"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans, love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers ... Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in Hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. Now, an army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The Bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post, don't know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating. Now we have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. You know ... My God, I actually pity those poor bastards we're going up against. My God, I do. We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel. Now some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you'll all do your duty. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood, shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo, that a moment before was your best friends face, you'll know what to do. Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything, we'll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose, and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose. Now, there's one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home, and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you, What did you do in the great World War Two? You won't have to say, Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana. Alright now, you sons of bitches, you know how I feel. I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere. That's all."
General George S. Patton, Jr.
There was a time in my life when those words inspired in me a sense of courage, duty, honor and pride. They gave me the will to fight, and I believed that fighting was one of the greatest forms of expressing ones manliness. Spending 3 years in Louisiana has put these things into a new perspective for me. I no longer think of war in the same way I did before joining the Army in September of 2003. My views have changed not because of first hand experience though, but rather from spending the duration of my service in the rear, stateside.
I'm starting this blog as a record and somewhat of a memoir of my Army experience. I want to reflect on the time Ive spent here and how its changed me. I haven't exactly been shoveling shit, but being in Louisiana for 3 years has made me feel like I might as well have been doing just that this entire time, as I don't feel its been very much worth the greater sacrifice to the Army of some of the best years of my life.
I don't plan to be strict on any matters of organization. I want to ignore chronology as best as I can and focus on themes rather than the order in which things happened. Although the chronology plays a roll in the greater cause and effect of the events of my life these past few years, I prefer for artistic purposes to attempt a sort of chaotic satirical Joseph Helleresque style in tribute to his ever inspiring anti war novel, one of my all time favorites, Catch-22.
Later I would like to compile these Army memoirs into a more orderly autobiographical form. In my personal quintessential style, I'm writing this blog entry no. 1 at 12:28 AM. Given the time therefore, I shall retire for this evening and God willing commit myself to continuing this blog as soon as I find the will to write again (in other words, hopefully soon!).
