REMF? No such thing any more...
When I was in Vietnam, there was a constant, usually at least partially friendly, competition between combat soldiers and "Rear Area M***** F********" - REMFs for short. The combat troops claimed, rightly so, that they were the ones under fire, suffering the majority of the casualties, and frequently getting the short end of the stick. Most of the USO shows hit the rear area first, and only a few actually made it up to the fire bases and base camps where combat soldiers spent the majority of their time.
No one denied that the guys in the rear were essential to support the guys out front, but only the more intellectually challenged would contest the truth that few of them ever faced enemy fire, and the casualty rate was a small fraction of that of combat units. The guys strutting in Saigon were not combat soldiers. The combat soldiers usually congregted in a few bars and tried to forget both where they came from and where they were going back to.
Today, our army is engaged in a totally different war. It's not only a war against a determined enemy, it's a war where there are no front lines, and every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine is a potential casualty. There is no "rear area", unless it's Kuwait, Diego Garcia, or somewhere in Germany. If you're "in-country", you're a target. If you're not capable - and willing - to fight back, sooner or later you're also going to be a statistic. EVERYBODY in the sandbox is a combat soldier - at least, if they want to stay alive, and help their buddies stay alive.
The new warfare doesn't discriminate between male or female, against any branch of service, or any age, creed, color, or nation of origin. Polish men are just as likely to be killed as American women, and the enemy considers civilians working for aid agencies just as much a military target as an Army tank batallion.
This is a new kind of war in a sense, and our training program hasn't caught up with the demands. It's time our military forces become proficient in the skills of armed conflict, regardless of their branch of service, or their rank, or their gender, or their political or religious affiliation. Today, anyone in uniform is a front-line troop, and should be trained and equipped, both physically and mentally, for the task.
No one denied that the guys in the rear were essential to support the guys out front, but only the more intellectually challenged would contest the truth that few of them ever faced enemy fire, and the casualty rate was a small fraction of that of combat units. The guys strutting in Saigon were not combat soldiers. The combat soldiers usually congregted in a few bars and tried to forget both where they came from and where they were going back to.
Today, our army is engaged in a totally different war. It's not only a war against a determined enemy, it's a war where there are no front lines, and every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine is a potential casualty. There is no "rear area", unless it's Kuwait, Diego Garcia, or somewhere in Germany. If you're "in-country", you're a target. If you're not capable - and willing - to fight back, sooner or later you're also going to be a statistic. EVERYBODY in the sandbox is a combat soldier - at least, if they want to stay alive, and help their buddies stay alive.
The new warfare doesn't discriminate between male or female, against any branch of service, or any age, creed, color, or nation of origin. Polish men are just as likely to be killed as American women, and the enemy considers civilians working for aid agencies just as much a military target as an Army tank batallion.
This is a new kind of war in a sense, and our training program hasn't caught up with the demands. It's time our military forces become proficient in the skills of armed conflict, regardless of their branch of service, or their rank, or their gender, or their political or religious affiliation. Today, anyone in uniform is a front-line troop, and should be trained and equipped, both physically and mentally, for the task.
posted by Old Patriot | 2:32 PM
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