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Any one have a comment on the new ARMY of ONE Commercial!!!

As Retired US ARMY I have taken particular offense.

The commercial shows a soldier running away from battle with no rank on his headgear, ID Tags swinging in the wind, no protective mask, no weapon, no uniform shirt showing rank or unit insignia ( I guess this is for when he surrenders or is captured they might not know who he is?? )

If you watch the commercial it shows him retreating the opposite direction soldiers with weapons, Bradleys, Helecopters all fully loaded and traveling toward battle.

My 13 year old son picked it up the first time he saw the commercial he said "Dad look at that coward, he is running away from the battle, all the other soldiers are going in the opposite direction with weapons, what a Wimp"

His comment floored me, I just had to watch the next time it came on TV and he was right... a 13 year old... Hmmmm

I did a little further research, I live right by Ft. Knox KY my wife works for the US Army Recruiting command, they are also pissed off. The commercial was the Brain child of the outgoing Clinton Admin Army Chief of Staff. No consoltation with the US Army Recruiting command.. Now the US Army Recruiting command is having to spend Millions of our Tax $$ to re-promote Teamwork in upcomming ads to turn around the perception of Cowardice under fire..

I spoke to several NCO's at FT Knox. they are Pissed off Big Time... after all the years of promoting teamwork the US Army shows "ARMY OF ONE" a 180 degree turnaround from what the army is all about...

I am not going to tell you what the USMC Gunny SGT's told me (they were laughing to hard..)

I had one SFC tell me to have the Old Army Chief of Staff to bring his little Coward/Deserter from the commercial and meet him and a squad of Rangers at FT Irwin to see who would win. Team work or Army of One...

he said at least he would give his soldiers weapons....

GeneralOberst Teufel

I am so GLAD Clinton gone! That is really unthinkable.

David

When I was in the Marines we were instilled in the concept of TEAMWORK!! This new Army concept along with everyone wearing a beret
really sickens me. We need to create warriors and not some damn social project to make people feel good!! I hope we don't learn the hard way that this is a mistake.
Semper Fi
Randy

It's amusing to see someone who goes by the name of "GeneralOberst - Teufel" complaining about a United States Army commercial. Guess this is just something else to blame Clinton for. Is this worse than selling weapons to a terrorist state to finance military operations forbidden by Congress?

Originally posted by VictorH:
It's amusing to see someone who goes by the name of "GeneralOberst - Teufel" complaining about a United States Army commercial. Guess this is just something else to blame Clinton for. Is this worse than selling weapons to a terrorist state to finance military operations forbidden by Congress?

Heh, they've had so much fun harrassing Clinton for the last 8 years, they can't help themselves. They can't stop now even though he's gone.

What'da say to another impeachment trial over the pardon thing?


[This message has been edited by Ed Cogburn (edited February 15, 2001).]

Sorry, I'm not getting the point of this commercial. What is it promoting? What is it trying to say?

I havent seen this commercial myself, but being Canadian I likely wont unless wandering a US station (which most are actually).

But considering the state of what a soldier is expected to do in this world during training, (well I expect to see most certainly a lot less out of them than you might have seen 60 years ago).

I know personally how here in Canada the entrance training is powederpuff friendly. And then their is how yer US DI's cant even swear out a troop (makes a lot of expletives leap into my mind).

Canada has enjoyed a grand history of volunteer warriors second to none in our past, but I am not willing to extend that to what we have today. And I am unwilling to extend it to the US as well.

Todays military world enjoys to many doodads to much comfort and not enough soldiering. Aint no way in hell your army or mine could actually fight a WW2 grade battle. I mean people would actually get killed!!!! Heaven forbid army service should actually be dangerous.

The Gulf was a good indication. All kinds of fuss over a "few" casualties. When you compare the Gulf to Omaha or Tarawa, the Gulf becomes nothing more harsh than yer vacation the time it rained the whole time you were there.

And the Balkans has become just as big a farce.

We need to make a choice. Either Canada and the US are geopolitical police or their military sends soldiers. Personally I would have sent troops and shot anything that shot at me while trying to "END THE FIGHTING".

I myself am sick of sending my army to do a cops work. And I am sick of having a wimp heavy military, that does a wretched job faking being well armed cops.

------------------
Winning all the time is as boring as losing all the time

Originally posted by VictorH:
It's amusing to see someone who goes by the name of "GeneralOberst - Teufel" complaining about a United States Army commercial. Guess this is just something else to blame Clinton for. Is this worse than selling weapons to a terrorist state to finance military operations forbidden by Congress?

Since you brought it up, you do realise the Clinton administration funneled weapons to the Bosnians through Iran (a terroist state) after Congress forbid US assistance?

Anyway, I don't care who he pardoned or how much the DNC got for it, I, like most military personnel, are just glad to be done with him.

Originally posted by John W Cochran:
Since you brought it up, you do realise the Clinton administration funneled weapons to the Bosnians through Iran (a terroist state) after Congress forbid US assistance?

Anyway, I don't care who he pardoned or how much the DNC got for it, I, like most military personnel, are just glad to be done with him.

I bet you felt the same at the end of the Reagan/Bush era.

