The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

William Astore Makes Lindsey Graham Sound Macho

Posted on | July 30, 2010 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Bio:
William Astore teaches History at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. He retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 2005, having taught at the Air Force Academy as well as the Naval Postgraduate School. He writes regularly for TomDispatch.com and History News Network.

He has a post entitled “Our Military’s Disturbing Transition to Warriors” with:

A subtle change has been happening right before the eyes of Americans. Our troops are being told they’re no longer primarily citizen-soldiers or citizen-airmen; they’re being told they’re warriors. Indeed, they’re reminded of this linguistic turn in “creeds” that many of them (and often their families) display with pride.

Zounds! What a doof! Take the airbrush down the hall to the Art Department dude: military == warrior. Sure, the emphasis on peace through superior firepower frees up substantial time for community relations work and disaster relief.

One commanding officer I served under briefly stated his command policy as “Rounds on target. Everything else is supporting.” Oh, is that insufficiently nuanced for you Astore?

Don’t make me sic Ralph Peters on you, man. They say he makes origami of your kind before breakfast.

Category: Uncategorized

Comments

12 Responses to “William Astore Makes Lindsey Graham Sound Macho”

  1. Thrasymachus
    July 30th, 2010 @ 3:06 pm

    I’m pretty sure he’s talking about the Army, and yes it’s lame, although not for the reasons he thinks. In the Army for some reason they can’t just have Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie Companies, they have to make it “Attack” or “Apache” or “Bigdog” or “Comanche” or “Cutthroat” or something like that because they think it sounds cooler. Same thing with “warriors”. In the Marines it’s always been just “Marines” because that name chills the hearts of evildoers everywhere.

  2. Thrasymachus
    July 30th, 2010 @ 11:06 am

    I’m pretty sure he’s talking about the Army, and yes it’s lame, although not for the reasons he thinks. In the Army for some reason they can’t just have Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie Companies, they have to make it “Attack” or “Apache” or “Bigdog” or “Comanche” or “Cutthroat” or something like that because they think it sounds cooler. Same thing with “warriors”. In the Marines it’s always been just “Marines” because that name chills the hearts of evildoers everywhere.

  3. richard mcenroe
    July 30th, 2010 @ 3:58 pm

    I sorta started worrying about the Air Force when they insisted the new-generation flight suit be trimmed with French lace…

    And Astore better never meet this guy…

  4. richard mcenroe
    July 30th, 2010 @ 11:58 am

    I sorta started worrying about the Air Force when they insisted the new-generation flight suit be trimmed with French lace…

    And Astore better never meet this guy…

  5. Jack Okie
    July 30th, 2010 @ 4:31 pm

    I’ve heard the Air Force wears uniforms to promote the fantasy they’re a military organization.

  6. Jack Okie
    July 30th, 2010 @ 12:31 pm

    I’ve heard the Air Force wears uniforms to promote the fantasy they’re a military organization.

  7. Ron Jones
    July 30th, 2010 @ 10:14 pm

    Wasn’t it George Washington who said “When we took up the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen.”

    While his delivery may fall somewhere between Lindsey Graham and a performer at Charlie Brown’s Cabaret… But he does have a point.

    Especially given the turn politics has taken of late (imagine… nostalgic for the Clinton years). What happens when those “Warriors” are redeployed to YOUR neighborhood?

  8. Ron Jones
    July 30th, 2010 @ 6:14 pm

    Wasn’t it George Washington who said “When we took up the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen.”

    While his delivery may fall somewhere between Lindsey Graham and a performer at Charlie Brown’s Cabaret… But he does have a point.

    Especially given the turn politics has taken of late (imagine… nostalgic for the Clinton years). What happens when those “Warriors” are redeployed to YOUR neighborhood?

  9. jdgjtr
    July 30th, 2010 @ 11:25 pm

    Actually, Marines that I knew served in Killer Kilo or the Third Herd, etc. Maybe not official nicknames, but most units have them. My ship was unofficially called War Pig. I have no problem with all branches of the military being reminded they are warriors. My last duty station, in the mid 80s, was a training command in Texas, where I was told I had a “job”. I figured my “job” was defending the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Most of the people there had “jobs” instead of being a warrior. They didn’t join to serve their country, they joined to learn to work on airplanes.

  10. jdgjtr
    July 30th, 2010 @ 7:25 pm

    Actually, Marines that I knew served in Killer Kilo or the Third Herd, etc. Maybe not official nicknames, but most units have them. My ship was unofficially called War Pig. I have no problem with all branches of the military being reminded they are warriors. My last duty station, in the mid 80s, was a training command in Texas, where I was told I had a “job”. I figured my “job” was defending the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Most of the people there had “jobs” instead of being a warrior. They didn’t join to serve their country, they joined to learn to work on airplanes.

  11. Dandapani
    August 5th, 2010 @ 9:06 am

    I have no trouble that our military is there to blow up stuff and kill things.

  12. Dandapani
    August 5th, 2010 @ 5:06 am

    I have no trouble that our military is there to blow up stuff and kill things.