Pirates Attack Wrong Ship!
POSTED BY: Kwicko
UPDATED: Sunday, October 11, 2009 08:22
VIEWED: 4562
PAGE 5 of 5
Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
While I find Blackwater/Xe to be *morally* useless, I think you might discover to your dismay that they are much better trained and equipped than your average pirate.
Yeah, and ?
Same could be said of your average vietcong, iraqi insurgent or afghan hill fighter, too.
Ain't worked out so well in them cases neither, has it now ?
Oh, and Gino ?
I shouldn't laugh, I really shouldn't, but you know I am, it's painfully true, it is.
-Frem
It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,
While I find Blackwater/Xe to be *morally* useless, I think you might discover to your dismay that they are much better trained and equipped than your average pirate.
--Anthony
I think you might discover to your dismay that the same could be said of American soldiers in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. How'd those work out for us?
ETA: Dang it, Frem beat me to it! Guess I'll have to learn to read all the replies before jumping back in!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Hello,
The U.S. dead amounted to ~60k in Vietnam. The Vietnamese claim combat-soldier losses of 1.1 million.
Regardless of who 'won' the war, I know whose army I'd have preferred to be drafted into.
If a morally corrupt but high-capability mercenary group like Blackwater is dispatched into Somalia, I will feel a great swell of pity for the pirates.
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Hello,
The U.S. dead amounted to ~60k in Vietnam. The Vietnamese claim combat-soldier losses of 1.1 million.
Regardless of who 'won' the war, I know whose army I'd have preferred to be drafted into.
If a morally corrupt but high-capability mercenary group like Blackwater is dispatched into Somalia, I will feel a great swell of pity for the pirates.
--Anthony
Tony, sorry, I just gotta shoot down a dumb post for being a dumb post, nothing personal, happens to everyone:
The kill ratio myth of Vietnam is a distortion of reality to support an american policy of blatant racism towards east asia. A lil touch of reality:
We walked into a civil war, N. Vietnam, communist, backed by China, vs. S. Vietnam, capitalist, backed by France, and then US.
But nothing changed the fact that it was a civil war.
Accurate figures are hard to come by, because the communist govt. of Vietnam is unwilling to review casualties in a fully accurate manner, but the best estimates tend around 1.7 million in losses for S. vietnam, and 1.5 million for N. Vietnam. About 1/2 of all deaths were civilian, and roughly equal numbers of vietnamese soldiers fought on both sides. The South Vietnamese always outnumbered their American support, even at the height of US involvement, but remember that height didn't last for very long. (1965-1969) After '69, American soldiers took more of a defensive conflict avoidance strategy, like the one we've been taking in Iraq. Still, a lot of people got killed.
The number of US troops on the front lines was reasonably low for most of the conflict, and never more than a fraction of the the overall fighting force. Considering that we were full throttle for 4 years of a 20 year war, and in a smaller role during 4 more, and that US soldiers were on constant rotation, the US fighting force never really topped a million men, and front line combatants seriously less than that. By comparison, the US was aiding an South Vietnamese army of 6 million. At the height of US involvement, we comprised no more than a third of the defense. A total number of combat troops for the north vietnamese I couldn't locate, estimates vary widely, but it looks like around 5-7 million.
In short: It was a civil war. More vietnamese died because both sides were vietnamese, and given that in an average year of the war, there were 500,000 americans, vs. 12 million vietnamese. Due to rotations, 8 million americans served in theory, but many never saw the war, or even vietnam, and very few were there more than a year. The major fighting took place in the last 16 years of the conflict, the combat troop casualty rate for a Vietnamese soldier was roughly the same as that of a US soldier, year for year.
Sorry, skeetshooter, had to shoot this one down. There was no kill ratio in favor of the US in Vietnam.
Also, note for future conflicts: 500,000 troops the generals kept asking for in Iraq, and now Afghanistan, that's how many it takes to really lose a war when you have help. We have precious little help in Afghanistan.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_casualties
Hello,
You seem to believe these figures are inaccurate. It's acceptable for you to believe this, but I don't think the post is 'dumb' by any stretch of the imagination, 'skeet shooter.' I think I made a rather logical and intelligent observation based on my source.
And unless you are claiming that U.S. forces did not actually kill more than 60k enemy troops, then you are conceding that yes, the better armed, better trained force tends to kill more of the worse armed, worse trained adversary.
Afghanistan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_%282001%E2%80%93presen
t%29
And Iraq:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_war
And the Battle of Mogadishu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mogadishu_%281993%29
It's pretty plain to see that the pattern holds true for our more recent conflicts. The better armed, equipped, and trained force kills far more of the adversary.
It's not really shocking or unexpected. There's more to winning a war than carpeting a foreign nation with corpses- but enduring double, quadruple, or more losses in victory than your enemies do in defeat is not exactly a happy thing.
And so my 'dumb' post stands. If Blackwater were to descend on the Somalis, I would feel a great swell of pity for the pirates.
Blackwater has the equipment and training of the military and no moral compass. It would be a slaughter.
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME