Trapped Navy Minesweeper to Be Broken Up

[Longdan]

When I was a kid in school there it was never mentioned.  We learned about how the Philippines were granted
independence.  Like your old drunk, perverted uncle nobody wanted to talk about the whole sordid event.

[Gusington]

Granted the Philippine Insurrection was not the finest hour for the US. But the Japanese were more brutal.

[bayonetbrant]

^^ what Gus said

[LongBlade]

^^ what Gus said

+1

[Longdan]

On a scale of things yes they were, but who is counting?  The Japanese were the bad guys.
The Americans, to many, were the not as recently bad guys.  The Huks in particular were never
really pacified.  In 1944 the bad old days were still a living memory.   On the other hand
how long until they want a US military presence again?

[bayonetbrant]

^^ 10 years ago, when the AQ-affiliated groups started poking their heads up again.

You really don't want to get into a detail analysis and discussion of recent Filippino COIN and their successes.  I had a heaping helping of it all in the summer of 2011 when we helped NDU run a COIN wargame in that setting for the ICTF program.

Suffice to say we've given them a lot of good training, and they've put it to excellent use by kicking ass on insurgent/terrorist-types who were unwilling to lay down their arms and work in the framework of the gov't.

[Longdan]

Looks like you armed them with some potent acronyms.

[bayonetbrant]

occupational hazard