Spoiled Brats, We Are Governed by Spoiled Brats

(Source)

A sit-in on the House floor...

Several dozen U.S. House Democrats pushing for action on gun control protested on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, chanting "no bill, no break!" and demanding that the chamber put off an upcoming recess until legislation is debated. (Source)

When you don't have a majority in the House apparently this is how you get action if you're a Democrat. You throw a temper tantrum. You sit down on the House floor until your "demands" are met. And Shrillary has stated that she approves, this, in her fetid swamp of a brain, is what "leadership" looks like. Shows me that she is definitely not qualified for the office she is seeking.

When will we, the American people, remind those idiotic, petulant, entitled morons in Washington D.C. that they are most emphatically not our leaders. They are our representatives, they work  for us.

Meanwhile Breitbart has reported that "White House press secretary Josh Earnest intimated Tuesday that Republicans are cowards for opposing Monday’s gun control proposals." (Source)

So essentially, progressive elements in the United States government, in both the Executive and Legislative branches are upset that Republicans want to (finally) uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Rather than try to find ways to defeat Islamic terrorism, they wish to disarm the American people. Is that what they seek? It sure appears that way to me.

Here's something the progressives in the White House and on the floor (literally) of the House should make themselves familiar with first, the oaths they swore upon entering office -

“The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” — U.S. Constitution, Article VI, clause 3

The oath noted in Article VI of the Constitution is defined in U.S. law as follows -

Title 5 U.S. Code § 3331 - Oath of office (Source)

An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath: “I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” This section does not affect other oaths required by law.

The oath sworn by the President of the United States is explicitly spelled out in the Constitution in Article II II, Section One, Clause 8 (Source) -

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Once they have familiarized themselves with what they swore to do, they should read this section of U.S. law -

Title 18 U.S. Code § 2381 - Treason (Source)

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

By seeking to disarm the American people, I would argue that these fools in government are providing aid and comfort to the enemies of this country. One of whom just slaughtered 49 innocent civilians and injured 53 more in the fair city of Orlando. Before you argue that the asswipe who perpetrated that atrocity was an American citizen, reread the part of the oath which states "all enemies, foreign and domestic."

I'm sure our enemies overseas are rooting for those nitwits on the House floor. As for me, I would charge them with treason. I do believe a case could be made for that.

(Source)

Ouch

(Source)

There may or may not be another post today.

Tuesday afternoon was a trip to the dentist to get a wisdom tooth removed. (I have a story about my wisdom teeth, I nearly went to war with the dental clinic at Lowry AFB in Denver back in '82-'83 time frame, I'll regale you with that tale someday. POCIR.)

In the meantime, a different tooth which I had had a root canal done on some time ago (shortly after the last woolly mammoth had perished) decided last year that a crack down in that defunct root would be just the thing. Doc said, "If that starts to bother you, it'll have to  come out..."

Yes. It has started to bother me. So I figured, since the oral surgeon is going to be rooting around in there anyway...

Yeah.

Ouch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update:

Okay, so apparently I am actually a giant wuss. I am providing this update to a yet to be published post after extraction of a single wisdom tooth. The anesthetic has yet to wear off and The Missus Herself is off to the pharmacy to get me some pharmaceuticals which are advertised as somewhat heavy duty pain killers.

I sit here typing, trying not to drool blood all over my shirt front even though I have what feels like a giant wad of gauze in my mouth. It's not that big, it just feels like it. No doubt that's the anesthetic. I feel it my duty to keep you, Our Loyal Readers, informed and up to date as to the state of my oral health. Or something.

As I sit here, I can feel the pain starting to make itself noticed. It's not quite there yet, just over the horizon so to speak. I breathlessly await the cavalry who must be, I hope, bearing pain killers.

Actually the Doc was quite good. Hardly felt a thing when he was pulling the tooth, not even pressure, just minor electrical impulses as though the nerve was saying, "Hey! Hey, brain! HEY BRAIN THERE'S SOME METAL THING HERE RIPPING A TOOTH OUT OF OUR JAW!!! Ain't you gonna scream or something?"

"Hello? Earth to brain! Hello?"

Okay, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. And it was just the one tooth, Doc said to hold off on the other one as it wasn't that bad. Truth be told, the niggling little twinge I felt when brushing my teeth pre-extraction wasn't as bad as the "Oh my God, what was that, did that hurt or what?" I felt last night.

We shall see, we shall see.

