Semper Hunden: Conway the Conqueror

You wanna know why we Marines love our commandant? Because he wants to fight. The last time I saw him speak was two years ago, and he was saying the same thing then that he is now: Get the Marines out of Iraq and put them in Afghanistan. A peacekeeping, nation-building mission in Iraq is no place for an expeditionary force. But, as General Conway said in a interview that is covered here and here, Marines have "done a pretty doggone good job of it in a situation where we're being compelled to do that. But it's not our forte."

Our forte -- which Conway doesn't say to the press but does say when he comes to visit Marines -- is killing people and breaking things. Afghanistan provides that opportunity. My favorite part of the article:

Other military leaders have cautioned, however, that they first need to build the infrastructure to accommodate the troops -- including housing and helicopter pads.

Conway countered that the Marines could move in far more quickly because they don't need to wait for such logistical improvements.

"We're prepared to live austere for a time in order to take the fight to the enemy and build our infrastructure around us on deck," said Conway. "We have done that before, we can do it again."

Don't worry, America, while the Army is busy waiting out the war so they can have high-speed internet, civilian-run chow halls, and 24-hour gyms, Marines will be living in the mud and eating MREs while the engineers and SeaBees build things around us. This article has gotten me so pumped. I'm gonna go shotgun a Red Bull and do a thousand pullups.