tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post6592270785982550475..comments2024-03-28T08:07:03.254-07:00Comments on Chant du Départ: Not All Wounds Are PhysicalOldAFSargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-42672683228378090062020-10-13T18:28:08.463-07:002020-10-13T18:28:08.463-07:00Thanks Mark!Thanks Mark!OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-31151463225791093322020-10-13T18:27:45.231-07:002020-10-13T18:27:45.231-07:00True, I tend to mix active and passive voice. Not ...True, I tend to mix active and passive voice. Not sure why.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-19156878175480037032020-10-13T12:26:06.048-07:002020-10-13T12:26:06.048-07:00Waiting for the other 250 pages. I'd buy a har...Waiting for the other 250 pages. I'd buy a hard copy in a heartbeat. You have some mad skills.Mark Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18319472372623119418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-52531226864432706542020-10-13T12:21:35.192-07:002020-10-13T12:21:35.192-07:00didn't learn in boot camp. Active voice is bet...didn't learn in boot camp. Active voice is better.Mark Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18319472372623119418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-65913789077483439152020-09-23T05:04:46.800-07:002020-09-23T05:04:46.800-07:00That generation certainly came up in tougher times...That generation certainly came up in tougher times.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-26813631667038044132020-09-22T18:27:27.614-07:002020-09-22T18:27:27.614-07:00Hey AFSarge;
Your stories are written very r...Hey AFSarge;<br /><br /> Your stories are written very realistically and it shows the "truth", granted it is "Fiction" but it is "Historical Fiction" based on Facts. I have been reading a lot of WWII books since I was a kid and I have read and absorbed a lot of information and the stuff you have written has the "Ring of truth" for a fictional story if you know what I mean. It is well researched and it shows what I call the "Blemishes and warts" of what they call the "Greatest Generation". Not all of them were great, some of them were pretty bad people. I had commented that the Great depression forged a lot of people into steel, a soft people couldn't do what we as a society did, the soft people jumped off the building when they lost their savings, the hard ones soldiered on and made it through. I has done a lot of research into the "CCC", the Civilian Conservation Corp", such a thing would have only worked back then, where people were conditioned by sociatial norms not to take handouts, where "you work or you don't eat". Welfare was unheard of. A lot of young people got used to structure and living in barracks, and this helped them when they joined the service for WWII. It also taught them a trade and they send their extra pay home to their folks. I had blogged about it several years ago...Hope you don't mind my going off on a tangent. MrGarabaldihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05768774166065615995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-25211178913239716262020-09-21T16:10:50.868-07:002020-09-21T16:10:50.868-07:00Roger that.
Thanks for having my six MrG.Roger that.<br /><br />Thanks for having my six MrG.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-46032569605494311942020-09-21T15:22:17.354-07:002020-09-21T15:22:17.354-07:00When I went through Basic, they taught us how to t...When I went through Basic, they taught us how to take a rifle set it to "factory zero", then set it to "our zero" by each clicks and they wrote it down in our helmets. Even now I still remember that settings ...well it was for the M16A1 anyway. For me it was down 2 and over 2 and the rifle was set for "my Zero". To prove that point, they had us do that with several rifles in basic for Mechanical Zero. AFSarge was correct, they shoved people into the pipeline, especially in 1944, the casualties were mounting from both the ETO and the Pacific and they turned a blind eye to a lot of thing and some of the people that they sent to the line shouldn't have been sent, but they did in the name of wartime expediency. MrGarabaldihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05768774166065615995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-22552051400593176522020-09-21T10:15:10.077-07:002020-09-21T10:15:10.077-07:00William - In the Air Force the process of zeroing ...William - In the Air Force the process of zeroing is very rudimentary, you know which things to click to adjust your sights. Doesn't mean you're an expert in zeroing your weapon. Again, in World War II they needed bodies at the front so the process was somewhat hurried at times. Artistic license if you will. This isn't a textbook.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-23655576861474184272020-09-21T09:56:33.058-07:002020-09-21T09:56:33.058-07:00Tom - Not everyone in the book is a master gunner,...Tom - Not everyone in the book is a master gunner, they tend to misuse terms just like any civilian in unifrom might. So "zeroed" or "zeroed in" - I've heard both used.<br /><br />Don't care for any of Ken Burns' work.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-79627975949924386232020-09-21T09:51:33.263-07:002020-09-21T09:51:33.263-07:00When you need bodies in uniform carrying rifles, y...When you need bodies in uniform carrying rifles, you move the pipeline along. It ain't right, but in wartime shit happens.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-49871636800328084602020-09-21T05:42:04.160-07:002020-09-21T05:42:04.160-07:00If your weapon is not zeroed, then you are forced ...If your weapon is not zeroed, then you are forced to use Kentucky Windage to hit anything. That's not a skill that you acquire with a few hundred rounds of shooting experience- but with a few thousand. Maybe. It is criminal to send men into combat not knowing how to zero their weapon.bmgman@swbell.nethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04770293840128481075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-73441269687335899042020-09-21T00:06:38.967-07:002020-09-21T00:06:38.967-07:00I remember from the time it was on the air that on...I remember from the time it was on the air that one was a Japanese-American from Sacramento and stuck in Japan (for school?) when Pearl Harbor came. He was on the Yamato when it sank carrying 1000s of others. <br /><br />That bugged me to - the neutral tone Burns used. Tell that to the residents of Shanghai, Nanking, Manila...