Great piece. I made it through Jon Krakauer’s book and walked away with a mixed reaction of profound sadness and rage. The greatest tragedy is that Pat Tillman continues to be used as a convenient prop by all sides in the political debate. Kari Lake recently trotted out Tillman’s memory praising him as a great patriot and Arizonan - he was from California - only to be skewered by Arizona’s leftists for doing so.
Tillman was a political liberal in the classic sense - he corresponded with Chomsky, for example - but I’m fairly confident that Tillman would have been disgusted by today’s democrats but equally disgusted by MAGA. It’s all speculative, of course. Kevin Tillman was critical of the January 6 riot and by all accounts was/is a Biden supporter.
One of the tragedies of the government’s rush to cover-up Tillman’s death was that the Army also burned Tillman’s journal that he maintained throughout his tour. The seeds of Tillman’s thought are there which is why they were burned. Tillman witnessed how the Jessica Lynch story was manipulated and fabricated by the Army and the neocons to turn her into the hero that she wasn’t in an attempt to drum up support for the Iraq war that was already turning into a disaster.
The best summary of Pat Tillman’s legacy is his youngest brother Rich’s eulogy at Pat’s funeral. It’s worth watching.
Also worth watching is Jonny Kim’s interview with Jocko that you kindly included. It’s a worthy time investment. I was struck most by Kim’s humility despite all of his amazing accomplishments. I’m left wondering what people like Kim - and Jocko Willink - truly think about what is happening in the country for which they have sacrificed and so obviously love.
Last point, seeing the DEI (or DIE as you more accurately put it) and other Marxist ideologies making their way into today’s military, what were your friend’s motivations for joining and what are his thoughts? I come from a military family but never served and occasionally I regret it. But then, I am not the person I was at age 18. I would not want either of my sons serving knowing what the military - and this country - has become.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment, Mr. Cougar. I will never dissuade a principled patriot from joining the military. My friend joined because he knows as we do that the armed forces are the most important institution to preserve. If the left takes full control, it's only a matter of time until they turn their weapons on us. I sleep better at night knowing that people like him are protecting us from enemies foreign and domestic.
I live in the south and my son's high school has a very robust JROTC program. I have to admit that I look at these kids with dual concern and hope.
Concern that their patriotism will be exploited by oligarchs and neocons for pointless wars of opportunity as is usually the case; hope that there are still those in this young generation who both believe in and are wiling to sacrifice to preserve this country's institutions.
My son? I will share your article but he is well aware of both Pat Tillman and Jonny Kim. He's a space nut and watched the entire Jocko interview and was blown away. Pat Tillman and the guys on the Tunnels to Towers commercials are his reason for why he will never join the military.
Rot has already massively set in with the defense industry - after a massive merger & acquisition effort (started in the '90s), the surviving companies have so much power that they can control policy. I'd like to think that reversion M&A's, stopping overseas sales, etc. might have a reversal effect .... but then I wake up.
He was an Arizonan in the sense that he went to college here, played for ASU and the Cardinals. There is nothing wrong with saying that. Many states “claim” heroes, etc. who’ve spent far less time in their state.
Oh, I thought you were going to cover the actual conspiracy. The conspiracy was that Tillman was becoming vocally anti-war, and he was assassinated on orders from above so that he wouldn't become a prominent anti-war activist after he left the army. When you say his "personal effects" were burned, it was his *diary* specifically that was burned ("His notebook, in which, according to author Jon Krakauer, Tillman had recorded some of his thoughts on Afghanistan, was also burned").
"On July 26, 2007, Chris Matthews reported on Hardball that Tillman's death may have been a case of deliberate murder by Tillman's fellow soldiers – specifically that the bullet holes were tight and neat, suggesting a shot at close range. Matthews based his speculation on a report from the doctors who examined Tillman's body. The following day the Associated Press reported that a doctor who examined Tillman's body after his death wrote, "The medical evidence did not match up with the scenario as described",[37] also noting that the wound entrances appeared as though he had been shot with an M16 rifle from fewer than 10 yards (9.1 m) away."
