Froggy view
Since my occasional — okay, frequent — jabs at the French have long dismayed Cousin Reg, a Francophile from way back, here’s something in the interest of balance: a French soldier’s take on the Americans he works and fights alongside:
And combat? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all – always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay. That is one of their tricks: they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting: they just charge! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later – which cuts any pussyfooting short.
We seldom hear any harsh word, and from 5 AM onwards the camp chores are performed in beautiful order and always with excellent spirit. A passing American helicopter stops near a stranded vehicle just to check that everything is alright; an American combat team will rush to support ours before even knowing how dangerous the mission is – from what we have been given to witness, the American soldier is a beautiful and worthy heir to those who liberated France and Europe.
To those who bestow us with the honor of sharing their combat outposts and who everyday give proof of their military excellence, to those who pay the daily tribute of America’s army’s deployment on Afghan soil, to those we owned this article, ourselves hoping that we will always remain worthy of them and to always continue hearing them say that we are all the same band of brothers.
(Via Bill)
- Entries
Now if we can just do something about the dog poop on the sidewalks...
Matt also said those with the patch that read 'Legion Etrangere' were extremely good, and he recommended that article.
(I read it via Jules Crittenden a couple of weeks back).