Via Insty:
The old saying goes: “Nothing concentrates the mind like the threat of imminent execution.”
Well from Poland’s point of view, nothing would concentrate the mind like a belligerent Russia on its border. Hence the preparation of the youth for just such a scenario.
And before anyone of the hoplophobic persuasion starts wailing about “militarizing the youth” or some such twaddle, let it be known that one of the best preventative measures against predatory invasion is knowing that the intended victim is filled with a motivated — and armed — population, ready to flay the skin off the invaders.
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto’s warning to Imperial Japan about America being a nation with “a rifle behind every blade of grass” seems appropriate here, as is a reminder of a universally-armed and never-invaded Switzerland.
And the video that accompanies the above tweet is especially tasty.
I’ve just added Poland to my bucket list of places I want to visit.
we need that here.
Given Poland’s historically shabby treatment by its neighbors, I’m surprised it took them this long. I recommend they occasionally bring in some notable guest lecturers, say Finnish special forces snipers or Israeli tank girls.
I don’t know whose initiative brought it about – Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, the YMCA, my parents – but I recall lying on the YMCA gym floor learning marksmanship with a BB gun at maybe age 10. We also did kneeling and offhand shooting as well.
My, how times have changed.
Hooray for the Poles! Maybe they too will be able to say “shoot twice and go home” like the legendary Swiss general’s reply to the Kaiser’s saying “What will you do if I put an army twice the size of yours on your border tomorrow?”
The Swiss had the advantage of mountains. It made much of their land worthless, it puts a premium on being able to shoot across a valley, it protected most of their terrain from tanks, and it is much easier to go around Switzerland than through it. OTOH, if I understand correctly, Poland is flat and lacking in natural obstacles. Even if no one ever wanted a piece of fertile Polish farmland – and of course many did want it – it would still have been often invaded by armies seeking to get to the other side.