I confess, I am a total wimp when it comes to dentistry. Sad innit?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Second Update:

Gauze is out and I am sans gory drool.

However, it feels like a horse kicked me in the side of my face.

I can't imagine what this would feel like without the pain killers.

Yup, complete and total dental sissy.

Sigh...

Hear No Truth...

The three wise monkeys over the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan. (Source)

We've all heard the saying, "Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil."* It seems to me that as of late the "mainstream" media's motto seems to be "Hear no truth, speak no truth, see no truth." I have taken everything said, proclaimed, and/or written by the media since the Tet Offensive of 1968 with a grain of salt. It's hard to lend any credence to what they have to tell us when they increasingly slant the "news" to sell us on a certain agenda.

Now I'm not casting stones at one side or the other, I mean if we're truly honest with ourselves, all sides (wavelengths?) of the political spectrum do it. I mean in reality they're all in the business of selling something. And guess what? We, that is you and me, Joe or Jill Average American, are not the customers.

As I had it explained to me by a colleague who used to work for a sailing magazine (big business here in Little Rhody if you must know) the folks who bought the magazine and (presumably) read it were not the customers of the magazine. At least that's how the magazine folks viewed it. They were not making money by selling magazines for a few bucks a copy. Dear me no, they'd go out of business before the first issue hit the streets if their only source of revenue was the price of the magazine.

The customer (remember, from the magazine staff's point of view) were the advertisers. Those folks paid big bucks to have their glossy ads littered throughout the magazine, forcing us to go all the way back to page 87 to finish a story. Or wade through 50 pages of advertisements in a desperate attempt to find the table of contents, or a photo, or an article which wasn't actually an ad!

'Tis the same for the media these days, print, video, what-have-you. The customers are the advertisers, not thee and me. No Sir, No Ma'am. We don't have the kind of big money necessary to sustain these massive broadcast companies. Advertisers do.

Once upon a time the news departments of the networks were not considered to be part of the money making apparatus of the networks. Now they are, they need to bring in revenue just as much as prime time programming must make money.

We also live in the world of the 24-hour news cycle. So that 24 hours must be filled with stuff people want to watch. These days it isn't enough to be told that an airliner crashed in the ocean and all on board are feared lost. Nope.

Now we are treated to 'round the clock coverage of the event. The talking heads must discuss, dissect, and carefully reveal what little they know. If we sit there and watch it, they'll keep the story going regardless of the lack of new facts coming in.

Remember Malaysia Airlines flight MH370? That pretty much filled every moment of CNN's programming for days on end. Why? Well, people kept watching it. Do you think for a moment CNN would have kept at it if people stopped watching? Nope, they would have moved on to other stories and only updated the airline story as new facts came in. Like things used to be.

What sparked this rant? I'm detecting a concerted attempt on the part of the media to completely discredit the presumptive Republican candidate for President. I mean the Washington Post has over 20 reporters investigating the man. While ignoring his presumptive opponent in the November election. Polls are produced indicating that the man is falling behind the woman, with little of substance to indicate why.

Now I'm no Trump guy, not really. But this whole business smacks of fraud to me. Something is rotten and it ain't in Denmark, it's right here in these United States.

I've seen this before. If the media desires a certain outcome, then they will do everything in their power to make that happen. They aren't really accountable to anyone but their customer, who ain't us. As always, follow the money and ask cui bono, who benefits? It's not the American people.

In the days, weeks, and months ahead...

Don't believe everything you read or hear.

It's not lies, exactly.

But it's probably not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...





* A very interesting story behind the origin of the phrase "Hear no evil" etc., can be found here. Well, I thought it was interesting, as always YMMV.

Sabres!

Have you ever thought of life as a Venn Diagram?  The various circles representing interests, activities, people, places, thoughts, comments and even Blog Posts?  So, I've got all these circles in my mind's picture of my life and as I ponder them and what they mean and what the intersections mean.  I wonder whether I might be able to scrape together a blog post out of them.  So, here I sit, it's Sunday, and it's Father's Day.  Mrs Juvat and I are fixin' to go on Vacay next week.  (I know Sarge,  "about to go on vacation", )  We're going to hit Wisconsin for a little familial business and pay respects to Mrs Juvat's Uncle who passed away back in May.  Seems he'd been an Airman and served a tour in the Post-Korea Pre-Vietnam Air Force.  Served a tour in Morocco, nothing heroic, but he'd done his duty.  Came home to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and taught history until retirement.  So, I made him a box to contain the Flag that covered his casket.  

