W. T. Goodall wrote:
> [2] If I had been of an age to participate in WWII my contribution would
> have been as a code-breaker (where the war was actually won).
Military intelligence is certainly an important factor in winning any war.
But it does not win the war by itself. I'd guess that, in a prolonged war,
the ability to produce tanks, planes, ships, shells is the main factor in
winning a war. But, as other posters have pointed out, these tanks and
planes do not drive themselves.
>Dumb fucks getting shot at hasn't won wars since the 19th C.
This statement blows me away. In one sentence you have made a patently
false statement and insulted all the people who risked and lost their lives
in WWII. War is not at game of chess. Real people have to be in the
infantry, the tanks, the planes, etc.
If you want to use the chess analogy, the forces at the disposal of each
side has a lot to do with the outcome of the war. I'm a borderline B/C
player. I _expect_ to beat a FIDE master when I'm up a minor piece.
>Sending blacks and poor white trash into Vietnam is an American shameful
episode.
This is also insulting. I can still remember my roommate and I hitchhiking
into town to catch the bus that would take us to the recruitment center
where we would take the last physical for 'Nam. I failed, thank God, and
the war ended before my buddy was drafted. While it is true that the rich
and connected could find places for their sons in national guard units, and
while it is true that a disproportionate number of the folks in 'Nam were
black, most neighborhoods had sons over in 'Nam. I was opposed to the war
at the time, and I'm not really sure what I would have done if I passed the
physical. But, it wasn't a matter of assuming that I had the right to live
in the US without any obligation, it was a question of whether the war in
'Nam was right or not. Few of us thought that the government had no right to
draft at all.
My friends who are Viet vets are not trash. I am curious to see why you
apparently think that you have the right to call them trash.
Dan M.
