All the military brass would really snigger at our feeble attempts to understand the military mind — and at our lame satire trying to denigrate this powerful focused amazing thinking — “military intelligence” being an oxymoron to us, loony cartoonists. 

We, the populace, don’t know the intricacy and the training that turn ordinary pimply adolescents into efficient killing machines on the battlefields. The protocols of teaching/learning warfare are complex and demands a powerful acceptance of hierarchy and command, as well as of tactical systems and dexterity of weapon handling. 

Rogue elements are not welcome. Even the Lawrence of Arabia characters, who seem to be freelancing Rambos, act under orders from the top echelons of the governments through the auspices of MI6 or the CIA. They are trained in the art of deception and adaptation while negotiating favourable outcomes for the government they serve, against tribes they loath and trick. Then the troops can take over with delicate boots and all. One must say here that not all tactical moves end up in success, but if there is failure with plan A, plan B and C will be used as back ups. Revenge will be a good motivator...

Meanwhile, organising, maintaining and improving a military complex demands specific targeted policies, training academies and technological superiority. This is why about 20 per cent of the workforce in the USA is directly or indirectly employed in supplying  the military with hardware, software, equipment and cornflakes. The military is divided in various areas of responsibility but united in its end-purpose: control the battlefield which for the US at present is planet Earth, including the space above, beyond the moon. 

Thus the generals in charge of the US military machine, from its airforce to the submariners, are not dummies. They have been through the mill, trained in respecting/understanding decisions of command, and when in charge, they are able to make sound and valuable choices of resource allocation and strength. It can be a difficult job, but they are up to the task, even if they don’t get the recognition they should from the commander-in-chief, in Washington, or London.

Say for example the leader of the airforce in England during WW2, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding — an expert in encouraging-enforcing the development of better planes such as the Spitfire (and the Hurricane) and better crews — did not get any proper public recognition until the 1970s, despite his outfit winning “the Battle of Britain” against a far superior German airforce. According to some historians, Dowding got sidelined in the middle of the war after the death of his wife and started to indulge in the dark art of the ouija board, or such. The modern military works by using intelligent biffo, not through the occult. Despite praying to god, allah and yahweh, the troops have to be more reliant on guns and top brass tactics — dumbing pills, brandy or awakening drugs — though a belief in the all powerful moron in the sky above can make death more acceptable as a future.

The development of an engine such as the Merlin at Rolls Royce did not happen by chance. People are put to the task, military and civil engineers, to create a more powerful, lighter power-plant with ingenuity that presently culminates with massive 80,000 pounds of thrust turbines that have been fitted on an A 380. Thus some of the technology of warfare, eventually trickles down into the civil world. Every nutters in the USA are equipped with semi- or fully-automatic M16 (AR-15). 

The Russians have developed a ramjet engine that can travel at 27 times the speed of sound at zero altitude… This is a challenge to the US military. For many years they had similar plans in their books but the cost and engineering difficulties were too much, until spurred by the Russians. Yet the US in the 1960s had the Lockheed D21, a ramjet drone they tried to use for spying on Russia and China, after the U2 disaster.


At any stage, one needs to know the strength of the “enemy” should one wish to wage war and win. One needs to know the “enemy’s intentions and movements. The “Battle of Britain” was won by a very inferior number of British planes fighting against a massive armada of German bombers and fighters. Theoretically, the English would be rooted. Yet, the surprise element of the German attack was lost because of the RADAR system along the English coast. Thus the spitfires and other English planes could set an ambush, knowing the altitude and direction of the invasion, and not be caught napping like the Americans in Pearl Harbor later on. The German aviators soon guessed the English had some sort of detecting devices, like an early warning system. They developed their own.


Every machine, say like an aircraft such as the Spitfire, as already mentioned did not come out of the blue nor was it a rickety wheelbarrow. From the beginning of the war to the end, its engine was improved from say 800 horsepower to more than 2000 horsepower. As well its armament and range were improved. Building such planes, servicing them, checking the equipment — radio and instruments — demanded a crew of technicians and engineers on the ground. The pilots on their own bat would not have sufficed. They also needed to be briefed in regard to tactics and weapon use, including the cross-hair aiming devices that would “ensure a kill” rather than a miss.

But the era of the drone, even after the failure of the ramjet D21 — possibly being too advanced for its time, like a 1962 Hillman with an electric clutch and semi-auto electric gearbox — has been going in leaps and bounds, without losing personnel. The D21 has to be launched from a "mother-ship” already at speed, in order for the ramjet to work. The “Blackbird” itself used as a launching vehicle, was to some extend a hybrid, as its engine could switch from ordinary supersonic jet engines to ramjet setting.


