ALLIES, THEN AND NOW

GOOD MORNING ALL.

JOHN,  i was in the RVN " during Australia's last martial glory" or
whatever was y'all wrote.

i was damned happy to see Diggers and Kiwis, and  knew i could count on
them  when the crap hit the fan, unlike sooo many of my ARVN allies.

and i was damned glad  to have all of those Canucks who  enlisted in the
US ARMY to fight on my side too evn though their government was not an
ally at all.

ditto for the Brits, Dutch, Germans, Swedes,  Norwegians, and Mexicans,
private citizens, who joined the US ARMY and fought  as allies even
though there own governments were not officially involved.

they earned their US citizenship the hardway, but most went home after
honorable discharge.

and i was also happy to have Philippinos, Thais, and Koreans on my side
as  allies too.

yes, i know they got payed the same pay as Americans  of equal rank and
time in service for their duty, and had the same privelages as GIS. no
sweat. 

i was also greateful for the few ARVNs who fought  for their  own
country.

the males in my famly who actually fought in  WWI , WWII, and Korea were
glad to have Brits, Canucks, Aussies, Kiwis, Springboks (?) and other
Commonwealth troops as allies too.

And the other  european allies	of WW I and  WW II also.

i am also  glad to see the same familiar national faces with our troops
in the other world  shitholes too. 

they do not have to be there just because we are there.

and i am not  referring to those  blue beret wearing scarecrows called
UN peacekeepers either. 

bigger is not always  better, and size does not always count.

it is how the  forces at hand are  used, led, trained, equipped,
supplied, and motivated that counts.

i think that y'all and DEREK got into the typical www faceless,
mis-speech thing.

DEREK, as a grunt, or other combat arm knows just what combat engineers
do and where they are in assault operations.

DAWGIE,  end of speech, dismounting from soap box