Still got a few more coats of finish to apply, so there's a plastic coating over the front.
 Peruvian Curly Walnut

Once that's been completed, we'll take a little hike over to Dayton and see what there is to see at Wright Pat.  Heard there's some kind of museum there or something.  We'll see.  And, oh by the way, Little Juvat has loaned my HIS camera for the adventure.  Now if I can just figure out how it works!

But, see, that museum thing is one of the Venn Diagram circles in my life.  So, I've been reading the last few posts over at Lagniappe's Lair.  Murph decided to stop in at the Eglin Air museum, which, up until that time, I never knew existed.  Of course, I've never been one to shy away from looking at pictures of airplanes.  He had a great post on the Thud, which prompted a echoing post from here.  Most comments I've ever had on a post, which was gratifying...Thanks!

Murph then followed up with one on pre-Century birds.  I'll confess, it took me a moment to figure out what he was referring to in the title.  I mean, even the Raptor was built in the 20th century.  But, astute as I am, I was able to ascertain he was talking about the lineage of the aircraft and the fact that they were all pre-century series jets.  Among them was the, always popular, F-86.  

Now, the F-86 has always been a favorite of mine.  During my first tour in Korea, and even on my first post-Kunsan Korean TDY, the ROKAF was still flying F-86s.  

Source

Since, at the time, virtually the whole of South Korean Airspace (less the area around the DMZ and over Seoul) was virtually free fly, impromptu engagements were frequently happening.  Sharpens the visual lookout, you see.  

The first time I got jumped by an F-86, my WSO saw him and called the break.  When I looked back over my shoulder and saw him,  I'll confess I wasn't exactly sure if it was a Sabre or a Mig-17.  That thought, coupled with the NK saber rattling after the assassination of the South Korean President, got the adrenalin flowing.  Break Left, force his nose into lag.  Burners, unload and extend, through the Mach and leave him in the dust.  Later, in the bar, I feel a tap on my shoulder, and a ROKAF Major is standing there.  "If you'd have waited about 2 more seconds, LT, I'd have made you a movie star!"  "Yes, well....I'm having a little Johnny Walker on the rocks, would you like one, Sir?" "Indeed!"  And a friendship was started.

But that was only one of the F-86 Sabre Venn Circles.  As I said, I'm writing this on Father's day.  One of my favorite pictures of my Dad, who passed away in 2008, is this one.

As Mom told me, this was taken at Hamilton AFB.  That would have meant, at best, I was less than a year old.  I was born at Hamilton, but celebrated my first birthday at Naha AB Okinawa. 

 I was reading Sarge's post about his father, and looked at the two pictures of him in uniform and thought two things.  Sarge looks like him, and "My was he young back then".  Then my eyes went to Dad's picture.  "My was he young back then."  

Oh, by the way, he's in the cockpit of an F-86 Sabre.

His squadron had an aerobatics flight. 

(This was before the Thunderbirds became THE show squadron...in the AF).  Dad flew the slot.  

Date on the photo is December 1953.  18 months before I was born, however I wonder if that Venn Circle and this one overlap?

Was I fated to fly a four ship of Eagles over the top?  

Earlier this month,Sarge posted about marching (yes, in the Air Force!)  Reading that post, brought another Venn Circle into the convergence.  Growing up, I'd always wanted to be a fighter pilot, even to the lengths of studying the effects of physics on a body in motion.  But when I got to college, I got a bit of cold feet.  The POWs had just gotten home in January, and the war protesters were still a PITA even at the redneck school I was attending.  

I was hesitant.

Fortunately, the ROTC Detachment had a program where you could "try" ROTC without the commitment and without the uniform.  You took the class and worked the leadership lab, but weren't committed.  You hadn't taken the "Queens Shilling".

Not surprisingly, I found I liked it (of course, my Father having laid down the law and said I had to find a scholarship of one form or another as the paternal gravy train was coming to an end in May might have encouraged me).  But now I've got to figure out a way to make up for past mistakes. I was a semester behind the my classmates who had gone whole hog in the fall.

I talked it over with my instructor, an ancient Captain of about 30 who'd flown F-4s in Vietnam and been grounded due to injuries in an accident.  He agreed that I had some ground to make up, but that it could be done.  The key would be the things I did over and above what the Corps and the College required.  He recommended I join the Drill team, Saber Flight.  So, I did.  I mean, how hard can it be, walk around in circles and so on?