As a matter of fact, I do know about the aid the Bosnians got from Iran as well as a number of other Arab nations. I also remember that it started during the Bush Administration.

I also remember that there was constant war and slaughter in Yugoslavia for years, until Clinton came to power and Voila' it's over.

[This message has been edited by VictorH (edited February 22, 2001).]

"I also remember that there was constant war and slaughter in Yugoslavia for years, until Clinton came to power and Voila' it's over."
Uhh not yet.

VictorH:

"I also remember that there was constant war and slaughter in Yugoslavia for years, until Clinton came to power and Voila' it's over."

Grumble:

Uhh not yet.

In the places where the worst of the fighting was originally going on, Bosnia and Croatia, it is over. It will take time for the more recent Kosovo problem to settle down.


[This message has been edited by Ed Cogburn (edited February 23, 2001).]

Originally posted by Ed Cogburn:

In the places where the worst of the fighting was originally going on, Bosnia and Croatia, it is over. It will take time for the more recent Kosovo problem to settle down.


[This message has been edited by Ed Cogburn (edited February 23, 2001).]

You have to agree that the level of violence has declined dramatically. I am wondering what will become of Kosovo? I don't think the Serbs will forget if it is turned over to Albania.

I'm thinking with Serbia aiding US/UK in their latest SEAD operation, some payback will be in order. Also I read that KFOR is considering allowing Serbian troops back into the border zones to patrol.
If the present government continues to show signs of cooperation with NATO et al, then I would think Kosovo will return to FRY, though I wouldn't be surprised to see Montenegro disengage at least partially...

Your former so great US-Army seems to be a little desolate over here in Germany.
In the last field exercise in northern Bavaria almost all local newspapers had one main topic:" US-Army on warpath with own material"
Really funny! In my Bundeswehr time I found most US soldiers a little arogant, when you spoke about their material. It was the greatest and best, most modern, easy to repair and very reliable. They drove along one German military vehicle with a breakdown and laughed at the conscripts, who tried to repair their truck.
The reality looked other at these former times: The US-Army had lots of breakdowns and lost almost every Nato-comparison in almost any type of weapons. This was 10 years ago.
But now the old times are back! Hurray! Let us be very cautious when US vehicles are near, you don´t know wether they are going to explode in the next moment or kill you by rolling over your car.
But US-Forces tended to kill themselfes by shooting on their tanks or crashing their helos into trees, too. They even shoot their marvelous rockets (Hellfire) "only 7km to far west and 11km to far north", destroying a road and damaging a church.
Americans do not tell the forum your army is so great. Nobody who knows it would ever believe!




[This message has been edited by Frank (edited February 28, 2001).]

"The US-Army had lots of breakdowns and lost almost every Nato-comparison in almost any type of weapons. This was 10 years ago."

Where are you getting your data? Please post links and definitive info. I'm curious if this is merely your opinion or backed by fact.

I am an eye witness, living near the greatest NATO traing area in Europe (Grafenwöhr) and having seen enough US-Army trucks being immobilized around our streets.
The comparisons I have seen were tank shooting matches (?) between all Nato partners and the US boys were not the very best, but the Germans, followed by the Canadians and the British.
The reports about all this are in German newspapers, like "Der Neue Tag" or "Oberpfaelzer Nachrichten". I do not have the links, sorry.

Just found the latest link: http://www.derneuetag.de/zeitung/0,2123,3064-1,00.html
The text is in German, sorry.
You might find some other info about the US-Forces in Grafenwöhr in the archive.

As an Active Duty US Army officer currently stationed in Germany, I take offense to anecdotal observations about the readiness of American forces in Germany. I spent the last week in the field setting up the Army's last MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) and returned to immediately go on 7 days of emergency surgical call. The Army's strength has been reduced by more than 50% since Desert Storm, yet our operational tempo has continued to increase. We continue to do more with less, and it does show in many ways, including retention, morale, and readiness. But we're still able to project power anywhere on the planet, something German armed forces haven't done in more than 50 years. Regarding the Balkans, my unit spent 6 months in Kosovo treating the carnage which has persisted and is now escalating due to Kosovar Albanian rebel incursions into Macedonia and Serbia. In that time, we performed more than 250 surgeries, including many resuscitative and reconstructive surgeries on Kosovar Serbians injured in retributive attacks. We were and are the ONLY trauma facility in the US sector. As the OIC of the operating room I had access to the surgical log of all surgical cases performed since we hit the ground, and it wasn't pretty. My point is, when you make vague and generalized statements about the state of the US Army and especially USAREUR, you offend people who work their butts off for little reward.

Hey Bozman! There is absolutely nothing anecdotical on a newspaper report. Check the link, read yourself or better phone your 1.Division and ask what happened.
It is absolutely true, that your Armed forces were reduced and that they still do a great job. But that does not affect the truth.

About the commercial (wich I didn't saw... and probably never will!):

Perhaps the ideia was that the lone soldier was being recued by his fellows? a kind of «Private... ooops forgot the name (REALLY) movie in commercial?!?...

But don't forget you all: telling jokes of one another, and learning to hear and laught is one of the bests ways to friendship...