This is by far the best scene in Last of the Mohicans.

Major Heyward leads a company of Highlanders (in reality the 35th Foot [Royal Sussex]) out of the trenches around Fort William Henry to act as a diversion for a messenger to run to Fort Edward and reinforcements. It is a great moment of redemption for Major Heyward and the British Army.

On the trip north, Heyward had his command destroyed in the woods by the Huron. Unaccustomed to fighting in the close confines of the North American woodlands, Heyward and his men are made fools of

Want to know what globalists think of you?

This from the West Wing (a liberal wet dream) but offers an insightful look into how we got to this point.

Spoiler Alert: they neither understand the world or believe there is a difference between American workers and global workers. They have negotiated a free trade deal. They know it will cost Americans jobs.

The world is full of information: some bad, some good, some deceitful. Making up one's own mind is the only true freedom we have. Sometimes it is wise to go along with the group, sometimes it is best to blaze your own path to glory.

Like at the Battle of Tannhäuser Gate 1. Like many ancient battles, the truth of Tannhäuser Gate has been lost to time. The story has been changed by both 13th Century bards and Wagner alike.

But the legend remains and the story, despite the wear of intervening centuries, refuses to be lost like tears in the rain

What wins wars? Certainly sometimes superior logistics, weapons, or generals, but when no side has those advantages? What leads one side to crush their enemy mercilessly? Discipline, faith, and leadership. Like how white mercenaries ruled the 1960's battlefields of the Congo. 1/It is no surprise that trained, equipped, and well-led European armies slaughtered African tribal armies wherever they went. A tiny nation, Belgium was able to conquer a giant one like the Congo with nothing more than a professional army. Even Italy managed a colony: barely

Alright youse. Grab a chair and make sure you don’t mix up your guns while we clean, and wash your hands before you eat that powder is filthy.

Let’s talk German politics.

German had an election. Nobody won. But this always happens in Germany. So you have to form a coalition It helps not to think of German parties as opposites of one another like in a 2 party US system: for example, the new CDU (led by Friedrich Merz, no relation) is no leaning more anti immigrant like AfD, but they differ on Germany’s place in the EU and foreign policy.

The uniquely American desire for cold stuff… like drinks bordering on Titanic iceberg level cold or A/C temps set to Siberia always puzzled me

It took me a while to realize that Americans don’t particularly like these things, but they do them: because they fucking can

America I grew up with AC, and ice on demand. But I never understood why my family would run the AC like it was the last lap at the Indy 500 and they were three spots behind.

But they did it because they were now Americans, and they just… could

Let’s talk about Egypt…

This is Ali. He was one of two Egyptian officers in my class. (The man with the 240 is not me, but he is a current Infantry Battalion Commander)

Ali was one of two Egyptians in my class. Ali was an aristocrat, the other, Hasani, a soldier.

https://twitter.com/ahmed_hassan_za/status/1889772923067511247

Ali didn’t do shit. He rarely rucked, he couldn’t shoot, he did PT but only when it was running only.

He used to take days off for “religious” reasons, and when we went to the field he initially refused to sleep on the ground.

He was from a rich and well connected family

Trump II reminds me a lot of my mother and her Christmas cards.

(Yes, I have a mother, shocking I know)

See my mother is a slave to formality, and the process. She is a great hostess and friend. Until you wrong her.

Every year she sends out Christmas Cards. She would sit down the week after Thanksgiving and pull out this leather address book and start writing.

No services. No pictures. Every card a hand written note.

Except in this book you saw names with big black lines drawn through them. The Unfortunates.

Men who know their strengths and their enemy's weakness, and are disciplined enough to refuse the battle the enemy offers are the most dangerous type of warriors.

When you combine that with hard, disciplined fighters, you become unbeatable. Like at the Battle of Assaye 1/ In 1803, the British Empire finally decided the time was right to bring India into the fold entirely. The British East India Company, essentially a band of merchants with their own army, pitched a plan to the conquer the rest of India to London.

Real Story: I lived at this outpost that was a solid 5 iron shot from an international border. One day some idiot decided to put a huge aerostat balloon there.

Worried it would break loose and float across the border with the good cameras, we put together a plan. A 50al

https://twitter.com/notwill42/status/1873884175927054468

I had a friend send me a copy of the WW2 Era field manual 23-60, that had a real section of the M2 in aerial defense mode.

We paid some pog at a FOB to build us a 6 foot tall tripod, and mounted that beast next to the TOC.

If you have ever spent much time in Japan, you’ll know that despite being massive xenophobic racists, the Japanese also love to appropriate American culture where they want. After WW2, Japan was struggling with the cultural impacts of American occupation So they proactive approach and doubled down on baseball … and KFC on Christmas. Christmas KFC is a massive tradition in Japan. Like a Black Friday for mid grade fried chicken.

