What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons…

– Wilfred Owen

  • neanderthal@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Alan Turing, a mathematician and gay man, is right up there with Oppenheimer, Churchill, Macarthur, and Stalin in level of importance towards the allied victory in WW2.

    I’m a veteran. A lot of really good troops in technical fields tended to not serve all that long due to better quality of life outside of the military. An ace technical troop is worth their weight in gold.

    Various types of mechanics and technicians, logisticians, network admins, equipment operators, pilots, various engineers, and other technical troops are the real power of the US military. Most of those are more technical than physical.

    It isn’t brawn that keeps around 100 USN ships deployed around the world at any given time. It isn’t brawn that gives the USAF a 48 hour turn around time for operating anywhere in the world. It isn’t brawn that keeps large ground forces supplied at bases all around the world. It is education, brains, and training.

    • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I agree with the sentiment here, but as a history fan I have to challenge MacArthur’s place on that list.

      He’s well known for his personality, speeches and statements, not his performance on the battlefield, which resulted in the needless deaths of thousands of American servicemen simply following his unwise orders. MacArthur was a brilliant politician but a mediocre general, and should be remembered as such.

      If you want to reach for an American WW2 general worth his stars, can go with Patton or Eisenhower. They did well, even with the benefit of hindsight. We also had a slew of amazing admirals around about that time. They weren’t all good of course, but we had enough.

    • Drunemeton@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I remember when Putin’s War started. Over on that other site someone commented that one of the things that’ll make or break the war for Ukraine is:

      Logistics!

      To paraphrase, “The U.S. is many things but they’re inarguably the masters of logistics. They can get anything, anywhere, across the globe in a shockingly short amount of time. If they back Ukraine, Russia’s in a whole world of hurt.”