tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post4836276730060645489..comments2024-03-28T16:58:17.705-04:00Comments on Grim's Hall: The French Foreign LegionGrimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-39589851753113201442012-11-25T10:16:41.071-05:002012-11-25T10:16:41.071-05:00...which goes right to what you say. Honor is sac......which goes right to what you say. <i>Honor is sacrifice...'to honor' is to give of yourself for something you feel deserves a sacrifice...But here is nothing but sacrifice for its own sake.</i><br /><br />Which tells you what you already knew - that this kind of desire comes along with being human, and especially male. And just like the sex urge and the religious instinct, it can be managed well or badly, and channeled for destruction and tyranny as well as the good life, beauty, and liberty. Joseph W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09480728887840887200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-77945821148299446942012-11-25T10:10:03.110-05:002012-11-25T10:10:03.110-05:00Maybe they just wanted to live like men, and die l...<i>Maybe they just wanted to live like men, and die like men.</i><br /><br />Maybe. And don't forget the "blaze of glory" allure to <a href="http://grimbeorn.blogspot.com/2007/04/frustrated-young-men.html" rel="nofollow">frustrated young men</a> Joseph W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09480728887840887200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-76858037067074400762012-11-24T21:42:33.112-05:002012-11-24T21:42:33.112-05:00Don't know anything about the Foreign Legion, ...Don't know anything about the Foreign Legion, but I spent a little time with some French paratroopers in northern Iraq during Operation Provide Comfort in '91. They seemed very professional. I would have expected that they pampered their troops a bit, but compared to the Brits, Dutch, Italians, and of course, us Yanks, they had the fewest amenities. I was surprised but I suspect the military culture is much different from that of their political leaders.<br /><br />Jose Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-54471540694457051722012-11-23T22:37:56.679-05:002012-11-23T22:37:56.679-05:00I once saw this old black and white film that was ...I once saw this old black and white film that was some sort of mystery--but the hook was that the hero ran away and joined the *Spanish* foreign legion--and ended up in fighting in North Africa. There were two scenes that stuck with me from this film--one, a enlisted man had to escort an officer back to camp from the town. The enlisted man hated the officer and had sworn to kill him. The officer knows of this, but gives his pistol to the man. They make it back safely. The officer asks for his weapon back and then puts the man under arrest; one for threatening to kill an officer, and two, for not doing it, "because a legionnaire always keeps his word". Second thing was the inevitable outpost surrounded by arabs, and almost everybody is killed before relief arrives. But the outpost does not fall. The relieving troops are marched past the corpses of the dead defenders as an (I guess) an object lesson. I think the LT would probably approve of both. Eric Blairnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-9295432601739030482012-11-23T15:22:52.515-05:002012-11-23T15:22:52.515-05:00That's entirely possible. I don't (necess...That's entirely possible. I don't (necessarily) have to agree with their purpose, so long as there is one. I was working off your second quote in OP: <i>An idea grew up inside the Legion that meaningless sacrifice is itself a virtue....</i><br /><br />I don't agree that this is a valid purpose.<br /><br />Eric HinesE Hineshttp://aplebessite.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-84608000904500158992012-11-23T15:09:14.298-05:002012-11-23T15:09:14.298-05:00Maybe the purpose is their own. Maybe they just w...Maybe the purpose is their own. Maybe they just wanted to live like men, and die like men.Grimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-35021924821120559112012-11-23T12:35:37.589-05:002012-11-23T12:35:37.589-05:00I'll take duty with no purpose
and
“You! Le...<i> I'll take duty with no purpose</i><br /><br />and <br /><br /><i>“You! Legionnaires! You are soldiers meant to die, and I am sending you to the place where you can do it!”</i><br /><br />If there is no purpose, how is there duty? Responsible for what? <br /><br />It seems to me that being willing to die for no purpose--dying for no purpose--is just suicide. And those who take advantage of a man's willingness to commit a pointless suicide are simply committing murder.<br /><br />It also seems to me that Patton had the right of it: <i>I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country. </i><br /><br />Soldiers do die in combat, and sometimes it's necessary to spend their blood like water. But their deaths have honor, and the spending is acceptable, only when there is a purpose to it.<br /><br />Eric HinesE Hineshttp://aplebessite.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-24257838384504329282012-11-23T02:43:11.445-05:002012-11-23T02:43:11.445-05:00They are ascetics then. Ican respect certain asce...They are ascetics then. Ican respect certain ascetic practices, but in the end, the lack of meaning bothers me. Could be worse though. I'll take duty with no purpose over hedonism with no purpose any day.douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17261739259295914188noreply@blogger.com