Target Practice in Iraq
Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sun, 18 Jan 2004 13:00:00 GMT
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I'm bach'ing it this weekend. The family is in north of Boston,
visiting friends. They were planning to pick up a new harp
yesterday. I spent the morning on the web, bought some new
pants, and watched a DVD movie. This morning, I'm off to the range for
my first trap shooting in a long time. Not sure yet which rifle I'll
shoot after that. We'll see which one jumps out of the safe when I
open it. Hehe.
# Bill Whittle - Building the Ideal American: 2.0 Basic Skills - general fitness: riding a bicycle, calisthenics, sports (basketball, football, baseball, ice hockey [discouraged], soccer [not recommended]).
And as a quick glance at all the good pornography will reveal, Americans are the best-looking and sexiest people alive, and benefit greatly from a solid cardio-vascular workout, whether during fornication or, less frequently, when used in the sanctity of marriage.
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And while we have no evidence either way, we believe that anyone with the guts and daring to do such a thing, just to see if he could, and who showed the willingness to not cry and complain when things went very badly, has probably gone on to do very well for himself. This American kid knew, on some molecular level, what Goethe once wrote and which lesser, so-called 'sophisticated' adults can only read about and discuss while getting baked in their eleventh year of college. Namely:
Be Bold, and Mighty Forces will Come to Your Aid.
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It may surprise many of you to know that a recent survey showed that Americans posses over 94% of the known world supply of guts. We know many of you expected that number to be higher. It should be higher: hence this manual.
The development of pure guts, that sense of dedication, perseverance, mental toughness, and the triumph of desire over physical pain are the core qualities that allow your Ideal American to grow and prosper in all walks of life.
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Can you imagine Hitler, or Stalin, or Mao, or even Saddam, becoming the monsters that they did if every other day or so they went outside, got a little sun, some fresh air, and shagged a few flies with the guys for an hour or two?
Impossible!
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The diving catch demonstrates two remarkable facts about intense competition. First, any natural fears or worries your American might have will automatically disappear in that instant when the diving catch is called for. Repeated exposure to the diving catch will instill in your Ideal American the quiet and humbling confidence that he or she will be able to perform in the clutch. This is a priceless gift.
Furthermore, it will instill in your American the firm and indisputable wisdom that, over time, bruises fade but glory grows. The conforming prototype has spoken of (in fact, continues to speak endlessly of) several instances of Pro- or even Superbowl-quality receptions made on schoolyards and park fields, where trusted and highly valued friends would look over with expressions of amazement and mutter, "Damn, man!" He reports no memories whatsoever of the bruises, cuts or abrasions he incurred during these efforts.
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The American moon landing -- July 20th, 1969 -- was the greatest diving catch in human history.
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The ability to hit a baseball is what separates Americans from Animals and Socialists. It has been often said that there is no more difficult task in sports, for the very best practitioners in history are successful less than 4 times out of ten.
This ability to measure real success in the face of repeated failure is a core element of the Ideal American; therefore, we recommend that all Ideal Americans be able to hit a flying sphere with a wooden or aluminum stick.
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UP NEXT: More BASIC SKILLS, including MARKSMANSHIP. Many thanks to Steve, our very own Great Hairy Silverback, for his true story.
# George Paine at Warblogging - Apache gunship engages, kills, wounds and kills again - mpeg video (4.7 megs) is going around purporting to show an Apache helicopter gunsite video of some Iraqis being killed with a 30mm chain cannon. What Really Happened comments on this as The Apache Killing Video. [warblogging whatreallyhappened]
It's never clear why the Apache crew and their commander don't send ground forces to engage and possibly capture these Iraqis. It's never clear why, once all but one Iraqi is dead and the last one is writhing on the ground wounded -- and clearly not a threat to anyone anymore -- they don't send ground forces to capture, treat and interrogate the wounded Iraqi.
At the same time, however, we don't know who these people are. They could well be planting an IED or even preparing to shell American forces with a mortar. I'm not willing to sit here and second guess the initial actions of the helicopter crew. At the same time, however, I'm not sure that it's proper to shoot and kill a wounded man. It feels wrong to me. In fact I'm rather sure that the shooting of the wounded man is a violation of, at the very least, the spirit of one or more Geneva conventions.
War is hell.