<br /><br />A good friend of mine is from Hong Kong - and his wife originally from Shanghai. They had to leave in a hurry because her father, a factory owner, was targeted by Mao. Settled in Uruguay. Her mother was from Shanghai and in her last months hallucinated about her time there under Japanese occupation, when babies were bayoneted and Chinese were killed for the sport of it. <br /><br />Sarge - the part where the weapons hadn't been zeroed in in Basic - you have to zero them if you have a hope of hitting anything. We did at Ft Ord. Don't know if they neglected that in Basic in 1944 to get them out, but if they did, it was a huge disservice to those recruits making their deaths more likely for not being able to hit things accurately. <br />Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05720206407574457665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-57172258703783025232020-09-20T21:30:03.875-07:002020-09-20T21:30:03.875-07:00Been watching the Ken Burns series, The War, on PB...Been watching the Ken Burns series, The War, on PBS. While it has a decidedly "everyone in the war were horrible, including us" tone, it's doing a decent job in a number of areas. Focus is on men and women in four towns - Sacramento (CA), Mobile (AL), Waterbury (CT), and Luverne (MN) both in the war and at home. I sear some of the pics you are showing are stills from some of the films used in the show. Also, lots of good pics of German and American armor in the show.<br /><br />Nitpicky comment - I've always said and heard that rifles are just 'zeroed', not 'zeroed in'. The latter just sounds funny to me, having zeroed a fair number of firearms in my time.Tom in NChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03576958446243001152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-56581344908934526202020-09-20T18:23:20.102-07:002020-09-20T18:23:20.102-07:00Consensus.Consensus.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-71326263256227540822020-09-20T17:16:07.387-07:002020-09-20T17:16:07.387-07:00My Dad, too, and he was ArmyMy Dad, too, and he was ArmyBorepatchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05029434172945099693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-42866489126087771272020-09-20T13:54:26.805-07:002020-09-20T13:54:26.805-07:00Thank you, that means a lot.Thank you, that means a lot.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-32085646450064250302020-09-20T13:51:50.569-07:002020-09-20T13:51:50.569-07:00Sarge, I have to tell you your writing has rekindl...Sarge, I have to tell you your writing has rekindled my interest in WW II. Thanks.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-3325454467589473192020-09-20T11:29:48.560-07:002020-09-20T11:29:48.560-07:00Goodbye Mickey Mouse is a superb novel, Len Deight...<i>Goodbye Mickey Mouse</i> is a superb novel, Len Deighton is one of my favorite writers.<br /><br />You can still get a copy in paperback over at Amazon.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-57776125106612225172020-09-20T11:27:53.040-07:002020-09-20T11:27:53.040-07:00Well my hair was brown when I was younger, I'v...Well my hair was brown when I was younger, I've been to exotic places...<br /><br />But yeah, I get that, my eyes ain't what they used to be.<br /><br />Even commenting is a crap shoot with this new interface...<br /><br />Oh, and thanks.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-30977022191159153582020-09-20T11:25:29.370-07:002020-09-20T11:25:29.370-07:00Third Herd as they were also known.Third Herd as they were also known.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-1805223444532900512020-09-20T10:47:01.045-07:002020-09-20T10:47:01.045-07:00That’s funny I was just talking with an old Intern...That’s funny I was just talking with an old Internet acquaintance, a retired Air Force colonel who was the chief test pilot of the B1B<br /><br /> He was mentioning that he had an Air Force friend of many years and it wasn’t for some years before his friend confided that he was a POW in Stalag Luft 3. <br /><br />His friend told him that after the real “ great Escape“, the SS came in to supervise the prisons displacing in the Air Force<br /><br />He said it went from tough to real tough. <br /><br />It wasn’t for some years that he talked about this. <br /><br />Years ago I read a book called goodbye Mickey Mouse. It’s out of print but the author spend a great deal of time talking about the mental scars of being in the eighth Air Force<br /><br />And how many suicides and self-inflicted wounds they were back in England just to avoid going on one more mission<br /><br />Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05720206407574457665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-72813602040158458982020-09-20T10:07:20.882-07:002020-09-20T10:07:20.882-07:00I've had to type this 4 times now...sigh. Anot...I've had to type this 4 times now...sigh. Another fine episode. Those of who were NCO's wonder how we'd react to losing men, from time to time. Reading this was one of those times, dusty/smokey in here. "I wouldn't venture out there fellas. This{writer's} got talent." (Stolen modified movie quote)<br />Weird observation... For several years these tired eyes have seen your profile pic as a exotic brunette in profile, wearing a grey officers cover with a gold embossed red band. Always wondered about the story behind that. Now, in the last year or so when you comment on some other blogs the pic is bigger. I now see it's you standing in front of a unique airplane. Still can't unsee the brunette in the small pic. Like I said, weird. (now don't hit preview or click anywhere else than publish)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-68391222810906904682020-09-20T09:53:56.540-07:002020-09-20T09:53:56.540-07:00Dad was with the 3rd armored.Dad was with the 3rd armored.Skiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05684179171065794525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-87846387114272844282020-09-20T09:43:00.075-07:002020-09-20T09:43:00.075-07:00Aachen, the Hürtgen, the Ardennes, there will be a...Aachen, the Hürtgen, the Ardennes, there will be a lot on the guys' plates this fall.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.com