Fred on War

Another good piece on modern warfare by Fred. When I graduated from high school, the rust belt economy sucked (Flint, Michigan in 1982; see Roger and Me for details). Many of my friends and acquaintances went into the military as they saw no other choice. Some, as Fred observes, were very intelligent; some were dumber than a box of rocks. Some have done very well and are now retiring; others came home shortly after they left with missing teeth and prison tattoos. And no, I didn't ask.

The ones that succeeded (outside of a couple that worked in intelligence) were much as Fred describes his Warrior:

...emotionally the Warrior has the uncomplicated instincts of a pit bull. Intensely loyal to friends and intensely hostile to the enemy, he doesn't want any confusion as to which is which. His tolerance for ambiguity is very low. He wants to close with the enemy and destroy him.

As Jerry Pournelle has repeatedly pointed out, this personality is the exact opposite of what is needed for constabulary duties such as Iraq. Incompetent Empire. Again.