All Purls. No Swine.
A repeat, because--by gum--those wonderful men deserve it: Eighty-one years ago, on May 16-17 1943, an elite group of airmen, mostly from the Royal Air Force, but also with contingents from Canada and Australia, took off in nineteen Lancaster bombers from the RAF station in Scampton, Lincolnshire. Their mission was clear: Destroy three dams in… Continue reading Dam Busters +81
Ernie Pyle died 79 years ago today, on April 18, 1945 in the Iejima Okinawa Prefecture of the Empire of Japan, killed in action while doing what he loved. Having missed out on his first ambition–to serve in World War I–he undertook the study of journalism at Indiana University, and eventually found a career at… Continue reading “War makes strange giant creatures out of us little routine men who inhabit the earth”–Ernie Pyle
No doubt there's a lot of competition. But today, April 5, 2024, I offer you this one, from Encyclopedia Britannica's On This Day recap: [1818] Battle of Maipú Chile's independence movement, led by José de San Martín and Bernardo O'Higgins, won a decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Maipú, which left 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead on… Continue reading Maybe the Best Opening Line, Ever
You remember him. He’s the United States Marine who–while still on active duty–excoriated his chain of command regarding their decision to leave Afghanistan in August of 2021. There were several posts about it on Ricochet at, and just after, the time (some of them even by me) Here are a few of them: https://ricochet.com/1036403/honor-courage-and-commitment-a-usmc-ltcol-speaks-out/ https://ricochet.com/1036424/pointed-questions/… Continue reading Whatever Happened to LtCol Stuart Scheller, USMC, Fired?
Twenty-two years ago today, on February 1, 2002, American Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl was murdered, live, on what the West considers "social media." I won't link to it. Search for it if you want to. And, if you do want to, please remove yourself from comments here. God. Rest in peace, American hero.… Continue reading Daniel Pearl, Twenty-Two Years On
Via Scott Johnson at powerlineblog.com. This past Saturday I met Aaron MacLean, host of the School of War podcast. Aaron is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Before that, he worked on Capitol Hill as senior foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Senator Tom Cotton and served on active duty as a… Continue reading A Podcast Recommendation For Those Who Love Military History
Good grief. Not sure what's wrong with the US military retired, all the way from Generals down to Field Grade Officers. I think it's pretty safe to say that the grunts--the enlisted--the sad sacks, the jarheads, the squids, etc. don't suffer from this foolish nonsense, but honestly! LTC Vindman. General Mark (I'm in China's Corner)… Continue reading Lloyd Austin–For Fuck’s Sake, Don’t Be A Jerk
Got one of those annoying cheery little pop-ups on my phone this morning, announcing that December 22 is National Date Nut Bread Day. I love date nut bread. I was first introduced to it by a co-worker I'll call John (not his real name), in 1987 or so. The large hospital system I was working… Continue reading National Date Nut Bread Day, and the Complications of Memory
One hundred six years ago today, on December 4, 1917, the Scottish psychiatrist W.H. Rivers first delivered his report titled The Repression of War Experience. It wasn't published until several months later, by which time the title had been "borrowed" by WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon, in his poem of the same name: Repression of War… Continue reading “These are the men whose minds the dead have ravished”
So there I was, as I often am, chasing down some reference or other that has nothing to do with the point at hand, and I stumbled over the fact that it was only 160 years ago today, on November 19, 1863 (what a very young country this still is), that a President of the… Continue reading “These Honored Dead”