Ghost Troop Home Page    April Fools Part 3

 

September 25, email to Carol Kerr, Army War College PAO

Yep, I always talk until I’m told to shut up, so I stand corrected for yakking too much.  I’m just pleased when I get a chance to talk with someone who’s interested in Afrika Korps & logistics.

I’m a military/media renegade.  Had the misfortune to be on a general staff once, have the fortune to be on a roll as a writer lately.  I’ve gone a different direction with soldier skills since my more conventional days in uniform; now I’m a black belt student of a former Korean Army tae kwon do grandmaster, and I think I’ve read Sun Tzu and Miyamato Musashi a lot more that I ever read Clausewitz.  Hell, has anyone ever read all of Clausewitz?  Don’t get me wrong, epic at points, but a bit longish overall.  I love Caesar though, and I read ‘im in Latin.  I’m thinking it may be about time for a good writer to re-translate him (it should be done every half century with some style).

Anyhow, I hope you’ll find the two pieces provocative, and well written, though I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find that I’d mucked up on a detail or two.

I respect your candor about your inability to give any kind of imprimatur (good word, smart lady) to this stuff.  I just wanna know what y’all think.  Shucks, I’m from Texas, and I’d be interested to see what real soldiers make of my dilettante (good word back) drivel.

I’ve got the Yee and Iraq analysis we discussed on one attachment.  On a second I’ll put my two prewar predictions on Iraq (both Houston Chronicle op-eds).  One, is from ’92 when I was a PAO, and in it I predicted a quagmire if we had invaded then.  The other is from April 3, 2003, just before we took Baghdad, and in it I predicted we’d be fighting against a national insurgence in the summer, and we might lose the Army (a la von Paulus’ 6th Army at Stalingrad).  It ended with the word quicksand.  Know anyone else who published an inimical analysis before the big battle?  Maybe it’s the kind of thing that is worth your folks discussing.  I cheated when I wrote the piece:  I talked to my Wehrmacht mentor for a couple of hours about the invasions of Norway, Poland and Russia.  We kapitans are smarter than you think…)

Thanks for indulging me, Ms Kerr.  It is always a pleasure to converse, however clumsily, with a lady and a scholar.  Most find me better in writing than in person, and maybe you will, too.  Your friend, the renegade captain,

Eric May

 

Ghost Troop Home Page    April Fools Part 3