Welcome to Appalachistan, by NC Scout
(NC Scout / American Partisan) There’s few pleasures in life like having a conversation with an old friend. An intellectual equal, an open mind, and a counterpoise juxtaposed to any position I might hold. At least in some respects. Not a mental clone, and a radically different life philosophy than the one I live, replete with a well aged Che Guevara-turned-Guy Fawkes face inked on his upper arm. A free thinker and a beer drinker, an American original, and very much a product of a harsh upbringing. In another life he could have been leading any guerrilla force with a natural charisma and matching high intelligence; an insurgency’s wet dream and a security force nightmare. A person who recognizes the false charms of the Left, dangling Liberation in place of Liberty and begging you not to realize words have meaning. He’s an example of life on the eastern side of Appalachians.
It was a discussion on what freedom in America really even means anymore and what it will take to remain that way. Because it is a realization that we are indeed not free, that the world in which we reside has visibly chosen a path for us not to live but to die upon having no further utility to the machine. They don’t want you armed, they don’t want you thinking, and most importantly they do not want you on what they claim is theirs, as inheritors of the Earth. It begets a wonderful flow of questions, uncomfortable answers, and certainly interesting observations. When authority fails, that authority resorts to force.
To those brave left wingers cheering on airstrikes on civilians…
Many of us are trained in airfield seizure. (We train others, too…imagine that)
Best of luck. You’re going to need it. https://t.co/N8WdgPx4PC
— Brushbeater Actual (@Brushbeater) August 31, 2022
A Guerrilla Movement must be reflective of the underlying culture which it seeks to preserve. I reflected upon my respect for the Afghan. In twenty years’ time, and perhaps forty, counting our exploitation of the Soviet misgivings, the West could never understand the Afghan puzzle. How can a people exist as a throwback to another time, absent the comfort we all come to know? Comfort to the Afghan serves two purposes; one, an outward showing of wealth, the other, a precursor to death. To the Afghan comfort leads to complacency, and at least in my experience, they sought simplicity. For all their failings as judged upon Western scales, they endure. Every aesthetic tells a generations-old story of what brought them to the present, and that story will carry their sons and grandsons forward generations more.
My old war rug I picked up in Kandahar. I’m reminded this morning of what we learn from our enemies through both losses and victories. pic.twitter.com/tqeYm1rOam
— Brushbeater Actual (@Brushbeater) August 31, 2022
In America a great pain has been made to dilute the role of culture. We can no longer point to any one thing that is a cultural aesthetic, the last being the neon techno artwork of the 1980s. Not since then have we produced anything that can uniquely be identified as American, rather, we point to transnational corporate emblems as symbols of American culture. To the outside world its nothing more than a symbol of exploitation and oppression. But this culture was purposefully murdered, made to be called a ‘melting pot’, a cruel type of menagerie meant to establish a ruling hegemony while forcing out the competition. The old ways of Europe, those that cannot be commercialized, must be seen as rubeish, boorish, and backwards. Things to ridicule.
To a person that lives a steady diet of throwaway capitalism; McDonalds, Starbucks, Apple products, and Walmart; the very same traits exhibited at home are apostate. How can these rubes in their rural enclaves dare continue to exist against our metropolis? Clinging to their God, Guns and religion, how dare they. And that contemptful message of apostasy has given way to shades of genocide.
The people of a place, and thus the culture therein, creates the ecology of the Guerrilla. There are those pockets of cultural resistance in America, having borne the brunt of relentless attacks on its history and cultural significance. I frequently encounter these in my travels, training them to fight. One such is the Appalachian mountain region. Years ago in a conversation Dan Morgan made the observation, as an outsider, that the southern region of Appalachia was as clannish and buttoned up as any he’d ever encountered, paralleling his experience in Afghanistan, taking the better part of a decade to begin to build that fragile trust among the local populace. I chuckled, being intimately familiar with the anatomy of local politics. Those of the unelected kind. Those that are outwardly hostile to any unfamiliar face. These are protective measures to ensure the survival of culture. If you know, you know, or so its said, and if you’re fortunate enough to have been raised in such a culture you instantly understand.
