Lots going on right now – between events in North Asia, a one family attempt to stimulate the local construction economy and completing the first round of writing/editing for the BMD chapter for the book project there hasn’t been a lot of time to post. Still, there are a couple of irons in the fire,…
Background: In the course of writing for this blog I’ve had occasion to meet up with a number of folks who’ve “been there/done that” in a historical context. By default many have been from Vietnam, a few from Korea andsome of whom have been by proxy from WWII, but late last year I had the…
A quick history lesson. A quarter of a century ago, the US (and NATO) were engaged in an unprecedented nuclear arms build-up in Europe that was initiated with the deployment of the SS-20 Sabre (NATO)/RT-21M Pioneer (Russia) IRBM in 1976. Unlike the much older SS-4 and SS-5 IRBMs, employed in 1959 and 1961,…
perâ‹…specâ‹…tive (per-spek-tiv)-noun: A technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface. The state of one’s ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship; the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship. Perspective requires context. These days we see and hear a great deal about…
*But were afraid to ask Available now via the Newport Papers online – print version still TBD. Be forewarned, this is a huge document (34M worth) and will take a while to download. This is an outstanding work by Dr. Hattendorf and Peter Swartz and has been long in the birthing process. It is the…
The Official press release: Marine Pilot Missing In Action From WWII Is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors He is…
Forty years ago, man had slipped the gravitational pull that had kept him shackled  in orbit around his home planet, and boldly struck out for the Moon.  Forty years ago, in a live broadcast on Christmas Eve  for the ages, he sent back stunning images of his world and our perspective was forever changed: William…
14 Dec –Installation of the Pilot Landing Aid Television system (PLAT) was completed on Coral Sea, the first carrier to have the system installed for operational use. Designed to provide a video tape of every landing, the system was useful for instructional purposes and in the analysis of landing accidents making it a valuable tool…
As veterans of this epic action ever more rapidly dwindle and recede into history’s mists, we ask a question – does this date become a mere cipher on the calendar? We pose this question in part as we see September 11th being reduced to an optional head nod and thence continue business as necessary. The…
Listen as you tread the decks on the mid-watch, or swing at anchor on a foggy morn – listen and you can hear the voices of those who went before us: Douglas TBD-1 Devastators of Torpedo Six (USS Enterprise) off Hawaii for battle fleet exercises (1941) What lessons are being taught? What wisdom passed? Are…
