[geeks] Special skills draft?

[Phil Stracchino]

On Thu, Sep 23, 2004 at 01:02:37PM -0700, Francisco Javier Mesa-Martinez wrote:
> Well, there is always the counter example of WWII. Where 
> conscript US forces handled the battle seasoned nazi army 
> their own ass on a platter with potatoes and gravvy.

Indeed.  They seasoned up fast, and they came from a less "civilized"
generation in which riflemanship and woodscraft were much closer to
universal.

Also, one has to consider that the Nazis were drafting from a much
smaller pool, they were scraping the bottom of the barrel by the time
the Allies started making serious incursions on Nazi-held territory, and
many of their troops regarded the Gestapo and the SS as a worse enemy
than they did the Allies.  (Which is kind of ironic, considering that
when German troops first rolled in to the Ukraine they were welcomed as
liberators.)


> No matter how many marine divisions you had threw to 
> VietNam the fact that the Vietcong/North Vietnamese were 
> fighting for what they believe it was their home had far 
> more motivational impact than the US folks sent there to 
> fight for something they had little interest in besides 
> getting the hell out of there in a single piece.

Absolutely.

> The 
> French saw the amount of casualties Ho Chi Minn and his 
> merry boys were willing to take and decided it was not 
> worth it and got the hell out of it. Technically the 
> Americans won most battles, however when you are dealing 
> with an enemy who has nothing to lose and who is willing 
> to die for what it believes in, you might as well 
> reconsider if you are in the same position. If you are 
> not, get the hell out of there IMHO.

Yup.  It's the old story of the rabbit vs. the fox.  The fox is bigger,
faster, more powerful, and has much more potent teeth and claws, yet the
rabbit frequently escapes the fox -- because the fox is just fighting
for one meal, but the rabbit is fighting for its life.


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