By Shawn Coyne
Published: February 3, 2012
So I’m at the health club the other day. And like most health clubs, there is a ceaseless barrage of aural and visual input.
Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots. Is it "pain" or injury?
Grunts reminiscent of a maternity ward come from a beer bellied guy who wants everyone to know that he’s just bench pressed 112.5 pounds. A personal trainer checking his cell phone, halfheartedly beseeches for “just one more” Russian tea kettle swing from an elderly lady wearing a leotard circa 1973. The screams and strained cheerfulness all awash in the pulse pounding club music pouring out of the gym’s suspended speaker pods.
But what really catch my attention—despite the fact that I have my own pre-programmed playlist streaming into my cerebral cortex from my own personal listening device—are two 42 inch plasma televisions above my head. One is ten feet to the right of me and the other about three feet to the left. The one directly in front of me is running a new daytime show called The Daily Chew, which from what I can tell is an hour long of carefully orchestrated food pornography. Lots of sizzling meats and sugar coated confections, followed by ecstatic expressions from the show’s five hosts as they sample the in studio prepared fare.
I’m not a foodie, so it is ESPN2 to the left and CNN to the right that distracts me from the horrors of maintaining an elevated aerobic heart rate for forty five minutes. ESPN2 is running a story about the condition of the New England Patriots star tight end, Rob Gronkowski. “Gronk” is the perfectly sculpted protoplasmic beast who broke a number of NFL receiving records this season. But in the AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens, he “sprained” his ankle and had to be helped off the field.
While I pant, the network keeps running the slow motion injury footage. It’s gruesome. Not on the level of Lawrence Taylor’s tackle of Joe Theismann on Monday Night football in January 2008, but at least on a par with Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s experience in Cleveland this season, which effectively knocked the black and gold out of the Super Bowl hunt. Calling the collapse of Gronk’s lower tibia and at least a rubber band stretch of his posterior tibial tendon an “ankle sprain” is like saying Donald Trump has a slightly receding hairline. After three replays and three winces—one view never seems to be enough, two is too voyeuristic and three somewhat shameful—I shift my eyes to the CNN portal.
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On Resistance and MAJ Gant…’someone else’ is NOT going to do it and MAJ Gant’s example behoves a few more of us to get up, join the information militia and produce our own papers on those topics we are passionate about…
I spent several years in the highlands of Vietnam with SOG and alongside the Special Forces so Major Gants observations remind me of another era. I am also reminded me of the last words of the movie Charlie Wilson’s war regarding “we fucked up the end game”. The North Vietnamese had the time, and we had the watches also so maybe this comes down to the cultural differences between Americans who are obsessively watching their cellphone or ipod vs. people who see the conflict as unfortunately the only way or life that they have known.
Just an old man musing
P.S. Do you know of anyway if it would be possible to get a picture of Jim Gant and his team. They look so much the way we did 40 some years ago
I had the privilege of hearing you (Mr. Pressfield) along with Major Gant and Chief Ajmal speak today. Since I will soon be heading to Afghanistan, the information and perspective shared by the three of you was timely as well as compelling. Following the discussion, I spoke briefly to Major Gant who requested I send him an e-mail. I expected to find his e-mail address on this page, but now realize I should have asked him for it. As one of the future “battle space owners” referenced in your discussion today, I would appreciate (and I think my team would benefit) from some more of Major Gant’s insights and specific recommendations. If you could send him my e-mail address along with a request to send me a comm check, I would be very grateful. Thank you for what you do.
Respectfully,
Pete
Pete, what’s your e-mail address? If you leave it here in the Comments section, I’ll be glad to pass it Maj. Gant. Actually we’ll both by at the Gray Center (with Chief Zazai) on Monday for the SWJ Tribal Engagement Workshop. But send me your address and I’ll give it to Maj. Gant.
Thanks!
SP
Mr. Pressfield;
I am writing an article called “Amendment to Major Gant’s One Tribe at a Time”
and it should be out soon.
As an Afghan American from the Durani Tibe of Mohammadzai Clan, I see some issues that the Maj would be appreciative to our collective Afghan style “One Tribe at a Time.” If he chooses to contact me, please give him my email address– by going into my link: http://www.nwscinc.org — and I will be delighted to discuss the article with him.
Thank you,
As promised here is the article:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/03/13/khalil-nouri-afghanistan-revision-to-major-jim-gants-doctrine-%e2%80%9cone-tribe-at-a-time%e2%80%9d/
Khalil Nouri
I too attended yesterdays lecture and am glad there is someone else with my train of thought. Having spent 2 years as an Advisor (Saudi Arabia and Iraq), the things that seem so clear to us on the ground embedded with our forces doesn’t seem to transcend or get across to HHQ. No matter how many storyboards and daily SitReps you send up, they seem to get molded into what wants to be said rather than what needs to be said. Many Advisors coming off operational tours (out of our normal MOSs) are put back into the fleet without having the oppurtunity to pass along the knowledge to future forces. I am glad there is a plan (or at least warm jello) with the AF/PAK Hands program to allow the teacher/student atmosphere to continue upon return to CONUS. Great speach by all yesterday and I hope those who need to listen, will! Stay safe.
Respectfully,
Tony Kerch