Scots Are Not To Be Trifled With...

This little story (hat tip to IraqNow) makes me feel warm all the way down to my kilt.

SCOTTISH troops fixed bayonets and fought hand to hand with a Shi'ite militia in southern Iraq in one of their fiercest clashes since the war was declared more than a year ago, it was reported last night.

Soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders mounted what were described as "classic infantry assaults" on firing and mortar positions held by more than 100 fighters loyal to the outlawed cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, according to military sources.

At least 20 men from al-Sadr's army were believed killed in more than three hours of fighting - the highest toll reported in any single incident involving British forces in the past 12 months.

Nine fighters were captured and three British soldiers injured, none seriously.

"It was very bloody and it was difficult to count all their dead," one source was quoted as saying. "There were bodies floating in the river."

Fix bayonets. Whoah!

I can just hear the Sergeant now, in a thick brouge. "Right lads, this lot's not worth the ammunition, and yer all looking a bit thick about the middle. FIX BAYONETS!"

Apparently my boys were ambushed, twice. They charged mortar positions before the insurgents could get windage, elevation and range on their position and blow the haggis out of them.

In the U.S. Army, at least in the 1980s, "fix bayonets" meant reaching down, grasping your bayonet, lifting it high into the air, and bringing the blade butt first over the muzzle of your rifle. The bayonet clicked into place on a hefty lug underneath the front sight. The M16 isn't much of a weapon for butt-stroking and slashing (two of about a dozen maneuvers) since a big hunk of the weapon is plastic of indeterminate density. When we practiced, the forestock suffered first, fracturing when a soldier would parry with vigor (then, vigorous parrying is what you want to do when a bayonet is coming at your chest, even with the scabbard on it).

I would hate to be on the receiving end of a pack of howling Scotsmen, blades glinting in the harsh sunlight. Their ferocity and superior training allowed them to overwhelm a larger force. It's one thing to be brave when firing wildly from afar, but courage when a berserker is closing fast, his steel pointed at your heart, your typical insurgent is going to void.

This has been a discouraging few weeks in the war on terror, and the war in Iraq in particular. Many of our own leaders are anklebiting the effort, showing a stunning lack of historical perspective or temperence. This story reminds us that civilized men with the training only a free society can muster will always win — eventually. We face long odds, but we've faced longer, and victory will come. In the long haul, savages cannot beat us, even when we are outnumbered. We can only hand them a victory.

Tim McNabb