It’s an aphorism I’ve kept in my mind through a *lot* of life’s ugly travails and misfortunes this past 20-odd years, along with “This, Too, Shall Pass”. Together, the two lines are wonderful, complementary views of coping with life’s vicissitudes; trouble ain’t forever – but sometimes, the only way past a problem is to finesse, claw or bludgeon your way all the way to the other side of it.
Through divorce, dips in the employment situation, post-divorce shenanigans, teenage problems, pandemics, riots and all of life’s other ups and downs, both aphorisms have been priceless.
The original line was from Tom Sizemore, as Sergeant Horvath in “Saving Private Ryan”.
Sizemore didn’t write the line.
But if anyone else – John Krasinski or RuPaul or Mark Wahlberg or even Tom Hanks or Morgan Freeman, even a young Clint Eastwood – had delivered the line any other way, it wouldn’t have had the same impact.
But something about the way Sizemore delivered that line made it memorable enough to keep it front and center all these years.
And for that, I remember Tom Sizemore.
Yes, we were triumphant in crushing Germany into dust…we taught those stinking krauts a lesson they’ll never forget…
WE WON!!!
I often read people, mostly leftists, but plenty of Conservative Patriots®️ too, crowing their pride of having ancestors who fought with the Federals in the War of Northern Aggression.
My ancestors were starving in Ireland at the time, so I have no such bragging rights.
I like to remind proud Unionists that Lincoln committed several direct violations of the US Constitution in starting the conflict, beginning with the suspension of Habeas Corpus, moving through the armed occupation of Maryland and the armed suspension of the Missouri legislature.
The fall of the Confederate States of America also marks the end of federalism. We were suddenly no longer a union of sovereign states, but a collection of territories held together by the federal government through threat of force.
We do not have a sense of the loyalty to one’s state Southern men had in 1860.
The Union Army fought for the Federal government. The Southern men fought for Virginia, and for Texas, North and South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama & the rest. They fought for a confederation of free and sovereign states.
Slavery is an evil institution that would have soon enough died under it’s own weight. But the North saw forcing it’s end abruptly as a way to cut the power of the uppity Southern states, and so they forced the issue.
Power and control. THAT, lads, is what it was all about. The Federal government won; all the people lost.
There is a storm brewing again. And while the lines wont strictly be North and South, it will be Federals against sovereign men again. Which side will y’all choose this time?
While at the gun range, I have met a few retired military men, from senior level NCOs to a general officer. The majority of them are either libertarians or Republicans. We have had a few discussions about a second civil war. The general consensus is that, although many weren’t big Trump fans, they do recognize that he supported the military. All of them, even the couple of DemoCommies, as we already know, think that both Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin, are both political pawns and the DoD has alienated the majority of the military. If, God forbid, CWII happens, the Feds will probably be shocked that most of the men and women in arms will side with the people.
We tend to romantacise WW2. This is in part because we won (obviously), but also because we, boomers & gen X’rs anyway, grew up on a steady diet of media and educational material that glossed over some occasions when the US did not exactly behave as white-hatted heroes.
We (the US & allies) were very lucky in a number of ways. For example, If Roosevelt had died a few months earlier, he would have been replaced by hard left, pro-Stalin VP Henry Wallace.
the Feds will probably be shocked that most of the men and women in arms will side with the people.
I fully and wholeheartedly disagree. Not after years of damage, I do not trust army to be on the side of the people. the Fed will grease their palms and voila, you will become roadkill and they will not bat an eye. You want examples? Uvalde pigs, and more importantly, Capitol Police on J6.
JPA is right, Obama oversaw the retirement/mustering out of over 30k officer and senior NCO ranks followed by a much more selective (read political) promotion process that had Nancy Pelosi’s thumb on the scale. The people encouraged to reup are ideologically sound and wont have a problem Milley’s orders.
wont have a problem following Milley’s orders.
fixed it
BH, you forget that Gen. Mark Milley deliberately undermined the President of the US, and when he proudly admitted it, instead of being jailed for sedition and refusing lawful orders, he was elevated to the top military position.
Yeah, some rank and file members might jump ship, but I wouldn’t bet my life on that. The military is struggling to maintain it’s recruitment quota, and most have resorted to lowering minimum qualifications, just like the cops are doing.
They are building an army of brainless bots.
The best way to ruin a great word picture is to subject it to “form criticism” of history…..or point out that the Americans never did get to Berlin until they took over their sector from the Soviets. Which I guess is history as well.