- The 2 main differences between most of world's nations are the color of the inhabitants' skin, and the amount of hostility they harbor toward the United States.
- Africa is destined to exist in a state of disease ridden poverty ruled by illiterate despots.
- Asians would sooner set themselves on fire than submit to outside authority.
- What the French lack in common sense they make up for with sheer gall.
- The only thing Muslims enjoy more than killing each other is killing foreign invaders.
- The Middle East, cradle of modern civilization, has perfected 2 technologies in the past 11 decades - the suicide bomber and the improvised explosive device.

The only things that break up the monotony are the occasional civil war, coup d'�tat, famine, pandemic or natural disaster - though unfortunately not as often as they should.

That's a remarkably accurate list of observations.

Astute observations, people are what they make of themselves.

Thank you sir for your service to this great nation.

Pretty much sums it up from what I have seen.

Spot on.

I saw the same things. There's a class of people here in Jackson Hole that fancy themselves well traveled. They've been to all the tourist destinations and they say the whole world just LOVES Americans. Well I've been to a great many hell hole ports around the world, and I'm here to tell you they only love our money, and spilling our blood when they get themselves into some pickle they can't weasel themselves out of.

Actually, much of what you write is correct, and some is an oversimplification -- in my opinion. Of course, that's what we do on the Internet.

I have been traveling around the world in my job as an international lawyer since the 1960s. That means that I was going out at a fairly young age --not just to the tourist spots, and not so much to the armpits (limited amounts of business there), but quite a few oddball destinations nonetheless.

I was always struck by the numbers of Americans in their 60s and 70s who were touring outside the States for the first time and who had little clue what they were seeing. What a way to spend your life, seeing the world when you were too old to enjoy it.

That would be your "well traveled" Jackson Hole types. I agree that they were seeing what they expected to see and the interactions with hoteliers, et al. shielded them from the reality of the country they were in. IOW, they didn't have a clue.

However, I am afraid that goes for almost all of the US armed services and foreign service personnel I've encountered on my travels as well. Let's face it, they do not live among the local population, except on a most limited basis. They live on a military base or in a consular compound. Even if they speak the local language, their exposure is restricted. They certainly do form opinions and think they know what's up, but they really don't know spit.

That being the case, it is comical to me to view Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John McCain or any of dozens of pols we could name as deeply understanding of foreign cultures and people. How could they possibly learn from the limited exposure they have?

In Japan there are words for the disparity: kumo no ue (above the clouds) for the clueless elite and doromizu (muddy waters) or down and dirty in the midst of Japanese life.

It takes the latter to know how the locals think. I imagine that there are plenty of people who do understand the difference. In my case, it's how I make a living.

^

Well look at that, here I was thinking this would be a thread about big boats, bell-bottom trousers, and buggery.

I thought he was coming out of the closet!

SEMPER FI

I asked one of my squid buddies what he learned while in the Navy.
His reply was, condensed, They don't put screen doors in subs.

Jim

Also, the old salts always said 'use soap on rope in the shower cuz you do not want to drop it -- at least on your first cruise' (grin).

1B

Ditto..

We need to convince them that the Koran teaches that they can't get to heaven unless they kill a member of the opposite sect, Sunni vs Shiite. 10 bonus virgins awarded if the deceased is still at or below breeding age.

When I was in , 1978-1982, the Navy was a cesspool of habitual drug users and drunks. That is when I took the attitude FTN. The sailors were doing it and commands did little about it.

The Navy was changing just about the time you got out, Armednfree. I went in in '84. By then, mandatory drug testing, random drug testing, and reduced tolerance for habitual drunks was the new policy. In the two commands on which I served, it was being enforced fairly rigorously.

Yeah, sometimes I wonder what would have been if I had stuck it out. Then again I wonder had I not been so stupid in boot camp. I enlisted as an HT, but in boot they offered me the nuclear program, my dumb young azz passed it up, I thought that meant subs, which it kind of did at the time. So I could have ended up something like a Nuclear Power Reactor Operator. Well, live and learn. The thing about the sub service, they always were very hard on drug use.

Then again I went to Anderson AFB several times when I was stationed on SRF Guam. I had thought that maybe I should join the AF when I got done with the Navy.

I did inquire going into the Coast Guard as a gunners mate. I would have liked at least one opportunity to shoot up a boat full of drug runners. The only thing they would offer was a comparable rate to my HT training. I think they still used the term Damage Control.

The FIRST couple things I learned was that U.S. currency was usually more valuable than the local stuff & it was wise to carry a small amount of toilet paper when leaving the ship.

I joined in 1965, went to Europe (med cruise) in 1966.
I learned that a lot of things we take for granted, they never heard of.
They are still catching up ---

In Japan, supposedly a first world nation, the yen is typically more highly valued than US dollars. On the other hand, you'd better carry one of those small packets of tissue that they hand out on street corners as advertising, since many toilets especially outside the big office buildings, do not have paper.