Tweets for April 8, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Books Read -- Lone Survivor

Added on by C. Maoxian.

After enjoying No Easy Day, I thought I'd try another SEAL book, so I borrowed Lone Survivor. Unfortunately I only made it one chapter in before quitting. Luttrell comes across as a bit of a knucklehead and lays on the military rah-rah too heavily. Maybe it's just a problem of finding the right co-author.

No Easy Day was short and fast-paced and I appreciated "Mark Owen's" lack of reflection. Lone Survivor is 444 pages and there was no way I was voluntarily going to be in Luttrell's company for that long. 

Tweets for April 7, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.

The Rise of the Corporate General

Added on by C. Maoxian.

From David Hackworth's appearance on Booknotes in 1989:

"This tragedy that occurred started in 1946 when we took our Officer Corps and started this business of making everybody a diplomat and a warrior which ended up under Maxwell Taylor when he became Chief of Staff. Our Generals became corporate generals rather than the fighting generals of type that won World War II. The Ridgeways and the Pattons and so on."

Hackworth on military decorations:

"... take Admiral Crowe who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On his jacket it's ablaze with medals. 31 of them. But there's not one for a combat deed. They're all having-been-there awards. You're-a-good-guy award. You-moved-some-paper-across-your-desk-in-a-neat-way award....

Just like when Admiral Crowe perhaps appears in front of Congress, those are his credentials, and those Congressmen don't know they are just having-been-there awards. When he says we need this they believe that he knows what he's talking about from the standpoint of being on a battlefield. So I think that we've kind of put our award system at a cross purpose. Grenada -- there were 7,000 men on that island. They gave 8,000 awards. There were 200 enemy Cuban soldiers or so on that island. And they gave 200 awards for valor. One per enemy soldier. 

... I think we need to go back and clean up our act on awards and just give awards to soldiers. The final line on awards is to me the only award ... that really means something to warriors is the Purple Heart and above that, the Combat Infantry Badge. That means I've been there."

Tweets for April 5, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Tweets for April 4, 2016

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Bringing Up Boobs

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I ordered several books through inter-library loan about raising boys, not knowing anything about them other than the title. The one pictured below was the first to arrive. On the inside flap of the jacket it reads, "Dr. James Dobson, America's foremost authority on the family [say what? first alarm bell rings], provides a road map for raising healthy sons -- for shaping the next generation of responsible, God-honoring men." [ding ding ding, multiple alarm bells going off]

Flipping to the table of contents, I see chapter nine is titled, "The Origins of Homosexuality." This should be good, I think naughtily. Sure enough, I learn there that the "condition of 'prehomosexuality'" can be "effectively prevented." The author goes on: "Change is possible. Hope is available. And Christ is in the business of healing." 

Sweet Jesus, I'm sending this one straight back from whence it came (the Newfield Public Library).