tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3580247703206240142.post4034084910183257752..comments2023-05-16T02:08:42.858-07:00Comments on Degringolade: Obviously,this is not an article written in D.C.Degringoladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11893964959960977677noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3580247703206240142.post-84394350626930397212010-11-14T06:13:03.352-08:002010-11-14T06:13:03.352-08:00I googled "Ford o' Kabul River" to f...I googled "Ford o' Kabul River" to find the story behind this poem. Kipling’s poem recalls the 1879 mass-drowning of forty British hussars who were attempting to ford the Kabul river. The following year, a further six British cavalry drowned at another Kabul River ford. This second incident prompted a British officer to ask: 'Is it that the extension of railways, both at home and abroad, is depriving our splendid English cavalry of the opportunities they had in former days of becoming expert, not only in crossing fords, but even in swimming their horses through dangerous rapids? Or is the old story... that the British light (?) horseman is still overweighted with his own multifarious and complicated accoutrements, that, once submerged, he has small chance of coming up again?'"Gather ye marbleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06054541606669852298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3580247703206240142.post-57087985773912833192010-11-12T09:08:24.659-08:002010-11-12T09:08:24.659-08:00The U.S. Army had a lot of problems with its offic...The U.S. Army had a lot of problems with its officers in WW2. Constant replacement of deficient officers. By the end of the war in Europe they had mostly found a reasonable bunch.<br /><br />The Germans also tended to staff at a lower level. If memory serves me correct, Rommel in WW1 was in charge of a company as a lieutenant.<br /><br />In any case, US military forces do not have a history of universal acheivement. For obvious reasons we tend to remember our successes and forget the failures.russell1200https://www.blogger.com/profile/16258915475311426433noreply@blogger.com