Thread by @RadioFreeTom

So, a couple of thoughts stirred by my posting of that Russian lady falling nine stories, and how tough Russians are.
Americans are tough too. But we're different kinds of tough. We're professionals, improvisers, can-do, never fail the mission guys. They're...just tough. /1

Russians put up with lousy conditions and personal privation and misery a lot more easily than Americans - but it has to be on home turf. They're not good at away games. It's not their skill set. We show up 5000 miles from home and go all MacGuyver. That's our secret sauce. /2

Russians (and yes, I'm generalizing about the Russian military, after studying them for three decades) tough things out by sheer willpower. That works, like crushing rocks with your bare hands. Americans aren't good at that. But we're good at something better, imo: improv. /3

Russian approach to a problem is to get a bigger hammer and it's good enough. The American approach is to invent a million-dollar hammer that can nail things through time and space. Overkill, but a better long-term solution. I'd rather have innovators than blunt trauma guys. /4

On the sheer "who can beat who's ass" thing, the Russians like to point out that they're the guys who drove Hitler to suicide. They're not wrong. But they've long relied on massive numbers and in 21st century warfare, the Battle of Berlin is not instructive. /5

Pound for pound, you bet on Ivan Drago in a fight, sure. Rocky does not win that one in real life. But the better example is Kirk vs the Gorn. Yes, he's a giant super-strong lizard. Kirk is the guy who blows his face off with a home-made cannon.

But I digress.
/6

Anyway, I have great respect for the toughness of ordinary Russians. If we had ever had to slug it out with them, I have no doubt who'd win on the battlefield, but at home, they'd put up with a lot more than our lazy society would, and that counts for a lot in war. /7

Of course, toughness doesn't mean jack-shit when the nuclear weapons start flying, and the Russians WAY overestimate their own toughness on that score. But that's a different problem.
Just remember: We're Kirk. They're Gorns. Different skill sets.

/8

This was a good procrastination thread, and I thank you all for letting me skate away from my afternoon of committee work and memo drafting. /9x