The Japanese aren’t super good at understanding Christmas, but they banzai the Colonel’s bucket.

We often think about war in terms of weapons, strategy, and logistics. Looking at the full spectrum of variables often misses the most important one: the men who do the fighting.

Whatever the weapons or technology, wars are decided by men. Like at the Battle of Lanzerath Ridge 1/ It is 16 December, 1944. The US invasion of mainland Europe is just over 6 months old. The Allies have broken out of the hedgerows of Normandy and raced across France, but then ran right into the German Siegfried Line.

Alright: Economics and Grand Strategy mit Voodoo.

Grab a drink and a seat

First, tariffs are neither good nor bad in and of themselves. They are a tool. Like a hammer. You can use a hammer for too long, without a plan, and wrong. That isn't the hammer's fault. It is yours. The two big arguments for/against tariffs are

1. They will raise prices. (they will)

2. It is undemocratic, let the free global market decide (ok Klaus Schwab, Milton Friedman, how did that work out for us?)

At a basic level a tariff is a tax imposed on an imported good.

When you go out and vote, it isn't enough to vote straight party only on local elections... the ones that matter the most.

Know your school board candidates, know which ones share your values.

This is from a proposed teacher contract in Michigan

They sense danger coming... Basically, they want to make anything they do or say in front of your kids hidden from parents....

And they want immunity from being fired for it.

They want to be able to say or do anything, without parents knowing or having any recourse.

Imagine America handing a majority Iroquois or Comanche the right to vote in 1800. Imagine an America where native tribes outnumbered European colonials. Americans forgets it got EXTREMELY lucky with its indigenous population. Colonial powers who look to maintain long term success have one of three options:

1. Outnumber the locals
2. Integrate the locals
3. Dominate the locals

The US lucked out with #1, but it was an option not available to colonists in Southern Africa.

A great leader is nothing without great followers and great followers are likewise nothing without a great leader. It is the symbiosis of these two, fame soaked hero and honorable commoner, in which the greatest glory is made.

The Bastion of Castille

The Siege of Malta pt 3 1/ It is August 19th, 1565 and the Ottoman siege of Malta had entered it’s third month. It had been 56 days since the fall of St. Elmo had turned the full attention of Sultan’s army to the twin peninsulas of Birgu and Senglia.

Making the ultimate sacrifice for one's cause is often seen as the greatest testament of faith. Occasionally, in the direst of circumstances, fate demands that testament be delayed in order to exhaust ones enemy

Like at the battle of Fort St Elmo

The Siege of Malta, pt 2 1/ As the Ottoman forces began landing on the tiny, rock strewn island of Malta, they found a garrison of Knights Hospitaler ready for them. Grand Master Jean de Valette had used his time on Malta wisely, and had prepared three fortresses which guarded Malta’s Grand Harbor.

Couple things
1. Body armor is > than “fitness” in a gunfight
2. Fitness is > than body armor for long term survival.
3. Buying good body armor is the single most important thing you can do today to increase survivability by tomorrow
4. Don’t listen to C/Is. Especially idiots Body armor can save your life. Once a gunfight starts, it is chaos and random. Anyone telling you “body armor only covers 9% of your body”, “I can be a harder target to hit if I’m fast” or “I can only stop one round” have no idea what they are saying.

Clashes of cultures are not new. We think our ancestors unified in the face of existential defeat at the hands of the invading hordes

But it is a lie. More often it was a small group, with no where to run, that stood and turned back the horde. Like at the Siege of Malta in 1565 1/ By 1565 the centuries old conflict between Christianity and Islam in the Eastern Mediterranean had swung firmly in favor of the sons of Allah. Reconquista had secured Spain, but the last of the Crusader kingdoms in the Middle East were little more than a memory.

So I can see why people didn’t like Civil War, but I did. Here’s why: the press are the main characters, but they are not the heroes. They are almost all portrayed as repugnant buffoons. I think a lot of people maybe thought it was a movie about how cool the press were, but the movie is making fun of them. I think

It portrays them as adrenaline junkies without the integrity to pick a side and help.

Everyone they meet either mocks them or ignores them.

Some time ago a friend of mine got blown up in the Arghandab.

He was medevaced to Landstuhl. I was in Europe at the time so I drove through the night and tried to meet his plane when it landed.

Took me like 6 hours to get there, but I made it.

https://twitter.com/dalestarka10/status/1826713090039419320

Got to the hospital at like 3am, he was already there but still unconscious.

Flirted my way past the duty nurse and sat with him for the next 10 hours.

They had him restrained and intubated so when he woke up he was not in a great mood. They got the tube out of his throat.