I joking use the term Appalachistan, itself an internet meme among Afghanistan vets, to parallel this reality. I semi-jokingly refer back to another blood-soaked conflict, where a mountain people stared down a first world army that sought to crush them by force. And I only say semi based on the frequent comments people make describing my resemblance to those fighters in a faraway land. Replace Islam with Christianity and you have something of a mirror to the underlying culture of the region. The Chechen example is one that I’ve referenced again and again over the years because its parallel is uncanny to the reality we now face. Seen as backwards people constantly a problem for the ruling elite of both Tsarist and Soviet Russia, they were constantly subjected to genocides, forced relocations, conscription and brutal repression. And yet, the culture endured. The people bore the brunt of time and continued on. Those troubles never ended and thus they never will; struggle makes life worth living. Comfort is the absence of struggle.
The war in Chechnya came into full bloom amid the continuing financial crisis and fallout from the fall of the Soviet Union. The central authority had failed and resorted to force as a means of maintenance of power. When governments are questioned this is universally the case. Having a large number of Chechens who were veterans of the Soviet Afghan War. They knew the failings of Operation Magistral and the tone deaf lessons going unheard in the halls of Frunze. And, at least for a time, they won. Despite the lack of airpower and armor, but well armed with the prerequisite knowledge and understanding that preservation of culture lay upon their shoulders alone. That deafness cost Russia an entire Division of armor in the span of two days.
A disproportionate number of our youth went forward during the ignoble Global War On Terror. Seduced by fools promising small sums of money, we went forth, not in support roles, mind you, but as fighters. And while the luster of those combat awards have faded, it remains an epitaph of the knowledge painfully earned, from both our successes and our failures, in the process. A knowledge to be shared. The Taliban won, and we will too when pushed. We have a culture to be preserved, yours is failing.
Don’t threaten us.
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Best conversation I’ve seen in a long time where truth may involve pain but is heartening nonetheless.
And a goad to prepare and fight for my own “stan” instead of relocating to an existing one.
Enough territory has already been lost/surrendered already as it is.
Blood – on all its levels – is thicker than water. To extrapolate to Western Europe vs. Islamism: Team Islam: common religion held strongly; large extended families; absolute belief in their purpose. Team Europe: citizens of the world; no connected families; fighting against abortion restrictions and carbon emissions; no belief in Higher Power.
Who fights harder, and who eventually wins?
And further still: communists vs. Islam. The communists see themselves as smarter and using Islam. Islam sees Allah as using communists to serve his purposes; each using the other as an alliance of convenient for now.
Who wins that one?
Excellent article
Having lived and worked all over the U.S. , There are ‘Stans in every state . Instead of fleeing to some “Shangri-La ” . Stay and FIGHT for what is yours ! Your articles are always well written , Thought provoking and Inspiring for this Ol’ Hound . I may be Gray in the Muzzle and long in the Tooth , But I can still DAMN SURE HUNT !
Thanks brother!
AaaaaMEN !
Ya aint no different than a illegal (imo) by running to that patch of grass.
Grow yer Own.
Reading truth, rare as it is, brilliant, inspiring & gut wrenching.
Montani Semper Liberi!
Has anyone else noticed in the push to create an ethnic diversity in America and that you can’t say anything negative at all about any minority with the exception of the White Christian Appalachian ? Bible thumping mouth breather . Toothless hillbilly . White trash . All not only acceptable but pushed in the mainstream media and hollyweird daily with no problem . TPTB have been maligning our race and people for many years without percussion but something tells me that is about to end . I am a Christian White Irish man living unashamed of my race , religion , or the fact that my children all married White and had White babies and yes we live in these hills where my grand parents lived and died . My grandsons will lower me into this dirt that I love soon and I shall be forever home . Along side of around 15 dogs I have loved and the only woman I have ever loved .
Excellent! Every word the bitter truth that needs to be heard and realized whether we like it or not.
