A common thread about life at sea and flying from/working on an aircraft carrier is ‘hurry-up-and-wait;’ mostly because your time, your life is run by others. Whether it is Marshall trying to get everyone checked in for the last night recovery (only to wait until the ship finally turned into the wind) or stopping by…
` Join us for Midrats this Sunday, 22 July 2012 on blogtalk radio, where the topic is missiles – ballistic and cruise; and your humble scribe is the guest. Seven months into this year and we have seen much on this front. Pick a theater and you will find ballistic and cruise missiles are at…
As announced over at Soldier’s Angels: Calling All Angels… This is a big one! For seven years, Project Valour-IT has been supplying voice-controlled and other adaptive laptops to severely wounded heroes who need to stay connected while they recover, or who are building a new life as they transition out of the military. That’s over…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the…
* Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace The Bad Old Days Get out your white suit, your tap shoes and tails Let’s go backwards when forward fails And movie stars you thought were alone then Now are framed beside your bed Don’t throw the pa-ast away You might need it some rainy…
Franklin Roosevelt’s D-Day Prayer My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far. And so, in this…
In every battle there is a moment when the combatants, and the world, seem to catch their breath. It is a fleeting moment, lost in the blink of an eye. But in that same blink, everything changes. Such moments are borne of desperation, of courage, of plain dumb luck. But they are pivotal — for…
In carrying out the task assigned … you will be governed by the principle of calculated risk, which you shall interpret to mean the avoidance of exposure of our forces without good prospect on inflicting, as a result of such exposure, greater damage on the enemy. — Extract from CINCPAC Operational Order to TF 17…
Through the years (!) I’ve been writing this blog, a number of first person POVs have crossed the (virtual) desk – either sent directly to me or serendipitously. As a historian by avocation I find I much prefer the first person narrative because all the after action reports and analyses, while no doubt offering…
WEDNESDAY, 3 JUNE 1942 ALASKA: In an attempt to divert forces from the Midway area, a Japanese carrier-based bombers and fighters bomb and strafe Ft Mears and Dutch Harbor in several waves inflicting little damage but killing 52 US personnel. P-40s from Cold Bay trying to intercept them arrive 10 minutes after the last attack…
