The uniform better work as good as they say. Mens' lives depened on it. If they send a man into the battle feid wearing that uniform then that means that all these years of hard work for nothing.

i would be nice if that miracle armor came out before 2030 im joing the millatart before then

...about that armor stuff i heard that japan made a suit that has a camera on the front and back along with projectors so its will look like your looking right through the person

ofcourse not ideal for special ops who would go in the dark..><

but it is a good idea

Hmm... it wont matter, any major war fought now is all bombs, soldiers are just there to occupy - thats why WWII was the last great war... i mean there still is some small arms fighting but not as much as there used to be or I'd like to see, rather then bombs blowing up innocent people.

Originally Posted by Popeye

but not as much as there used to be or I'd like to see, rather then bombs blowing up innocent people.

Ok, first of all, what the heck do you mean by wanting to see more ground combat? You'd like to see more of our troops in danger than is neccesary? All these new weapons systems we spend billions developing are intended to STOP our servicemen from being placed in harm's way any more than is absolutely needed. We don't need to put boots on the ground to do a job a cruise missile or an Air Force bomber can just as easily do with no loss of American lives.

And in the same vein, these "bombs blowing up innocent people" are becoming a thing of the past, I believe that 90% (if someone has the exact figure, please let me know) of the bombs we dropped in Iraq were "smart" weapons.

"Wonder weapons? Thank God I don't see the wonder in them. Killing without heroics? Nothing is glorified? Nothing is reaffirmed? No heroes? No cowards? No troops? No generals? Only those who are left alive and those who are left...dead? I'm glad I won't live to see it."
-General George S. Patton, Jr.

It's the sacrifice of the soldier that makes war a regretable thing. I hate the fact that everyone has the unfair advantage of smart bombs and precision missiles. I often wish military armory hadn't progressed after WW2. It was the last great war because it was the last anyone will appreciate because of the sacrifice it took to do such a great thing. Without hardship there is no appreciation for what you have and how you got there. If we start to fight wars with mech warriors so we don't have to lose troops then the only thing we will have accomplished is to change the enemy's target from the soldier protecting us to the civilian himself. War is not won by defeating an army it is won by making your enemy regret first that he had tangled with you. There is no regret when a $1 million bomb blows up or a unmanned airplane is shot down. We won the revolutionary war, civil war, WW1, WW2, korean war, vietnam war, and Persian Gulf War because we made them regret their body count before we regretted ours. It won't be that way much longer if we keep removing the soldier from the field because then we will begin to deal with more 9/11 situations where we relearned what sacrifice is. The soldier is one of the most honorable occupations a person can have BECAUSE of the fact that they are willing to unselfishly give up their lives for something greater than themselves. When we have no one to do this than there is nothing great any more.

Once you've had steel coming downrange, and you have "sacrificed" yourself, you may have the right to say something like that. You will still be wrong, however. There is nothing glorious about death in and of itself. The glory comes from one's actions while alive, and no amount of applause or shiny things on your chest should be worth that ultimate price. Many things are worthy of dying for, but glory is not one of them.


And Patton was a bit of a nut, a genius of a general, but still nuttier than a pet coon in some respects (like his being the reincarnation of Alexander the Great).

I haven't had steel come downrange at me but Patton has more combat experience than anyone on this board so I'd take his word for it before anyone elses.

Patton said those words about 60 years ago....
He was a great General, but I don't believe he would have said the same thing today, if he was alive now...

diplomatic, you go get em. War is never about pride or glory, that's just what we tell the kids to get them to go.

Ever read Wilfred Owen?

Here's the last paragraph of "Dulce et decorum est"

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.