Interesting article about the costs of expanding Special Forces.

[Belesarius]

http://www.everyjoe.com/2015/12/21/politics/problematic-expansion-military-elites-special-ops/#1

 

Nathaniel and I have both had run ins with Kratman before.  But this does raise some interesting points.

 

[Sturgeon]

That's why we need to train iridium-armored AI tanks to jizz themselves at the thought of fighting for the Nazis.

[Toxn]

I read some of the dude's other articles. Not all bad, but the quality and specificity of his opinions drop off very quickly whenever he isn't talking about something that sits squarely in his wheelhouse.

 

Per the comments on this article (specifically his conversation with Steven Schwartz), he also can't into research articles or changing his opinions in light of new data.

[Toxn]

I do notice that he's solidly on board with the thesis that the Left is omnipresent, omnipotent and determined to destroy the United States before replacing it with the USSR (NewSSR?).

[Sturgeon]

I do notice that he's solidly on board with the thesis that the Left is omnipresent, omnipotent and determined to destroy the United States before replacing it with the USSR (NewSSR?).

 

Kratman hasn't apparently realized yet that the Left was an Anglo-American invention, and that there's no opposition to its inevitable consumption of all that is good and just in our world.

[xthetenth]

Kratman hasn't apparently realized yet that the Left was an Anglo-American invention, and that there's no opposition to its inevitable consumption of all that is good and just in our world.

 

I've got to say there is little in this world as reassuring as listening to people you disagree with on politics discussing what they think about the course of things.

 

On the other hand, it's really disconcerting how easily watching people making the sort of disingenuous arguments like Kratman's one that Toxn cited reinforces the beliefs they argue against. Even though I know that's the mechanism by which people convince themselves that people like me hold demented strawwomyn views in lockstep (and is in fact the mechanism by which Kratman probably arrived at his social views), it's easy to fall into without care.

 

However, his point on the special forces is right, you can't skim all the cream off the top without being left with too little cream and a bunch of white water.

[Toxn]

Kratman hasn't apparently realized yet that the Left was an Anglo-American invention, and that there's no opposition to its inevitable consumption of all that is good and just in our world.

I thought one or two Germans were kind of responsible as well.

 

In any case, once all that is good and just has been removed and we've all been brainwashed into becoming transgender postracial bronies, I hope that you'll all join me for a drink or something. Even in our pseudo-lobotomised states, I'm sure that we can we can find something worth disagreeing about.

[Sturgeon]

I thought one or two Germans were kind of responsible as well.

 

In any case, once all that is good and just has been removed and we've all been brainwashed into becoming transgender postracial bronies, I hope that you'll all join me for a drink or something. Even in our pseudo-lobotomised states, I'm sure that we can we can find something worth disagreeing about.

 

Lately, you've been acting like I am sandpaper on your ass.

[Toxn]

Lately, you've been acting like I am sandpaper on your ass.

Not so much, actually. I'm just winding down for the year and being generally relaxed.

 

As such, I find histrionics of all sorts (briefly) more entertaining than anything else. I will, of course, mend my ways and start bleating my own stupid tune again in the new year.

 

Please don't take this as directed at you. Rather, take it as thin comfort from someone who went through a tough year and is expecting the next to be even tougher: this too shall pass.

[Sturgeon]

It's just been strange. I dunno if anyone else feels that way.

[Toxn]

And on the subject of ass-sanding:

 

https://youtu.be/FzF1KySHmUA

[Toxn]

Actually engaging with the OP a bit, does it strike anyone else that the proliferation of 'elite' units is something of a running theme in peace-time armies?

 

I mean, the only way to advance your career in an army is to either raise your rank or join a better unit. With no war on the horizon, the first option rapidly becomes rate-limited by the amount of time it takes for the people at the top to retire or die of old age. With 'waiting for the old man to die' as your only option, I assume that your organisation would be in danger of losing people who get fed up with the fact that they'll never rise above junior lieutenant or whatever. So there must be a constant pressure on the structure to create smaller units along a more finely-graduated scale in order to provide opportunities for advancement.

 

I see something similar happening in large companies - a trend towards departmentalization and specialisation as a way to expand opportunities at the top. It's top-heavy companies all over again, basically.

[Priory_of_Sion]

If you think the best way to make a living is becoming the best killing machine you can like warrior castes of past societies you'd try to become a TIER 1 OPERATOR. So kinda.

[Toxn]

TIER 0 SPITS ON TIER 1 BRAH.

[Walter_Sobchak]

Too bad the guy entirely misses the point of what the SS were really about.

 

We really should have thought of this before we expanded SOF. It’s not like there isn’t a history of over-expanded elites – Napoleon’s Imperial Guard, Hitler’s Waffen SS – proving ultimately harmful to their own side, after all. One might wonder about the selection criteria we used to select the people who didn’t think of this.

 

The SS were not "elite" in any military sense.  They were elite in the eyes of the Nazi hierarchy because they were considered politically reliable.  Sort of like Saddam's "elite" Republican Guard.  They were no good at fighting, but got better toys because the boss could trust them.  
 

[xthetenth]

It's a longstanding Kratman thing, and he seems to be largely immune to evidence.

[Sturgeon]

It's a longstanding Kratman thing, and he seems to be largely immune to evidence.

 

It's a military thing. The US military, especially the Army and Marine Corps, are basically a bunch of Wehraboos. It's ingrained in West Point culture, for example.

[Priory_of_Sion]

But but "history is written by the victor"

[Sturgeon]

But but "history is written by the victor"

 

And idioms are written by idiots.

[Walter_Sobchak]

It's a military thing. The US military, especially the Army and Marine Corps, are basically a bunch of Wehraboos. It's ingrained in West Point culture, for example.

I don't doubt it.  Digging through old issues of ARMOR journal, I noticed that in the 80's the letter from the editor page was titled "SCHWERPUNKT."  In my opinion that's pretty pathetic.  How about using a phrase from a famous American commander?  Why emulate the Germans? After all , they were 0 and 2 as far as major wars in the 20th century.    

[Sturgeon]

I don't doubt it.  Digging through old issues of ARMOR journal, I noticed that in the 80's the letter from the editor page was titled "SCHWERPUNKT."  In my opinion that's pretty pathetic.  How about using a phrase from a famous American commander?  Why emulate the Germans? After all , they were 0 and 2 as far as major wars in the 20th century.    

 

Introspection time: It's funny, because I feel like this sort of deconstruction is unnecessary when it comes to social issues.

 

But when it comes to our perception of Germans or Japanese, I am all aboard the pain train.

[xthetenth]

But but "history is written by the victor"

 

It was. The history of the eastern front was written by the Western Allies as a weapon against the USSR and vice versa and we spent the next 45 years quibbling over alternate interpretations of history (and a few other things). The NATO bloc won, and now we've got a history of WWII that was written as a weapon against the USSR.