Write to live, live to write.


AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY Wednesday, April 9, 2008


[yeah, yeah, I know, I'm letting success getting to my head. Soon its gonna be too bloated to fit into the classroom door.]

Good morning, fellow classmates. Today, I’ll be telling you about my idol. No, he isn’t Hitler. He was a controversial general in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was a maverick – that is to say, he had unorthodox methods – I mean, designing your own uniforms or carrying ivory-handled pistols is hardly following the rules, is it? His men, affectionately or not I do not know, nicknamed him “Ol’ blood and guts”. George Smith Patton once said, “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” One such bastard – my idol – was Patton himself.
Why? You cry. Of all people, why Patton? Why a racist, arrogant, ruthless man like him?
I understand your question completely. Patton did have many bad points. But let me tell you this – Patton’s good points far outweighed his bad.
The first reason why Patton is my idol would be that he was a great achiever. Yes, I know you shouldn’t judge a man by his achievements, but Patton just had far too many to be overlooked. Just look at them: He defeated Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in North Africa, outpaced Field Marshal Montgomery in Sicily, rescued the 101st Airborne in Bastogne, defeated the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge, and if not for Montgomery’s Operation Market-Garden, might have been in Berlin by 1944.
Secondly, Patton was a great strategist and leader. You can lead by fear, or you can lead by example. Patton led by both.
Thirdly, Patton was full of witty remarks. “Lead me, follow me or get out of my way” and “if everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking” are just some of them. His ability to come up with snappy comebacks in just a moment, something I have never been able to and never will do, just make me admire him even more.
Fourthly, Patton was resilient. He once said, “I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom. Patton did indeed hit bottom when he was sacked in Africa for slapping a soldier suffering from combat fatigue, but he bounced back quickly. He and his Third Army in Europe inflicted 144500 deaths but only suffered 16951 casualties. Patton was back, and better than ever.
But nobody’s perfect, and Patton had his faults too. He was arrogant, ruthless and racist – “I’d rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me”. However, when he was sacked, he made an effort to change: the sign of a good person.
Unfortunately, Patton’s life ended all too fast. A day before he was to be posted back to America, he was involved in a car accident that paralyzed him from neck down. He died in Germany of an embolism at the peak of his career.
To end my speech, I’d like to say that Patton was a great leader, brilliant strategist and very resilient, although he was racist and rude. He once stated in a letter, “Leadership? I have it, but I’ll be damned if I can define it.” He certainly had it, and that is why he is my idol.
Thank you for listening.


>>Forgotten by01:52


Random Profile.

The Lone Ranger

02 12 1995
Right. Let's see. I like WWII, Band of Brothers, and anything to do with either of them. And Writing.

Random presents.

-Any WWII Book (that I don't already have)
-The movie Paper Moon
-The Band of Brothers soundtrack
-One hundred dollars

Random dreams.

-Top Singapore for O Levels/A Levels
-Get into VJC
-Get a story published
-GO TO EUROPE/AMERICA
-Visit all the places I want to visit before I die
-Make a million dollars in five years
-Amass a huge quantity of WWII relics
-Get as many books as possible
-Watch all WWII movies

Random Quotes.

-No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
-Two kinds of people are staying on this beach, the dead and those who are gonna die. Now lets get the hell outta here.
-Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”
-We are not retreating -- we are advancing in another direction.
-You can't say civilization isn't advancing; in every war they kill you in a new way.
-War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
-Show me a man who will jump out of an airplane, and I'll show you a man who'll fight.
-Death solves all problems - no man, no problem.
-If you are going through hell...keep going.
-Better to fight for something than live for nothing.
-In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.
-Diplomats are just as essential in starting a war as soldiers are in finishing it.

Random Map.

Random Top Tens.



Top ten movies:
-Band of Brothers
-Saving Private Ryan
-A Bridge Too Far
-The Longest Day
-Saints and Soldiers
-The Great Escape
-Flags of our Fathers
-Kelly's Heroes
-Patton
-The Battle of the Bulge
Top ten Books:
-Band of Brothers
-D-Day
-Citizen Soldiers
-Beyond Band of Brothers
-Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends
-A Bridge Too Far
-The Longest Day
-The Longest Winter
-Flags of Our Fathers
-Letters from Iwo Jima

Random people.

Eugene Lim
Deepak
Arunima
Tharun
Emelia
Kai Yin
Rosalinda
Jing Yi(rather dead)
Grace
Genevieve
Pheodora
Pearl
Shavonne
Joy
Melody Seet
Bryna
Rachel cough-pervert-cough Tan
Amelia (Sec 1D 09)
One Charity 08
Two Faith 09
Solo Magazine
My Stories
The Infocomm blog
Skatezone
The truth about lies (story)
Smile (story)

Random Archives.

December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
February 2010
May 2010

Random Credits.

BetaBlogger
Yiann



It's a (ahem) free country.




Random Music.


MusicPlaylist
Music Playlist at MixPod.com