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Royal

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Posts posted by Royal

    Good military/aviation books

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    So I'm sitting here re-watching The Pacific on HBO and wanted to know if anyone had read the two memoirs that it was primarily based on, and if they are worth the read.

    With regard to WWII, A History of the Second World War by B.H. Liddell Hart should be a staple in every officer's library. It's European-centric, but it has a lot of good information about the Pacific as well. You can get it used on Amazon for $0.70; I guarantee it'll be the best seven tenths of a dollar you'll ever spend.

    U-2 Dragonlady info

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm old, but not that old!! No, I was a generation later. I did meet him several times in the early 70s when he attended pilot reunions at D-M. Very nice guy; quiet, but easy to talk to, except if you asked about his visit to the Soviet Union, then he was just quiet! When I got there in 1973, some of our supervision knew him, and some even flew with him in F-84s before they joined the U-2 program.

    Hah, sorry, sir; for some reason I was thinking that whole incident was post-Vietnam.

    Was he well respected in the community? Did you guys think the treatment he received when he got home wasn't right?

    Badass of the Week

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    I thought I saw this posted on the forum a while ago, but I couldn't find the thread. Anyhow, a couple years ago a Gurkha single handedly engaged 12 to 15 (some reports say as high as 30) Taliban soldiers to protect his FOB and brothers-in-arms. He used 400 rounds of ammo, 17 grenades, a mine, and a tripod to lay waste to the attackers.

    Acting Sgt Pun was quoted as saying, "Before they kill me, I have to kill some of them."

    Link to the details.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8-LRxSl9aw

    • Upvote 3

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    You think Yokota is bad? Try Camp Casey down on Okinawa. They've only got wifi in the lobby, and it's 56K dial up speed at best.

    Wouldn't be so bad but now that I am a contractor I have higher standards! Next time I'm staying at the Marriott!

    I've lived through that nightmare, brother; it's the closest I've been to trench warfare. We lost a lot of good men in that lobby.

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    "Before service in Afghanistan Lauren Kay Johnson, a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, said she was a fun-loving woman who would organize potluck and karaoke nights for friends.

    But when she returned from her nine month-deployment in March 2010, the Seattle native struggled to get to grips with civilian life as the memories of war haunted her."

    http://www.dailymail...ional-toll.html

    Synopsis: PA officer deployed to Afghanistan for 9 month...apparently her only deployment of her career. Now she says she has a hard time coping with her experiences, which included limited Internet service, bad food, and the threat of possible attacks. She stated sometimes she can talk about it, but often she can't.

    As someone who's been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan for a total of more than 29 months (to include 12 months as an advisor) and been shot at, this comes across to me as a joke.

    I can sympathize with Lauren; I get PTSD every time I think about the spotty wifi coverage I've had at Yokota during my past TDYs. War is hell.

    • Upvote 3

    Badass of the Week

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    In 1969 during the height of the war in Vietnam, a sergeant in the Army warded off an untold number of Viet Cong with an automatic rifle and a tattered sniper rifle in order to protect his platoon and a major that was pinned under their downed helicopter. When the rescue birds came, Sergeant Eaton stayed with Major Perkins because he didn't want his brother-in-arms to die alone. As a direct result of Sergeant Eaton's badassery, both him and his major eventually made it out alive.

    While many view snipers as the hidden (safe) threats in war based on their forays in First Person Shooter video games and movies like Saving Private Ryan and Enemy at The Gates, the fact of the matter is that snipers like any other soldiers in war are very successible to danger – especially in the case of Sergeant Ed Eaton’s brave protection and rescue of comrade in arms Major Mike Perkins when he had fallen injured in a night assault during the Vietnam war 1969.

    Mike and Ed were part of a helicopter night mission when the Viet Cong shot down the chopper resulting in most of the men injured with near fatal wounds. Mike got the worst of it being pinned down under the helicopter and unable to get out. Now remember that at this time the men were still under attack and Ed Eaton in his own words said that he had the least amount of injuries and felt it necessary to protect his fellow soldiers.

