A POEM FOR GENERAL MATTHEW 'BUNKER' RIDGWAY.. a Great Field General (out there with a gun, not hold up with Mccarthy far from any actual bullets--- which led to a lot of people saying Mccarthy was blood thirsty). General Ridgway was too good for the Army he was serving in by then, and was eventually pushed out, after running the Korean War, all UN forces and being dearly loved by his troops... ALL BECAUSE the politicians said invade Vietnam and he protested.... said, that will require too much blood, twenty years of fighting... don't do it...He knew Ho Chi Min originally wanted our help to become a Democracy and Ridgway thought we were idiots for ignoring them. Of Course, he was Right...

"Every soldier learns in time that war is a lonely business. All your study, all your training, all your drill anticipates the moment when abruptly the responsibility rests solely on you to decide whether to stand or pull back, or to order an attack that will expose thousands of men to sudden death."  Matthew Ridgway







 the WAR WIZENED general


tells his astounded officers
we keep no secrets
not even from the weakest of our enemies
we will need them in the end
to lead us  out of this forest of lies

"A JUST CRITIC DARES NOT TAKE THE SUBSEQUENT COURSE OF EVENTS AS SEEN IN RETROSPECT FOR THE MEASURE OF HIS JUDGMENT, BUT, INSTEAD, MUST ASK HIMSELF WHAT THE LEADERS OF THESE EVENTS COULD HAVE KNOWN AT THE TIME OF THE OCCURRENCES.

A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE GOVERNING CIRCUMSTANCES ALMOST ALWAYS REVEALS THAT MEASURES WHICH MUST APPEAR REPREHENSIBLE TO AN UNBIASED CRITIC WERE NEVER AS FAULTY AS THEY SEEMED AT FIRST SIGHT."
MOLTKE, WAR INSTRUCTIONS, GREAT GENERAL STAFF