What I Know about Sergeants

Here is a startling conundrum-why all the whining about the Iraqi army's capabilities, while ignoring the French and German armies who haven't "stepped up" in the sixty odd years since 1946? Surely the Iraqi's have more skills than the French? The non-coms, E-5's and up, the sergeants, run the military. Any newly minted 2nd Lieutenant who doesn't listen to the Sergeant he outranks, but whose experiences he can never match, is a fool. It takes six to twelve years to make these guys. (It took two years to make this poor writer a poor E-3.) Three years with the Iraqi's isn't enough time. Let's at least give them 10% of the time we've given the sophisticated Europeans, huh?