Chickenhawks

I am enjoying the blog buzz on chickenhawks, at Glenn Greenwald and Mahablog.

I have one experience I would like to share in that regard. I was in the Army during the Vietnam War. I did not serve in Vietnam. Since I was trained to operate missiles, I ended up in Okinawa. We had a "lifer" as we called them, a career soldier who had been in about eight or so years, had never seen combat and had attained the rank of staff sergeant, that's three stripes with one rocker. He was a fat little sergeant, always talking tough and threatening Army regulations. One day he was assigned to lead us in exercise.

Needless to say, he began the exercise and then as the rest of the platoon performed, he would strut around barking out the numbers, "Two, three four.." His breathing would become quite labored as the exercise proceeded so he would take breaks and then join back in, barking the numbers, often to a different count. That is, until it came time to run. He gave the command for the run, barked the count and didn't get past the first "two, three, four." He was so exhausted, a senior sergeant E7, that's three stripes and two rockers, had to take over and finish. The E7 wasn't just senior in rank. He was senior in age by about ten years.

I can still see that fat little sergeant near to collapse, bending over trying to catch his breath as we double timed on by. That's the image I have every time I hear the term "Chickenhawk," A person who expects others to perform that which they can't or won't do themselves.

I know it may not be accurate by the definition being discussed today. But just imagine Cheney, Rumsfeld or any of those Chickenhawks in that position and it will give you a bit of joy!