S3: What can we learn from this section on the theme of readiness? What examples of readiness were presented and what tertiary effects were seen from readiness or lack thereof?

As is typical with most American Wars, we assume that defeat of the enemy will automatically transition into political victory. After blundering into a war with the PRoC the United States then gave away the initiative to the Chinese after defeating them on the field. Neither State nor the Army were prepared to use the force required to achieve political resolution. To the yield initiative to the enemy and ask him for terms when he has yet to cease resistance is beyond weakness, it is gross negligence. It allowed the Chinese armies time to recover, to stall at the table, to embarrass the United States. No political victory is complete without a pursuit; it is not enough to defeat your opponent, you must reduce him to the point where resistance is no longer possible. The enemy is offered only your terms or slaughter. “Under any conceivable circumstances the fact holds good, that without a pursuit no victory can have a great effect, and that, however short the career of victory may be, it must always lead beyond the first steps in pursuit” (Clausewitz, On War). Then to compound the error, the United States asked its soldiers to die in worthless assaults that would have no real meaning at the negotiating table, only token sacrifices to demonstrate our “will”. It is beyond criminal to use the lives of men in such ways. There is no defined political objective other than armistice at any cost and the Chinese could smell the weakness. It demonstrates the underlying lack of readiness that exists both in the Army and the executive branch, pushed upon them by a liberal society. It is not a lack of training or power that afflicts us but rather a denial of the inherently savage nature of our occupation. The Army is a vehicle of our nation’s will expressed through violence because all other messages have failed. The more violent, the more clear the message. It is the only language that communists, for one, understand. Society tries to wish away these facts, deny that naked force is an expression of purpose just as much as any speech or publication. The COIN fight has distracted us from our natural condition in fighting a nation state. It was right of Truman to relieve MacArthur for countermanding the President and trying to limit the war to the Korean Peninsula to avoid Soviet intervention. However, as soon as the Chinese entered they should have had no peace on the peninsula until they surrendered or offered terms. There can be no quarter without surrender. The way to bring peace to Korea was by spilling Chinese blood, not by endless rounds at the negotiating table. Fellow Ohioian William Tecumseh Sherman put it best by stating, “</span>Those who bring war deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.” If the DPRK are foolish enough to come to battle again there is one thing I would do. Under the 1st Cav shield would hang KPA scalps. They would know the legacy of the division and they would know the fate of the American Indian until they surrendered. War is Hell, but the negotiations would be short.