Thursday, August 14, 2008

These aren't the fights you're looking for...

Back to McMegan:

The US military is indisputably the most effective military in the world. But militaries are not very effective. At any of the tasks the military does which are comparable to a private organization, it performs worse than top-notch private organizations; it is not as good at logistics as Wal-Mart, as good at food service as McDonalds, etc.
Megan, you're retarded, and can the end zone please have its goalposts back? The military is very effective at doing the things the military is designed to do. The military is NOT designed to service food or clean dishes. It is designed to kill people, and it is very good at doing that. Saying that the military is ineffective because it can't clean dishes is like saying that McDonalds is ineffective because it hasn't taken over the world. Its not their raison d'etre! Oh wait...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

How can she make a blanket statement like "militaries are not very effective"? Uh...effective at WHAT?

Anonymous said...

She doesn't care. All she knows that having unresolved legal issues makes getting a driver's license more difficult than she thought it would, thus proving that universal health care is a bad idea.

Adam Eli Clem said...

Okay, I think she probably meant 'efficient' the second time she wrote'effective,' and while our military is indisputably effective at inflicting death and destruction, it is inefficient. We waste a lot of bullets, bombs and fuel in the pursuit of our objectives, and the gross wastes in logistics and procurement are matters of record. So, yeah, our military apparatus is inefficient. It usually gets the job done, but in profligate fashion.

But, if she meant 'effective' when she wrote 'effective,' then she is, indeed, a...bit slow.

Anonymous said...

I'd point out that WalMart doesn't have to run logistics while being shot at. Just one of the many ways that the US Army and WalMart are completely incomparable.

NutellaonToast said...

clem, it's fairly true what you said but its also true that military's mission is to kill foreigners without getting Americans killed, which is why we're willing to spend so much money on unmanned stuff.

From a purely "killing things" POV those aren't very efficient, but from a "killing things without getting killed" POV they're better than anything else ever.

Anonymous said...

A quick point, the idea that the US military is not logistically adept, is stupid. Go and read about the Berlin Air Lift. When it began, the Air Force estimated that it might be able to supply the American garrison. By the time it ended, the Air Force was supplying all of West Berlin with food and coal. It was and remains one of the most successful logistical events ever. This is not a one off. McArdle and the rest are dumber than they sound.