Even before Afghanistan he called the Iraq war "so fucking illegal" to other troops. It was probably around that time he realized the country he enlisted to serve didn't exist anymore, certainly not the one his grandfather served. If he only lived to learn the truth of 9-11. He took three in the head from ten yards and then became a regime promotion tool for the patriot programming psyop.
Yes, exactly. Word must have been getting around about his passionate views, and he was *so high profile*. Can't have a lightning rod patriot hero after his service ends try to blow up support for the whole project, now can we?....
The sad thing is he was offered an out (Seattle had a contract and honorable discharge) and he chose to go to Ranger school after Iraq which sent him to Afghanistan, so he still hadn't figured out his sacrifice was being made for war criminals and bankers.
Guy was original unpretentious unconsoomed BAMF. Brother's high school friend played with him at AZ state. Roomed with him at the rose bowl. Was kind and friendly with everyone he met. His big heart unfortunately betrayed him for the patriot programming.
Pat Tillman wasn't told by anyone to volunteer and fight. Many other fine young Americans were told that we needed to, "Fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here." Twenty years later, Minneapolis mosques have been granted the license to usher the call to prayer five times a day. There are many mosques in Michigan too. Recently, the all Muslim city council of a suburb of Detroit voted to permit Muslims to do animal sacrifice at home. (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/michigan-s-muslim-majority-city-council-approves-animal-sacrifice-for-religious-purposes/ar-AA16f4pQ)
Then there is Indiana congressman Andre Carson who has taken money from individuals with links to the Muslim Brotherhood. He has spoken at Muslim conferences and stated that American schools should be set up on the Quran the way madrassas are, and that by 2030 America should have many Muslim heads of Senate and Congressional committees and even the Presidency. I believe he sits or at least once sat on the House Intelligence committee.
Looks like Tillman and others were not fighting over there for the stated goals. The tranny thing is evil. Don't get me wrong. I think its primary purpose is distracting the marks for whoever is running the three card monty on what used to be America.
Today is St. George's Day. All hail the dragon slayers. We're going to need them.
On your comment, people need to also read Philip Haney’s book “See Something, Say Nothing.” He was murdered for what he knew, but authorities called it a suicide.
Thank you for remembering Pat Tillman and the despicable cover-up surrounding his death. Also how Yuri warned us about the plan to destroy us and it is coming to fruition.
Regarding cover-ups, I would swear anywhere to this under penalty of perjury! My wife and I lived in PA. We decided to move West. After selling the house, boarding horses and storing posessions, we explored the country for three months and ended up in Washington state. Shortly after was 9/11. My wife was on the phone with a friend in PA and suddenly she yelled, "on my God, they just announced on the radio they are scrambling jets to shoot down a jet headed for Washington!" (Flight 93!) People in PA heard the fighter jets screaming toward Southwest PA. Of course the plane went down killing all aboard, but they made the whole "let's roll" story, calling relatives on cell phones, etc., was made up instead if admitting they shot it down because it was turning back to Washington!
Other evidence besides what I will swear I witnessed:
1) Cell phone technology to make calls from planes didn't exist! From:
"Any analysis of the cellphone and “airfone” calls from Flight 93 must begin with some basic, high-altitude cellphone facts. According to AT&T spokesperson Alexa Graf, cellphones are not designed for calls from the high altitudes at which most airliners normally operate. It was, in her opinion, a “fluke” that so many calls reached their destinations. In the opinion of a colleague of mine who has worked in the cellphone industry, it was a “miracle” that any of the calls got through from altitude. (See the recent proposal to install equipment to make cellphone calls possible from aircraft.) An aircraft, having a metal skin and fuselage, acts like a Faraday cage, tending to block or attenuate electromagnetic radiation. One can make a cellphone call from inside an aircraft while on the ground because the weakened signal is still close enough to the nearest cellsite (relay tower) to get picked up. Once above 10,000 feet, however, calls rarely get through, if ever.
