Well, it’s a good thing 99 44/100 percent of the Navy doesn’t call O-4s JOs, then, isn’t it?
I’m filing this under “solutions in search of a problem,” and “people who missed a perfectly good opportunity to STFU.”
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Professional Reading Drop Box
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I’m filing this under “solutions in search of a problem,” and “people who missed a perfectly good opportunity to STFU.”
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RadicalDude
Social Justice Warlord
I’m not sure why this particular publication never made it into the CNOs reading list, but finally read Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler’s famous “War is a Racket” speech/book. Very interesting to see him describing some of the same ills that plague our country these days, namely the profit-fueled military-industrial complex.
Crazy he wrote it in 1935.
My favorite quote:
“At each session of Congress the question of further naval appropriations comes up. The swivel-chair admirals of Washington (and there are always a lot of them) are very adroit lobbyists. And they are smart. They don’t shout that "We need a lot of battleships to war on this nation or that nation." Oh no. First of all, they let it be known that America is menaced by a great naval power. Almost any day, these admirals will tell you, the great fleet of this supposed enemy will strike suddenly and annihilate 125,000,000 people. Just like that. Then they begin to cry for a larger navy. For what? To fight the enemy? Oh my, no. Oh, no. For defense purposes only.
Then, incidentally, they announce maneuvers in the Pacific. For defense. Uh, huh.
The Pacific is a great big ocean. We have a tremendous coastline on the Pacific. Will the maneuvers be off the coast, two or three hundred miles? Oh, no. The maneuvers will be two thousand, yes, perhaps even thirty-five hundred miles, off the coast.”
Full text here: https://archive.org/stream/WarIsARacket/WarIsARacket_djvu.txt
PDF here: https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf
Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/War-Racket-Antiwar-Americas-Decorated/dp/0922915865
Crazy he wrote it in 1935.
My favorite quote:
“At each session of Congress the question of further naval appropriations comes up. The swivel-chair admirals of Washington (and there are always a lot of them) are very adroit lobbyists. And they are smart. They don’t shout that "We need a lot of battleships to war on this nation or that nation." Oh no. First of all, they let it be known that America is menaced by a great naval power. Almost any day, these admirals will tell you, the great fleet of this supposed enemy will strike suddenly and annihilate 125,000,000 people. Just like that. Then they begin to cry for a larger navy. For what? To fight the enemy? Oh my, no. Oh, no. For defense purposes only.
Then, incidentally, they announce maneuvers in the Pacific. For defense. Uh, huh.
The Pacific is a great big ocean. We have a tremendous coastline on the Pacific. Will the maneuvers be off the coast, two or three hundred miles? Oh, no. The maneuvers will be two thousand, yes, perhaps even thirty-five hundred miles, off the coast.”
Full text here: https://archive.org/stream/WarIsARacket/WarIsARacket_djvu.txt
PDF here: https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.pdf
Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/War-Racket-Antiwar-Americas-Decorated/dp/0922915865
Kind of a tweener if this belongs here or in Political Romper Room. Try to get beyond the political aspect of it and appreciate the insight regarding national level leaders and media exposure.
Good pull quote:
"...Eisenhower — who, beneath his serene surface, had more than a bit of a temper — once replied: “Now, look, I happen to know a little about leadership. I’ve had to work with a lot of nations, for that matter, at odds with each other. And I tell you this: You do not lead by hitting people over the head. Any damn fool can do that, but it’s usually called ‘assault’ — not ‘leadership.’” He went on: “I’ll tell you what leadership is. It’s persuasion, and conciliation, and education, and patience. It’s long, slow, tough work. That’s the only kind of leadership I know, or believe in, or will practice.”
Good pull quote:
"...Eisenhower — who, beneath his serene surface, had more than a bit of a temper — once replied: “Now, look, I happen to know a little about leadership. I’ve had to work with a lot of nations, for that matter, at odds with each other. And I tell you this: You do not lead by hitting people over the head. Any damn fool can do that, but it’s usually called ‘assault’ — not ‘leadership.’” He went on: “I’ll tell you what leadership is. It’s persuasion, and conciliation, and education, and patience. It’s long, slow, tough work. That’s the only kind of leadership I know, or believe in, or will practice.”
Got any quotes from this guy from 1942?
He'd been dead for nearly two years, but something tells me you knew that.
Liked for the Ike quote.
As a former Marine he is one of my favorites. Brave, honest, and pig-headed. Your quote is good, classic Butler, but an odd statement from a man that was a well-know violator of civil rights when he served as Chief of Public Safety in Philly where he set up armed check-points, raided homes without warrants, armed his police like soldiers, and was known to rough up a few guys.
He was a heroic contradiction who hated Hoover and Roosevelt but loved his country.
RadicalDude
Social Justice Warlord
Typically, you completely missed the point here.
It’s an anti-war treatise arguing against just the type of bullshit war-mongering and pseudo-imperial adventuring that led the world into WW2. Hilariously, if you’d read the next paragraph after what I quoted... you’d see his thoughts on American expansionism in the Orient:
“The Japanese, a proud people, of course will be pleased beyond expression to see the united States fleet so close to Nippon's shores. Even as pleased as would be the residents of California were they to dimly discern through the morning mist, the Japanese fleet playing at war games off Los Angeles.”
Echoes of Iran and China today.
If there is no crap on your brim...you are a JO.
They were already at it in 1935, fighting in Mongolia to set the stage for the coming invasion of China. For example, the battle of Khalkhyn Temple.
Yep. Mukden Incident was ‘31.
There are no scrambled eggs on my cover. Yet I am most certainly not a member of JOPA anymore, and quite secure in my part-time hingitude, thankyouveddymuch.If there is no crap on your brim...you are a JO.