This is an image of a Grunt at both his finest and his worst. It is Grunts doing what Grunts always do, picking up pieces, moving forward, and gaining the ground that no one else can. It could be Caeser’s 10th Legion with short swords, slings, and shields. Or, it could be today’s finest equipped force in the world clearing some mud-bricked village in the depths of Nowhere, Sandbox. Here, in this image and on this ground, it is all the same. It is the essence of how we arrived at where we are today and where we may be.
This is part of our Nightingale Series. Col. (Ret.) Keith Nightingale’s experience, insight, and dedication to developing tactical units for the rigors of war are aligned with the purpose of The Company Leader. We are excited to share his thoughts with you.
It is a small group of Grunts, emotionally charged, senses suppressed but resolve at its height. They move forward, despite all contrary impulses, to achieve something they both do not understand and understand all too clearly. It is Grunts at work doing the ugly, hard, indescribable part of their life that, ironically, makes us all better.
The very worst of our capabilities preserves what is our best. War had beaten, battered, and desecrated the ground beyond anything nature could arrange. It is the mark of Soldiers doing ungodly work on their brothers and doing it well. A moment has settled itself on their minds and with their hands as the tools, they will succeed. Or not.
”It is the hard, brutal arithmetic and combat equation that has always been their overarching condition through time.”
It is time. They rise, move forward, and avenge what they left behind. They claim what others cannot. Failure is not an option at this point. Only death or success will be the outcome. It is the hard, brutal arithmetic and combat equation that has always been their overarching condition through time. This is the hidden secret of those that have been there and returned to remember.
It is an image that has been repeated since we existed in some social form so long ago. It died with Caesar but lives forever in the minds of those who constantly repeat past history.
Simultaneously a good and a terrible thing.
