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From: welty@sunbarney.steinmetz (richard welty)
Newsgroups: alt.flame,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: Bullet-proof passports?
Message-ID: <9773@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP>
Date: 3 Mar 88 19:34:19 GMT
References: <3276@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <3184@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <3096@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <792@athos.rutgers.edu> <9612@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> <4568@pucc.Princeton.EDU> <4581@pucc.Princeton.EDU> <4611@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
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Reply-To: welty@sunbarney.UUCP (richard welty)
Organization: Amalgamated Association of Morons (Local 6 7/8)
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In article <4611@pucc.Princeton.EDU> Q2816@pucc.Princeton.EDU writes:
*In article <3276@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>, lazarus@athena.mit.edu (Michael Friedman) writes:
*>}}}And by the way, the job of the Marines is amphibious landings.  Not
*>}}}peacekeeping.

*>}}Wrong. The Marines are an elite force. You use them when you have a
*>}}tough job.

*>}Wrong.  They are not trained to do the tough day-after-day job of
*>}peacekeeping.  The troops themselves said they felt out of place,
*>}unable to get a handle on the job they were there to do.

*>When in doubt, ask a Marine. I asked a guy in Marine ROTC. According
*>to him, if you want to do something like what we did in Lebanon you
*>use the Marines.

*Marine ROTC! Wow.  The ultimate authority.  I based MY comments on the
*words of the Commandant, the Chiefs of Staff, and interviews with the
*men who were there. Dozens of military analysts all said the same thing:
*the Marines were very good at establishing their base there, but once
*that was done, they were pretty much at a loss as to what to do next.

And of course, now we have Secretary Bennett's hare-brained scheme
to send the troops to other countries to take out the drug merchants.

Already, the Generals are trying to make the point that search-and-destroy
missions of this sort don't fall within the scope of their training,
and that they are simply not prepared to take on the job.  Just because
the Marines are a fine fighting force doesn't equip them to take on any
job that the administration wants to dump on them.  Troops have to be
trained for whatever mission they are sent on -- otherwise, all the
morale and skill in the world won't help them.

This, of course, ignores the secondary issue that sending the troops
into another country to take out drug smugglers is an act of war if
the other contry chooses to view it that way.  I don't know where
the administration gets its cabinet officials from -- under rocks,
I suppose.