Social Sense
What a superior piece of writing! This doesn't happen very often with me: reading this letter gave me goosebumps.
I love the extended metaphor. But you already knew that I would. I'm the literature-composition type.
I admit it. Prior to 9/11, I was pretty much a sheep. I never believed that wolves would reach my fold.
Of oourse, I'm not a sheep anymore. But I'm not a sheepdog, either. I'm the one trying to make the sheep let the sheepdogs be protectors of the naive.
I don't think that I'm having a lot of success. The former sheep I know came to their senses on 9/11--and stayed that way. I'm not sure that the rest of the sheep will ever come to their senses, though the wolves breach the fold and slaughter their lambs right before their very eyes.
Many years ago Lederer (sp?) wrote a book titled A Nation of Sheep. It was during the time of the Korean War if memory serves. Indeed the General got it right. The piece really touched my heart. Thanks for the post.
Und den zere are der TuefelHunden(Devil Dogs), ja?
Note: Setting aside the phoney German, for more on Devil Dogs, see:
World War I, U.S. Marine Corps, Belleau Wood, Bois de la Marine Brigade (U.S. 4th Marine Brigade cited in French Army General Orders -191
, et al.
Correction on the German.
It should read: "Tuefelshunde" vice "Tuefelhunden". The latter is very often listed as correct, but isn't.
Oberstleutnant William C. Curtis, Amerikanischer KreigsMarine Infantrie sends
My Lord..that is beyond brilliant!...thank u so much Mustang for sharing...truly! 
Mustang,
Off topic....I've given you the Thinking Blogger Award!
Mustang, I'm late to this post, but as always I'm impressed with your finds and the skill with which you present them. Thanks for being one of the Sheepdogs my friend, we need and cherish youse guys!
This is a fraud. These words were first written by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (I may have his last named misspelled) in a book her wrote called "On Killing.." and then in another called "On Combat.." I apologize for not knowing the entire name of the book, but it can be researched just by these words. Grossman's work can also be found on killology.com.
First I must congratulate you on this great article .I would now like permission To put it in our local paper in Prescott AR. I also plan to give it to my congressman so he can wake up some of the sheep in our goverment. Please send me written permission to reuse this article in its entiretie Thanks MSC Goldenpenny Retired
Yes, I agree. Unfortunately, however, there is another category: wolves masquerading as sheepdogs. They are the ones who get in amongst the truly necessary sheepdogs, and who pretend to be protecting the sheep, but who are rapacious and violent and secretive, and who actually do very great harm. I am talking about some of the corporate and legal and bureaucratic wolfdogs who may become political leaders or who support political leaders. These wolfdogs are the repository of all that is wrong in humanity, who put personal profit in weapons and oil and other resources ahead of public good. Major Grennel, everything you wrote is true, but it is incomplete. Perhaps the U. of W. student views the Medal of Honor winner as a symbol of what is wrong with our species. Homo sapiens has an immensely long history of wrong thinking and wrongdoing. By calls to 'patriotism' we attempt to justify sending our youth into the wrong kinds of conflicts, when their energy and our collective resources should be used fight poverty, disease, ignorance, and homelessness.
In my family we would fight wars against such evil leadership as shown by Hitler, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, and thousands of others have shown; those kinds of wars/conflicts could be called necessary on moral grounds. The war in Iraq is not that kind of war. It is dealing that nation a daily series of blows from which it may never recover; and the 'collateral damage' to its citizens, and troops from several nations, and to the image of your wonderful country around the world, is terrible.
We should recognize that fourth category: wolfdogs pretending to be sheepdogs. And turn our back on them. In that way, we honor youth and life itself, and honor all dead and injured servicepeople for their sad and unnecessary sacrifices.
We have a responsibility to see that the record is corrected--instead, comments still come in that praise Charles Grinnel for this excellent piece. He did not write it. As Tanya commented but that seems to have been ignored, this was written by Dave Grossman LTC(RET). See on a UnivIllinois site: http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/
onsh...dsheepdogs.html --- Also, Grinnel states that William Bennett made the remarks about sheep, etc. Bennett gave an address to the Naval Academy but not about the sheep-wolves-sheepdogs idea. Grossman attributes the idea to an unnamed retired colonel who served in Vietnam.
Notwithstanding who wrote what, or who said what, this is an excellent presentation. My question is to Mr Grennel: did Ms Edwards respond to you?