 Well, I showed up for practice the first night, wanting to get off on the right foot.  Which I did...Literally!  Which was bad...

 Huh?  What do you mean I'm out of step?

 Pushups?  Why?  Nevermind, One! Two! Three!...

 After a while, I actually got pretty good at it and was entrusted with the team's weapon of choice, a Saber!

 Now, I was pretty cool!  I had a Saber!  The chicks must dig that, right?   Eh, not so much.

 It was fun, and we practiced a lot with them.  I learned the hard way why it's important when presenting arms with the Saber, the blade comes up from the left to the vertical position.  We're practicing in formation at attention.  The squad leader bellows "Preeee....Sent. ARMS!"  and 15 Sabers flash from the left to the vertical.  One, directly behind me, flashes up straight ahead to the vertical.  I hear a ripping sound, feel a cold rush of air on my back and out of the corner of my eye see my shirt unfold around my front.

 Well, at least it's not me counting and trying to push away the ground.

 It's now about March and we're at an evening practice.  It's pretty chilly, and we're practicing the razzle dazzle with the Sabers.  This maneuver involved twirling it and then throwing it in the air.  The trick was to catch it flat bladed in your hand.  (Yes, while the point was very sharp, the edge was actually quite dull.)  Suffice it to say, we have dispersed a bit while practicing this action.  In any case, one of our intrepid performers throws his weapon into the air and as it comes back down and hits his hand, his hand is sufficiently cold that there is a delay between when the weapon hits and when the hand signals the brain that the weapon has arrived.  That causes the brain to delay the close hand command until after the handle part of the weapon and the tip of the weapon have bent around the hand, and then straightened out again, launching the Saber into a wobbly flight away from the hand.  

All are looking in horror as the wobbling Saber reaches apogee and begins its descent towards an unsuspecting cadet whose back is turned.  Said cadet is busy twirling his Saber as the incoming Saber sticks in the ground between his shoulder width spread legs with the handle softly tapping him on the inside of his thighs.  Our relief descends into hysteria as wide eyed he turns around to see what had happened.  

The squad leader wisely decided practice was over.

Late spring, we went to our first competition at Ft Bliss.  We were the only non-Army team there, and we were the only team that wasn't marching with Rifles.  Part of the competition involved the inspection prior to marching.  You know, where the inspecting officer (NCO in this case), grabs the rifle spins it around, checks it for all sorts of stuff while asking pertinent questions about the weapon?  Well, we had Sabers.  Our front right guy was a 6'6" farm boy from West Texas.  250Lbs and not an ounce of fat.  Great guy, eventually received a DFC for rescuing some crewmen off a foundering freighter in a typhoon. (I tried to find the details of that, but couldn't.  Thought it was in AF Magazine in the late 80s).  Anyhow a great guy.  The NCO walks up and takes his Saber.  "Cadet, what's the effective range of your weapon?" "About 6' Sergeant!"  "What's the max range of your weapon, Cadet?"  "As far as I can throw it, Sergeant!"  

The crowd goes wild!  The Sergeant is seized with a sneezing fit as he spins around quickly and can be seen with his shoulder's quivering.

The Sergeant returns the weapon, and steps to the next cadet.  "Cadet, what is the effective range of your weapon?"  Being a quick study, I replied "About 6' Sergeant!"  No further questions were asked.

We didn't win the competition, but we didn't come in last either.  For our first competition, we were happy with the results.

But, all the members of the team who weren't already on scholarship were awarded them in May, so it was worth it.  And it all revolved around Sabres (Sabers?)

By the By, Saber Flight is still in operation at AFROTC Det 820, Texas Tech University, although it appears they no longer drill solely with Sabers.

Source

It's interesting how life's little events seem to be interrelated, or maybe the universe is collapsing instead of expanding.  Who knows?

Father's Day

Dad

Today would have been the 64th time that my Father got to celebrate Father's Day. Unfortunately, 2009 was the last time we actually got to celebrate it together. Dad passed away on the last day of February, 2010. Seems like a long time ago.

Seems like yesterday.

I learned a lot about being a Dad, from my Dad. I'm sure he learned a lot about it from his Dad, my grandfather.

Gramp in his army days, right around WWI.

Truth be told, we learn both what to do as a dad and what not to do as a dad from our fathers and their fathers. For better or worse, we all make mistakes as fathers. After all, we're human. If we learn from our mistakes, then we grow. If we don't, well hopefully the kids will cut us some slack. My did and still do. As necessary.

