There but for the Grace of God ...

Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm an der Leiche des Generals Abel Douay, Weißenburg am 4. August 1870
Anton von Werner
Source

There are a number of superb paintings with the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 as their subject. (You can see some of them at the source above.)

While reading about the war I came across the story of Général de Division Charles Abel Douay, who at the age of 61 was recalled to active duty from his post as president of the French military academy at Saint-Cyr and given command of a division under Maréchal Patrice de Mac-Mahon.

At the Battle of Wissembourg, the first battle of the war, Douay's division, some 6,000 men, holding positions in and around the town of Wissembourg was attacked by elements of the German 3rd Army, which consisted of two Prussian and one Bavarian corps, (25,000 men) the III Corps of that army being commanded by the Prussian Crown Prince, Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl, the son of the Prussian king (soon to be Kaiser) Wilhelm I. (Note, Wilhelm I had fought at Waterloo, 55 years earlier.)

The French fought bravely, their Chassepot rifles causing lots of German casualties, also their positions in and around the town gave them excellent positions from which to defend. However, the Germans, though their attacks were uncoordinated and somewhat sloppy, eventually used the weight of their superior numbers to drive the French from the town, street by street, in bitter house to house fighting.

The French cause was not helped by the death of Douay who was hit by shell fragments when a Prussian shell hit a nearby mitrailleuse¹ battery. The general's death not only demoralized his own troops but the French army in general. 

The painting depicts the Crown Prince of Prussia observing the body of his dead opponent sometime after the battle. A scene I found touching and immensely sad. Especially when you notice the presence of the small dog lying across the general's feet at the foot of his improvised bier.

It's worth noting that the artist, Anton von Werner was actually traveling with the staff of the III Corps during this battle. After action paintings are often glorified looks at otherwise horrific scenes. I wonder how accurate this painting is as to what the scene was actually like.

In truth, I don't care. It depicts well the sadness of loss, even as experienced by an opponent. The Crown Prince of Prussia succeeded his father, Wilhelm, as Kaiser (Friedrich III) for only a short while before dying from cancer, an illness he'd been diagnosed as having just before his father's death.

His son succeeded him, Wilhelm II. The man who fired Bismarck and plunged Germany into the First World War and all the horrors which followed. He doesn't bear sole blame but he does share that with other short-sighted European leaders.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

¹ A multi-barrel early machine gun. Effective but nearly as effective as the Gatling gun.

Proportionality

Source

When I saw this article, over at Zendo Deb's place, it got me to thinking.

Proportionality, to me at any rate, is a lawyer's exercise in determining what is "fair."

I don't know about you, but if someone comes at me, with the intent to do me bodily harm, I sure hope that I have an effective weapon at hand. Fair has nothing to do with it.

Source

Which pretty much summarizes my outlook on this sort of thing.

Don't want none, don't start none.

And of course, the ever popular FAFO¹.

Fair is for sporting events, not life and death situations.

'Nuff said.

¹ F**k Around and Find Out.

Deep in Contemplation ...

OAFS Photo

So what am I contemplating? Well, the beauty of nature, the pleasure of being with family, the warm sun on my face as I sit in the yard like an old cat, and sometimes I give a thought to what's going on in the world.

Though I don't look at current events here at The Chant, I do think about them. I don't write about them as far too often I get angry over the state of things. So it's a subject I avoid, like the plague.

Suffice to say, there are three groups of people in the United States, among the citizenry and a pox on the invaders: those who wish everyone would sit down, shut up, and take a deep breath, those who want their vision of this country (no matter how insane and unworkable that vision is), and those who try to make things work but are hampered at every turn.

And that's all I have to say about that.

For the most part, I am enjoying my time in Maryland, it's a pretty state even though it seems to have more than its fair share of idiots. Both politically and behind the wheel of an automobile. Then again, now that I think about it, the "Sarge Rule" of 75% of the world's population are incapable of independent, rational thought applies not just here, but everywhere.

As I once told someone, "Sure, most of the people on this planet aren't that bright, doesn't mean that they're not good people, just dumber than a box of rocks." Sometimes I fall into that 75% when I find myself pontificating on something I have no expertise in.

Hey, it happens.

Anyhoo, enjoy your day, methinks I will sit outside and enjoy Nature for a while. I mean, I've got the time now, don't I?

Where Is Sarge?

OAFS Photo

Well, right here, that's where I am.

Right here being Annapolis, in Maryland, visiting The Nuke and her tribe. In her new job she travels, a lot at times. The completion of the mulching and the cleaning of the pond at Chez Sarge coincided with her having to travel for most of two weeks. Tuesday through Thursday, then a second trip Monday through Friday. As Tuttle is also gainfully employed, it was thought that a visit from us would help with the grandkids.

