Americans abroad

The fleet was in. There were sailors everywhere. Drunken. Letting off steam.
Some 5000 US marines were on R&R in the northern city of Darwin - and of course one got to speak to a few of them. They told me what a good leader was George Bush, winning a war. "We won a war. We kicked ass," they said. Not that these lads had seen action. But they were pumped up with the idea of it and ready to go anywhere to kick more ass. They said they were better prepared for it than the last lot - those ones with Gulf War syndrome. In fact there is no such thing, they said. Just weak men. Weak babyboomers. Pussycats who had had it soft and were not ready for anything tough. Couldn't take it. Just like those weak babyboomers in the Vietnam war.

Now I am all for toughening up servicemen - but filling them full of this sort of disrespectful propaganda is really beyond the pale.