day no. 16,091: all tail and no teeth

"The armed forces recruited from a welfare state tend to lose initiative. Too luxurious a standard of living results in their becoming all tail and no teeth." -- Sir John Glubb, The Search for Survival

"The tooth-to-tail ratio (T3R), in military jargon, is the amount of military personnel it takes to supply and support ('tail') each combat soldier ('tooth'). While both 'tooth' and 'tail' soldiers may find themselves in combat or other life-threatening situations, 'tooth' soldiers are those whose primary function is to engage in combat. The ratio is not a specific measure but rather a general indication of an army's actual military might in relation to the resources it devotes to supply, upkeep, and logistics." -- Tooth-to-Tail Ratio 

Decadence leads to decline.

Indulgence produces indolence. 

Sloth slides into insolence.

But... by the grace of God, tails can become swords and the soft can become sharp. 

Isaiah 41:14-15

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

Deuteronomy 28:13

And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

May God have mercy and make it so.

Amen.