As my birthday fell into that two week period as well, we headed south. The weather has been grand, a little rain here and there, but mostly sunny and not abysmally hot and humid as it can get around the Chesapeake Bay area. So we've got that going for us.

I'd mentioned before my departure that I didn't plan on blogging much, if at all. Juvat, being his usual useful self, stepped up and entertained y'all. That seems to have gone well, but as he's about to undergo a slew of medical stuff, I need to step back up.

So here we are.

Have I missed blogging? A little, but the extra free time has been appreciated. Am I going to continue my Franco-Prussian War tale? Yes, indeed I am. To that end I bought two books on the war and the one I've started reading has already given me some ideas of which directions that tale might take.

The two books are:

The Franco-Prussian War                                                                                        Bismarck's War

I've started with the book on the right as the author looks at the social backgrounds and culture of the participants, a different take on some histories of the war which has, so far, proven rather refreshing. The book by Michael Howard (a favorite historian of mine) I bought because I've read Mr. Howard's work before, he's a superb historian.

Anyhoo, in addition to reading I've been running errands with my daughter as her car is in the shop. While she's in town she's got things that need doing and I enjoy her company, so we use my vehicle.

I was in DC on Friday (my birthday) and it was a very lovely day. We went down the Potomac, across the river from the Jefferson Memorial, and it was grand. I'd never seen the Jefferson Memorial from that angle.

Drove by juvat's "favorite" place, the Pentagon and saw the Air Force Memorial up the hill from there. As much as many of you don't like DC, I do, so hold your water. Lots of history in the place, some good, some bad, but hey, that's what history is.

I'm enjoying the down time and will continue to do so for a while.

Y'all stay frosty now, ya hear?

Beautiful Bora Bora, anything but boring.

 

Source

Spent 5 days in Bora Bora French Polynesia with my bride last month.  Trip of a lifetime for sure.  Landed at that runway in the foreground of the photo below, built by the Seabees at the outset of our involvement in WWII.  My Grandfather rejoined the Navy immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor.  This was the day after his eldest son (14yo) was unsuccessfully strafed on Lanikai Beach near Kaneohe Bay where my mother's family lived.  She was born in Honolulu in Oct of that year.  I don't know for sure that my grandfather was part of that effort on BB, but it's quite likely as he was part of the Seabees and did help build runways across the Pacific.  This wasn't an attack base, but a logistics hub.  You can read more about its history here but here's the executive summary:

On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese Navy attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the United States entered the Second World War. The US Navy needed a refueling depot between Australia (the last bastion of resistance to the Japanese offensive), and the Panama canal. The strategic position of Bora Bora, the deep water bay at Faanui and the fact that it had only one easy to control pass, made it the ideal candidate. So in 1942, the Americans launched Operation Bobcat, and 3,500 US military personnel arrived in Bora Bora.   Source

Frederick Millett Photo Source

My grandfather's Seabee battalion.  He's in front of the door with the garrison cap.

Source

This photograph shows four Vought OS-2 Kingfishers of Scouting Squadron 2 (VS-2) on Bora Bora. A Quonset hut is visible behind the line of trees and camouflage netting. Bora Bora, whose conditions were primitive in the extreme, was one of the Navy’s first logistical lessons in early 1942. It would not be its last (NHHC, UA 460.08)

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Apparently these* are all over the island, but they require a rugged hike and my wife was wearing sandals on our one trip to that side.  

Stayed at the St. Regis resort.  The finest hotel in the finest location we've ever visited.  

Even the butter was high end.

The resort is as high end, shi-shi, and as gloriously pretentious as one could imagine- butler service, huge overwater bungalow, complimentary champagne, a concierge that will go to the ends of the earth for you, gourmet meals, golf-cart rides to dinner if desired, or just ride the bikes that each room has.  However, that all comes with a price.  Fortunately, past spending covered it with credit card points...lots and lots of credit card points.  If you want to see the resort, check out "Couples Retreat" which was a 2009 comedy filmed there.  It's on 24/7 at the resort.  Good cast full of funny people.  

I'm worried I've helped her grow accustomed to some indulgences that are not always reachable on my salary!  Just kidding, she's a grateful trooper.

Just after Sunset at the Bora Bora Yacht Club

                        Sunrise that day.  Had to get up early, but I was still on west coast time.

The pearl my wife dove for.

The pearl dive was fun, but a bit contrived.  The oysters are farmed elsewhere and put on the boat.  After the class about pearl farming, we all got on the boat to head out to the dive spot.  The tour guide then dives in, ties the strand of oysters to a line underwater.  Then each tourist dives in to bring up a strand.  Then each picks one oyster and hopes for the best**.  We head back to the beach for the big reveal.  My wife's pearl was the best of the day and is apparently worth far more than the price of admission..  We'll probably put it on a pendant.