I spent a lot of Father's Days away from my Dad. At least 24 of them, what with being stationed at the far flung outposts of democracy. Visits back to the old homestead didn't always coincide with Father's Day. The closest we ever got was 1982. I returned from Korea a few days after the holiday. Of course, Dad didn't mind too much, he got to see his grandson again.

Being a father is a heavy responsibility, but it is nowhere near as hard as being a mom. I think that's why Father's Day seems, quite rightly, to take a back seat to Mother's Day. I have no problems with that. Seems right and proper to me. (And no, The Missus Herself didn't make me say that.)

Being a father is easy though if you have great kids, which I think I do. What's really awesome about being a Dad though, is that if you don't screw it up, you get to be a grandfather some day.

And being a grandfather is the best gift any dad could ask for.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Especially to my "co-grandfathers" Bob and Bill. To my sons Alex and Chris. And to my brother Rob.

If your dad is still around, cherish him. If he's not still around, honor his memory.

I do.

Happy Father's Day Dad.

Happy Father's Day Gramp.

Miss you guys.

A lot.

CVN-76

PHILIPPINE SEA (March 17, 2007) - USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) steams alongside Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) ships JS Hamagiri (DD-155), JS Myoko (DDG 175), JS Haruna (DDH 141) and JS Yuugiri (DD 153) in preparation for a fueling at sea (FAS) evolution. Ronald Reagan Strike Group conducted a passing exercise (PASSEX) with the JMSDF as part of a deployment to support operations in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Spike Call (RELEASED)

The WSO used to be in Reagan's Air Wing, as did some friends of mine. I've been to sea on this ship, she's a beauty. Here's an older film clip from when she visited Vancouver a few years back. Very interesting.

Waterloo - Le 18ème Juin 1815

The Battle of Waterloo by Jan Willem Pieneman* (Source)

Those of you who have been reading The Chant for at least a year know that I always do a Waterloo post. I have done so since the year we started doing the blog in 2012. Last year (it being the bicentennial of the battle) there were four posts, one for each critical day in the Waterloo campaign. Being the 15th through the 18th of June, inclusive. You can read those here, here, here, and here. I rather enjoyed doing those and reread them myself the other day. (If you're interested in the other old Waterloo posts, they are here, here, here, and here. The last two have lots of nice artwork. Well, they all do, but...)

Having read even more about the battle since then, I spotted a few historical anomalies in those posts. I won't say "mistakes" (not out of vanity mind you) because the things I spotted which may be in error may not be. Two hundred years after such a momentous event and not every story has been told about that battle. Not every "fact" about the affair is generally agreed upon in the historical community, for as the great Duke himself wrote -

The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the battle won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance. - Letter to John Croker (8 August 1815) from Sir Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington.

I wasn't sure what to post about this famous battle this year, it seemed as if I had already covered just about everything in the past. But it's not an anniversary I have ever let pass without thinking of that event so long ago. It seems I have been reading about Waterloo since, well, since I learned to read.

This year I purchased a new book on Waterloo which had been recommended to me by my friend Geoff in the U.K. He said it was excellent and he really stressed just how good it was, so I did the research and sallied forth onto amazon.com and bought it. I am just now finishing it up and have to say this, Geoff wasn't lying as to how good this book is. If anything he undersold it! (Perhaps it's that classic British knack for understatement at work?) Here's the book...

Worth every ducat it is.

The story is primarily from the soldier's point of view, the privates, sergeants, and junior officers. The occasional colonel wanders in, but this isn't a book about what the generals saw. It's the gritty, nasty business of 19th century warfare down on the ground, in the mud if you will, for the battle was fought on rain-sodden fields. Very muddy it was.

Another superb book on the battle, at a somewhat higher level is this one...

(Source)

Mr. Barbero has written a superb account of Waterloo and I would say this book is essential to really understanding the battle. I am somewhat miffed at the moment because my copy of the book is currently "missing in action." Can't seem to find it anywhere. No small chore as I have a lot of books.

Which The Missus Herself is always chiding me about. "What? Another book? We're going to have to add an addition onto the house to store all of your books! And you're buying more?!?!"

Here are a few (maybe a fifth, perhaps a third?) of the books I have on the Napoleonic era...

That book in the upper right of the photo, Swords Around A Throne by Col. John R. Elting is perhaps the best single volume history of Napoléon's army which I have ever read. It covers the troops, what sort of people they were, how they were trained, their equipment and the tactics they used.

