So I’m at Sea-Tac and this guy is walking around with this great leather jacket with this huge patch on the back. The patch is actually a one-of-a-kind iron-on monster patch that was customed designed by this truck driver in conjunction with the patch maker in Iraq! Apparently these things are the rage over there. One this size — all embroidered costs about $150.
So I wonder how you’d write “Drive it like you stole it” in latin?
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
Subscribe to Main Blog feed here:
Subscribe to Comments too (below):
Bad Behavior has blocked 4613 access attempts in the last 7 days.
Looks funky!
Bad taste runs deep in some people.
Little things matter, since they add up. Notice how death is shown wrapped in American flag. That is the image of American liberators that many Iraquies have created in their minds, death wraped in an Amercan flag… this is a nice example of one person undoing lots of hard work.
For Iraq to become stable and turn back towards American ideals, we must stop representing only brute force and start representing real help for their country.
Veho is similis vos pallium is.
Awake, you need to wake up. The root cause of terrorism is that the middle easterners do not care for or desire to live by our (American) values. What we shoulda/coulda done is allow these folks to determine their own destiny.
Actually, Awake, death is not wrapped in an American flag, but rather in a confederate flag.
They will get their own identity. as soon as they accepit it’s just like ours.
You dumb peaceniks, this is total Badass!! I want one!!
The post above (by the non Latin speaker) isn’t actually right…..in gramatically correct Latin (mostly…):
id impelle tamquam id amovisses.
Spooky. I saw this same patch when I first got in-country, back in Anaconda. I hope he’s enjoying being back in the states.
Sorry guys, Awake is correct.
The military is trying to promote good works. Something like this only reminds the Iraqis that the “bad-ass” Americans really don’t give a shit about them. This is probably seen in the same light as the atrocities at Abu Graib, even if there is a world of difference.
Americans might be able to tell the difference between an American flag and the Confederate BATTLE Flag but to the less sophisticated Iraqis seeing it on an American, there would not be that distinction.
Even those who want the troops to come home don’t want them to leave Iraq to degenerate into a civil war. Yet actions like this speak volumes to the al Qaeda recruiters.
(NOTE The Battle Flag was never accepted by the Confederate Congress, it was instituted by General Johnson as a battle flag to differentiate between the true Confederate flag, also a Stars and Stripes, and the US Stars and Stripes. Ok, what is the big deal with using the Confederate Battle Flag? First they lost the war so those that wear it are losers. Second, during the Civil war the leaders were white supremacists who cared nothing about blacks and the common white trash. Even today, it is the rallying symbol for those advocating white power. So I would guess that those that wear, fly, or post it are loser extremist assholes.)
I understand the posters who believe it is against what we are trying to promote, but the military of this country has to balance empathy with the locals, and the need to have an agressive fighting force.
Success in war (and this is a war) requires the creation of soldiers, who are essentially killing machines (see every war movie, marine basic training scene). The concept of death (both theirs and their enemies), is manipulated to the militaries advantage (one reason why late adolescent boys have always been the soldiers of choice)..
Being proud of their agressiveness is a byproduct of their training, and not necessisarily easy to turn off when a patrol ends, and turn back on the next day.
I did 8 years of service myself, and saw my share of ‘bad-ass’ emblems. They were popular with the service members, but did nothing but engender dislike amongst the local population. If you remember “Apocalypse Now”, you will remember the “death cards” that were left behind by the Robert Duvall character on the bodies of those killed during the ‘surfing raid’. And all along we were trying to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the local population. I’m sure that the cards won us lots of allies.
The most effective action that I saw during my service was during the peak of the communist led NPA insurrection in the Phillipines. The US Navy had just acquired 2 new hospital ships, and they were sent out to do their ‘shakedown’ cruises to fix any new ship problems. One of the ships went to one of the most disputed areas and proceeded to treat literally thousands of locals for a range of problems. Eye problems, basic plastic surgery, etc. The result… the local population turned against the NPA and became an ally. We won the hearts and minds.
But here we have some redneck civilian truck driver (he is not a member of the military) presenting himself as a badass, wrapping himself in the US colors, and representing the face of the US to the world. It may be a confederate flag, but to the entire world it is the US colors (red, white and blue with white stars).
This is why we are losing this war. The people are turning against us by any means possible, be it insurrections or at the polls. By presenting ourselves as badasses, we are just moving Iraq right in to the arms of fundamentalism, when what we really need to do is actually win their hearts and minds, so they will turn away from the fundamentalists that seem to be their defenders against the US forceful occupiers.
Awake, damn you get articulate when you’re pissed. You said it so much better then I could.
One final comment. This is not war. Did you forget? We won !!! It is Mission Accomplished !!! We are now in the re-building phase of Iraq reconstruction. This where we continue to win over the hearts and minds of the local population.