Re: [SGII] [DSII] 170th North American Infantry

At 9:42 AM -0600 11/26/03, Don M wrote:
>*Never understood that one either, think it's an aversion to
>within the ranks competition......and the long standing fear
>of elite formations by the general staff. Just look how the

Don't most of those Generals have Elite/Airborne origins?

>army fought the Ranger idea and how quickly the sniper
>schools were disbanded after W.W.II. There seems to be a
>an almost institutional plan for making everyone equal to
>the point of stupidity. The need for elite units was really brought
>home during and since Nam........That was not that long ago
>when you consider it as a basis for establishing tradition.

Well, the weird thing is that with the British 
system you end up with elite units all around (or 
at least better than average). The various light 
infantry units (Highland Light Infantry, KOYLI, 
etc), the Parachute Regiment, the Royal Green 
Jackets, the Various Guards units, the Household 
Cavalry, etc.

>*LOL, 1st Cav has Stetsons, thing is we only wear them with dress
blues.

The Berets are nice and useful for head wear when 
in an AFV (I wear a RAC beret when I drive my 
Ferret or Dingo around) but US troops are big on 
their CVCs and being safe over looking smart 
(something that hurts us on peace keeping as it 
puts the locals off). Beret's are useful for AFV 
ops as you can be comfortable and have head cover 
that still works with headsets.

I also can't stand the exacting way in which all 
the beret's must be set up. (we'll after seeing 
nearly 50 years of photos of the Brits, it's 
funny to see how my fellow countrymen wear them, 
there's got to be at least one chap wearing it at 
a "jaunty" angle!)

Ryan, armchair military buff and Armored Vehicle Hobby-ist.

PS, the view of the current US Army trends from 
Mark Baker is rather fun in spite of the oddities.

http://www.pvtmurphy.com/image_upload/images/style.gif
http://www.pvtmurphy.com/image_upload/images/loadbearingvest.jpg

PPS John, if you've not looked at updated Pvt 
Murphy's make sure yo do so before you head back 
to theatre.
-- 
  Ryan Gill		 rmgill@SPAMmindspring.com
---------------------------------------------------------- 
      |        |		  |	     -==----	    
      | O--=-  |	|	  |	    /_8[*]°_\	     
      |_/|o|_\_|	|_________|	  __/_[===]_\	    
      / 00DA61 \	/---------\	 | /	     \---   
   _w/|=_[__]_= \w_    // [_]  o[]\\   __|O\	     /O_|_  
  |: O(4) ==	O :|  _Oo\=======/_O_  |_41_\	    /____|  
  |---\________/---|  [__41____(&)__]	|/||_\	   /_||/|   
   |/|\        /|/|   |/|/F 48582\|/|	|/|-\|	   |/-|/|   
   |/|=\______/=|/|   |/|=|_____|=|/|	|/|--|_____|--|/|   
   |/|		|/|   |/|	  |/|	|/|	      |/|   
  '60 Daimler Ferret '42 Daimler Dingo '43 Humber MkIV (1/2)
----------------------------------------------------------