Yes, excellent stuff.

Robert T Frederick, the first CO of the Devil's Brigade, is my personal hero. Winston Churchill called him "the greatest fighting general of all time" and said "if we had had a dozen more like him we would have smashed Hitler in 1942". His biography, The Last Fighting General is definitely worth a read.

Also quite coincidentally, I found out New Year's Eve that the father of a family friend was in the Devil's Brigade. He hadn't told anyone until shortly before he died... They truly were amazing men.

In reply to this comment by therealblankman:
Complete coincidence, but I just watched "The Devil's Brigade" 3 nights ago. Really great vintage WWII movie, realistic or not.

If you haven't seen it yet I recommend checking it out at your local Bittorrent multiplex.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062886/

In reply to this comment by Skeeve:
Interesting discussion from someone who knows what he's talking about.

I once got to hold one of the V-42 Fighting Knives issued to the 1st Special Service Force. Amazing being able to hold that kind of historical artifact.

Interestingly, some of the soldiers in the 1st SSF ground down the tips so they didn't get stuck in the ribs when they stabbed someone - the needle tip was making it difficult to kill someone and even more difficult to withdraw the knife.

Yes, yes you are. >> ^lucky760:

I'm very surprised by all the guffaws. Am I the only one who didn't find it at all amusing?

Interesting discussion from someone who knows what he's talking about.

I once got to hold one of the V-42 Fighting Knives issued to the 1st Special Service Force. Amazing being able to hold that kind of historical artifact.

Interestingly, some of the soldiers in the 1st SSF ground down the tips so they didn't get stuck in the ribs when they stabbed someone - the needle tip was making it difficult to kill someone and even more difficult to withdraw the knife.

*beg

*promote the awesome.

*blocked

*videogames *geek

*dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Marriage-proposal-using-internet-memes

I'll add my vote for "Pets" as well.

For anyone interested in this stuff - how basic training inoculates people to prepare them for mental stress - I would highly recommend Col. Dave Grossman's "On Killing".

It's mainly about the psychological effects of killing, but it spends some time on how militaries prepare soldiers for the act of killing. Very fascinating.

I love hearing comments about "boot camp" from people who have never been near the military.

There are quite a few reasons why people don't punch their drill instructors. In my experience, the people with "tough guy" attitudes who think they wouldn't stand for that treatment lose that attitude pretty damn quickly.

Most recruits, as @enoch pointed out, are already scared shitless from being away from home for the first time. Those with a little more life experience realize that its a game you have to play to become a soldier/sailor/airman and would be just as likely to attack their drill instructor as they would be to attack their interviewer for a desk job.

And they all know that if they make things more difficult than they actually are (argue, don't give it your all, etc.) the staff are going to make the whole group go through hell and they will be hated by their whole platoon.

Plus, these aren't conscripts, they are there because they want to be there, or they have no other option. Doing something stupid, like attacking an instructor because he yelled at them, is only going to make things worse.
>> ^TheGenk:

A perfect example of why I did alternative civilian service rather than serve in the military; a few seconds into this the instructor would have been lying on the ground and I would have gone to the brig for punching a superior officer.


>> ^hpqp:

When I got the gist of the video I waited through the whole minute of it for Sgt A. Hole to get a gun butt to the gums. I am disappoint.


>> ^Kofi:

Just wait til they meet in the toilets after. Someones gonna go full metal jacket on his ass.

I don't know about anyone else, but when life begins doesn't even come into the equation for me.

I swatted a bug today. I have no doubt that it was alive. And I didn't have any problem with killing it.

I also had roast beef for supper last night. That cow was once alive. I have no problem with eating meat and the fact that is was alive doesn't bother me in the slightest.

When life begins means shit all. Life isn't sacred. If I consider anything sacred it might be called 'humanness'.

The issue is when the cluster of cells inside a woman achieves the level of development to be called a viable human being. If the cluster of cells wouldn't be able to live on its own, it's no more important than that millions of cells I will lose today through scratching, shitting, eating, etc.

A great response (and shameless plug) here: http://videosift.com/video/Youre-giving-up-Pepsi-until-abortion-ends-Cool-story

Rooja Cosby... Cosby!? Damn.

Hitchens wasn't one to hold back criticism from the recently deceased and, as hpqp pointed out, the quote was from over a month ago anyway.

I'm not a fan of shiny either but, here on the sift, I have defended the freedom of speech of worse people so I would be a hypocrite if I didn't defend him now.