On Fri, 5 Dec 2008 10:45:21 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Future wars will not be won because of a limitless manufacturing
capacity in the US as it existed during WWII. It will be fought and
ultimately won with small, special capabilities forces supported by
technology.

As my Maternal Grandfather used to say in polite company,
Bullfeathers.

Rumsfield was a proponent of this approach and look where it got us
for the first three years of the war - freakin' nowhere. It wasn't
until the boots got on the ground and established a presence in force
that things started turning around for the better.

You can have all the Predators, shoot around corner rifles, night
vision goggles, smart bombs and the smartest best trained troopers in
the world, all you need is one dumbass farmer who can configure an IED
out of a left-over dumb bomb and it's all for naught - if you don't
have the boots, you can't secure the ground - you can't secure the
ground, you ain't gonna win.

And having the boots means grunts - lots of 'em.

It will be true for as long as there are armies - boots equals ground
control - ground control equals victory.

And also, after reading further down the thread, Vietnam wasn't lost -
we gave up due to political pressure and dippy hippies who were
'ascared.

--

"Every normal man must be tempted at times
to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag,
and begin to slit throats."

H. L. Mencken