The Afghan people inherently know that good times produces soft men….and worse drag queen extravaganzas and forms of the darkest ritual sacrifice. Decency and wholesomeness (per culture) opposed to the cheapest vile individualism and artificial “community” drives all good tribes worldwide without an elaborate turgid understanding of the forces of social COHESION . No rocket science here good people just hardwired love of Gods green earth. One of your best pieces yet !
Montani Semper Liberi!
Certainly a thoughtful essay. I enjoyed it.
There is nothing more closely associated with the Heritage American Culture than a deeply felt love of Independence and Liberty. I believe Appalachia represents the most particularly American region of America for the simple reason that these values were always revered there regardless of the fashionable whims of greater society. This region gave birth to the uniquely American Long or “Kentucky” Rifle and its use in the hands of men like Dan Morgan, Boone, Houston, and Crockett, ( Appalachian men all) made all Americans synonymous with the word “rifleman”. That love of Liberty and the tools to maintain it was spread by the Appalachian hunting pioneer throughout the West ahead of the settlers who followed. Indeed, it is the heart of the value system that has always been dear to true Americans everywhere, and only in recent decades has it been maligned as “The Gun Culture”. as if it was something that needs to be disposed of.
This pathetic sock puppet of a dictator has always been quick to run his mouth about firearms, the true Keystone of Liberty. At least twice now he had expressed his desire to bomb his own citizens with advanced weapons for the offense of our still harboring the notions of American Liberty that is our birthright, and mocked the simple armed citizen in the process. The man is a grotesque caricature, always making these threats while surrounded by flags and people in uniform as if he can somehow draw legitimacy from former icons of our liberty.
His logic of course is wrong, as always. Like Colonel Klink, everything he assures us is true will be found to be false, and everything he touches becomes a disaster. He is pretty cocksure about himself for someone who has never soldiered a day in his life and presided over the disaster in Afghanistan just last year. I hope he gets some real world experience soon to broaden his understanding of Liberty and everything that goes along with it.
Beautifully written article. Heartbreaking, maddening, insightful, truthful, and hopeful all at once. There are pockets of real Americans who love this country, its people and its traditions scattered throughout every state, and all will be desperately needed in the coming days. We have rallied before, and we shall again, no matter what the powers that be try to do to us.
[…] Welcome to Appalachistan, by NC Scout […]
Well said sir.
Do not push the warrior class to the thin ice.
Definitely touched me with your thoughtful and correct insight NCS.
Have been having much deep thought this summer over how many young Americans answered the call of duty, the keep Communism “over there” lie, defend freedom. Maybe at first I believed that. But the media has been lying since 1966. So has our government. I have seen.
Nah… what I experienced in Viet-Nam was not what I was initially told. We were just keeping MIC’s cash flow up. Sending up a flight of F-4 Phantoms to sink bamboo and styrofoam sampans was just stupid. Sending young guys drafted out of 20th century, western cities to struggle in a jungle against dedicated VC and NVA was the most stupid. We were on THEIR turf and they knew it extremely well.
My deep thoughts reflected on the young GI’s from Iraqi Freedom to the 13 killed on Biden’s Insanity abdication of Afghanistan. The runway evacuation brought back the 1975 Saigon evacuation with the remaining Hueys to Dixie station carrier group. The Hueys were pushed overboard to make deck space for incoming flight. Yeah, we paid for that too. All bases were left intact.
Viet-Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan…death traps for America’s young men and women. Testing grounds for new tactics and weaponry. The families heavy loss and maiming of young men was of no consequence to the Wash DC fleecers. But it hurts to think of the BS we GI’s have been fed. We bleed, MIC feeds.
I truly know that when the time comes, the defense for one’s actual homeland, here in SW Virginia, it will be as viciously defended as the Viet-Cong, Taliban did theirs. Even more staunchly defended. We have much on our side for what is surely coming.
I salute to all.
Great article. – from western Pineland
https://i.imgur.com/3w6vXD3.png
Dis be true!