« Reply #1474 on: 06 July 2011, 17:36:17 »
Sure, for promotion, ability to lead larger formations, etc. etc. I can't recall who said it during the ACW (Hardee?), but one general officer remarked that all his prewar service taught him was how to play cards and drink. Now obviously he was exaggerating (West Point officers were probably, on the whole, better at practical subjects like engineering than almost any British army officer of the 1860s [though the 1860s was hardly a high point for British military professionalism, the Wolseley Ring aside], but given the incredible ineptitude and unprofessionalism of so many commanders in the ACW, many of whom were prewar regulars, there seems to have been a germ of truth to it. Those splendid educations seemed to atrophy commanding a company of Dragoons on the great plains.
You're referring to John Reynolds, right? I like him a lot, and his contemporaries held him in high regard; it would have been interesting to see how well he fared had he lived.
NB I freely admit to probably being wrong in all things, I'm away from my books, lose regularly at Stratego, etc.
To be fair, I've heard the same from National Guard officers and NCOs about the period between the Gulf and 9/11. Some of these being AGR Soldiers, not us "1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year" slobs. Link for the uninitited:
AGR
« Last Edit: 06 July 2011, 17:39:21 by Arkansas Warrior »
Logged
Sunrise is Coming.
All Hail First Prince Melissa Davion, the Patron Saint of the Regimental Combat Team, who cowed Dainmar Liao, created the Model Army, and rescued Robinson! May her light ever guide the sons of the Suns, May our daughters ever endeavour to emulate her!
