“This is ‘The Greatest Generation‘ of soldiers. They may never be equaled.”

That was the closing sentence of an article published some time ago by a French newspaper, an article that was recently run and dissected by the guys at Warrior Lodge. Written by a French ISAF soldier, it recounts his impression of American Warfighters based on the time he spent with them in Afghanistan.

The first thing the soldier points out is the American accent. He says he doesn’t even consider it English. No matter what state the soldier hails from, he says no two American accents are the same, and that in high-stress situations we (meaning Americans) sometimes even have trouble understanding each other. He expresses great respect for our fighting ability though:

“…they are impressive warriors! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how.”

The French soldier talked about hours of standing watch, the proud Star Spangled Banner that floats above the outpost, and perhaps most strikingly that no American soldier is an individualist, but rather the team is the focus of attention – and of the American soldier’s willingness to quickly move to the sound of the guns.

“And combat? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all – always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay.”

If you want to read all the feels this Frenchman shared about our soldiers, and just as interestingly to hear Warrior Lodge editor Wes O’Donnell’s thoughts on them, you can do so right here.

Lastly – as you may recall, we actually have a lot of respect for French warfighters ourselves. Last year we ran a series of articles called “The Truth About the French Army.” If you’re one of those misguided crayon-eaters who still make surrender jokes without any basis in fact, do us (and yourself) a favor – read this series of articles here. You’ll find yourself educated, enlightened and perhaps edified.