Angry Staff Officer Profile picture
Nov 18, 2020 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Been feeling out of sorts, lately. Frustrated at the lack of decency often seen in the world. The lying. The disingenuous words flying about.

Then I recalled an incident that made me remember that there have been true leaders out there. Like Lucian Truscott. Image
Truscott isn't one who comes up in the pantheon of popular WWII generals. He didn't seem the limelight. He wasn't a military academy grad. He started out as a poor schoolteacher before wrangling a commission as a cavalry officer

By WWII, he was leading troops in North Africa
Truscott was a good combat leader. Tough. Dependable. Not flashy. Willing to speak his mind. He fought through North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, leading @3rd_Infantry, before taking control of the disastrous beachhead at Anzio. He would fight in Italy all through the war till 1945
But that's not why I think of him

On Memorial Day, 1945, Truscott, as 5th Army commander, was asked to speak at the US cemetery at Nettuno. Lots of VIPs & press present. Truscott took the stand, facing his expectant audience. Then he turned around

And faced his 20,000 fallen
Ignoring the living, Truscott, in his raspy voice, apologized to the dead for their presence there. And he talked of his own grief: "everybody tells leaders it is not their fault that men get killed in war, but that every leader knows in his heart this is not altogether true"
He said that he hoped that if any were there because of a mistake of his, that they would forgive him, but admitted that was "asking a hell of a lot considering the circumstances."

He would not speak, he said, of the glorious dead; he didn't see much glory in young men dying
If any, he said, ever spoke of how death in battle was glorious, especially those who had a chance to grow old, he would straighten them out. It was the least he could do, he rasped.

No one recorded this final heart-rending speech from a commander to his troops.
Thankfully, Bill Mauldin - creator of the iconic Willie and Joe, who showed the world the true GI - was present, and made the only known notes of Truscott's speech.

Mauldin would go on to be a civil rights advocate, btw ImageImage
True honesty and genuine care seems so rare these days that when you see it, it rather takes your breath away

It's what I think of, when I think of what this country is, at its roots. Or rather, what it can be. And it keeps me pushing towards that goal.

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More from @pptsapper

Mar 15
So, I'm finishing up Sears' "Lincoln's Lieutenants" for the 2d time, and it remains an exceptional work. One of the most solid examinations of brigade and higher leadership of the Army of the Potomac that exists. But while I love everything Sears does, he's in the tactics trap
For example, he has nothing but disdain for Sigel and Butler, and other "political" generals

And yes, from a tactical level, they're not great. Not really bringing in the battlefield Ws

But that's only half the story.
By keeping Franz Sigel in a US Army uniform, Lincoln is ensuring continued German American enlistments

Political generals ensure continued Congressional and state financial and materiel support for the war

Building a national army is hard

Building a national idea is harder
Read 7 tweets
Aug 26, 2023
There's a decent chance y'all are gonna hear about some conspiracy theorist shit from the 1600s based on my consumption of the alcohols this evening

This acts as your WARNORD

So, like, be warned or whatever
Ok so like, you think America today is bad with conspiracy theories

I mean, it's pretty shitty, I won't lie, but it's got nothin on 1689 when everyone apparently lost their shit and just decided to overthrow govt

This historic rant brought to you by 3 incredibly generous G&Ts
Look, it's the 1680s,and shit in the English colonies on north America is getting weird af. Lots of pacts and shit for common defense against those evil papist French who are hiding behind every tree and also probs behind you right now

With baguettes or whatever
Read 18 tweets
Aug 20, 2023
Modern war remains artillery intensive. Ever since the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, belligerents have been constrained by availability of artillery ammunition. To believe that precision fires significantly changes this is to live in a delusional world. We need more production.
And for the love of the gods, spare me with the "faltering offensive" takes. Operational offensives require mass reserves and mass logistics, as well as incredibly difficult synchronization of combined arms -- and they don't look flashy. They are nasty, grinding, bloody things
If you can achieve a breakthrough, you need more reserves, more logistics to sustain the momentum, but it's very very hard to predict where a breakthrough will happen and then quickly mass combat power at that site. Technology cannot eliminate the tyranny of time and space
Read 4 tweets
Aug 1, 2023
Ok SO

I may have had some wine and yo, if you think this was the first time in American history a presidential candidate tried this exact thing, baby, have I got a story for you

It's been a hot minute since we did some #drunjhistory huh

Let's remedy that
So it's 1876, and America is, as many historians have said, a hot ass mess

Like, former treasoners in the south are actively fighting the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments and using lots of violence to try to keep white supremacy, US troops are actively fighting them
The election is between Rutherford Hayes, who ate a bullet at South mountain in 62 so you know he's a badass G, and samuel tilden, who's like, a guy. He opposed Lincoln but was like "I guess the union is ok"

And the election is TIGHT. CLOSW. LIKE. super duper close
Read 18 tweets
Mar 30, 2023
Dear god, who deconflicts SDZs on Mandalorian firing ranges
A warrior culture but literally no one is on guard duty against the MANY large hostile creatures on their planet

Well, that's what "warriors" gets ya
Bets on how long Bo Katan will put up with the crazy cultists before she decides to bounce
Read 4 tweets
Mar 19, 2023
Teaching cadets about the 2003 invasion of Iraq...They would look at me quizzically after doing the reading, saying "this still doesn't make sense, everyone knew this was a bad idea, why did it happen?"

I'd sigh, and say

"Well, you kinda had to be there at the time"
Well that blew up. Been off Twitter all day.

A few thoughts

One, I was one of those neocons who thought it was a good idea - all of 17 years old, of course. I believed that we wouldn't go to war without true and valid reasons for doing so. I was one of many, many Americans
Two, with the cadets, we had just emerged from a discussion on Vietnam and the Powell Doctrine. They were flabbergasted that Powell agreed to such an open violation of his principles. We spent a lot of time discussing hindsight, politics, and a nation's emotional reaction to 9/11
Read 6 tweets

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