Week 10 Storytelling: Different Approaches to War

When the United States was still in its infancy, there were two generals who had different philosophies when it came to war. The first general was in the army and his name was George. The second general was in the Marine Corps and his name was Samuel. George believed that the best way to defeat an enemy was through attrition. Samuel, on the other hand, believed the best way to defeat an enemy was through maneuver.

The two disagreed with each other often and this sometimes caused them to lose battles. One day, after suffering a terrible defeat, the two generals decided that they had to come together and figure out a solution to their problem. "Join your forces with me and we will defeat our enemies with overwhelming numbers!" George exclaimed.

"No! That would lead to a unacceptable loss of life! I will not agree to that misuse of my Marines," Samuel asserted. "Instead, we should strike the enemy at key points and locations in order to disable their war machine," Samuel offered. But neither side could agree with the other. Needless to say, the two were at an impasse. After a long stare down, Samuel finally broke the silence. He said, "We can settle this in our next enemy encounters."

George agreed. The two generals set up their base camps in an area with plenty of space for George's troops to assemble and get into battle formations on an open field. Samuel and his troops preferred to fight in the forest where they could outmaneuver their enemy. However, Samuel thought that his Marines could outperform George's troops when it came down to it.

The enemy attacked the following morning, but thanks to their tireless training, both George's and Samuel's troops were alerted and reacted quickly. George's soldiers rushed into their pre-assigned spots on the battlefield and formed up. Samuel's Marines took just a little longer, but this was enough for the enemy to spot a potential weakness. The enemy charged Samuel's ranks head-on causing some casualties. Without even having to think about what to do, George's soldiers swung their flank around and formed an L-shaped formation. The enemy was forced to fight Samuel on their front and George on their flank. George was able to pressure the enemy and cause disarray among their ranks. After this, George cut of the enemy's escape route and forced them to surrender.

"I told you that my way was better!" George shouted over to Samuel.

"Ridiculous! My Marines would outperform yours in a heartbeat if we were to fight in the forest!" Samuel shouted back.

"You're just jealous, BUT I have intel that an enemy force is moving toward us from the forest," George stated. "How about we put your Marines to the test," George said.

"So be it!" Samuel exclaimed. Samuel returned to his men and briefed them on the situation. The Marines broke up into small units so that they could easily move through the forest. Then, without any hesitation, the Marines squared away their gear and prepared to move into the forest. George also returned to his men and briefed them on the situation. In the same manner as the Marines, the soldiers gathered their gear and began to form up in their standard formations.

Samuel's Marines moved quickly to the designated ambush position, laid down, and began to wait for the enemy to approach. George's soldiers, however, were still trying to figure out how to efficiently move through the forest without breaking up their formation. Seeing George's soldiers in the distance, the enemy began their charge in order to seize the initiative. Unknown to them, though, Samuel's Marines were lying in wait.

Samuel gathered his breath and then shouted the command, "Attack!" Before the enemy even knew what happened, the Marines had them surrounded. Dropping their weapons and raising their arms above their heads, all the enemies surrendered. "Easy day," Samuel said as he walked up to George.

"You got lucky," George said, "But from now on I think I'll leave this type of fighting to you."

"Wise decision," Samuel said, "And I'll leave you to your own style of fighting as well." So, the two generals realized that both approaches to war had their advantages and disadvantages.













Author's Note: My story was based on the Blackfoot story "Two Fast Runners." In this original story, there was an antelope and a deer who challenged each other to see who was the fastest. In the end, it depended on the terrain that the two ran on/in. For my story, I thought it would be fun to substitute the antelope and the deer for the Army and the Marine Corps. Both branches have their own approach to war, and I wanted to show this through a story. Hope you liked it!

Bibliography: Two Fast Runners, by George Bird Grinnell

Image: Pickett's charge, Battle of Gettysburg

Reading Notes: Blackfoot Stories, Part A

For Monday's reading notes during week 10, I decided to go with the Blackfoot tribe's stories as translated by George Bird Grinnell in 1915. I chose this group of stories because I have never been told any Blackfoot stories, to my knowledge. From reading part A of these stories, I liked the character of the Old Man. The Old Man helps people as Napi and gets himself into a lot of trouble as the Old Man. Because of this, I plan on using the character of the Old Man for my storytelling on Wednesday.

To me, it seems as if the Old Man should be wise and all-knowing, but he still gets himself into trouble by doing juvenile things. Some of the characteristics that lead me to believe this are: 1. He can talk to animals, 2. He seems to have some power over the plants and animals and, 3. He is sometimes generous with his possessions. It is also the way that he talks that makes me believe this too. When he talks to the animals, plants, or inanimate objects, he talks to them as if he has the power to change them.

Other characters who interested me were Thunder and Sun. In the story, "How the Thunder Pipe Came," Thunder seemed similar to that of a god. Thunder took what he wanted and was only afraid of the Ravens. Sun could see everything and as far as I could tell was not afraid of anything. I'm definitely thinking of using these two characters, but I'm not sure as to how I will use them yet. Of the two, Sun seems the wiser and I suppose I could make him Thunder's father? Or I could possibly make them brothers, with Thunder being the younger brother who is still immature. Either way, I'm sure Tuesday's reading will help me in my dilemma.

Bibliography: Blackfoot Stories by George Bird Grinnell

Image: The Thunder Man