The Organization of the Land Forces of the United States (Classic Reprint)

Angebote / Angebote:

Excerpt from The Organization of the Land Forces of the United StatesAgain, this is not due to physical deficiencies. The trouble is of the mind. It is the mental factor that is wanting. Yet it is not mental incapacity, it is failure in mental development. So far as concerns the militia, with its personnel occupied with other pursuits, and without time or opportunity for development of this order, there is plain excuse for failure. But, relatively, the regular establishment is mentally as backward as the militia, and though the reason for this may be traced by the student, the excuse for it is less apparent. But with the reason or excuse we are not engaged. Again, it is the fact itself that should hold our attention. And it is a fact. Militarily we are mentally undeveloped. A consider able military history and an inconsiderable military literature are enough in themselves to establish this. We have had our share of war, its lessons have not only been plain but repeated, essentially they were the same in our last war as in our first and in all between, yet we have profited from them little. We have gravely and voluminously recorded our deeds in war, but only rarely has any one been sufficiently aroused to attempt to impress others with the lessons of our experience. Even in these rare cases only indifferent Success has been attained, and, grievously enough, this failure has been due no more to the mental weakness of those it was sought to instruct than to similar weakness on the part of the instructors themselves. Upton alone, .perhaps, has left indelible traces upon our military development. Upton also, perhaps, has failed. Yet there are more volumes than there are readers evidencing what we have done in war - and, willy nilly, every volume shows what we have left undone for war. What we have done in war is the record of our physical accomplishments. What we have left undone for war is the expression of our mental failures.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.