Here is the statement of an experienced airline pilot: “The idea of being able to use a cellphone while flying is completely impractical. Once through about 10,000 feet, the thing is useless, since you are too high and moving too fast (and thus changing cells too rapidly) for the phone to provide a signal.” (AVWeb, 1999)"
2) The strange transcripts from alleged cell phone calls:?
"CALL C: A man claiming to be Mark Bingham called Bingham’s sister-in-law, Cathy Hoglan, who was being visited by Bingham’s mother, Alice. Cathy took the call and handed the phone to Alice with the remark, “Alice, talk to Mark. He’s been hijacked.”
Caller: “Mom? This is Mark Bingham.”
Caller: “I want you to know that I love you. I’m on a flight from Newark to San Francisco and there are three guys who have taken over the plane and they say they have a bomb.”
It was already established by the sister-in-law the caller was Mark. Why would " Mark" announce his full name to his mother??
3) The plane crash:
If Flight 93 was brought down by a fight between passengers and highjackers, the crash would have been one huge hole! The crash site was scattered OVER MILES, which means the plane exploded in the air!
"One of my friends, whose family also escaped communism, recently quit his job to enlist in the military. He will serve our country with honor. Let us pray that the people leading him do the same so he can live a long, healthy life with his family."
Yuri, thank you for this story, but after a post like this, how can you feel good about or encourage anyone to serve in the military?
I will never dissuade a principled patriot from joining the military. My friend joined because he knows as we do that the armed forces are the most important institution to preserve. If the left takes full control, it's only a matter of time until they turn their weapons on us. I sleep better at night knowing that people like him are protecting us from enemies foreign and domestic.
In our Plague Era, good people like him who refused to follow the orders to take the vax were kicked out of the military, even though the orders themselves were illegal because there was no approved vax for them to take. Their commanding officers colluded in the enforcement of illegal orders.
Most of us here, reading all the Substacks of shared temperament about our Plague Era and the ongoing efforts to destroy our civil liberties, are essentially the guerilla army resisting the Good Soldiers.
Of course, every nation-state must have its own military, well-trained and deeply loyal to the foundational principles of its established government. But we know how that goes too, right?
What makes a good soldier doesn't always go in complementary formation with what makes a good patriotic citizen--one willing to confront a government that goes off the rails, and to right it again.
The rot started long before now, but clearly not all that far away. How did a moron--a repugnant man--like Milley rise so high in the military? Every time I saw that guy I thought of "Dr. Strangelove" and all them generals around the table. I look at Mike Pompeo and if that's West Point's finest, God help us.
All those young men, and seasoned officers, who had to fight for the country they loved and the people they were sworn by duty and by ties of love and devotion to defend, in Nazi Germany--we know now that they were all just like us. Only a very small core group of truly evil and deranged people had taken control of everything, and what should a young soldier think and do, knowing the Soviets, their former allies, were coming and by God they were indeed going to rape and butcher the women; that the Allies were going to crush Germany again, as they had in WWI, and mothers and grandmothers and children were going to starve again if the German Army lost.
Please, Yuri, think deeply about the meaning of words like "principled patriot" and "protecting from enemies foreign and domestic." They are true, necessary and dangerous too.
As I have read Tillman was upset because he and his fellow soldiers were charged with protecting poppy fields which were used to feed the pharmaceutical industry and when he considered going public about it took the shots to the forehead from about 10 yards away. Not certain as to any truth in this but if it were; why would I be surprised by a government as evil as any on the face of this planet?
It’s a long book but a page-turner: About Face by the incomparable David Hackworth. It is well worth reading to see how the rot set into the American military.