Overwater Bungalows

Mt. Otemanu.  Ireland had every shade of green.  BB has every shade of blue.

Some delicious rum concoction. 

Some have dubbed it Bora Boring, but not for us. It really was the best week EVER! Snorkeled, jet skied, dove for pearls and oysters, rented a scooter and rode around the island, finished that day off with a happy hour sunset and dinner at the Bora Bora yacht Club. Swam with and pet both sharks & sting rays, saw a very friendly Napoleon fish in the "lagoonarium" at the resort and a turtle and sting ray from our dock. We paddle-boarded, relaxed at the pool, ate some delicious food, mainly seafood! Had some awesome and expensive cocktails, and had the trip of a lifetime.

It's beautiful and we'd love to go back, but the earth is very big and the locations to visit are probably too plentiful. If you can swing it (Costco has deals), I highly recommend it.

Now to start planning whatever comes next!

*Apparently not a single gun was fired in anger.

**If no pearl was found, they get to pick another oyster off the strand until one is found.

Double A's

 I'll be going into surgery a couple of days after this gets posted.  Doing some research now to better understand why I need the operation (Atrial Fib/Fluctuation this time, my wife says it Fib I think it’s Flux but what do I know? I was unconscious when they did the first one.) Anyhow, I have no idea what's going to happen or how long it'll take to recover.  Thought some of the readers might know more than I or be in a similar situation.

After my blackout accident,* I had an irregular heart beat in my heart's two atria (the upper chambers of the heart). According to the doctor, one was worse than the other (I think) as he's going to have to use two operations to treat them.  I went through the first operation right after I blacked out, ran off the road @75MPH and hit a rock.  Wife was OK, not great, just bruises.  I was in the hospital for a week or so.  I wasn't very coherent at the time.  

I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation (AFib), an irregular heart beat.  That operation required immediate surgery, so I'm betting that was the more serious one.  

 

 Other possible symptoms of AFib include congestive heart failure symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, or swelling. Loss of consciousness can also occur due to a lack of oxygen, and insufficient blood to the brain being pumped to the brain by the heart. (Which I'm pretty positive was the cause of me blacking out and the cause of the accident.). The abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) is sometimes only identified with the onset of a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). It is not uncommon for a person to first become aware of AFib from a routine physical examination or electrocardiogram, as it often does not cause symptoms. Source 

That was not the circumstances in my case. Just thought I'd mention that it can sneak up on you quite fast.  I doubt is was more than 5 minutes from when I first felt bad and when I blacked out. 

How is it treated?  Well, glad you asked. I'm going to be going through a process called Cardiac Ablation.

This is what the Mayo Clinic advises and my Doctor performed.  I'm not sure what the doctor did when he treated the upper left chamber, I was pretty much out of it when he explained it to me.  So, but found this description in the following paragraph on their website

Cardiac ablation often uses heat or cold energy to create tiny scars in the heart. Heart signals can't pass through the scars. So the treatment can block faulty heart signals that cause AFib. During cardiac ablation, a doctor places a flexible tube called a catheter through a blood vessel, usually in the groin. The doctor guides the tube to the heart. More than one catheter may be used. Sensors on the tip of the catheter apply the cold or heat energy. 

 

I talked about AFIB which if you look at the chart below, that  comparison, in bold type, tells what is the more dangerous of the two. I've been through that one. (Yes, unconcious) and am feeling better.  This next one is to treat Atrial Flutter or AFlu to the cognoscenti.  

AFIB VS AFLU

Symptom Atrial fibrillation Atrial flutter rapid pulse rate usually rapid usually rapid irregular pulse always irregular can be regular or irregular dizziness or fainting yes yes palpitations or feeling like the heart is racing or pounding yes yes shortness of breath yes yes weakness or fatigue yes yes chest pain or tightness yes yes increased chance of blood clots and stroke yes yes
This one, the Atrial Fluctuation (I think) surgery, as seen in the chart above,  involves sticking a catheter in my thigh and snaking it into my other atrium.  I guess that one was less damaged.  I'm not a doctor, nor have I played one on TV, but I've been told they'll zap that bad boy and that should take care of the problem. Please, Lord, guide their hands and let it be so.  In any case, peace out, y'all!  *For those of you that haven't read details of the accident that almost killed Mrs J and I, they can be found at that link.

 Source

 

 

Updated from 2015: “Lifeblood of the Navy”

 Ok, I tried to get back to an original  posting, unfortunately, I got nothin'. Drained me dry, Sarge did.  So...Another Repost. Hope he gets back soon.  His tales of daring do are highly entertaining.

