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When a mind that previously trusts in a system takes a “red pill,” it never sees the world the same again, and cannot go back to the prior system of belief.
One of my biggest pills was realizing we never had a plan to win any of the wars of this century.
When a mind that previously trusts in a system takes a “red pill,” it never sees the world the same again, and cannot go back to the prior system of belief.
One of my biggest pills was realizing we never had a plan to win any of the wars of this century.
In case you didn’t know, the red pill concept comes from the matrix - those taking a red pill see the world and its systems for what it truly is. They cannot go back to a life of ignorance, clucking along on LinkedIn and acting like people who corrupted the nation can save it.
In the case of my own military experience - I joined as a true believer that handing out soccer balls in Iraq or some war torn place was going to change the world and required the sacrifice of American lives to uphold.
Maybe not literally - but a lot of people don’t ask...
Maybe not literally - but a lot of people don’t ask...
Those questions when joining. They’re doing so out of tradition, or to make something of themselves, or for adventure, and often times out of sheer patriotism.
And in 2006, George Bush, by God, was doing the Lord’s work in fighting 9/11... for uh... 5 years at the time.
And in 2006, George Bush, by God, was doing the Lord’s work in fighting 9/11... for uh... 5 years at the time.
My family has an unbroken chain of military officers stemming from 1963, all the way to present, from my dad, to two brothers, to myself, and a nephew. Warrant Officers, Captains, a Colonel. A combined 7 years forward deployed on multiple continents.
It was an honor to have served, and the lessons are many - nowhere else can a 23 year old learn on such a steep curve, get slammed, built up, and thrown to the wolves in an environment where you either learn your trade or you let everyone else down.
In the view of many of my friends who served in combat arms roles, letting your soldiers down could have the most serious of consequences. For people like me, bad intelligence leads to the same things down the line, indirectly.
In my year in Afghanistan, I began to realize a lot of the things we believed in were not sustainable. Namely, that counter insurgencies historically have never worked anywhere but islands, which are usually small and can be patrolled by navies to keep arms and personnel out...
Which allows for the population to be divided, isolated, and neutralized where needed (enemy). In Afghanistan, a place the size of Texas - enemy fighters and arms/supplies come in from six bordering nations, especially Iran and Pakistan.
We have no means to prevent that. The fighters dying in Afghanistan for the bad guys are pawns on the chess board. It’s not common to take a bishop, rook, knight, let alone a queen.
As far back as a decade ago, when I was there, we had our foreign “allies” giving...
As far back as a decade ago, when I was there, we had our foreign “allies” giving...
Away various pieces of equipment to the enemy in exchange to not be attacked. The Afghan police and army claimed firefight expenditures of ammo because they were selling it, and then getting replenished.
2010-11, the surge, when I was there - the biggest threat in our region...
2010-11, the surge, when I was there - the biggest threat in our region...
For allied forces was getting shot in the back of the head in the dining hall. Lots of base attacks, high level assassinations of senior officers and NCOs happened thanks to subversion and infiltration by our supposed allies.
Apache crews would shoot...
Apache crews would shoot...
$70k hellfire missiles at repeater towers that cost $25 dollars worth of junk supply. Other units would need multiple levels of general officer approval for simple combat engagements, even when ROE suggested that it was safe to legally engage an enemy.
It didn’t help our fighters that our own lawyers were eager to lock up our own soldiers for doing their jobs. Imagine trying to win a war in a country called the “graveyard of empires” by handing out soccer balls and hoping warlords will suddenly see the merit in western...
Systems and values, many of which they actually find abhorrent (also not without merit). This is a nation in which women are still stoned to death for learning how to read - you won’t hear that from the progressive hive mind today when they paint Patriots as bigots.
So, my job was to think and to present battle plans to keep our people safe and to exterminate enemy fighters where they could be found. Secondarily, to produce intel reporting that fed operations in all of our region, a hub for weapons and personnel movement.
I alternated between day and night shifts, spending many long hours thinking through the strategic landscape of what in the actual hell we were going to do to win the war - although I was far from a rank that operated at that level. I began to realize we had no plan to win...
But kept sending people back to get legs blown off, mentally afflicted, and for no direct and aggressive purpose. I am no pacifist, but don’t support wars that cannot be won, especially when started for purposes that are falsely represented to the people.
I support acting on intelligence to wipe out legitimate threats. I think there was a case after 9/11 to target with precision for a period of time. But now, I’m only 36 and there are people who were 8 years old when I was over there, that are now suiting up under fire...
One day, a warrant officer who later took his own life told me, “sir, using the US Army to perform a counter insurgency is like doing an open heart surgery with a battle axe.”
He was a cynic, mad at the world, but was so right. And I will always remember that quote.
He was a cynic, mad at the world, but was so right. And I will always remember that quote.
I moved on in my career, went to some more schooling, and one day, I was riding on a bus with a broken heater, in December, between Anchorage and Fairbanks. I was reading on my eBook, “Liberty Defined” by Ron Paul. This was just after Obama’s re-election, and I was looking...
For some perspective. I’m not a libertarian but I found myself identifying heavily with it on some social issues, but certainly on topic of war. It made the comparison to Rome, a welfare-warfare state at the end that became so consumed with funding endless war...
That its own citizens didn’t even serve in the Army. They outsourced it to the barbarian hordes. Dr Paul outlined the waste, abuse, and foolishness in the system and said that he knows many military officers who resigned in disgust after aligning with his views on the topic...
I think that was the moment when I decided to chart another path in an organization that maps out deployment rotations in 8 year blocks. I remember seeing deployment plans for 2018 in 2010, which units will be coming in and out of theater.
Those plans are classified, so they aren’t really things you see on army times articles, but can you imagine the 101st airborne on D-Day 1944 logging in and seeing that they are slated for Holland in 1952?
The divorce rate is 70% in the military. 22 veterans a day take their own lives. Folks are committing heavily in the name of defense to serve a country they love but are committed to the plans of those with no real plan to win campaigns we engage in.
And once that red pill is swallowed, a lot of very good officers and soldiers get out, and are often made to feel terrible for doing so. But once the heart isn’t in it, you can’t continue.
I am glad I served - it gave me a lot of life skills. I’m still friends with...
I am glad I served - it gave me a lot of life skills. I’m still friends with...
The NCO who was NCO in charge of our intel section in Afghanistan. He had many tours overseas in infantry and spent about four months brutalizing me in the art of getting it done without sufficient personnel and guidance.
I had been thrown to the wolves as a 1st Lt - our captain had a family emergency and couldn’t deploy for 4 months. We had 3 people, the two of us included, to run 24 hour intel operations in an area the size of Georgia.
And thanks to him, we pieced it together. Nowhere else can you learn project management, leadership, mental and physical toughness, and dealing with the worst of the world than on a tour like that.
And for that I’m thankful - it made a lot of veterans who they are ....
And for that I’m thankful - it made a lot of veterans who they are ....
Even though the truth is many no know they were not led with integrity by those starting campaigns that cannot be won.
Hope this offers some perspective on why we can all move ahead with a foreign policy that gives red pills all should be happy to take.
Hope this offers some perspective on why we can all move ahead with a foreign policy that gives red pills all should be happy to take.
This is a non partisan issue that should resonate with all who don’t think a nation should expend blood and treasure on behalf of people who don’t want it in their own nations.
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#intelpatriot
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#intelpatriot
