GDG- "A Sad, Embittered Race of Men"

[Bob Huddleston]

 Since we are talking about logistics, I thought you might enjoy the
following. :>)


Take care,

Bob

Judy and Bob Huddleston
10643 Sperry Street
Northglenn, CO  80234-3612
303.451.6376  Huddleston.r at comcast.net

"The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane."

---Mark Twain, 1907

"A Sad, Embittered Race of Men"

	Introduction. Having come thus far, the reader of this anthology is
probably prepared for a bit of satire. The origin of this short essay,
-which concludes our collection of pieces on Army logistics, is unknown, but
the essay has been repeated often and contains, as do most satires, more
than a little truth.

	Logisticians are a sad, embittered race of men, very much in demand
in war, who sink resentfully into obscurity in peace. They deal only with
facts, but must work for men who traffic in theories. They emerge during war
because war is very much fact. They disappear in peace, because in peace,
war is mostly theory. The people who traffic in theories and who employ
logisticians in war and ignore them in peace are Generals. Logisticians hate
Generals.
Generals are a happily blessed race who radiate confidence and power. They
feed only on ambrosia and drink only nectar except when they are drinking
bourbon. In peace they stride confidently and can invade a world simply by
sweeping their hands grandly over a map, pointing their fingers decisively
up terrain corridors, and blocking defiles and obstacles with the side of
their arms. In war they must stride more slowly because each General has a
Logistician riding on his back and he knows that, at any moment, the
Logistician may lean forward and whisper: "No, you can't do that!" Generals
fear Logisticians in war, and in peace, Generals try to forget Logisticians.

	Romping along beside Generals are Strategists and Tacticians.
Logisticians despise Strategists and Tacticians. Strategists and Tacticians
do not know about Logisticians until they grow up to be Generals-which they
usually do-although sometimes Generals will discipline errant Strategists
and Tacticians by telling them about Logisticians. This sometimes gives
Strategists and Tacticians night mares, but deep down in their hearts they
do not really believe the stories-especially if the General lets them have
an occasional drink of his nectar or bourbon.

	Sometimes a Logistician gets to be a General. In such a case, he
must associate with Generals whom he hates. He has a retinue of Strategists
and Tacticians whom he despises, and on his back is a Logistician whom he
fears. This is why Logisticians who become Generals are a fearsome and
frustrated group who wish they were anywhere else, beat their wives, get
ulcers, and cannot eat their ambrosia.

Charles R. Shrader, ed., United States Army Logistics, 1775-1992,
Washington: US Army Center of Military History, 1997,  3:811