communists took over in Laos, Nam, and Cambodia there was a wholesale slaughter of those who appeared to support another form of government. It amounted to millions of DEATHS.Had we stayed the course, we would have won, and would have saved those millions of lives." Nonsense. The former completely ignores the fact that the US involvement itself caused 3 million deaths, in Vietnam alone, of those who supported "another form of government" - a popularly elected one for the whole country, as previously agreed. It also massively destabilized the region. Nixon's illegal bombing of Cambodia, among other highly questionable excursions, contributed directly to the fall of that government. The latter claim you make is sheer "blue sky" speculation - wishful thinking - that can't be demonstrated as "realistic" in any way. It's just as likely those millions would have been sacrificed at American hands, had the US "stayed the course", along with tens of thousands MORE troops than the 59,000 already senselessly wasted there. Open YOUR eyes to the real world!
You should read up on the causes and effects of Nam. The original VC insurgency was practically defeated before the NV decided to send regulars into action, with direct Russian and Chinese support.
Thus, the war was caused by the insurgency and the invasion by the NV. They are therefore held responsible for the whole shebang, from start to finish. If our war killing machine was superior to theirs, that was their tough luck.
In the writings of Henry Kissenger, it is pointed out that we knew what would happen if we withdrew with near certainty, and tried to stem the tide of "Let's Quit" noise at that time, but the Left prevailed -- to their total shame. So historically, the massacres in Nam, Laos and Cambodia are on the heads of those who forced our withdrawal. Shame!
Thus, the war was caused by the insurgency and the invasion by the NV. They are therefore held responsible for the whole shebang, from start to finish. If our war killing machine was superior to theirs, that was their tough luck.
In the writings of Henry Kissenger, it is pointed out that we knew what would happen if we withdrew with near certainty, and tried to stem the tide of "Let's Quit" noise at that time, but the Left prevailed -- to their total shame. So historically, the massacres in Nam, Laos and Cambodia are on the heads of those who forced our withdrawal. Shame!
Yes, MK, the NV Communist leaders all admitted that they were ready to sue for peace and retire from SV just before we started serious noise about withdrawing ourselves, due to political pressure from anti-war groups. So they hung in there, we withdrew, and they won SV two years later. And simply killed or starved millions, there and in Laos and Cambodia.
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