'Drunk' Kim Jong-un 'orders generals to write confession letters' all night - forgets by morning

Yeah, that place out 'there'. Anything not really Cambodia related should go here.
taabarang
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Re: 'Drunk' Kim Jong-un 'orders generals to write confession letters' all night - forgets by morning

Post by taabarang »

Cambodia has more Generals than The US Army. Considering that they have shit all of an air force or navy, that's astounding.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
Barang_doa_slae
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Re: 'Drunk' Kim Jong-un 'orders generals to write confession letters' all night - forgets by morning

Post by Barang_doa_slae »

taabarang wrote:Cambodia has more Generals than The US Army. Considering that they have shit all of an air force or navy, that's astounding.
First I shall make many board members day by stating that France have a few more generals than Cambodia... %)

While for different reasons, in both cases many don't have any active military duties. Scandalously high unnecessary stipends is the main issue I see for France but here it allows for a needed better salary and future retirement conditions for the few who aren't already rich from corruption,". It might come as a surprise but I am affirmative that some aren't. I for a start would never have compromised my soul nor my hardly gained and kept wealth by joining a morally questionable family (maybe a romeo and juliet style kidnaping followed years later by a huge inheritance might have been acceptable though O:-) )
So if I am not as chocked by the cambodian generals numbers as I used to be, it surely helps that I have a few of them among my direct in laws relatives 8)

One need to understand that it is a bit comparable to a weak currency. Big face value but worth nada against the dollar anyway.
When Vietnamese military meet Cambodian counterparts to actually do some real work, 4 and 5 stripes competent viet officers deal with hard working, fluent viet speaking ,1and 2 stars cambo generals... maybe an american captain might interact with a 1 star...

Meanwhile and caricaturing a little only, a well regarded colonel becoming 1 star wouldn't trade that star if it meant giving away his envied ice cubes pouring duties into 4 stars glasses at important social events. Following standard asian patronage way, the goal is to buy or being given (slower and harder) promotion to 2 and 3 stars while remaining close to your long time big dog protector. Hence quite a few promotions coming with new lonely and meaningless desks are in fact disguised demotions after some loss of face/mistakes/disapointing profits distribution/poor results etc.

Finally keep in mind that many of the active generals have lived a military life through long war years.
If teah vanh (navy chief) casually invites you to his home or office when wearing a singlet, you can clearly count the many bullets/shrapnel that hit him through missing flesh and other likewise impressive scars. I would bet that the same can be said for many of the most ranked older top brass. If am not mistaken, in any army, active war veterans have higher ranks than soldiers who seldom ever saw action. That also participate to the blown up situation as well as reluctance from many to accept retirement (fear of losing a cash cow syndrome most probably).

Not trying to defend anything here, merely to show that things are usually more complex that what first hit the eye.
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Re: 'Drunk' Kim Jong-un 'orders generals to write confession letters' all night - forgets by morning

Post by Raybull »

^Good post.
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Re: 'Drunk' Kim Jong-un 'orders generals to write confession letters' all night - forgets by morning

Post by Username Taken »

Raybull wrote:^Good post.
Yeah, it is, innit?

There is so much about this country, that many expats will never understand, let alone tourists, foreign journalists, and others.

Almost 20 years living here full-time, and I'm still learning. Whatever you do, don't ever think you've got this place worked out.
Barang_doa_slae
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Re: 'Drunk' Kim Jong-un 'orders generals to write confession letters' all night - forgets by morning

Post by Barang_doa_slae »

Username Taken wrote:
Raybull wrote:^Good post.
Yeah, it is, innit?

There is so much about this country, that many expats will never understand, let alone tourists, foreign journalists, and others.

Almost 20 years living here full-time, and I'm still learning. Whatever you do, don't ever think you've got this place worked out.
Ranking high among what makes this corner of the world so likable :thumb:
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