[May 14, 2020] Army Vet writes to us today about the importance of strength and honor; that we lack these virtues and are suffering for it. He also emphasizes a common theme of his … that weak leaders are more common than we might think and they do serious harm.
Strength and the next battle: I have never advocated war except as a means of peace. Yeah, you heard that before and it was Union General Ulysses S. Grant writing about the U.S. Civil War a few years after the Confederacy surrendered. He learned a lot in battle, the hard way, and that the common condition of mankind is war. War is forever, peace only a brief respite to gather our strength, shore up our honor, and prepare for the next fight which is always on the horizon. Our problem? We have weak leaders during peacetime; effete, ignorant, artificial, mousy, and lousy; they infect our established political, economic, and military systems at every turn. Only war flushes them out into the open where we can see them and throw their asses out. If only we still had tarring and feathering as a form of public humiliation; punishment by the masses had its uses and it got the attention of those weak leaders who do us harm. Actually, I prefer to crush enemies of American like the bugs they are with overwhelming strength. Me? I’m prepared for the next battle.
There is no substitute for honor: I have been around a long time and see what war does to men. Being in the battle trenches with other soldiers who are part of your combat team is the height of living. You are alive. You see more, do more, and live more in those moments than sitting in your rocking chair, dreaming about dinner and comfortable shoes. Honor! Some dumb-ass once told me to my face that honor is for idiots; only making money and having a ‘honey’ in your bedroom is what matters. I punched him in the face. I couldn’t stand looking at his smug face anymore after listening him go on about how the American military is for suckers who can’t get a job anywhere else. I broke two fingers and also his jaw but it was worth it to see him crumple to the ground like the wet dishrag he was. Honor is what motivates us and keeps us going when there is nothing else. Without honor, the highest achievement is without value. Without honor, having everything means nothing. Honor is a tribute to man’s ability to survive and win. Weak leaders don’t have it but they desperately need it.
Weak leaders need their butts kicked: Scrawny, pathetic, useless leaders are universal and I see them making our lives difficult with decisions that benefit special interest groups, themselves and their own families, and kowtow to the rich and famous. Oh, I won’t get distracted by those Hollywood types who are convinced they are morally superior to the rest of us and look down their plastic-surgery-fitted noses upon us untermensch. They can smell us walking! In the United States we value faith, freedom, and family. Weak leaders, as you may not have noticed, don’t value these vital American assets. The results? Failure to achieve the good life; freedom to feel the sun and wind in our faces, to know your kids are healthy and happy, and that some government bureaucrat is not sending the FBI to spy on them like they did to General Michael Flynn. Yeah, he was railroaded because the White House was staffed by a bunch of no-good-for-nothing weasels. Weak leaders are like cockroaches; hiding in the dark and eating your food. You know what to do with cockroaches.
This is a great article that made me laugh (a lot) and cry (almost). Thank you so very much, Gen. Satterfield for introducing me to Army Vet.
Yes, I agree Otto this is a really entertaining one. I suggest that Army Vet become a regular contributor to this leadership blog. Army Vet gives so much entertainment value and educational whack in the head that more should be reading about what he is thinking. Keep up your great works, Army Vet. We are all big fans of yours.
Hi Army Vet, and great to have you back. Please write more articles for this blog. Or, better yet, start your own blog. I know I would love to read more by you.
“I’m prepared for the next battle.” This is the core idea here, other than weak leaders cause harm. I think being prepared is the real lesson. You can have weak leaders if everyone is prepared properly and take care of themselves like we should. Army Vet, great work and wonderful to see your thinking. I only wish more were thinking your way.
Not to be political but our Parliament is made up of a bunch of wimps, weak-kneed, and PC to the core. Australia has surely changed and not for the better. Cheers to all you Yanks!
I heard a lot about all the wildfires. Hope your country came out of it with only minor damage.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50951043
Joe, glad to see you back in the forum. I hope you and your family are well. We here in the USA have been following the problems your nation had with the wildfires and now the coronavirus. Hang in there.
