Word: bluntness
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Emerging from behind the cover of a tree and thick bushes, the blunt nose of a Russian eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier juts into the dirt road. In the shade, five soldiers - Special Forces and border guards - sit bored, smoking cigarettes near a burned-out campfire. A sixth lulls in the vehicle, blasting techno dance music. "We are prepared for the Georgians if they come. We don't think they'll start anything, but if they do, we're ready for them," says a border guard, standing in grimy fatigues with a worn Kalashnikov over his shoulder...
...retiring head of the Air Force's Air Combat Command, who said buying just 187 F-22s puts the nation's military strategy at "high risk." An additional 60 F-22s, the general said, would ease that risk to a moderate level. Gates was not amused. "Frankly, to be blunt about it," he said, "the notion that not buying 60 more F-22s imperils the national security of the United States, I find completely nonsense...
...people who spoke Pashto and Dari and had a passion for this place, I would absolutely take the 1,000. Actually, I'd even take 500 over those two divisions. Because that is the leverage here. It's the people who understand the situation. It's not blunt instruments that work. You do need some straight military boots on the ground, numbers to provide, so it can't be all just expertise. But at the end of the day, it has to be an Afghan solution, and for us to help, we have to understand. We have to develop relationships...
...little afraid to get the blunt answer...
...Schneiderhan's blunt comments do a good job of portraying the German army, or Bundeswehr, as a bunch of whining softies. But there's a serious side to his exasperation. The German army as it stands today is a relatively young creation, born after a period of demilitarization following the end of World War II. A defensive army, the Bundeswehr has become increasingly engaged in international missions and is coming under pressure to step up its involvement in out-and-out warfare. After what Schneiderhan said last week, however, many are wondering whether it's up to the task...