And one of the reasons they were able to is because we as a country did not do the things we were supposed to do. When you look into the history of the labor movement and what working conditions were like, when you look at how the "Okies" were treated in California, and how poor Black sharecroppers were treated, hell, the whole Civil Rights movement, take very careful note of who stepped in to advocate for those people and who did not. The word Communist comes up time and time again. Not Christian.
I am currently involved with a group that is fighting for the rights of mobile home park residents (both owners and renters) against the predatory actions of owners/investors. This group, MHAction, is funded by the Tides Center, which supports left-wing causes. Am I a Marxist? Am I a leftist? No! But when I look around I do not see ANYONE else stepping up to the plate. And I certainly do not see my fellow conservatives. I want to protect my ability to live in my home--I am a retired senior citizen with few options when it comes to affordable housing--and if allying with Marxists/leftist will do the trick, then I will hold my nose and work with them. BECAUSE THERE IS NO ONE ELSE. We who consider ourselves conservatives need to wake up. If WE don't address injustices and inequality, SOMEONE ELSE will--and it may not be who we like!
Very true, but leadership at the top can mean the wastage of a whole lot of superior personnel.
As incompetent as they are, Russian and Chinese, they are still winning.
A comment made by JR Nyquist.
"Everything did not go as planned in Moscow’s strategy. But now we see that the Kremlin is still determined to dominate Europe. We can see that Moscow is brandishing its nuclear weapons. We can see that Beijing and Moscow are coming together as allies. What is more dangerous, of course, is that Western political analysts have misunderstood Russian and Chinese politics. They accepted the Sino-Soviet split as real. They accepted the collapse of communism in Russia as real. As a result, we are walking blindly into the communist endgame. And there is almost no one in authority who understands the kind of alliance Russia and China have built – in Asia, in Africa, and in Latin America. Right now, the only people openly fighting Russia are the Ukrainians."
China will be the big winner. As U.S. influence continues to decline, particularly in Asia, we'll see many nominal U.S. allies increasingly looking to buy favor from China. We're already seeing that as Xi brokers cooperation with the Saudis and Iran and buys influence in South and Central America. China already controls Canada, by all appearances. China will win through economic hegemony, without the PLA firing a single shot.
Meanwhile, the uniparty neocons in the U.S. squander largess in their proxy war with Russia and Americans remain distracted with race wars and Dylan Mulvaney promoting a sh*tty beer brand. We're like Marcus Aurelius writing his self-help journal to remain stoic while he watches the Roman Empire continuing to slowly die.
As long as China has no more rebellious populace or those protesting their rule. Their stolen plans for a copy fighter jet failed for years because they couldn’t build the engines to last.
I played men's league baseball for a few years in a San Jose league against Pat Sr., a true class act. Pat catches 5-6 innings, regularly hits line drives the other way off 80+ mph, blocks pitches in the dirt, all with a smile on his face. Sometimes he'd smoke a pipe in the dugout in the later innings when he lets the kids finish the game behind the plate. He's gotta be 70+ yrs old.
I catch too and I'd always joke with him when he'd come up to hit about what a dangerous hitter he is, and he'd always give an 'aww shucks I'm just trying not to embarrass myself.' Then our pitchers would see this old man as an easy out and promptly get whiplash from the line drives he'd routinely smoke the other way. A happy warrior.
Our political leaders are worthless idiots. They are not worthy of anyone's brave sacrifice
but the people are
Great piece. I made it through Jon Krakauer’s book and walked away with a mixed reaction of profound sadness and rage. The greatest tragedy is that Pat Tillman continues to be used as a convenient prop by all sides in the political debate. Kari Lake recently trotted out Tillman’s memory praising him as a great patriot and Arizonan - he was from California - only to be skewered by Arizona’s leftists for doing so.
