Oh that we had a modern day Patton

I remember talking to a coworker one time about the paradigm of the modern military and the political correctness that goes on with the leadership. I lamented the fact that we don't have any modern equivalents of George S. Patton. He remarked that he did not care for Patton at all.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Patton. I realize that it was a work of fiction based upon true stories. At least some of Patton's contemporaries actually worked as advisors on that movie.

I realize that Patton claimed to be a Christian but believed in reincarnation and used copious amounts of foul language. That aside, from all I have read and seen in biographies, he was a great military leader and tactician. He demanded and got discipline and performance from his soldiers. He led his army to great feats of accomplishment. Here is a bit of trivia that sums up what I found unique about Patton's mindset. Patton was an expert fencer. He re-wrote the Army's manuals on swordsmanship removing the parry. His idea was for all attack. Defense, in his opinion, was just wasted energy. His rock solid ideals and demands for performance made him, in my opinion, a great leader.

Sure, he was a prima donna. Sure, he took risks and was often tactless. He was also underestimated by many, as well as got a bad rap from others. None the less, he bravado is what helped win WW2. I have often wished for another Patton.

Regardless of your views on the war in Iraq, if we are indeed going to conduct a war, we need to treat it as warfare. Patton was a victim of politics during his career. Politics are damaging our war efforts in the Middle East, just as they did in Southeast Asia.

The video actually has a great impression of George C. Scott. From what I have gathered, Patton actually had a high pitched voice. Go figure. This video is a take off from the opening scene of the movie "Patton." Many of the quotes from the opening speech (of the movie) are real quotes from George S. Patton. However, not all of them were said at one time; rather, the speech is an assemblage of Patton moments. It was inspired by a real speech Patton gave before the 3rd Army finally landed in Normandy in support of the breakout in late June/early July, 1944. The speech used is a watered-down version of the actual one. Obviously, the speech redubbed in the youtube clip is changed for modern times.