Outside the Beltway

Outside the Beltway

Brian Brennan – Curahee

James Joyner
2

This CBS News report on Army 1st Lieutenant Brian Brennan made the rounds over the weekend but I just got around to watching it over lunch:

My smart alecky take:  Is there nothing David Petraeus can’t do?

More seriously, there’s a reason the combat arms spend so much time inculcating esprit de corps and stressing the warrior ethic.  It’s easier to find the courage to deal with adversity — and harder to give up — if others are counting on you.

Others with a take:  This Ain’t Hell, Ace of Spades, Instapundit, The New Editor

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2 responses to “Brian Brennan – Curahee”

  1. sam Avatar
    sam

    How true. All of boot camp for me was the annihilation of my pre-Marine personality. Semper Fidelis came to mean always faithful to your fellow Marines and your Corps. I recall once in combat school, we were preparing for a two-day war (combat exercise), and the instructor was telling us about hand illumination grenades (in those days, they were willy peter grenades). “Don’t jump on one when it goes off and try and save your buddies from the light, ’cause the thing’ll burn a hole right through you and still light up the area” he told us. Everybody laughed, but I think he was serious.

  2. Rob Avatar
    Rob

    Hell yeah, in a tight unit, you’ll do almost anything but let your buddies down.
    To outsiders, all that cadence and “Hoo-ah”, coin checks and nicknames looks like something arcane or stupid. I served 21 years in the Army, and was fortunate enough to be in a few units where our esprit de corps was the only thing that kept us going, and I feel for anyone who never had that kind of experience.
    What a great story. No doubt there’s already some schmuck trying to play it down, debunk it, or make fun of it.

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