QandO

June 01, 2004

Media and Military
Posted by Dale Franks

Since today seems to be "Problems with the Media" day here at QandO, I thought I would throw in this excellent article by Reason's Chris Bray, about how the media misunderstands the military, and why it's so important. It's a long, and very important article, and it should be required reading for today.

It's about much, much more than media silliness. It's also about the culture of the military, and the doctrinal clashes that go on constantly inside it, and why those clashes are so important to the nation. A media that can't even understand that those clashes are happening is not one that can keep us well-informed about the direction our armed forces, and, ultimately, our national security, will take.

Bray, a former infantryman, does put a little humor in though, and I have to relate two examples.

Back in October, when U.S. Army Rangers first started to fight on the ground in Afghanistan, Washington Post reporter Greg Schneider drew the job of explaining the role of those elite infantrymen to the paper’s readers. Drawing on Army manuals, he set out to explain just what it is that sets Ranger battalions apart from their infantry cousins. "Rangers are more heavily armed than most light infantry units," he wrote on October 20. "Their automatic weapons units carry M240G machine guns that can fire up to 1,000 rounds a minute at a range of 1,000 yards. Some Rangers also carry grenade launchers." Rangers also "train with live fire -- actual bullets -- and under all conditions, including night and bad weather." Finally, the Rangers "travel light, usually in rifle companies of about 200 men each." With this kind of information, it’s hard not to be impressed: soldiers who train with actual bullets! And travel light, albeit in groups of 200.

There’s a very particular tone-deafness at work here. U.S. infantry units of every type tend to be grouped in rifle companies of 200, for example -- and armed in part with machine guns and grenade launchers, and likely to train at night and in bad weather.

And then there's this one, that left me both howling and crying with laughter.

"One of the things you learn quickly in the military is to never, ever rile an Army Ranger, as foes have learned the hard way from Normandy to the Middle East," wrote Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Kilian, with near-audible grunts and chest blows. How tough are the Army’s elite infantrymen? So tough, Kilian explained, that Rangers brag about parachuting into Alabama -- and walking all the way back to Fort Benning, Georgia.

It’s worth pointing out that Fort Benning, Georgia, sits on the Alabama border. In fact, part of Fort Benning sits inside Alabama, including the part with the parachute drop.

I just get this image of Kilian, slack-jawed with awe, asking some ex-Ranger, "You parachuted into Alabama and walked all the way back to Georgia?!", then thinking silently, "Wow."

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