A French soldier's view of U.S. soldiers

[Angel Eyes]

I don't have anything to add.  It's interesting to see how our troops are perceived by our allies:

http://www.warriorlodge.com/blogs/news/16298760-a-french-soldiers-view-of-us-soldiers-in-afghanistan

Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins and creatine (Heh. More like Waffle House and McDonalds) - they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to them - we are wimps, even the strongest of us - and because of that they often mistake us for Afghans.

And they are impressive warriors! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how.

More at the link.

[wmenorr67]

Saw this on the book of face and shared it over there.  Good read.

[Ron]

So much more the shame that the civilian "leaders" blow an uncertain trumpet.

[Firethorn]

My thought - we paid a heavy, heavy price for that competency.  We started paying way back in WWI.  More or less continuous conflict since then.

As for the waffle house - the DoD goes through a LOT of protein powder and such.  We're not the general population.

[makattak]

I will look to find the reference,  but I think this trend started in WWII.

Can't recall which book about the rescue of POWs at Cabanatuan, but one described that the Rangers were significantly larger than the average soldier before the war, which most of those prisoners were, but not significantly so of soldiers during the war.

[vaskidmark]

Soldiers have generally suffered less from nutritional deficiency that the general population.  Even when there was generalized scarcity.  I put it down to that whole "We are a gang of folks with sharp pointy sticks.  We will take whatever we want" mentality.

Foraging for food other than during time of war died down by the 19th century but when the quality and quantity of food reached some ill-defined floor it was still an option.  Improvments in mechanization, technology, and transportation seem to have been responsible for the production of more foodstuff and the way to get it to the troops in garrison or in the field.  Not that what they got was always "better" than what the generation before was being fed.

The other thing, I think, is that the US has never suffered the widespread loss of foodstuff production that has occurred in countries where combat was taking place.  It's difficult to till, plant, grow, and harvest a crop when folks are blowing up the fields.  We've always been more well fed (quantity), if not always better fed (quality), than most of the rest of the world because, among other things, we did not have our crops blown up from under us.

We have the genes for growing big folks, while other places have genes that support a population that does not need as many calories.

stay safe.

[RevDisk]

Years old, but still an uplifting read. I spent a lot of time with foreign units. He is being overly nice on some points, but the jist is correct. We're a lot bigger than most people. Maybe fatter, but a hell of a lot harder than most folks. Eastern Europeans are the closest second.

Yes, we Americans do instinctively come charging to the rescue without stopping to think about it. Yes, we tend to do more stuff on our own initiative. Not saying it's always true, always a good idea or applicable to everyone, but it's a noticeable trend.

And while it's popular to venerate WWII vets as the "greatest generation", they'd be eaten alive by current troops even if given the same equipment. I knew folks that served in Vietnam that would have said the same thing.

The translation from French is mostly accurate, but too hooah. I did like: Adeptes du débarqué assaut, ils bombardent d’abord et posent les questions ensuite, ce qui limite les tergiversations.

"Followers of dismounted assault, they first bombed and ask questions later, limiting procrastination."

Hell, I'd be pleased with that on my headstone.