What movie was this?

I’m thinking that was from Full Metal Jacket. Haven’t seen that in awhile… Good flick. I think it’s time to watch it again.

More power to the guy! Personally, anyone gets in his face over this and i’ll get in theirs!

The guy is obviously undergoing some sort of battle related stress and his behavior was completely unprofessional and counterproductive.

Amy Proctor on February 6, 2009 at 8:30 AM

His behavior was anything but counterproductive, and in this environment is totally professional, except for calling out their superiors in front of them. That said, he should have done that separately. A lot of this is smoke and mirrors designed to “shape up” these troops. As for your husband, this soldier is not acting in the “spirit of Saddam” – the spirit of Saddam is to rape, kill, and pillage. This soldier sees a bunch of “police” that are not doing their jobs, that are allowing themselves to be walked all over by the enemy because they’re scared to stand up. I was spoken to even more harshly as a recruit in Basic, Infantry, and RIP, and made to endure a much harsher climate during normal training. This is nothing.

As for your husband’s question, “How does this further the stated goals of the state department?”

This soldier is not working for a bureacratic think tank, or an entity that has to be politically correct. He is pushing these soldiers to do their jobs better, and calling them out as men, because his own men, their men, and their country all depend on the combat-effectiveness of Iraq’s own people to some extent.

The fact of the matter is that the mindset of these men must change to be effective soldiers, and in order to build a man up, you must tear him down first. Culture, political correctness, and high words should be left to the politicians. This is a warrior calling out men who are supposed to be warriors. This is a man living what he believes out in Iraq, fighting for people that won’t fight for themselves, and if his soldiers were acting like that, I guarantee he would call them out even more so.

He is not suffering from battle related stress. He has seen a problem with these guys, and he is there to help fix it.

I’m sure your husband is a fine man, and a fine soldier, however he is apparently not in the Infantry (the boots on the ground). I’m sure he’s excellent in his field, however this is a field reserved for a different breed.

This world is ugly, and sometimes we American Soldiers that so many Americans like to refer to as “heroes” (when we’re not doing anything they don’t think is wholesome) have to do things that are not so pretty. In order to be an effective soldier, you have to be able to put yourself and your feelings aside. Oftentimes, appealing to a man’s character is the most direct and effective route in order to achieve the desired performance – which is what is going on in this video. I guarantee that after this little speech, these guys were fired up, and the ones who are there to do a job, started performing better.

I never used the type of language he uses in this video, but what I said was often in the same tone and spirit of what this soldier is saying, however I oftentimes found this type of language to be very effective to the mission.

The guy is obviously undergoing some sort of battle related stress and his behavior was completely unprofessional and counterproductive.

The above link takes you to a video clip of a US Soldier berating a company of Iraqi Police (IPs) in a profanity-laden tirade. The US Soldier uses several choice words in reproaching the IPs for cowardice, weakness, and almost everything one could imagine to accuse the IPs of. He is obviously suffering from combat stress; yet no amount of PTSD can excuse the bizarre behavior of this ‘leader’ as he commits the one sin we should never commit against an Arab: deprive him of “face” (honor) in front of his peers. One of GEN Petraeus’ 7 rules for COIN in the Surge was “give the people justice and honor’ – the opposite of which you will see in this video.

I do not think JaM or AQI could have produced better IO for their cause than
what this US Soldier has done for them. And this video has been viewed 58,000x
already.

I think the COIN community (and the military at large) could really learn from this video as to how a COIN operation can be lost by the emotional recklessness
and unprofessional behavior of just one leader. This Soldier is acting in the spirit of Saddam, not the liberation of Iraq. Those of us who have dealt with
the unreliable and immature IPs and ISF know that times can be trying. But this is way over the top and I believe extremely counterproductive, especially since it has probably received widespread distribution among our enemies by now.

My question to the COIN forum is, how does this behavior further the stated
goals of the MNF-I or the State Department?

rmel80 on February 6, 2009 at 12:26 AM

Have you ever dealt with Iraqis? They don’t need just leadership by example (which works for only the upper half of American soldiers in my experience). Iraqis don’t know what that is. What they need is an ass kicking. the only thing they respect over there is force. your “honor” or “manhood” is everything to them. this nco/officer kicked them right where it hurt.

Leadership is not “touchy feely” or “getting me to follow without really knowing it” (/glenn beck sarc voice off) Leadership is about knowing what modivates those you lead. This probably didn’t fix the problem… but it’s something that needed to be said. Nothing is more frustrating that just passing through an IP checkpoint only to have an IED go off with in sight IP’s. What, were supposed to believe that they didn’t see the guy digging in the road?… and then they didn’t waive us through knowing what was about to happen?

I would agree that normal soldiers you would not put this level of a butt chewing to. It is the ones that are disloyal, slackers and those that would desert you in a time of peril that this would apply to. They evidently needed a wake up call or the sergeant would not be talking to them in this manner. Since the Iraqi police had volunteered for their position it was up to him to whip them into shape so that when the chips were down they would not buckle under the pressure, which would be more likely in them getting themselves and their comrades killed in combat.

Viet Nam Veteran

Flame me all you want. But this isn’t what Drill Sergeants and Drill Instructors do to motivate soldiers and Marines. Great leaders get you to follow without having to tell you that you should!

Somehow I doubt the leadership of the US military will not be happy about this, the least of which is GEN Petraeus.

Amy Proctor on February 5, 2009 at 9:31 PM

Mrs. Proctor, I hope your husband is doing well and once again,we appreciate his service.

I hope you are wrong about the military not liking this because the coffee shop generals in the press or on the hill will showcase this as more “crazy Soldiers tearing down the Iraqis moral”.

But as you know, just like the Soldiers and vets that are commenting, that this is real life,and here at home it is hard for civilians (like myself) to relate.So I think we should defer to the people that do know.
The Soldiers and their families.

As a military wife I am sure you are used to civilians like me and many others not understanding war.So it has got to be frustrating to have people who don’t know what it is like on the ground crying there PC bullsh!t for political reasons.

I hope the military does not bend to such idiocy and stands strong for this Soldier.

He has a hard and dangerous job to do and needs 100% support,because some people take action, face the world’s enemies and bring Freedom, while others become community organizers.

I loved the video and loved reading just about every post from our Soldiers on it.

The American Soldier kicks a$$.

It’s a long, hard road for the Iraqis, but if even 10 percent of them can get it in gear and get moving, it might be enough to bring most of the rest along.

Man, I hope the Dem Congress doesn’t pull another “Vietnam” on them.