--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "John" <jr_...@...> wrote: > > The Army is scaling down the rigors of training for new recruits. > It appeats that the XBox generation recruits' diets are high on > sugar and low on other nutrients. > > http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/us/31soldier.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage
One of the reasons terrorism is winning in most locations on the planet where it is being employed as a tactic is that it forces American troops into a situation where war is fought hand-to-hand, not with a joystick, a la Xbox. Most of the new, hyperspiffy weapons that the US produces to help it win the "war on terror" are Xbox technology. Sound weapons that knock people out or kill them at a distance, drones that fly by remote control and hopefully kill the enemy while the operator is safe behind some computer console eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. All that an "enemy" has to do to win in such a situation is to hide until they can provoke a hand-to-hand battle. In books aimed at training samurai the same strategy is talked about -- "When your enemy stops training every day for battle, you have already won the battle." War is a sad situation. Pretending it's fought like a computer game, and that those figures falling over and screaming in your computer screen aren't human beings but computer creatures akin to rabbits being shot in a WII game makes it even sadder. There was a kind of nobility in the samurai or warrior ethic. There is none in fighting with a joystick.