    Climbing atop the wreckage and using a combination of his busted sniper rifle and a machine gun, Ed used the Sniper’s night sights to spot two separate groups of Viet Cong descending upon them at up to 500 meters. Ed traded shots with the groups without hesitation to consider how open he was to their return fire but it was enough to slow their descent upon his location. The use of the two guns made the enemy believe that Ed was more than one man and after he got a gist of the flaw in his sniper rifle, he adjusted to its aim and began taking guys out one at a time.

    When a pair of helicopters came through to rescue the men, Mike whose injuries were too much for the ride opted to stay and was given a grenade for suicide in case of capture. The choppers were about to leave when Ed asks to remain with his comrade because he did not want him dying alone out there with no hope for survival. The pair were left there on the battlefield with Ed holding off even more soldiers with limited ammunition as they descended upon him from their positions.

    Thinking himself left for dead, Ed told Mike that the last two bullets were for himself and the injured friend but was rescued before it came down to that decision..

    Link to the whole story: http://halloftheblac...incible-sniper/

    • Upvote 2

    A Toast in Remembrance of the Fallen...

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Royal

    As a tribute to Mr. Clancy, Charlie Rose played part of an interview he conducted with the author in 1996; it starts at about 46 minutes. Incidentally, the first part of the show is a discussion with Benjamin Netanyahu that's worth the watch.

    http://www.charliero.../watch/60275377

    Cheers to Mr. Clancy; a great man who was dedicated to his craft, his country, and our nation's military.

    Stop Loss Cometh

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Who was that Iraqi spin artist getting all the comical air time at the beginning of OIF saying that the Americans were being pushed back while there was simultaneous footage of the coalition advance in the same screen?

    GC reminds me of that guy.

    Baghdad Bob!

    Asiana 777 Crash at SFO

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Royal

    It was his first triple 7 landing at SFO, but he had thousands of 747 hours and had been to SFO previously. I wonder if the difference in view from the cockpit from the 747 to the 777 and maybe some negative transfer played a role. It will also be interesting to see if the training standards change. I talked to a lot of comm dudes whose first landing in the plane was with pax in the back.

    I'm very hesitant to levy an indictment against this guy, not knowing all the circumstances, but there's not much of an excuse for being both low AND slow. I haven't flown the 74, but I'm fairly certain their flight manual doesn't state that flying in the stick shaker on visual approaches is procedurally correct.

    WTF? (**NSFW**)

    in Squadron Bar

    Posted

    Tragic, but an understandable and reasonable reaction by the police.

    First, there was a 911 call of "a drunken man with a gun" by one of the neighbors.

    Secondly, when police arrived, the individual responded with actions that appeared to be his pointing a weapon at the officers. In response, the officers shot first.

    Police are trained to respond like that, it's called "action before reaction." He appeared to pose a threat and there is no legal requirement to issue a warning.

    I understand their grief, but unfortunately the man's death was caused by a series of his own stupid actions and bad luck.

    Put yourself in the police's position, how would you react?

    It's a difficult situation, man; and none of us were there. All we have is a bunch of hearsay because no cop in his right mind is going to indict himself. There are a lot of variables we aren't privy to.

    If I were this dude's brother, would I be upset that he was killed? Absolutely. If I were one of the police officer's kids, would I say they made the right move? Of course I would; because I would care more about my parent than I would care about some drunk guy.

    I'm well aware of the fact that cops are conditioned to protect themselves, and conditioning, by definition, is mutually exclusive to judgment. So I don't necessarily blame them for their reaction, but it's not like we're not talking about South Central here either; it was Long Beach.

    Realistically, my man, this whole situation has some pretty deep philosophical and political implications. I know where you're coming from, and I'm partially inclined to agree with you. The other half of me says that this is a litmus test that gives us a lot of information about where we're at in society these days. Either way, it sucks.

    • Upvote 1
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