Tillman was a political liberal in the classic sense - he corresponded with Chomsky, for example - but I’m fairly confident that Tillman would have been disgusted by today’s democrats but equally disgusted by MAGA. It’s all speculative, of course. Kevin Tillman was critical of the January 6 riot and by all accounts was/is a Biden supporter.
One of the tragedies of the government’s rush to cover-up Tillman’s death was that the Army also burned Tillman’s journal that he maintained throughout his tour. The seeds of Tillman’s thought are there which is why they were burned. Tillman witnessed how the Jessica Lynch story was manipulated and fabricated by the Army and the neocons to turn her into the hero that she wasn’t in an attempt to drum up support for the Iraq war that was already turning into a disaster.
The best summary of Pat Tillman’s legacy is his youngest brother Rich’s eulogy at Pat’s funeral. It’s worth watching.
Also worth watching is Jonny Kim’s interview with Jocko that you kindly included. It’s a worthy time investment. I was struck most by Kim’s humility despite all of his amazing accomplishments. I’m left wondering what people like Kim - and Jocko Willink - truly think about what is happening in the country for which they have sacrificed and so obviously love.
Last point, seeing the DEI (or DIE as you more accurately put it) and other Marxist ideologies making their way into today’s military, what were your friend’s motivations for joining and what are his thoughts? I come from a military family but never served and occasionally I regret it. But then, I am not the person I was at age 18. I would not want either of my sons serving knowing what the military - and this country - has become.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment, Mr. Cougar. I will never dissuade a principled patriot from joining the military. My friend joined because he knows as we do that the armed forces are the most important institution to preserve. If the left takes full control, it's only a matter of time until they turn their weapons on us. I sleep better at night knowing that people like him are protecting us from enemies foreign and domestic.
I live in the south and my son's high school has a very robust JROTC program. I have to admit that I look at these kids with dual concern and hope.
Concern that their patriotism will be exploited by oligarchs and neocons for pointless wars of opportunity as is usually the case; hope that there are still those in this young generation who both believe in and are wiling to sacrifice to preserve this country's institutions.
Send him this article!
My son? I will share your article but he is well aware of both Pat Tillman and Jonny Kim. He's a space nut and watched the entire Jocko interview and was blown away. Pat Tillman and the guys on the Tunnels to Towers commercials are his reason for why he will never join the military.
Rot has already massively set in with the defense industry - after a massive merger & acquisition effort (started in the '90s), the surviving companies have so much power that they can control policy. I'd like to think that reversion M&A's, stopping overseas sales, etc. might have a reversal effect .... but then I wake up.
He was an Arizonan in the sense that he went to college here, played for ASU and the Cardinals. There is nothing wrong with saying that. Many states “claim” heroes, etc. who’ve spent far less time in their state.
Truly a Greek Tragedy.
RIP, Pat Tillman.
Oh, I thought you were going to cover the actual conspiracy. The conspiracy was that Tillman was becoming vocally anti-war, and he was assassinated on orders from above so that he wouldn't become a prominent anti-war activist after he left the army. When you say his "personal effects" were burned, it was his *diary* specifically that was burned ("His notebook, in which, according to author Jon Krakauer, Tillman had recorded some of his thoughts on Afghanistan, was also burned").
"On July 26, 2007, Chris Matthews reported on Hardball that Tillman's death may have been a case of deliberate murder by Tillman's fellow soldiers – specifically that the bullet holes were tight and neat, suggesting a shot at close range. Matthews based his speculation on a report from the doctors who examined Tillman's body. The following day the Associated Press reported that a doctor who examined Tillman's body after his death wrote, "The medical evidence did not match up with the scenario as described",[37] also noting that the wound entrances appeared as though he had been shot with an M16 rifle from fewer than 10 yards (9.1 m) away."
See here for more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman#Questions_surrounding_Tillman's_death
Even before Afghanistan he called the Iraq war "so fucking illegal" to other troops. It was probably around that time he realized the country he enlisted to serve didn't exist anymore, certainly not the one his grandfather served. If he only lived to learn the truth of 9-11. He took three in the head from ten yards and then became a regime promotion tool for the patriot programming psyop.
