"Compared to war

[Mr. Blonde]

all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance."

"Patton" is on AMC right now. How do DUers feel about him? Great general who was hindered by lack of political aptitude, or too full of lust for fame to be truly great?

[GOPisEvil]

1. As a military commander and strategist, he was one of the best.

As a human being, he had a great many flaws.

[Mr. Blonde]

3. In the last biography I read about him

the biographer thought that there was a very good chance of brain damage from falling off his horse during Polo matches.

[GOPisEvil]

5. His compassion was certainly lacking.

As was his tact and diplomacy.

Dude knew his tank strategy though...

[Mr. Blonde]

6. He once told a group of soldiers

that if they thought they were in the worlds oldest profession they were wrong, the women had beat them to it. Think how the world would have been different if him and all the other generals (except Ike) had done what they wanted and attacked Russia. The vast majority of our history would have looked very different.

[ewagner]

4. At the end of the movie

Patton sums up his whole life when he says, "There's only one way for an old General to die, from the last bullet in the last war."

That pretty much says it all. He was single-dimensioned in that he was a warrior (and a damned good one) but unfit for peace.

[Loonman]

2. He knew more than anybody about motivating his troops

I don't think I could drink a beer with him, though.

[Taxloss]

9. Really?

Not all his troops liked him. One (anonymously) riposted his nickname "old Blood & Guts" thus:

"His guts, our blood"

[Mr. Blonde]

10. Apparently those soldiers are very much

in the minority. They mostly loved to be a part of his army. It is my understanding that most soldiers when asked about it they will give a division and battalion or however it is broken down, but without fail 3rd Army soldiers will say "I was with Patton". If you got that fromt the movie keep in mind that Omar Bradley was in large part to thank for the movie and he didn't much like Patton.

[Taxloss]

11. I think Monty has a similar reputation in the UK.

I remember meeting veterans who would proudly tell me that I was "shaking the hand that shook the hand of Monty".

[Eye and Monkey]

7. Compared to rebuilding after war, as a human endeavor war sinks...

to being a significant, malignant, massive waste.

[Mr. Blonde]

8. I don't know

think how far technology advances when really smart people start thinking of really smart ways to kill each other. War isn't a good thing by any means, but there are few things as impressive as how an army works.
The post was more about the man who said it than the statement though.

[Eye and Monkey]

12. well, I DO know, 'cause I've been on the ground during both.

More than once. You wanna be impressed with an army? Fine, go watch an army of volunteers and workers rebuilding a hospital and caring for the wounded and sick after a city has been bombed-out.

You think bombs may be impressive falling out of the back of planes and hitting the ground causing immense damage? Fine - Go watch an air-drop of food - tons of food, falling, falling, then hitting the ground with a sound like an anti-aircraft barrage. Food. From the sky. To feed starving people. I find THAT a whole lot more impressive.

Think how far technology advances when really smart people start thinking of really smart ways to help each other.

Patton - completely a warrior mentality, looking to fulfill himself and his self-defined destiny in war. And seemingly knowing the misery that goes along with war. A pity. A waste.

[Beware the Beast Man]

13. In Ambrose's "Band of Brothers"

He comes off as an effective but showy and egotistical general. I think that sums it up.

[geniph]

14. He was brilliant, so long as Bradley was there to keep him in check

Very similar to Custer - a brilliant general under Sheridan, and a hopeless loose cannon under Terry. There are some military men who thrive under a tight rein, but left to their own devices, soon court disaster. Bradley knew how and when to leash Patton.

[HawkerHurricane]

15. He was extremely effective...

one of the few American generals the Germans respected as a tactician...

Politically, he was hopeless.

He was a warrior, and to win a war you need warriors... but he knew that without a war, he would decay. He died, not of injuries from the accident, but from the realization that he would not ever be the warrior again. He lacked the will to go on without tasting greatness that came from being the victor in battle.

You want to see something similar? See the movie 'Troy', watch Achilles... Compare Achilles the warrior to Hector the leader.