French Foreign Legion - Page 7

Are you a Jew?

No I have my whole peepee and I am a very tall aryan looking person. But, like the rest of the modern world, know that Israel has one of the most effective armed forces in the world with a high success rate, with several notable examples of counter terrorism operations around the world. I do however have many family members in the military, some of them at the very highest levels, and three of them in Special Forces (each in different countries, including the US and UK).

I mean, the United states with this allegedly incredible military has several times been brought to its knees by armies with even less than what he described the Egyptians, Lebanese, Syrians etc...

you are too much.. aren't there threads on farting or sexual escapades for you to post to somewhere?

Ok dude, clearly you read that shit because you find it funny, otherwise you wouldn't know about that. Stick to being a boring loser middle manager and stop trying to be funny, because you suck at it.

You are truly a major idiot, but I won't waste anymore of my time responding to your shit.

Thank you, you're doing everyone a favor.

I would agree, well fed is a good thing. but the IDF is really not that rich a military, and a lot of creature comforts have to go. I think that you would be truly amazed at some of the examples I could give you - not only of the type of things that were artificially introduced in training, but general limitations on creature comfort during deployment and training due to budgetary restrictions. for instance, it wasn't at all uncommon to heat water up in an ammo box and use it for a sponge bath, when we were deployed in the field, including in winter (and it snows in lebanon). it was very very common for us to eat cold field rations - and not the MRE's, think more like what US troops had in korea - a box with 5 cans of various meats and vegatables to share between several men, suplemented with a few loaves of bread, and the bread was never that fresh.


I can understand what you mean by morale, but the IDF operates on a totally different "morale" system

1. nobody stays in for more than 30 days, unless they are in jail. more commonly, you get home every 2-3 weeks. really, you can take a lot of shit if you know you are going to see your famimly and girlfriend in less than 2 weeks.

2. the officers and NCOs are in it with you

3. when you are home, or out, or even on the street getting a cup of coffee, you get a lot of respect. thing the US in wwii, or at least pre-vietnam. you get a lot of respect and leeway, and that builds morale.

4. what you do in the army will be with you the rest of your life. how many people know what you did in the army 20 years ago? in israel, pretty much everybody knows what every man did in the army, and immidiatly assign that a value - I have a friend how has been the CFO of two major corporations, has 4 kids and a great wife. you know what the first thing I think of when I think of him is? that he was in a whole lot of firefights 20 years ago? that is the first thing anybody thinks of. another friend - harvard fellow and UCLA PHD - but, more important, he was in a good recon unit 20 years ago. that is what builds morale in the IDF - knowing that you want to be where you are

5. and, of course, knowing that there is a good reason for what you are doing.

actually, I think that you are mistaken - probrably not about Napoleon's army, but washingtons wasn't that great, all things considered, and the german army was very effective on a tactical level but not very good stratigically, in my opinion.


the IDF (not that I am biased, mind you) has been very effective in building up models of modern warfare - a lot of the US tank tactics and infantry tactics were developed, in their initial stages, by israel. israel has also developed a lot of the weapons and tools used by modern armies. now, to put that in perspective, by alot I am not talking 90%, but considering that Israel is a country with a population smaller than greater chicago, it is a lot.

while israel hasn't exactly fought the best armies in the world, israel has fought a lot of them. israel has been attacked by the armies of as many as 7 countries at once, and all of which were bigger than isreal. in some cases, like egypt and iraq, the countries were almost 10 times as big.

israel has also faced russian troops, officers and advisors on more than one accasion.

and, to top that, israel has dealt with literally thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of terror attacks - 99% of which are stopped without civillian casualties. and israel has a significantly better success rate in keeping causulties down in roadside ambushes than the US has had in Iraq.

so, yeah, I'd say the IDF is a pretty effective military force.

O, uncle Globetrotter, will you tell us of how their counter terrorist tactics (entebbe) in foreign countries have set the standard, unlike say, the Iran hostage situation?

Then again, the fuck do you know.

yeah, but that comes down to leadership - look, I am sure that there were people in the US miltary who cold have found a solution for the Iran crisis, but you had jimmy fucking carter as president. when we had golda and omert as prime ministers we fought wars badly, too.

But this wasn't the statement I was disputing. I was disputing the statement that they are one of the most effective armies in history. I think this is a stretch, even after everything you state above. I don't dispute they are an effective force, but one of the most effective forces in history? I think that's a bit far-fetched when one thinks of the competition in the last 2,000 years alone.

fair enough. I would say it falls in the top 20.

Well when they have come to define the techniques that are going to be used in battle from now on, I'd say that yes, they are very bit as significant as the dude who invented the Phalanx. The type of warfare that the IDF and its various organizations are good at (and train foreign militaries in) are the precise ones that are at the center of what is going to be happening for the forseeable future. Conventional warfare no longer exists in the same capacity that it did even 50 years ago. Israel's tactics and record with counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism is currently the standard in the world. If you don't believe me, ask any number of instructors at Westpoint, and listen carefully to what they say about israel's conflicts. You'll notice the word "miracle" come up.

Keep in mind that a great deal of Rome's conquests were against poorly trained armies whose advantages lay in their barbaric primitivism, knowledge of the land, and usually, their sheer number. Don't make it as if all the great roman conquerors, or Alexander the Great were always facing these incredible armies. The odds have been very much against Israel a few times, and they've always won.

i don't know about your countries, but in italy those schools are still present nowadays. there are only two of them, one here in Milan and one near Neaples: i was offered entering in one of them, since my grandfather's brother was a general and my uncle an higher official. i said my two cents, even if no-one cares. just to point out we are more 18th century-ish than you.

ive been throughs some basic military training, and to be honest i wouldn't want to be working anywhere near someone with a loaded rifle who had a history of mental illness.