For far too long we have lived in and been hindered by a society seemingly void of men who wish to be men, who wish to fulfill their duty, not because it is popular or easy but once it is right. Thank you for inspiring and encouraging me to continue to do what is right, to live a full and manly life and to die beautifully.

God Bless.

Your argument is one of a robot, that the military is infallible, whether they’re bombing the shit out of this or raping the hell out of that, or getting killed storming a hill with its backside open. The reason Patton got so far was that he DID question all of that. The reason the United States is powerful is because we don’t have unquestionable kings. I’m glad you found a place to fit in and not ask questions, but it’s not a warrior’s path.

General Patton was a complex personality, but most very intelligent men are. As a distant relative of mine (William Tecumshe Sherman) is supposed to have said “war is hell.” So General Patton had to do what he had to do. Be very glad he was there when he was.

- Inspiring on a whole new level

Man up
Simon

As an Army veteran and a new father of a wonderful son, I have two points for you -

1) You are obviously not, nor have ever been, in the military. “Not want”ing to follow a particular superior officer into war never comes to the mind of a servicemember, and it’s a (excuse me for saying) piss poor excuse for refusing to fight a war. To a servicemember, that is the same as saying you don’t want to serve your country. Following all superior officers is implicit in the job. If you don’t want to do it, don’t enlist. What’s next?….”Oh, I don’t want to go fight THAT war…I don’t like the reason we’re in it.” With all due respect, if you want to critique the military, war, and/or appoint it’s senior leadership the way you see fit, go be a loser politician. I can veritably speak for the military when I say that they don’t want you. If you actually want to fight a war, then shut up and fight (If that’s the case, then they want and need you, so you need to go talk to a recruiter today). Big mouths and “smart” critiques don’t get you brownie points in the military. Winning wars does, and Patton has won more wars than you, so he will have this veteran’s respect until the day this veteran dies. Although I never knew the man personally, I think I can speak for him when I say he doesn’t give a damn about your opinion because, while you talker, he’s a doer. (On another note, Patton was absolutely loved by his men.)

I wish I could’ve served under the man, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he was or wasn’t a winner, egotistical, or anything of the sort. I wish I could’ve served under him because he had the privilege of fighting in a very important war during a very important time in world history. Had I been alive, I’d have served in that war under Eisenhower, Patton, or anybody else….anyone who’d have given me the opportunity to stop what was going on in Europe at the time. If you actually think there should’ve been any other motivation or thought behind going to that war, I frankly feel sorry for you.

Done with the soapbox, now on to my second point….

2) You completely missed the point of the article. This was an aspirational letter from a father to a son, and a senior commanding officer in our armed forces in a time of war to a new soldier, and a valued piece of (I assume) your country’s history. If your comment is the best thing you could come up with, I again feel sorry for you. You will forever be the man wishing he could tell his son he did the things men like Patton did.

If feel unbelievably privileged that, when my son grows up, I’ll be able to tell him about my time in the military. I’ll be able to tell him about the places I traveled and about all of the crazy personalities, Patton-like and crazier, I had the honor of serving beside, under, and over…all of whom are some of the best friends I have until this day. I’ll be able to show him my uniforms and medals, and pictures, and I’ll be able to tell him how I met his mom (and how she, to this day, she still scares me more than any war zone I’ve been in). I’ll get to share with him something not every father can.

Chaz, I hope you get to have that one day too but, with all due respect, you need to change your perspective.

To Brett and the rest of the crew: Keep more post like this coming. This was the best one I’ve seen in a while.

I’d love to see more of this type of writing- I’ll come back again to check. Thanks again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turenne

Touraine is a french departement