About 11 years ago,  Old NFO had a tale of woe about the trials and tribulations involved in his move from the (ptui!) DC area to some as yet undisclosed location in God’s Country. (Those of you unlucky enough to not live here might refer to it as Texas.)  In that tale of woe, he mentioned that he had somehow misplaced his coffee pot.  

That harmless statement, as it always seems to, set off a flood of commentary.  One commenter went so far as to describe coffee as the “Lifeblood of the Navy”.  Included in the comments were the Top Secret procedures for making that Lifeblood.  (That should be good for an extra hit or two from the NSA.)

While most readers know that “back in the day”, I was in the Air Force as a Fighter Pilot, some may not have read these riveting posts on my first tour as a Joint Staff Officer.

One of the benefits of that job, other than, you know, being based at Camp Smith Hawaii, was spending time aboard the flagships of the USN’s 3^rd Fleet and 7^th Fleet, USS Coronado and USS Blue Ridge respectively. 

 

USS Coronado AGF-11 (decommissioned in 2006 and sunk in the Marianas during an exercise in 2012)
Public Domain

USS Blue Ridge LCC-19
Public Domain

 A small result of that time was getting to sample some of that “Lifeblood of the Navy”.

I also got to spend a good bit of time with 3 MEF on Okinawa. (I also spent time with I Corps at Ft Lewis WA, but that’s a different story).  All these deployments involved exercises in which contingency planning was the objective.  Coming up with an operations plan on short notice with a tight deadline necessitated some very long days.  Long days meant Coffee. 

I think I started drinking coffee in pilot training, but I was never more than a cup or two at a time person at that point.  Strapped in to an ejection seat and pulling G’s is not a fun thing with a full bladder, and the restroom facilities are sadly lacking in fighters.  (Never used a piddle pack! Not even on the Trans-Pacific drags.)

So….Where was I?  Oh, yeah.  Coffee and “Lifeblood of the Navy”.

So…There I was*

Camp Smedley Butler, Okinawa Japan.  Deployed to 3 MEF for a Joint Task Force training exercise.  The Joint Staff (in the Pentagon, believe me nothing good comes out of that building) has decided to test USCINCPAC’s ability to stand up a Joint Task Force, develop an Operations Plan and have forces ready to deploy on very short notice.  We get the Warning Order and, within 3 hours, my team is airborne on a C-141 bound for Okinawa. That's at least a 10 hour flight (more if it’s winter) and we couldn't afford to waste 10 hours of planning time.  This was back in the early 90s before airborne WiFi was commonplace.  We had a specially modified hatch panel that had a satellite antenna on it and so used that time to begin building the Plan, coordinating both with Camp Smith and Camp Butler.  Very exciting stuff at the time.  (Yeah, I know, it takes very little to get me excited nowadays.)

In any case (which, again, is Texan for “Anyhoo”), we arrive on Okinawa and continue to build the Operations Plan, sending drafts back through Camp Smith to the Pentagon.  We’ve been at it for about 36 hours and it’s me, another Lt Col (USMC) and a USMC Warrant Officer.  

My counterpart Lt Col referred to the Warrant Officer as “Gunner” with a high measure of respect in the tone of his voice.  I elected to follow his lead.  

We’re putting out the latest version of the Plan and it’s oh-dark-thirty.  The Gunner comes in and says he’s going to turn in and asks if we need anything before he does.  I ask him for a cup of coffee figuring he’d tell somebody to make a pot.  He walks off and shortly thereafter brings back a couple of cups. 

He’d made them himself. 

I didn’t sleep for at least 12 more hours. (At which point, the Joint Staff called EndEx as they couldn’t keep up with us.)

Navy Coffee was good, but I thought it was kinda weak thereafter.

We’ve had a Keurig in the house for a while, and my brew of choice was always Jet Fuel  for a couple of reasons, but the primary reason was it is as close to the Gunner’s coffee as packaged coffee could get.  Lately however, even that seemed to be getting weak and disappointing.

On our recent vacation, in the B & B we rented in Sydney, the kitchen came with a DeLonghi Espresso machine.  Now, I like Espresso, but I want my coffee in something other than shot glasses.  This machine had a setting that allowed you to make the Espresso as large as you wanted.  Suffice it to say, I was adequately caffeinated while in Sydney.

Coming back to the real world was tough, and the Keurig didn’t help.  However there was a posting on Instapundit about DeLonghi Machines being offered on Amazon at a special price.

 

Santa brought me one for Christmas!  Put whole coffee beans and water in the machine, push one button and Espresso comes out.  Life is good!

Unfortunately, the DeLongi met its maker at some point between then and now, which is a good thing. My Cardiologist has given me a strict order. One cup of caffeinated coffee per day, the decaf afterwards.  Took me a while to get over the shakes. Anyhow…some caffeine is better than none at all! ;-)

*SJC