08-05-2013, 10:11 AM
If Hack hadn't had the guts to write we would have heard of a '71 face-the-nation TV appearance but nothing more than another ex-pat left the US.
He crossed more than a few beaten zones and lived in tactical engagements.
Truth he spoke against the wind in the US then. Spoke of inequity of the draft.
Spoke of mismanagement of the war. Of unending war lost for no valid reason but profit.
Thou shalt not sully the rep of your betters in the military world even if it is the truth you speak.
He had a bunch of "decorations" to give away to the kids. A good thing.
At the end of his life he wrote a thing "Steel My Soldier's Hearts". I picked it up on impulse when I saw the author's name. It was about how he and his XO and first shirt and top enlisted folks turned around the morale of an Army battalion their orders bequeathed them in SE Asia games. Truth on most every page of that book. Simple pride instilled and a few wins over the invisible victor charlie enemy turned the corner breaking a few "rules" along the way.
No one can doubt Hack's love for the Nation and WeThePeople. He lived as proof that one can be a professional warmaker and a good one but NOT be a militarist, nor warmonger. Military person yes, but always subservient to the civilian authority, not a militarist. Not a fascist.
I have to contrast Hack with a strutting A**hole Le May smoking his stogie in Jack Kennedy's post mortem. Or a Max Taylor.
If he smoked a few jays on the beach with the 'Roos - more power to him. I DO NOT USE THE TERM "ROOS" IN ANY WAY PEJORATIVE. He ain't the only one did that in Australia or not.
One can "feel" the shedding of the hurt and anger when reading "About Face". Writing it had to have opened wounds long ignored.
Like Smedley Butler he wrote the truth as he saw it at cost.
That is heroic. And that is not the exclusive domain of the USMC no matter what the Commandant or the Recruiting professional liars tell you.
The current Commandant of the Corps is AIR WING! Air Wing??!! No way.
No the Commandant should always be a grunt infantry Gyrene, not another 'perfumed prince'. A great term Hack invented for that condition.
RIP Col. You tried and I thank You Sir.
He crossed more than a few beaten zones and lived in tactical engagements.
Truth he spoke against the wind in the US then. Spoke of inequity of the draft.
Spoke of mismanagement of the war. Of unending war lost for no valid reason but profit.
Thou shalt not sully the rep of your betters in the military world even if it is the truth you speak.
He had a bunch of "decorations" to give away to the kids. A good thing.
At the end of his life he wrote a thing "Steel My Soldier's Hearts". I picked it up on impulse when I saw the author's name. It was about how he and his XO and first shirt and top enlisted folks turned around the morale of an Army battalion their orders bequeathed them in SE Asia games. Truth on most every page of that book. Simple pride instilled and a few wins over the invisible victor charlie enemy turned the corner breaking a few "rules" along the way.
No one can doubt Hack's love for the Nation and WeThePeople. He lived as proof that one can be a professional warmaker and a good one but NOT be a militarist, nor warmonger. Military person yes, but always subservient to the civilian authority, not a militarist. Not a fascist.
I have to contrast Hack with a strutting A**hole Le May smoking his stogie in Jack Kennedy's post mortem. Or a Max Taylor.
If he smoked a few jays on the beach with the 'Roos - more power to him. I DO NOT USE THE TERM "ROOS" IN ANY WAY PEJORATIVE. He ain't the only one did that in Australia or not.
One can "feel" the shedding of the hurt and anger when reading "About Face". Writing it had to have opened wounds long ignored.
Like Smedley Butler he wrote the truth as he saw it at cost.
That is heroic. And that is not the exclusive domain of the USMC no matter what the Commandant or the Recruiting professional liars tell you.
The current Commandant of the Corps is AIR WING! Air Wing??!! No way.
No the Commandant should always be a grunt infantry Gyrene, not another 'perfumed prince'. A great term Hack invented for that condition.
RIP Col. You tried and I thank You Sir.
Read not to contradict and confute;
nor to believe and take for granted;
nor to find talk and discourse;
but to weigh and consider.
FRANCIS BACON
nor to believe and take for granted;
nor to find talk and discourse;
but to weigh and consider.
FRANCIS BACON