d.b. An exercise in creative writing.
On Nov 22, 11:53 am, "d.b.baker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [Q] ...Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins > and creatine - they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and > their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to > them - we are wimps, even the strongest of us - and because of that > they often mistake us for Afghans. > > Here we discover America as it is often depicted : their values are > taken to their paroxysm, often amplified by promiscuity and the > loneliness of this outpost in the middle of that Afghan valley. Honor, > motherland - everything here reminds of that : the American flag > floating in the wind above the outpost, just like the one on the post > parcels. Even if recruits often originate from the hearth of American > cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold > high and proud the star spangled banner. Each man knows he can count > on the support of a whole people who provides them through the mail > all that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location : > books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such > way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him > in his difficult mission. And that is a first shock to our > preconceptions : the American soldier is no individualist. The team, > the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention. > > And they are impressive warriors! We have not come across bad ones, as > strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people > can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them > provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how. Beyond the > wearing of a combat kit that never seem to discomfort them (helmet > strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at > the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. On the one > square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five > consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on > top, their sight unmoving in the directions of likely danger. No > distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. At > night, all movements are performed in the dark - only a handful of > subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on > the move. Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered - everything > happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump. > > And combat ? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all - always > coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always > in the shortest delay. That is one of their tricks : they switch from > T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in > contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and > disconcerting : they just charge ! They disembark and assault in > stride, they bomb first and ask questions later - which cuts any > pussyfooting short. > > We seldom hear any harsh word, and from 5 AM onwards the camp chores > are performed in beautiful order and always with excellent spirit. A > passing American helicopter stops near a stranded vehicle just to > check that everything is alright; an American combat team will rush to > support ours before even knowing how dangerous the mission is - from > what we have been given to witness, the American soldier is a > beautiful and worthy heir to those who liberated France and Europe. > > To those who bestow us with the honor of sharing their combat outposts > and who everyday give proof of their military excellence, to those who > pay the daily tribute of America’s army’s deployment on Afghan soil, > to those we owned this article, ourselves hoping that we will always > remain worthy of them and to always continue hearing them say that we > are all the same band of brothers”. > -http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/11/21/french-soldiers-awed-by-americ... --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
