The Pioneers lead us from Valhalla

I came across a really good post right here: (sorry for no link, I am still a historian not a techie)
http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/03/20/the-pioneers-our-models-of-faith-courage-endurance-war/comment-page-1/#comment-8251

I have commented over there extensively on it. The part that got me was the extolling of our pioneer's war like qualities. This may seem odd since they really didn't fight in any wars. The Mormon Battalion recorded the longest land march in United States Army history, and some of them found gold in California when they were done, but they really did not fight. The qualities extolled remind me of Victor David Hanson's description of the "rustic elan" of yeoman farmer that made the Roman soldier so lethal. It also reminded me of the Vikings (and many other ancient societies) who would praise the warlike qualities of their ancestors and try to draw upon their power in their current fight. Thus the title of my post. I also think its interesting that World War II era Mormons would praise their ancestors warlike qualities and cheer lead the war in such an obvious way. And finally, I do think that the qualities of courage and sacrifice showed by our pioneer ancestors would make us better soldiers.

As they say, go read for yourself. Update: I have a more current post beneath this. It posted there because I have had it saved in my queue for a little while now.