Regular Army Quotes
Braddock’s hubris caused him to underestimate the Indians as military opponents and shortly after this statement Braddock led his “disciplined troops” into an Indian ambush at Fort Duquesne, and the Indians made an impression that he and the English troops never forgot.
From the beginning, the issue of whether the country should have a standing army or depend on the militia and the citizen soldier has been controversial. There is a , romantic American myth about the Militiamen in Colonial and Revolutionary America—the citizen soldiers who would leave their farms and rise to the military necessity of the day. However, not only were the militia very hard to muster to duty, but most actually didn’t own or have experience with firearms, and the prevailing opinion of knowledgeable military leaders from George Washington on down was that the militia were not very good soldiers. See {613015}, {613016}, {613022}, {613027}, {621987}, {621988}, {613030}, {613033}, & {613056}
The First World War had very little affect on future military preparedness At that time conservatives in Congress were very isolationist and military preparedness was not a high priority or even a significant political issue. It took World War II, for which America was very unprepared, to produce a change in public and political opinion regarding military preparedness.
FDR, Eleanor and lost liberals of the time were advocates of a strong military, and unlike after the 2nd Word War, most of the Republicans were conservative isolationists who were opposed to spending much public money for the armed services or weapons.
Under strong pressure from prohibitionists, the Congress had just outlawed the sale of alcohol on military bases. The Congressman, who opposed Prohibition, rose to propose that Congress should also ban alcohol in Washington. Grandfather of President John F. Kennedy. He was ruled out of order.
