I hope you all haven't already read this but it gave my a chuckle:
An actual letter home from a Marine with the multinational force in
Bosnia:
Dear Dad,
A funny thing happened to me yesterday at Camp Bondsteel (Bosnia): A
French army officer walked up to me in the PX, and told me he thought we
(Americans) were a bunch of cowboys and were going to provoke a war in
Iraq.
He said if such a thing happens, we wouldn't be able to count on the
support of France.
I told him that it didn't surprise me. Since we had come to France's
rescue in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and the Cold War, their
ingratitude and jealousy was due to surface [again] at some point in the
near future anyway.
I also told him that is why France is a third-rate military power with
a socialist economy and a bunch of pansies for soldiers. I additionally
told him that America, being a nation of deeds and action, not words,
would do whatever it had to do, and France's support, if it ever came,
was only for show anyway.
Just like in ALL NATO exercises, the US would shoulder 85% of the
burden, and provide 85% of the support, as evidenced by the fact that
this French officer was shopping in the American PX, and not the other
way around.
He began to get belligerent at that point, and I told him if he would
like to, I would meet him outside in front of the Burger King and whip
his butt in front of the entire Multinational Brigade East, thus
demonstrating that even the smallest American had more fight in him than
the average Frenchman.
He called me a barbarian cowboy and walked away in a huff. With friends
like these, who needs enemies?
Dad, tell Mom I love her,
Your loving daughter,
Mary Beth Johnson
Lt Col., USMC
An actual letter home from a Marine with the multinational force in
Bosnia:
Dear Dad,
A funny thing happened to me yesterday at Camp Bondsteel (Bosnia): A
French army officer walked up to me in the PX, and told me he thought we
(Americans) were a bunch of cowboys and were going to provoke a war in
Iraq.
He said if such a thing happens, we wouldn't be able to count on the
support of France.
I told him that it didn't surprise me. Since we had come to France's
rescue in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and the Cold War, their
ingratitude and jealousy was due to surface [again] at some point in the
near future anyway.
I also told him that is why France is a third-rate military power with
a socialist economy and a bunch of pansies for soldiers. I additionally
told him that America, being a nation of deeds and action, not words,
would do whatever it had to do, and France's support, if it ever came,
was only for show anyway.
Just like in ALL NATO exercises, the US would shoulder 85% of the
burden, and provide 85% of the support, as evidenced by the fact that
this French officer was shopping in the American PX, and not the other
way around.
He began to get belligerent at that point, and I told him if he would
like to, I would meet him outside in front of the Burger King and whip
his butt in front of the entire Multinational Brigade East, thus
demonstrating that even the smallest American had more fight in him than
the average Frenchman.
He called me a barbarian cowboy and walked away in a huff. With friends
like these, who needs enemies?
Dad, tell Mom I love her,
Your loving daughter,
Mary Beth Johnson
Lt Col., USMC
