coward

[Dan Goncharoff]

And then there's Patton:

I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his
country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his
country.

DanG


On Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 3:30 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: coward
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 1:06 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:
> > My reaction at the time was for a <<Martyrs' Brigade for Freedom &
> > Democracy, Inc.>> Though the notion of suicide is repugnant to most
> > Americans, the notion of self-sacrifice in a military context is somewhat
> > more palatable. I therefore proposed that those who have most benefited
> > from a military career should volunteer for a Martyrs' Brigade for
> Freedom
> > & Democracy, to be drawn from the ranks of retired military personnel,
> > starting with the highest ranks and working on down, as wartime
> > requirements dictated. For example, a retired admiral would strap on a
> > suicide belt, dress in a burqa, and advance towards a Taliban machine gun
> > nest in Afghanistan, and then do the right thing. Culling the ranks of
> > retired field grade officers would in fact have the additional
> side-benefit
> > of reducing entitlement payouts that much sooner. The vast pool of
> military
> > retirees should last through a number of future conflicts; but, if
> > necessary, volunteers could also be drawn from amongst retired Congress
> > persons, and so on, down through the political pool. The undesirable
> > effects of wasting youthful kamekazis by the Japanese during WWII should
> > not be lost on us, as it has apparently been by other Martyrs' Brigades.
>
> A marvelous suggestiion!
>
> BTW, WRT
>
> > Though the notion of suicide is repugnant to most Americans,
> > the notion of self-sacrifice in a military context is somewhat
> > more palatable,
>
> cf., e.g., the NT:
>
> "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
> his friends."
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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