Yes, exactly. Word must have been getting around about his passionate views, and he was *so high profile*. Can't have a lightning rod patriot hero after his service ends try to blow up support for the whole project, now can we?....
The sad thing is he was offered an out (Seattle had a contract and honorable discharge) and he chose to go to Ranger school after Iraq which sent him to Afghanistan, so he still hadn't figured out his sacrifice was being made for war criminals and bankers.
c'mon y'all, let's not mince words... it was an Execution, plain&simple, eh?
Guy was original unpretentious unconsoomed BAMF. Brother's high school friend played with him at AZ state. Roomed with him at the rose bowl. Was kind and friendly with everyone he met. His big heart unfortunately betrayed him for the patriot programming.
Pat Tillman wasn't told by anyone to volunteer and fight. Many other fine young Americans were told that we needed to, "Fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here." Twenty years later, Minneapolis mosques have been granted the license to usher the call to prayer five times a day. There are many mosques in Michigan too. Recently, the all Muslim city council of a suburb of Detroit voted to permit Muslims to do animal sacrifice at home. (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/michigan-s-muslim-majority-city-council-approves-animal-sacrifice-for-religious-purposes/ar-AA16f4pQ)
Then there is Indiana congressman Andre Carson who has taken money from individuals with links to the Muslim Brotherhood. He has spoken at Muslim conferences and stated that American schools should be set up on the Quran the way madrassas are, and that by 2030 America should have many Muslim heads of Senate and Congressional committees and even the Presidency. I believe he sits or at least once sat on the House Intelligence committee.
Looks like Tillman and others were not fighting over there for the stated goals. The tranny thing is evil. Don't get me wrong. I think its primary purpose is distracting the marks for whoever is running the three card monty on what used to be America.
Today is St. George's Day. All hail the dragon slayers. We're going to need them.
On your comment, people need to also read Philip Haney’s book “See Something, Say Nothing.” He was murdered for what he knew, but authorities called it a suicide.
Thank you for remembering Pat Tillman and the despicable cover-up surrounding his death. Also how Yuri warned us about the plan to destroy us and it is coming to fruition.
Regarding cover-ups, I would swear anywhere to this under penalty of perjury! My wife and I lived in PA. We decided to move West. After selling the house, boarding horses and storing posessions, we explored the country for three months and ended up in Washington state. Shortly after was 9/11. My wife was on the phone with a friend in PA and suddenly she yelled, "on my God, they just announced on the radio they are scrambling jets to shoot down a jet headed for Washington!" (Flight 93!) People in PA heard the fighter jets screaming toward Southwest PA. Of course the plane went down killing all aboard, but they made the whole "let's roll" story, calling relatives on cell phones, etc., was made up instead if admitting they shot it down because it was turning back to Washington!
Other evidence besides what I will swear I witnessed:
1) Cell phone technology to make calls from planes didn't exist! From:
https://physics-911.com/cellphoneflight93/#:~:text=According%20to%20AT%26T%20spokesperson%20Alexa%20Graf%2C%20cellphones%20are,high%20altitudes%20at%20which%20most%20airliners%20normally%20operate.
"Any analysis of the cellphone and “airfone” calls from Flight 93 must begin with some basic, high-altitude cellphone facts. According to AT&T spokesperson Alexa Graf, cellphones are not designed for calls from the high altitudes at which most airliners normally operate. It was, in her opinion, a “fluke” that so many calls reached their destinations. In the opinion of a colleague of mine who has worked in the cellphone industry, it was a “miracle” that any of the calls got through from altitude. (See the recent proposal to install equipment to make cellphone calls possible from aircraft.) An aircraft, having a metal skin and fuselage, acts like a Faraday cage, tending to block or attenuate electromagnetic radiation. One can make a cellphone call from inside an aircraft while on the ground because the weakened signal is still close enough to the nearest cellsite (relay tower) to get picked up. Once above 10,000 feet, however, calls rarely get through, if ever.
