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Korea
May 16, 2015 11:27:15 GMT -6
Post by quincannon on May 16, 2015 11:27:15 GMT -6
Not so sure about the demise of light Infantry Tom. Looking at this latest reorganization we see a general lightening of the force. Carson for instance has gone from three heavy brigades, to today having one heavy, one light, one Stryker.
I don't have much heartburn with Infantry in Strykers, for if you look at the MTO&Es, they are organized in such a manner as to leave the Strykers behind and fully function as light Infantry without any internal or external reorganization. As long as they don't use a Stryker and think it's a tank, I look at it as additional capability, not any heavy up of the force.
They still do with patches Tom. On the combat uniform your unit patch is worn on the left arm, (no Fred it is not the shoulder anymore) and the patch of the unit you were with in combat is worn on the right arm. This seems and is silly on a combat uniform, and the only thing I can conclude is that the sight of the four leafed Ivy, Big Red One, or Horse Blanket is designed to scare the enemy to death. Fat chance. Stupid silly practice.
Shoulder patches are no longer worn on the dress uniform as that uniform has transitioned from green to blue. The combat identifier badge ( a metal device that duplicates the patch) is worn centered on the right pocket, I suppose for the purpose of the one eyed eagle impressing all the girls of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Idiotic horse hockey the whole of it, but don't you dare screw around with my Indianhead.
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Korea
May 18, 2015 6:35:52 GMT -6
Post by mac on May 18, 2015 6:35:52 GMT -6
I am in agreement with what Montrose stated by PM. Infantry, Armor (including those units of Armor with reconnaissance missions we call cavalry) will merge into a Maneuver Branch, and the hard part is already done with the advent of the combined arms battalion. The Infantry and Armor Schools are right down the road from each other at Benning, one on main post and the other in a brand new complex at Harmony Church. The old Infantry School is now the Maneuver Center and the schools of Infantry and Armor are now subordinate to the MCOE commander. Many if not most of our officer assigned to "cavalry" units are now Infantry Branch, and rightly so, because of the general lightening up of the equipment of those units. Cavalry today has become the ground component of reconnaissance, and is or will soon be fully integrated with all information gathering assets regardless of branch, service, or national asset, regardless of where the come from. Artillery, I think, could be fully integrated into a future maneuver branch as well, and Will if you see this please PM me with the argument they made to stay out When we find a way to extend the range of the simple, relatively light weight, easily transportable mortar to 30 plus kilometers, and we will, the artillery can hang up their rammer staffs and find new employment. Warfare Ian is as different today from WWII as WWII was from the Teutoburger Wald. What the Brits, Americans and Germans faced in the Villers Bocage, or Saint Lo, is nearly irrelevant to today, save for an examination of decisions made and successes achieved or failures endured. The U S Army could divorce itself from all this regimental nonsense, and very simply. If you want a battalion in the 1st Division to historical decent from the 18th Infantry Regiment, you designate it the 18th Infantry Battalion, carrying the history and trinkets of the former regiment and call it a day. You remove the fiction AND the regimental fan boys (and if you think Custer has fan boys, you have seen nothing until you see the number of them that come out of the woodwork, when a special favorite is on the chopping block) KISS, KISS and more KISS. Keep it Simple Stupid. Sometimes I get so frustrated with this stuff I feel like digging up Mary Lee Stubbs and standing her in the corner face to the wall with a dunce cap on her head. There ain't no such thing as winning a battle by simply showing your enemy the brightly colored ribbons appended to your Colors. This is how technological progress works. Find a way, not to do the same thing, but to do the same kind of thing plus a bit better as well. It is probably inevitable. Cheers
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Korea
May 18, 2015 10:32:38 GMT -6
Post by quincannon on May 18, 2015 10:32:38 GMT -6
Mac: As soon as you are satisfied with anything in life, your next step is backward.
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Korea
May 21, 2015 20:43:56 GMT -6
Post by dave on May 21, 2015 20:43:56 GMT -6
I have been reading about the Korean War and increasing my knowledge and understanding of this dirty nasty war---not a police action---and the leading participants. I am still amazed as to how MacArthur escaped being held accountable as to these aspects: 1) Complete surprise as to the Inmin Gun's attack 2) Unprepared 8th Army. Ill equipped/manned 3) Failing to recognized Chinese troops in Korea. In fact over 100,000 Chinese troops appeared on maps over night after MacArthur's staff said they were not in Korea which resulted in the 1st Marine Division being nearly surrounded at Chosin Reservoir.
I am aware that Truman as the CIC is responsible for MacArthur's 8th Army being understrength and allowing Louis Johnson to cut the budgets of the armed forces. But MacArthur glides through just like he did in 1941. Even with news of the Pearl Harbor attack he was not prepared for the Japanese attack on the Philippines but Roosevelt kept him although he replaced the Hawaii commanders. Regards Dave
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Korea
May 21, 2015 22:02:47 GMT -6
Post by quincannon on May 21, 2015 22:02:47 GMT -6
MacArthur built four political relationships from the 1930's on, the Philippine Government, The Japanese Government, The Nationalist Chinese Government, and the Republican Party leadership. These together made him damned near bullet proof. The two guys in Hawaii were expendable, while MacArthur could play the fool and get away with it. Plus, and it is a big plus, he had a press machine that surpassed everyone else including that other dipwad I cannot abide Mark Clark.
Johnson was a disaster, and Truman hired him so he alone is responsible, but Congress holds the mandate to raise and maintain the Armed Forces, so they too share every bit as much blame as Truman/Johnson.
MacArthur's G-2 (Intelligence) and G-3 (Operations) were old Philippines buddies to whom he listened, and for the life of me I can't understand why. His Chief of Staff, Almond, was a racist pig, who thought Chinese laundrymen (his words, not mine) were some manner of sub human species, in much the same way he thought Black American soldiers were. Almond commanded the 92nd Buffalo Infantry Division, and said he was given the job because he was from Virginia and he knew how to keep dem n****s in line. The 92nd was without doubt the worst infantry division in the European-North African Theater of Operations, much worse than the one I love to despise, the 28th, and rivaled only by the 93rd in the Pacific and for the same reasons. So the tale is told, MacArthur the supreme egomaniac, is surrounded by three total incompetents in the three most critical position in FECOM.
Walker was on his last tour, and probably a younger, much more fit man would have been a better choice for 8th Army. He did not have any all stars on his staff either, the worst probably being Gene Landrum, who in WWII had been busted back to Colonel and sent home after he fell on his face with the 90th ID in France. MacArthur also did not like anyone who had served in Europe in WWII, in fact not like is much too mild.
Someone ought to ask a battalion of the 8th Cavalry if there were any Chinese in Korea a month before Chosin.
How in the name of Christ could anyone be surprised by the Immun Gun's attack when South and North Korea had been at war since 1946?
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