US Election 2004

In the midst of a drive against the German fortifications known as the Siegfried Line, in his memoirs General Patton records that he retained the capacity for long term planning:

On the way [to view the remains of St. Vith on February 14, 1945] we passed the scene of the tank battle during the initial German breakthrough [in the Battle of the Bulge].  I counted over a hundred American armored fighting vehicles along the road, and, as a result, issued an order, subsequently carried out, that every tank should be examined and the direction, caliber, and type of hit which put it out made of record, so that we would have data from which to construct a better tank.  These data are now in the hands of the Ordinance Department.  [G.S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It (NY: Bantam Books, 1980), p. 220]

Currently, in the midst of the War on Terrorism, the Bush Administration continues implementing an aggressive modernization and restructuring plan for the military.  For this, Secretary Rumsfeld deserves acclaim.  In addition, his perspective on overcoming problems in the war reflects Patton’s above methodology:  measure it, understand it, and fix it. 

The State Department and White House needs to learn this lesson.

“Secretary of War” Donald Rumsfeld

Image Source: Air Combat Command, USAF

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• #1 Comment from submittoreason 
  9/9/04 5:21 PM | Permalink

  There are to many problems in the military right now to even name:
  
  http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Unlisted%2edb&command=viewone&id=6&rnd=471.1319328179919