Despite great care in the design and construction, the machines still had some problems and quite a few were lost. 

On another military front (an affront to our intelligence), we know that the WMDs of Saddam Hussein were non-existent and we also know that the military had to know this in order to “attack”. You cannot attack an enemy, the strength of which you don’t know. This is warfare 101. You will end up with a couple of black eyes…. Thus, "intelligence failures" never happened. Fake intelligence is deliberate and paramount to prime the public on the value of war, through a compliant media. The reality is that war is a business where precision and conviction of purpose is important, including the reinforcement of the lies — political and military — that will lead to a successful invasion or a specific confrontation for your public to claim “victory” (or a president to say “mission accomplished”). Meanwhile, we needs to make sure our gun barrels are clean… and that the hospitals are ready to accommodate the wounded. 

The dead are honoured at the end of the day with a mournful brass band rendition, buried in a mass grave, then on some occasions, little crosses are planted at a respectful distance from each other to maximise the impact of sacrifices made by the fodder. We cannot avoid shedding a few sincere tears for the courage and altruism… Did we say that many mistakes were made by commanding officers in sending troops on open fields like in 18th century warfare, against 20th weaponry? The modern brass have learnt from this. It can be bothersome to have to bury 10,000 men by sunset and still be holed-up in trenches.

At the core of a military mind is a purpose: win the war or at least contain a situation with minimal casualties if the need of prolongation demands it. And this needs the best hardware possible. This is the role of the Pentagon: supply hardware and the core idea of waging war successfully. On their sides, the Chinese and the Russians have their own military centres from which defence and offence can be controlled efficiently. 

Meanwhile the politics are a bit crazy, especially in the South China Sea at present. Even the Aussie diggers, famous for being a bit aloof with the brass, have to tow the line while playing soldiers with the US navy in war games that are on the border of the real thing. The power of the new weapons is no joke. A wrong move and the entire world blows up. We know this…

Enters a mad man. A new president-clown who has no clue about the precise structures and specific tactical positioning of troops and of diplomatic counterpoints which have been set up since Eisenhower. These delicate adaptable manoeuvrings are in flux, as situations change. A country has to be bombed, a new enemy weapon has to be matched or bettered. The new president is a real estate merchant with oversized red shoes, a kerosene blue ill-fitted suit and a Zapata red tie — an accoutrement that contrasts with the impeccable military uniform. This already sets the tone for discord. The new president seems to be a a loony opportunistic anarchist, used to pocket his dosh by getting investors to loose their money through bankruptcy. His style of warfare: economic and personal punishment of other countries' representatives — including allies — in order to pander to the gun-totting nutters while squashing the swampy Deep State that for too long has been involved in too many wars that also end up in bankruptcy of mind and cash… 

A lead balloon would have more chance to be popular than the new guy. 

In the past, presidents would have academic qualifications in the art of management or gone through the political ranks where the tactics of diplomacy could be studied in details as well as the structures of defence… Here the new guy comes from the street, where low blows are allowed to win the alley-way.

The new president has no clue and his general wince like flies caught in vinegar. Their carefully cultivated baby, the military machine that has extended its precise tentacles around the planet, is being ridiculed and brought back home in crates. They polished their cranium with sandpaper in despair. They comb their hair with blunt razor blade. This deliberate pain distract them from the pain from the newfangled system of command which is turning into Dr Strangelove.

The brass have to stop the rot. They will switch allegiances to the most likely warrior party of the time. They do not have a particular colour of political attachment and they go with the Democrats or the Republicans in charge of the command, as long as they are ordered to go to war. With a president who is weary of the military to the point of carelessness, they will support the next lot, because it’s their destined existence, to be under fire while dishing blows to the “enemy"...

One can imagine all the brassed-off generals now plotting to remove the incompetent leader in the top job. 

The military has spend trillions on engineering and perfecting the machines of wars, and the president in charge is no more informed than a two year old kiddie, as if an F-35 was like a rubber-band propelled model aeroplane — or even a paper-plane. 

But the new president is okay with spending more cash on rubber bands, if this makes the old kids in the arm forces happy.

When one is in the possession of the ultimate weapon, one train for its usage in the sequence of possible needs, often invented needs. Presently this sequencing takes any military mind to the edge of war, like a cocked revolver ready to fire… Suddenly, in comes Uncle Buck with his big flat shoes and jocular bad jokes, taking the decorated brass as if they were dunny cleaners...

Understanding the military mind is not Uncle Buck’s forte, though he will use the military-might like one smacks an opponent with a rubber chicken...

Good laughs all around, except in the milit’ry mind…

The next guy will reset the military mind to its proper level and order the bombing of Damascus...

Gus Leonisky

Clown (retired).