Their enemies are also discussed and the attitudes of the French towards their enemies. Their are any number of amusing anecdotes as well. To include the many odd nicknames Napoléon's men referred to him by. (Le Tondu, "the shorn one" is a favorite. The Emperor's Guard tended to have long hair tied back in a queue. As the Emperor wore his hair short...)

The book by Bernard Cornwell (one of my absolute favorite authors) Waterloo, The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles, is, to me, another must have to really understand the Battle of Waterloo. Mr. Cornwell is a brilliant storyteller, his descriptions of battle are unequaled.

If you're wondering, the answer is "No, one cannot have too many books about Waterloo." Maybe it's just me. When I was a kid a teacher asked me why I read so much about Waterloo, what was the point? My answer was that my goal was to know everything about the battle, even down to having a list of every single person who fought and died there.

She said that I would need a lot more time, and a lot more written material. Oh, and good luck with that.

Note above that I said "every single person" and not "man." That was intentional. Two stories of Waterloo have always resonated deeply with me. One, mentioned again in Barney White-Spunner's masterpiece Of Living Valour, is the dead tortoiseshell kitten seen on the field, remarked upon by more than one soldier. That kitten joined thousands of her animal brethren lying dead upon that field. Upwards of 10,000 horses died at Waterloo. The other involves a dead woman, said (of course) to be quite beautiful. The one woman, who has been mentioned in a few sources, but not in Of Living Valour, apparently died in action wearing the uniform of the Dragoons of the Imperial Guard** (one source says she wore a colonel's uniform!)

An estimated 55,000 men (and one woman) were killed or wounded at Waterloo. It was a bloody, decisive affair. One prays we don't see its like ever again.

Though I think we might...

The book on the bottom row, second from the right, The Battle of Waterloo, is the book which started it all. It is the very first book I ever read on the battle. Some years ago I managed to acquire an old, dog-eared copy. I probably paid too much for it, but I cherish that book. It is in no way the best book on Waterloo. But it was my first.

You never forget your first.

Dedicated to those who fought in the Waterloo Campaign of 1815: be they English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Dutch, Belgian, Hanoverian, Brunswickers, Nassauers, Germans, Prussians, Swiss, or French. And (at least) one Spaniard.

You fought hard, you fought well. We remember, we salute you across the centuries. May you rest in peace...

The Battle of Waterloo by Clément-Auguste Andrieux (Source)

* Because it's such an interesting painting, here's all the key figures in it - The Battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815. View of the battle field on the moment that the British commander Wellington receives the message that help from Prussian troops is underway. Bottom left the wounded Prince of Orange is being carried away. The commanders and other officers are depicted in the center on horseback. Bottom right a number of wounded and dead soldiers. In the background the battle is raging. The people portrayed include Lord Uxbridge, Sir Rowland Hill, Staff Colonel Sir William Delancey, Major-General George Cooke, Colonel Harvey, Colonel Campbell, lieutenant-general Don Miquel de Alava, lieutenant-colonel F.C. Ponsonby, Major William Thornhill, Jean Victor, baron De Constant de Rebeque, Colonel Sir John Elley, lieutenant-colonel Aberson, General-major A.K.J.G. d'Aubremé, Captain Aberson, Captain H. Roepel, Colonel H. Detmers, Major J.L.D. van der Smissen, Lieutenant-colonel A. van Thielen, Lieutenant-colonel Jhr. W.F. Boreel, Lieutenant-general D.H. Baron Chassé, Colonel Sir G.A. Wood, General Major J.B. Baon van Merlen, Lieutenant-general Ch. von Alten, Major General Sir Colin Halkett, Lieutenant-Colonel William George Harris, Captain C. Nepveu, Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, H.D. Graaf De Cruquenbourg, N.C. Ampt, General-Major Jhr. A.D. Trip, John William Fremantle, General-Major Graaf van Rheede, Major-General Lord Edward Somerset, Charles Gordon Lennox, Lord March, Colonel Dennis Pack, Major P.S.R. van Hooff, Major-general John Ormsby Vandeleur, Major Georg, Freiherr Baring, Colonel C. Von Ompteda, Colonel L.J.H.F. De Caylar and Général de Division Cambronne, Maréchal de Camp. The painting was done by Jan Willem Pieneman (1824) and is now on display at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

** Also known as Les Dragons de l'Impératrice (The Empress' Dragoons), in honor of Empress Joséphine,