Meanwhile, over in Oz (Australia)...
The Australian Defence Minister had to apologize to the Afghan government over Australian soldiers calling Afghans "Sand Niggaz," "Ragheads," and "Dune Coons."
The head of the Australian Navy has warned the seagoing service to end its culture of alcohol-fueled debauchery. (Knock off the rum and sodomy, or it's the Lash!)
The Prince of Wales is defending the Australians for referring to him as a "Pommy Poofter."
And also, almost incidentally...
a member of the Australian SAS won the Victoria Cross for conspicuous gallantry in Afghanistan, charging two separate machine-gun nests single-handedly.
All of this simply reinforces the words of Rudyard Kipling:
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.
From Tommy.
update: added the Churchill reference in the Navy link.
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2 comments:
THIS is why I'm blad you're back. Nobody does rum, sodomy, and the lash blogging like you!
- Borepatch
I'm blad you're back, too. But I will point out that war has changed. In Kipling's day, winning the hearts and minds of the populace was not high on the list of priorities. If you refer to the people you're trying to win over as "sand niggaz", you will lose. Granted, it's an extraordinary request to put on young men who are putting their lives on the line for us, but if they hate us when we leave, things will quickly revert to their previous state, and we'll have made our sacrifices for nothing. Just my opinion.
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