Strong Recommendation from MajGen Robert Scales, USA (Ret)
Robert D. Steele | Oakton, VA United States | 09/27/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"General (and PhD) Robert Scales strongly recommended this movie to an audience at the Brookings Institute today. He used it as a backdrop to his informal remarks on how 4% of the total force (the engaged infantry) suffers 80% of the total casualties, but less than 1% of the total Pentagon budget is spent on training and equipping them.
My trip report on his remarks is awaiting approval and will then be posted at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog. Above is in my view the single most pointed useful "fact" of defense that I have heard in 30 years. One sentence cuts to the nub of the matter.
General Scales is the author of three books, one of which I have reviewed that remains a classic, on the disconnect between the needs of the infantry and the pie in the sky $75 billion US national intelligence community that prefers to build expensive satellites that do not work and whose collection cannot be processed.
Firepower in Limited War: Revised Edition
Yellow Smoke: The Future of Land Warfare for America's Military
The Iraq War: A Military History
To understand the continued corruption in US military management, see also:
War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
Defense Facts of Life: The Plans/Reality Mismatch
The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World"
Every American owes them the 90 minutes to see this film
Shelly | 10/03/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Amazing soldier's eye view of the 173d Airborne in Kunar province Afghanistan. Every American should see this film and experience what it is we ask of our Heroes. So proud of them!"
Watch It
Novanglus | 10/20/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I saw this documentary in theater in New York, and was impressed with it. It's raw, and real. You see these brave men in uniforms, tough and heroic. Then in the next scene they have their armor off and you realize how young the men are that battle for freedom on a daily basis.
You also get a strong understanding of brotherhood...the level of dedication that these men show to each other to kill the enemy, regardless of political influences, as it's just them, the bad guys, and the valley.
There's no plot, no storyline, no climax. Just an experience of what still exists right now on the other side of the world as you read this.
A must watch. You owe to yourself and to them to see and know what goes on."