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October 23, 2012
Fix Bayonets
Sense of Events: Obama wrong about bayonets The US Army today has more than 560,000 troops and the USMC more than 200,000.Obama is wrong. we have hundreds of thousands more bayonets now than in 1916. Sarcasm and condescension only work if the speaker's presumption of lofty superior knowledge is borne out by his command of actual facts. You can't successfully accuse your opponent of being an ignoramus when you don't know what you're talking about yourself.
Posted by Vanderleun at October 23, 2012 9:58 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Don't forget the horse training at Ft. Bragg for Special Operations Forces and the horse cavalry troops at Ft. Hood and Ft. Bliss. Then the 3rd Infantry has the ceremonial horses used at Arlington. Soldiers are still trained to use bayonets!
Posted by: Tom at October 23, 2012 1:51 PM
Don't forget the horse training at Ft. Bragg for Special Operations Forces and the horse cavalry troops at Ft. Hood and Ft. Bliss. Then the 3rd Infantry has the ceremonial horses used at Arlington. Soldiers are still trained to use bayonets!
Posted by: Tom at October 23, 2012 1:51 PM
They'll name a submarine after Obama for his successful sinking of the economy.
Posted by: Mike at October 23, 2012 4:14 PM
Funny, I thought he said hawsers and bayou nets ...
Posted by: edaddy at October 24, 2012 8:50 AM
Funny, I thought he said hawsers and bayou nets ...
Posted by: edaddy at October 24, 2012 9:02 AM
And as to the matter of ships, yes, they are more technologically advanced now than they were in 1916, and capable of far more missions. But they still need maintenance, and ship in drydock is a ship that isn't available for the naval mission, whatever that might be. I believe it was Stalin, talking about the use of massed Soviet artillery, who said "quantity has a quality all its own". This is also true of ships.
Posted by: waltj at October 24, 2012 11:02 AM
And in the War of 1812 we learned the 'quality vs quantity' argument went one way when dealing with the Royal Navy.
Posted by: Mikey NTH at October 26, 2012 7:15 PM
Who made Obama God, and rescinded the military principle of "mass?"
I wouldn't go off about horses being used today, though. That is argumentative and nit-picky, and remember who you are arguing with. It might be sufficient to say that infantry became the currency of our two recent war fronts, in spite of theorizing about technology and budget-breaks.
Posted by: Casey Klahn at October 27, 2012 7:16 AM