Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
There are many different types of stages in a conquest. The Army of the Sultanate of Sulu has just gained a foothold. From that foothold they expand. The Enemy should be evicted before it gets entrenched. The incompetents in the Dumno government have allowed that to happen. The Enemy who want our land would have time to work out the lay of the land. They would have knowledge on how to defend their foothold. Digging of trenches and fortifying them happens next, they will have arcs of fire marked, most likely interlocking arcs of fire if the Enemy is worth his salt. Improvised explosive devices, booby traps and panjis come next. You think our "elite" police force can handle that? To attack an Enemy force of 10 you need a platoon of around 35 men. The attacker must be always 3 times the number. Of course with all the fire support available. Meaning mortars, artillery, FGA's and whatever else is in the arsenal. For the Invaders in Sabah you would need a battalion. The odds will always be stacked against the attack force, as our politicians have given them the time and space to dig in. Seriously we would not suffer any casualties had we taken action earlier, now expect heavy casualties. The Philippines at one time was seriously contemplating taking Sabah by force, see the story below. What makes you think it would not attempt to do it again when they already have an invasion force in place? Especially so when Sabah is rich in resources unlike impoverished Mindanao - edit By Alejandro Del Rosario | Posted on Feb. 23, 2013 from the Manila Standard Today A new dimension has been added to the tense situation unfolding in
Sabah after Moro National Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari warned
Malaysia not to harm our Muslim brothers or we might be forced to
come to their aid Misuari's warning came after a deadline set by
Malaysian security forces was to expire yesterday, Friday. It has been
two weeks since followers of the Sultan of Sulu crossed over to occupy
the coastal town of Lahad Datu. Malaysian security forces are gearing to attack, but weighing the
consequences of a siege. Many of these uninvited newcomers have
relatives in Sabah who came the same wayin outrigger boats across the
waters. Though separated by the Sulu Sea, Sabah's porous coastal
border has failed to stop the wave of newcomers from Mindanao. Somehow, the Sabah standoff has evoked memories of the 1968 Jabidah massacre. For those too young to know about it, Jabidah was a secret military
operation for the invasion of Sabah conceived by then President
Ferdinand Marcos to assert the Philippine claim after talks with
Malaysia failed. Sabah was handed over by the British to the Federation
of Malaya despite protest by the Sultan of Sulu who claimed he never
ceded Sabah to the British but merely leased it.Marcos well-laid plan to sow unrest and start a rebellion in Sabah
went awry when disgruntled Muslim recruits conscripted for the
operation under Maj. Eduardo Abdul Latif Martelino tried to leave
Corregidor Island where the secret elite army was training. Fearing the
special ops might be compromised, the deserters (the number ranged from
28 to 60) were executed. The case became known as the Corregidor/Jabidah
Massacre. The code name of the project itself was Operation Merdeka
(Freedom). A spoiler named Benigno Aquino, Jr. got hold of the lone survivor,
Jibin Arula, and exposed the covert operation and the massacre of the
Muslim recruits. Arula recounted how the young recruits were taken to
the island's airstrip and mowed down by machine gun fire. Although
wounded, he jumped into the water and survived by clinging to a
driftwood until Cavite fishermen rescued him. The Jabidah massacre, some historians say, triggered the decades-long Muslim insurgency against the Manila government. Marcos used the playbook of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba
during the time of US President John F. Kennedy. Jabidah never got off
the ground after Ninoy blew its cover. The Bay of Pigs landing by the
Cuban expeditionary force composed of exiles and rebels opposing Fidel
Castro's communist regime failed and suffered heavy casualties. The arrival of the Filipinos in the coastal town of Lahad Datu can
hardly be called a military operation. Only a few of the estimated 300 invaders led by Sultan Jamalul Kiram III are reported to be armed.
The intruders insist they have a right to stay in Sabah as it is their
homeland. To some, the situation may seem more like a case of a landlord
wanting to raise the paltry rent being paid by its Malaysian tenants.
Rental receipts shown by the Sultan of Sulu may have strengthened the
country's claim to Sabah. Why is Kuala Lumpur paying rent to the
Sultan's heirs through the Malaysian Embassy in Manila if it believes
the validity of its Sabah claim? Instead of the promised peace, the GRP-MILF peace agreement is
spawning a ripple of unrest in Mindanao. MNLF decried it had been left
out in the negotiations, yet. Misuari's men were the ones who fought
the Abu Sayyaf to free three foreign hostages while the MILF stepped
aside. Did the government talk to the wrong party? Followers of the Sultan of Sulu also feel marginalized they may lose
ancestral lands to the MILF. It looks too early for PNoy to be patting
himself on the back and promoting chief government negotiator Marvic
Leonen to the Supreme Court. Senator Antonio Trillanes, a re-electionist candidate of the ruling
Liberal Party, is asking the government to explain its policy on Sabah
and its timid stance on the Lahad Datu standoff. The former military man
has shown some spine that heâts not going to be an Aquino acolyte in
the Senate. The President is in a bind since Malaysia, an ally in the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, was the third party that helped broker the
GRP-MILF agreement . Malaysia , the Philippines and Vietnam are together
in the South China Sea territorial dispute against China. The Aquino government is also working with Malaysia to bring back
from Kota Kinabalu fugitive Manuel Amalilio who scammed Mindanao
investors Aquino is under pressure to bring justice he himself had
promised to Amalilio's many victims. But that, as they say, is another story.
