...is a fight to get your auld soldierly synapses firing... H/t, Jim C.
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Cartoon of the Day
August 18, 2011 12:19 PM
August 16, 2011 12:18 PM
Bring on Teh Stupid.
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Did he say: "I'm on a horse"?
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Of course, we don't really know what it is, as a purely technical matter - in that no one's come up with (and by that I mean in the collector community at large) anything other than the same kind of speculation you guys indulged in. It *is* a Japanese rifle based on the overall look and markings, and since it's a single-shot, one assumes it was built for training. But it's one that most of us (including myself) were unfamiliar with, being based on a German M88 rifle. The markings on the receiver have been mostly obliterated, but there are enough scattered remnants to confirm it is a German-built rifle, vice one of the Chinese Hanyang copies, but it probably had a Chinese provenance to the Japanese.
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August 15, 2011 2:12 PM
We are all well aware of Massa John's kind of Percussive Therapy. And yet, there's the Israeli M113 inspired kind of Percussive Therapy:
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Thanks, Uncle Bill - you and the 16 million other guys and uncounted gals who got us there. And the Brits, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Filipinos, French, Dutch, Czechs, Poles, Indians, South Africans, Norwegians, Danes, Chinese, Colonial Troops and Resistance fighters everywhere, Brazilians, and with an asterisk for the Russians regarding VJ Day. They get full credit for bearing the brunt of VE-Day.
'Cuz it's not like we did it alone. [Read More]
This young man is soon to become the first Marine to be a living recipient of the Medal of Honor in the Long War when President Obama awards the Medal to him on September 15. A record for this war - it only took *two* years to get this one approved. Which is at least 18 months too long, for my taste. Bing West, who is quoted in the article below, told me to keep an eye out for Corporal Meyer when we were chatting about the Medal of Honor and the bewildering time it takes to get them awarded. That was...
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...and a hole in the heart.Inbound to Piddler's Green! Mickey! Duncan! Show Amos the ropes, eh? Especially where "the watching place" is. Amos, long time friend of one of my brothers from another mother, Mike L. I'm crying with you, brother.Just over 12 years ago, a colleague told me of a 7-month old Black Labrador being given away by a friend. I was at a place in my life where I really needed that faithful companionship so I went to look at him. The owner told me to go wait in the back yard and she’d let out the dog. Very shortly...
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...and I think you guys will pull it all together. In fact, you already have, mostly.
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August 14, 2011 9:19 AM
It's a small world, especially when your world revolves around folk who do or did what you do or did.
A (comparatively) young man has opened a militaria/antique shop in Leavenworth, which is a good thing. With all the retirees around here dying off, someone should be able to make a go of something like that. He's sponsoring a formal militaria collectors club which has a core group of greybeard fellow travelers like myself. We're kicking around ideas about how to hook the youngsters on our particular form of crack.
All of us are veterans of some sort, most with merit badges for having been to exciting places in exciting times. Which means that when we meet, there's as much war story telling as their is any business transacted. As we have no fighter or helo pilots in the group thus far, there's a lot of TINS, but not much hand-waving, as one finds when aviators are present.
Of course, that's part of the attraction. I already know enough hand-wavers...
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A (comparatively) young man has opened a militaria/antique shop in Leavenworth, which is a good thing. With all the retirees around here dying off, someone should be able to make a go of something like that. He's sponsoring a formal militaria collectors club which has a core group of greybeard fellow travelers like myself. We're kicking around ideas about how to hook the youngsters on our particular form of crack.
All of us are veterans of some sort, most with merit badges for having been to exciting places in exciting times. Which means that when we meet, there's as much war story telling as their is any business transacted. As we have no fighter or helo pilots in the group thus far, there's a lot of TINS, but not much hand-waving, as one finds when aviators are present.
Of course, that's part of the attraction. I already know enough hand-wavers...
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...today with a surprising amount of cat hair for scale! Awfully nice of me to do that, considering that... scale isn't an issue in this Whatziss.
The pic will embiggen if you wave your wand over it]
This might be the tipping point for some of you. [Read More]
This might be the tipping point for some of you. [Read More]
August 13, 2011 8:27 AM
Now, this pic would drive me crazy. I'd be saying to myself, "Self, that thing looks damn familiar, but it ain't quite right!" (Which, coincidentally also works as Armorer self-reflection, but I digress) Oh, and this one wasn't in the plan. It's a bonus. Which, of course, means this may take longer......
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And you all know what *that* means.Oh, wait. You don't, and you're expecting me to tell you.Fair enough -- it's Boquisucio's birthday!Yes, Friends and Neighbors, Denizennes and Denizens, Commenters and Lurkers, today is the day that the Admiral of the Moat, the Master of Multilingual Malaprops, the Castle's contribution to Ibero-American amity, and Squid-In-Residence has successfully completed yet another circumsolar orbit!And, since he already has a flagship (some assembly required, batteries not included, don't run with that bowsprit in your mouth), a copy of "Care and Feeding of Moat Monsters for Dummies," and enough mops to last until the economy...
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(Click to Embiggen)
GULF OF THAILAND (Aug. 11, 2011) Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Fuel) Airman Raymond Burrell, from Orlando, Fla., and Airman Thomas Robertson, from Sarepta, Calif., fuel an EA-6B Prowler assigned to the Gauntlets of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 136 aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jacob D. Moore/Released)
Boq [Read More]
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