Rebellion and the Military, Notes before the Second Civil War # 2

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1106222/13366779

LEARNER full text (2024)

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1106222/13381922

APPRENTI texte integral (2024)

Transcript

WORLD WAR COVID
Notes before the Second Civil War #2

Rebellion and the Military

A year before the First Civil War, Colonel Robert E. Lee, USA,
Marched Marines from Anacostia, District of Columbia, to Harpers Ferry, Virginia,
To bag John Brown and hang him. 
Watching on, Lt. John Wilkes Booth, Richmond Grays.

 The Anacostia Naval Base housed a Marine battalion 
To guard Federal facilities in the nation’s capital.
Its standing orders were conditional until after the Civil War.

 During the first battle of Bull Run, 
Massed Union cannon punished the entire Rebel line
It replied with a hail of rifle fire.
Posted front and center to defend the Federal cannon, 
The Marine Battalion and the New York Fire Zouave Regiment
Were shot to pieces and withdrew.

The 7th New York Militia Regiment of silk stocking dandies and gentlemen
Should have stepped up, taken its beating and triumphed.
However, just weeks before, rich Mamas  back in New York
Got them discharged from service and shipped home.

Everyone on the cannon line was cut down or swept away.
Charging Rebels turned the guns on a Federal ammunition wagon.
Big explosion, panic, Union rout.

 Nowadays, Anacostia is the East Coast Marine spook shop.
A few hundred qualified riflemen, TV-briefed in real time?
Why were they not lined  up on the Capitol steps?
If only symbolically, in dress blues, at ease behind police lines?
Or a visible Company in riot gear, its Battalion support under cover?
Either way, no trouble.

 Fort Belvoir once housed an Armored Cavalry Regiment.
I don’t know. 
A few National Guard battalions are tucked miles from DC down secondary roads.

Thousands of cops in DC. tens of thousands of police?
Federal, Park, Executive Secret Service and Departmental,
Contract, Armed Forces, Tri-State, Municipal and County.
Not to mention bloated intelligence shops around DC:
Contract workers by the hundreds of thousands, so far successful
At suppressing terror (or error) attacks,
Nuke or bio, state actor or non-, external or black flag.

There’s the Third Infantry Regiment at Fort Myer, Arlington:
Two battalions of palace guards, per their website,
With standing orders to defend the Capital against insurrection.
The Pentagon could have launched thousands of troops
From its warrior ant nest across the Potomac,
By the bus and subway load, to flood it and swarm trouble.


When Fort Sumter's bombardment set off the first Civil War,
Federal facilities were lost to rebel militia and turncoat officers.
No-one from top to bottom knew what to do.
Troops loyal to the Union sat stunned
Their officers paralyzed by circumstantial orders, no orders, wait, 
Contradictory, delayed, betrayed or nothing.

 The Merrimack’s hull of Monitor-fought fame
Was burned to the water line and  surrendered  to local rebels without a fight, 
Along with many southern ports, forts and arsenals.
The pro-slaver Congress stockpiled Southern arms
And starved those elsewhere (in the West, in the North),
Just like today's military-industrial complex
Has been monopolized By Repugnants, far from Democratic cities.

So, after the Civil War,
Every officer candidate in military academies and schools 
Was taught a standard rule.
“In the event of trouble or suspected insurrection,
Rally loyal troops and occupy Federal facilities.
Until further orders, defend them against any comer,
With lethal force if necessary.”

Nothing circumstantial, no uncertainty,
No waiting around to be told what to do.
“Move out fast and stand your post.
Wait for new orders from the real chain of command,
From the Federal Government that pays your salt."

Those who held to this longstanding rule
Were grounded on 1/6 from the top down,
Like the USAF on 9/11.
I fear for this country, even more so than prior.
It is bad enough if the military are muzzled,
Worse yet if they muzzle themselves.

Democracy chugs along with more or less honesty;
Collects taxes, pays the nation's bills, runs the mail,
Keeps things on even keel indefinitely.
Dictatorship sucks a country dry and then implodes.
Not to mention its many innocent victims:
A disgrace reduced by Democracy at its best,
Proudly maximized by the other kind.

An army of draftees underserves a military coup.
They would mutiny or just go home.
Pro-fa mercenaries, not so much.
No matter what lies politicians spout,
They get by because the military let them.
Everyone will suffer if the military won’t.

So where were you , 
My father's Army,
On January 6, 2022? 

… 

COMMENT?  markmulligan@comcast.net