Here is the statement of an experienced airline pilot: “The idea of being able to use a cellphone while flying is completely impractical. Once through about 10,000 feet, the thing is useless, since you are too high and moving too fast (and thus changing cells too rapidly) for the phone to provide a signal.” (AVWeb, 1999)"
2) The strange transcripts from alleged cell phone calls:?
"CALL C: A man claiming to be Mark Bingham called Bingham’s sister-in-law, Cathy Hoglan, who was being visited by Bingham’s mother, Alice. Cathy took the call and handed the phone to Alice with the remark, “Alice, talk to Mark. He’s been hijacked.”
Caller: “Mom? This is Mark Bingham.”
Caller: “I want you to know that I love you. I’m on a flight from Newark to San Francisco and there are three guys who have taken over the plane and they say they have a bomb.”
It was already established by the sister-in-law the caller was Mark. Why would " Mark" announce his full name to his mother??
3) The plane crash:
If Flight 93 was brought down by a fight between passengers and highjackers, the crash would have been one huge hole! The crash site was scattered OVER MILES, which means the plane exploded in the air!
"One of my friends, whose family also escaped communism, recently quit his job to enlist in the military. He will serve our country with honor. Let us pray that the people leading him do the same so he can live a long, healthy life with his family."
Yuri, thank you for this story, but after a post like this, how can you feel good about or encourage anyone to serve in the military?
I will never dissuade a principled patriot from joining the military. My friend joined because he knows as we do that the armed forces are the most important institution to preserve. If the left takes full control, it's only a matter of time until they turn their weapons on us. I sleep better at night knowing that people like him are protecting us from enemies foreign and domestic.
People like him are required to follow orders.
In our Plague Era, good people like him who refused to follow the orders to take the vax were kicked out of the military, even though the orders themselves were illegal because there was no approved vax for them to take. Their commanding officers colluded in the enforcement of illegal orders.
Most of us here, reading all the Substacks of shared temperament about our Plague Era and the ongoing efforts to destroy our civil liberties, are essentially the guerilla army resisting the Good Soldiers.
Of course, every nation-state must have its own military, well-trained and deeply loyal to the foundational principles of its established government. But we know how that goes too, right?
What makes a good soldier doesn't always go in complementary formation with what makes a good patriotic citizen--one willing to confront a government that goes off the rails, and to right it again.
The rot started long before now, but clearly not all that far away. How did a moron--a repugnant man--like Milley rise so high in the military? Every time I saw that guy I thought of "Dr. Strangelove" and all them generals around the table. I look at Mike Pompeo and if that's West Point's finest, God help us.
All those young men, and seasoned officers, who had to fight for the country they loved and the people they were sworn by duty and by ties of love and devotion to defend, in Nazi Germany--we know now that they were all just like us. Only a very small core group of truly evil and deranged people had taken control of everything, and what should a young soldier think and do, knowing the Soviets, their former allies, were coming and by God they were indeed going to rape and butcher the women; that the Allies were going to crush Germany again, as they had in WWI, and mothers and grandmothers and children were going to starve again if the German Army lost.
Please, Yuri, think deeply about the meaning of words like "principled patriot" and "protecting from enemies foreign and domestic." They are true, necessary and dangerous too.
As I have read Tillman was upset because he and his fellow soldiers were charged with protecting poppy fields which were used to feed the pharmaceutical industry and when he considered going public about it took the shots to the forehead from about 10 yards away. Not certain as to any truth in this but if it were; why would I be surprised by a government as evil as any on the face of this planet?
It’s a long book but a page-turner: About Face by the incomparable David Hackworth. It is well worth reading to see how the rot set into the American military.
We don't need Marxists and leftists destroying our country, we're doing a great job of it ourselves.
