18 Comments
May 12Liked by Linh Dinh

Thank you for mentioning Eugene Sledge to your readers. Sledge wrote two books on his experience in the Marines during WW2 and afterwards in China: 'With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa', and 'China Marine'. Another excellent book is, of course, Robert Manchester's classic 'Goodbye Darkness: A Memoir Of The Pacific War'. And, finally, Guy Sajer's book, 'Forgotten Soldier', is an unforgettable account of a French youth forcibly conscripted into the Schutzstaffel and sent to the Eastern Front.

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Another one is Dominik Richert:Best Opportunity To Die.

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The truth of it all is so horrifying, though we fetish war and death and destruction, yet abhor the human body. "Watch all the death and blood and horrific killing that you wish," they say, "but the human body, even sans sex, is verboten."

I read once a rather profound fact that had gone unrealized until I came upon this truth: "humanity or 'civilized' humanity is the only species that has to pay to live on this planet." All other species live for free, that is until we've exterminated them.

A truly abominable picture of a child innocent snared by the stark atrocity of war. Another body that they--the war mongers--would not like you to see. Though my uncle did not spray the Agent Orange that ravaged Southeast Asia and this child, he too would fall victim to Agent Orange as its cancer ate through the entirety of his body. And he would not be the first, nor the last.

Was this the karmic balance of "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword?" So it would seem, as my uncles, soldiers all, fell prey to the sword in its many forms.

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I have read that only a small percentage of American soldiers during WW2 were found to actually try to shoot the enemy. They couldn't stomach the idea of killing someone even if an opposing army so they would just fire their gun randomly. Have no idea if that is true. I think it was Patton who said it.

Things are probably different now with our volunteer army. Once the Jews fill it with non American citizens they will have no problem getting the army to fire on US citizens as easily as they do to get the police to kill citizens.

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author

Hi Al,

The book on this is Dave Grossman's On Killing. Frustrated that most of its soldiers just wouldn't kill, the US has largely solved this problem with improved training.

Linh

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American marines (usually outnumbered) were so effective in Central America and the Caribbean in the early 20th century because they would shoot to kill. Their opponents were as above and didn't. This enabled the US to take over collecting tariffs at the ports. Sending the money collected to the New York banks that had made uncollectible loans to favored dictators.

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Marines were also volunteers. Most in WW2 were drafted. I am sure that the volunteer army has plenty of people who can't wait to kill just like those marines.

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May 13Liked by Linh Dinh

Our training for convoys upon arrival in Afghanistan in the first two weeks consisted of going outside of Bagram Airfield to the edge of a small village, throwing a few cases of MRE's over the side of our MAXXPRO's and firing a few bursts at the boxes from a few yards away. That's it. The sergeant we were replacing said, "If you can hit the box, it's all good."

I had an old defective M2 .50cal which wouldn't work at the one test pits that we were allowed to use on convoy. After that, I only wanted an M240 in the turret because it would work. I never had to use it and that's one of the truest blessings of my life. I think that sensitivity train has taken center stage to weapons training and physical fitness. This was over ten years ago. It was a comedy of errors sometimes.

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May 13·edited May 13Liked by Linh Dinh

Summer of 2011 a SEAL team Chinook was ambushed and downed in RC East by small arms and RPG's. Complete loss of passengers and crew. A few weeks after the incident, we were on a return convoy through the area and were temporarily tasked with returning the remains of the helicopter to Bagram. Three burned chunks of a Chinook cargo helicopter on flatbed trailers. We left to bed down for the night at a separate FOB across the highway. Within an our of offloading our gear, relaxing and shooting the shit, an explosion knocked dust under the doors and sent us scrambling to the concrete shelters. We thought a mortar had landed nearby. My buddy Gonzales got a picture of a plume of explosion rising from across the highway. A vehicle borne IED had exploded outside of the gate at the FOB we'd recently left.

That Chinook got hit twice. The next morning, we returned to the motor pool which had been hit. All of the vehicles had flat tires and burst gas tanks including the trailers with the Chinook. It was honestly a relief that we wouldn't have to haul it back. Along with spying a tent with "Dancing boys" on the edge of Kabul, that was an introduction to the stranger aspects of life outside of the American comfort dome. False comfort once you've stepped outside of it.

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you know, parade soldiers are handsome young men, dressed up in finery

the real soldiers look more grubby and human

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U. S. Marine E. B. Sledge's confession, “I felt nauseated and feared that my bladder would surely empty itself and reveal me to be the coward I was" brought tears to my eyes. Your photo of the baby deformed by Agent Orange didn't do much to make Sunday any better either.

Our behavioural dichotomy, meaning war will always be with us, is that we can treat individuals as individuals but groups as groups. The first usually brings out the best in human nature, the second (for protection) brings out the worst.

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Emptying the bowels is a natural and unconscious reaction to danger - you get rid of excess weight to run faster. Fortunately for me, I have only seen this in street fights and not war.

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When I do an internet search for Linh Dinh, the first result I see is Wikipedia's entry. Up until very recently, Wiki stated that Linh "writes a column for The Unz Review". I wondered why his bio had not been brought up-to-date. Finally, thank goodness - someone has set things right! Wiki now states he "writes a column for the far-right website The Unz Review". Substack? Never heard of it!

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I suck image every day,it sucks on me,too.How low we have sunk already.Plato was just yesterday.Anyway,here`s founding father Jefferson:"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief that they have known something of what has been passing in the world".

More: “I deplore… the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them… These ordures are rapidly depraving the public taste and lessening its relish for sound food.”

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omg....the picture of that little baby made me cry. So sad what war does to the innocents

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most emotionally healthy human males are almost hard wired not to kill just like dogs. You don't ssee dog kill dog dead dogs in the city where there are areas of feral dogs. Most dog fights are drama with the intention of finding out whose the alpha dog. The loser gives up much before serious harm is done to either of them. A large part of basic training is to overcome this innate bias. Always true of Marines but not South American Armies until their School of America training or CIA torture training along with American adviser training for elite killer squadrons that were seen in El Salvador under Reagan or Operation Condor in almost all of South America.

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founding

What a 'Cohen-cidence':

Edward Bernays was born in Vienna to a Jewish family. His mother, Anna (1858–1955), was Sigmund Freud's sister, and his father Eli (1860–1921) was the brother of Freud's wife, Martha Bernays; their grandfather, Isaac Bernays (through their father Berman), was the chief rabbi of Hamburg and a relative of the poet Heinrich Heine.

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author

Yo NJ,

Next, you'll tell us Jewish media and health authorities shoved Jewjabs into billions of arms! Heil, Hitler!

Like Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, Howard Stern and Ron Unz, Bernays was an all-American patriot who did his best to help all Americans, including Nazis like you.

Linh

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