Yes, this is a good letter and if it was written by Charles Grennel then he copied directly from Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman.
This has been brought to your attention before so, now is the time to give credit where credit is due. This should be with the Charles Grennel letter, not hidden in these comments.
There are some major flaws with this extended metaphor. I don't know why I received this but I feel compelled to respond.
First, I would like to say that I consider myself a patriot and a contributing citizen to our great country. I do not condemn anyone who chooses to serve and protect our country nor do I side with the person that was the original recipient of this letter.
This metaphor describes people in three ways; sheep, sheepdogs, and wolves. My problem starts and ends with the fallacy that attempts to categorize people, perpetuate fear and promote bigotry.
Have we not had enough of this kind of thinking in America? Our country and especially our service men and public servants should remember that people, society and culture are more complicated than organizing them into three categories of aggression.
Simplifying cultures and people into a simple metaphor is dangerous, ignorant and racist. We should learn to respect the complexities of people so we can know better how our society affects there's and vice versa.
The author uses the word naïve. I know this word to mean- "marked by or showing unaffected simplicity". What could be more simple-minded than stereotyping people? You are a sheep, sheepdog or wolf? Eff you and your stereotypes.
Popular media and the gentleman who wrote this metaphor would have you believe that people require the simplest explanation to explain a very difficult concept. The truth is, difficult concepts require difficult explanations. Don't dumb down the people because you cannot understand the world past Old McDonalds's Farm.
This guy says:
"But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the unsheltered path.
Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal
human phobia, and walk out unscathed."
Let me guess, this soldier considers himself a sheepdog because he protects the sheep and blah, blah, blah.
Nobody "walks into the universal human phobia and walks out unscathed" as this guy would claim. What does he think Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is? Will he deny his fellow soldier's claims?
As a soldier, you are taught to kill. Your capacity for violence is The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill. Don't pretend its some self righteous duty of yours to protect the flock. That is what you were trained to do. So quit your bigotry and do your job.
If Charles Grennel really exists he is no longer in the Army Reserves or affliated in any means with the U.S. Army. Perhaps a penname? I guess it really doesn't matter, still an excellent letter and a really good analogy.
Peter, I'm not sure why you brought up racism, other than to drop all the telltale signs of someone promoting a far left propaganda campagn. You also completely avoid addressing the actual meaning of the entire read. Yes, it was simplified (but later de-simplified - missed that part, eh?). Yes it categorizes people - So does Psych 101 if you went to college. (And no that was not a racist comment.) With regard to "The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill," that's the price one pays the futher one CHOOSES to be toward the wolf end of the continuim.
Frankly, I don't know what to say about this: "Let me guess, this soldier considers himself a sheepdog because he protects the sheep and blah, blah, blah." other than to say that you've done a poor job of paraphrasing the read. But you're correct, but don't hate the sheepdog.
While you said "Don't dumb down the people because you cannot understand the world past Old McDonalds's Farm," I think it more appropriately stated, "Don't dumb down because the people cannot understand the world past Old McDonalds's Farm."
And finally, "Popular media and the gentleman who wrote this metaphor would have you believe that people require the simplest explanation to explain a very difficult concept." Well, you prove that that is indeed the case and the authro has failed...miserably.
Cheers!
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As a Sheepdog I could not agree with you more. You have hit the nail right on nthe head and I will pass your letter around to all I know. It is about time this Country wakes up and sees the world around us for what it is. I proudly served in Viet Nam with the First Infantry Division to keep our Country FREE and SAFE.
Best Reguards,
Walter
That was a very touching and well written essay but frankly with the Nuclear bomb available for our use the concept of a sheepdog is totally outdated. The truth of the matter is those Arabs are inferior to White people and they all hate us, every last one of them, and we should just nuke the whold damn middle east out of existance. What makes the whole sorry episode even worse is that we let those scum into our country and taught them how to fly airplanes. 5000 of us died in 9-11, 50,000,000 of them should die in a nuclear holocast, and we should call it even.
That letter was excellent, it's simple and to the point. The point of the letter; be happy and proud that you have a military that protects you and enables you to live and roam freely throughout this great country. Being in the military is much more than just a job, the majority of jobs don't require by definition that you put your life on the line for lousy pay. Contractors that go to work in Iraq for example make well into six figures - why because they are in harms way. This letter should be passed on to everyone you know and if you know anyone in the military give them a hug and a warm thankyou, they deserve it.
Marc Schrenk
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