Except the socialists hatched their plot over 100 years ago and slowly, but carefully slithered their way into everything.
And one of the reasons they were able to is because we as a country did not do the things we were supposed to do. When you look into the history of the labor movement and what working conditions were like, when you look at how the "Okies" were treated in California, and how poor Black sharecroppers were treated, hell, the whole Civil Rights movement, take very careful note of who stepped in to advocate for those people and who did not. The word Communist comes up time and time again. Not Christian.
I am currently involved with a group that is fighting for the rights of mobile home park residents (both owners and renters) against the predatory actions of owners/investors. This group, MHAction, is funded by the Tides Center, which supports left-wing causes. Am I a Marxist? Am I a leftist? No! But when I look around I do not see ANYONE else stepping up to the plate. And I certainly do not see my fellow conservatives. I want to protect my ability to live in my home--I am a retired senior citizen with few options when it comes to affordable housing--and if allying with Marxists/leftist will do the trick, then I will hold my nose and work with them. BECAUSE THERE IS NO ONE ELSE. We who consider ourselves conservatives need to wake up. If WE don't address injustices and inequality, SOMEONE ELSE will--and it may not be who we like!
Here’s the current situation in the US Armed Forces. Totally demoralized: https://cimsec.org/lying-to-ourselves-part-one/
What is funny, is that our degraded military is still better than others, mostly through the NCOs - China has worse problems with their military.
Very true, but leadership at the top can mean the wastage of a whole lot of superior personnel.
As incompetent as they are, Russian and Chinese, they are still winning.
A comment made by JR Nyquist.
"Everything did not go as planned in Moscow’s strategy. But now we see that the Kremlin is still determined to dominate Europe. We can see that Moscow is brandishing its nuclear weapons. We can see that Beijing and Moscow are coming together as allies. What is more dangerous, of course, is that Western political analysts have misunderstood Russian and Chinese politics. They accepted the Sino-Soviet split as real. They accepted the collapse of communism in Russia as real. As a result, we are walking blindly into the communist endgame. And there is almost no one in authority who understands the kind of alliance Russia and China have built – in Asia, in Africa, and in Latin America. Right now, the only people openly fighting Russia are the Ukrainians."
China will be the big winner. As U.S. influence continues to decline, particularly in Asia, we'll see many nominal U.S. allies increasingly looking to buy favor from China. We're already seeing that as Xi brokers cooperation with the Saudis and Iran and buys influence in South and Central America. China already controls Canada, by all appearances. China will win through economic hegemony, without the PLA firing a single shot.
Meanwhile, the uniparty neocons in the U.S. squander largess in their proxy war with Russia and Americans remain distracted with race wars and Dylan Mulvaney promoting a sh*tty beer brand. We're like Marcus Aurelius writing his self-help journal to remain stoic while he watches the Roman Empire continuing to slowly die.
As long as China has no more rebellious populace or those protesting their rule. Their stolen plans for a copy fighter jet failed for years because they couldn’t build the engines to last.
🤍🙏🏻
I played men's league baseball for a few years in a San Jose league against Pat Sr., a true class act. Pat catches 5-6 innings, regularly hits line drives the other way off 80+ mph, blocks pitches in the dirt, all with a smile on his face. Sometimes he'd smoke a pipe in the dugout in the later innings when he lets the kids finish the game behind the plate. He's gotta be 70+ yrs old.
I catch too and I'd always joke with him when he'd come up to hit about what a dangerous hitter he is, and he'd always give an 'aww shucks I'm just trying not to embarrass myself.' Then our pitchers would see this old man as an easy out and promptly get whiplash from the line drives he'd routinely smoke the other way. A happy warrior.
I'm in a different league now but
Johnny Kim is a beast. And Jocko Podcast is an absolute must-listen for young men. Start at episode 1 and just listen to the whole thing.
BRAVO and THANK you !!