Thanks to Gen. Satterfield for providing such a great guest blogger to write on his leadership blog. Fantastic works by Army Vet.
I see that Army Vet wrote about Army Lt Gen. Micheal Flynn as an example of bad leadership in the past US White House. I will add that watching the news, it has made me sick to see that our justice and criminal systems have been so corrupted that they would go after an American hero like they did. Corruption is deep. We all should stand against this regardless of political party.
Max, you are – of course – right again with your conclusion. I’ve been saying this for a while — sometimes here but most often with friends and family. The only thing that scares me is that there are not enough folks out there who have the courage to stand up to an obvious wrong that was done. Hey folks, speak up.
We need some real bad ass to kick some more butt.
On target comment. Thanks Kenny and Max. I look forward to comments daily.
Me too!
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Great blog post, loved it all.
Referring to weak leaders, Army Vet wrote “They can smell us walking!” Army Vet meant that weak leaders adopt their moral superior attitude regularly and use it as a stick to whack us ‘untermensch’ with it. This says something else again about weak leaders.
I”m a HUGE fan of Army Vet and some of the other guest bloggers. I started printing these out, putting them in a folder, and when my friends from work come over to visit, I ask them to read the articles. Each of those folks from work have said they only wish they could write like this. Keep up the great work, army vet.
… and I’m also a big fan. If only these men had a website or facebook page (or some other social media outlet) where we could read more of what they think, I would be super happy. I’m sure they would be popular. Maybe they could start a ‘twitter’ account. Great way to get this type of thinking out there for the public.
Yes, Ken and so am I. Wishing on a star that Army Vet would write more.
Best comment … “Honor! Some dumb-ass once told me to my face that honor is for idiots; only making money and having a ‘honey’ in your bedroom is what matters. I punched him in the face. I couldn’t stand looking at his smug face anymore after listening him go on about how the American military is for suckers who can’t get a job anywhere else. I broke two fingers and also his jaw but it was worth it to see him crumple to the ground like the wet dishrag he was.”
Army Vet — great to see you back in action on this blog. As for me, I agree with your analysis and solutions. Calling weak leaders to account for their harm is an effective and efficient way of forcing them to change for the better. However, you have to name names first so the public sees the cockroaches in the daylight.
Hi Mr. Kennedy III. I agree and looks like we have a twofer with EMKIII and Army Vet in one day.
I look forward to your upcoming article.
Wow, I guess this means Edward will be having an article soon. Great news. Gen. Satterfield, these guests mentioned by Greg are what helps make your blog one of the best in the leadership category. Encourage them, support them, and publish their works whenever you can. Thanks for noticing our need to read more from them.
Great news!
Big fan here, Mr. K. Keep up the great work and please please please write more for Gen Satterfield’s blog.
Great article, BTW. On another note, it would be great if Gen. Satterfield would get Army Vet, Sadako Red, and Mr. Kennedy III to write an article per week. Right now, we’re only getting them about one every other month; simply not enough. None of them are politically correct and that is what we truly like about them. When the going gets tough, call these men.
YES !!!!!
Excellent suggestion. I’m not so sure these three men (or is Sadako Red a woman?) are up to writing that much. Their lives are busy and they are always involved. None of them, clearly, are sitting on their porch in a rocking chair watching their grandchildren play.
Whack! Army Vet hits another one out of the park. Well done. It’s is a pleasure to wake up in the morning and read another Army Vet article. No PC here. ?
Spot-on comment, Wilson. Army Vet is the clear winner for Guest Bloggers writing in this leadership blog by Gen. Satterfield. Loving it all the way. I really like it when he calls weak leaders ‘buts that need stepping on.’
That was the best part of the article. It is always fun to read these articles by Army Vet. I went back and re-read his past articles. Great works of art! I recommend others do the same. Yes, we just don’t have enough of them.
I’m with you Tom on this one. Just look at how he is calling out weak leaders and pushing us to not accept just any leader but to also tell the bad leaders that they are doing harm and should either improve or get the hell out of the kitchen.
That’s why we are still here reading this leadership blog.