Dark Days Ahead

[Smitty-48]

//

this is why I only really only associated with soldiers here in Canada

Canadians don't have the American fighting spirit, it's a land of cowards, sycophants & cronies

in America on the other hand, I meet warriors all the time, just walking down the street

Well ... you know our history, so ... it's in the DNA.
Everyone was free (post 1865), so everyone had the opportunity to go for what they wanted.
But not everybody had the same goals, religion, drive, opportunity, or value system.
So you had to make sure you and your folk got theirs, and defend it from those who would take it from you.

Wind up with a lot of warriors that way.

But now ... we're just winners in our hearts and shit.

So the next warrior culture is primed to fuck us up pretty bad.

you just know, as an American, that things could come to the breach, and you will have to fight

Canadians don't live in that world, they assume the government will defend them

it's a colony, first the British defended them, then they got handed off to America

the idea that honour is essential, that you would have to stand & deliver, never occurs to Canadians

doesn't matter how nice a Canadian is to me, doesn't matter how much they want to be my friend

I can't abide a coward, I'd rather drink with an honorable enemy

and I did, my local pub was a Fenian pub

they are my sworn enemies, I am theirs

but they had honour, they were warriors, they were Irish, so they weren't like the Canadians

so as men of honour, we could parley, call a truce, and then we got along just fine

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

Warriors don't stand on the walls of the Burgh on account of honor. They stand there because the merchants and land barons pay them to.

[Smitty-48]

Warriors don't stand on the walls of the Burgh on account of honor. They stand there because the merchants and land barons pay them to.

that's not why I served

I am an Orangeman of Upper Canada

I served to defend the Enlightenment itself, the Glorious Revolution of 1688

I would have done it for free, and really, I made pennies on the hour at the rate I was paid

I didn't even start making money till I got out of the army and got married

[Smitty-48]

now I was combat arms, so I only served alongside American combat arms

I never met one American infantryman who was doing it for the pay

you don't pass your Ranger course cause they are paying you, you have to want it, bad

[DBTrek]

People will fight for what they believe.
People will fight if you pay them money.

Warrior vs Mercenary.

But Mercenaries are more apt to peace out when shit starts getting bad, because dead men can't spend money.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

Warriors don't stand on the walls of the Burgh on account of honor. They stand there because the merchants and land barons pay them to.

that's not why I served

I am an Orangeman of Upper Canada

I served to defend the Enlightenment itself, the Glorious Revolution of 1688

I would have done it for free, and really, I made pennies on the hour at the rate I was paid

I didn't even start making money, till I got out of the army and got married

The professional soldier being a rather recent invention of the modern nation-state, this doesn't surprise me.

But the Burgh? Mercenaries and conscripts on those walls. Coin or compulsion.

[Smitty-48]

I never meet men more committed than the American elite infantry

they were God fearing, dedicated to the Lord himself

it wasn't loyalty, it was zeal

nobody is more elite than the Green Berets, every man in NATO looks up to them

[Smitty-48]

The professional soldier being a rather recent invention of the modern nation-state, this doesn't surprise me.

But the Burgh? Mercenaries and conscripts on those walls. Coin or compulsion.

I have no interest in going round & round with you

I'm not here to argue, been there, done that, I've said my peace on it, you're welcome to your views

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

People will fight for what they believe.
People will fight if you pay them money.

Warrior vs Mercenary.

But Mercenaries are more apt to peace out when shit starts getting bad, because dead men can't spend money.

People will fight just because it is fun - but dying on a wall?

"Dead men can't spend...." This is why the belief in an indestructible nation-state is a prerequisite for a professional soldier.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

The professional soldier being a rather recent invention of the modern nation-state, this doesn't surprise me.

But the Burgh? Mercenaries and conscripts on those walls. Coin or compulsion.

I have no interest in going round & round with you

I'm not here to argue, been there, done that, I've said my peace on it, you're welcome to your views

Fair enough.