There is more than one way to blade-run…
Ride to the Sound of the Guns – Advance to Contact!
The pictured jacket is said to have belonged to LTC George Custer (Little Bighorn Museum) and to have been worn at the time of the Battle of the Greasy Grass near the Little Bighorn River.
On June 29, 1863, 23-year-old George Custer went to sleep a first lieutenant in the regular army and woke up a brigadier general in the volunteer army. Skipping four ranks overnight was no accident. While he is most famous today for his catastrophic defeat at the Little Bighorn years later, the Union high command promoted him to be one of the youngest generals in the army because he possessed exactly the qualities they desperately needed in the summer of 1863.
The historical George Armstrong (Autie) Custer is a recurring character in the historical novel, “The Confederate Cipher” (shameless self-promotion), available in audiobook, paperback, and digital formats.
Early in the war, Union cavalry commanders were cautious, using their mounted troops for reconnaissance, picketing, and escort duty. The Confederate cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart routinely outmaneuvered and humiliated them. Custer represented a new breed of officer who believed in shock action. He was fearless under fire, preferring to lead his men from the front with a drawn saber rather than directing them from the rear. This raw aggression was exactly what his superior, Major General Alfred Pleasonton, wanted when reorganizing the Cavalry Corps to take the fight to Stuart.
Custer understood the power of visibility. As soon as he was promoted, he designed his own custom uniform: a black velveteen jacket adorned with elaborate gold braid, a wide sailor-style shirt with a brilliant red cravat, and a broad-brimmed hat. While older officers scoffed at the theatrical outfit, it served a tactical purpose. In the chaos of battle, his men could always spot him leading the charge. It also ensured that he stood out to commanding officers and newspaper reporters, turning “The Boy General” into a household name.
Despite his reckless reputation on the battlefield, Custer was a shrewd political operator. He had a talent for attaching himself to powerful mentors. Early in the war, he served on the staff of General George B. McClellan, learning the administrative ropes. When McClellan was relieved of command, Custer seamlessly pivoted to Pleasonton’s staff. He made himself indispensable by volunteering for dangerous reconnaissance missions and acting as a hyper-energetic courier. When Pleasonton asked for authority to promote new generals who would inject life into his corps, Custer was at the top of his list. He proved his worth just days after his promotion. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Custer led his newly acquired Michigan Cavalry Brigade in a series of headlong charges that repelled a massive Confederate cavalry assault, shouting his famous battle cry, “Come on, you Wolverines!”
During the Little Bighorn Campaign, LTC Custer cut his hair short, wore a straw hat, and buckskins. He may have worn cavalry trousers, but I don’t know that it was mentioned. The Sioux didn’t scalp him. They may not have recognized him. His brother Tom was severely mutilated, and he wore an officer’s uniform, as did Miles Keough.
Had he lived, Custer would have been a serious contender for the US Presidency. There were a number of powerful people who were prepared to help finance his campaign if he was the man who brought Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Gall, and the Sioux Confederation down. He wasn’t simply a military leader in charge of a reconnaissance-in-force for Generals Terry and Crook. Prudence required that he bring his pack artillery with him as a component of his unit, but he did not want the Sioux to escape. They were slow, and he was in a hurry. We know the history, but sometimes we are so caught up in the legend that we miss some of the key motivating factors.
And though I have said this elsewhere before, Custer’s officers – both Reno and Benteen – personally hated him with a passion. Following the battle, they went out of their way to blaggard him. As with many officers, George Custer valued personal loyalty (and patronage) almost above all. Certainly to a fault. Had he been able to pick all his senior officers and trust them, he might not have divided his command without knowing the enemy’s disposition and numbers. Had he followed doctrine, he would have prepared to fight defensively, as General Sully did at the Battle of Killdeer Mountain (1864); see The Crow Creek Expedition. Sully defeated 5000-6000 Sioux warriors by employing defensive artillery and long-range rifle fire from a defensive square. The trapdoor Springfield had a good range, and the rate of fire wasn’t pressed because of howitzers firing explosive rounds and cannister/case with almost no loss of life.
Bullet Points:
** VDH discusses a NYT article. Typical Times yellow journalism. What we’ve come to expect.
** Question of the Day – When was the last time that you forgot what you were doing while you were doing it? What were you doing?
** Stuff it where the sun doesn’t shine! (see article) Professor Mark Tushnet, Harvard Law School, May 2016. You thought that Hillary would win by a landslide. Who wrote the Jim Crow laws? It wasn’t us. A tactic known is a tactic blown.
** American weakness is ending. Anduril announced on May 13, 2026, that it signed a framework agreement with the U.S. Department of War to deliver a minimum of 3,000 Surface-Launched Barracuda-500M (SLB-500M) autonomous air vehicles to the U.S. Army. Meeting the DoW’s current need for affordable, simple, mass-producible, and modular weapons, the SLB-500M is a “cruise missile solution to the long-range precision fires and stand-off strike problem,” for the Army’s Program Acquisition Executive FIRES (PAE FIRES), says the company. h/t Claudio.
** Radical reptilian leftist James Carville has been banned from appearing on MS Now (formerly MSNBC) after his disturbing statement about assassinating President Trump.
** No woman has come forward claiming to have sexual relations with former President Barack Hussein Obama. That’s none of my business, but I thought I’d mention it anyway.
** Yesterday in the Straits of Hormuz
** H/T BRM – Britain has scrapped its next-generation fighter because they’re out of money. That shouldn’t surprise anyone who is following their managed decline. https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/britain-next-generation-fighter-jet-050000552.html
The UK has bought the F-35B VTOL, which isn’t good for much. They use jump-jets and wanted the vertical take-off capability, but it’s a much more expensive variant with a very short range and a lighter payload. They screwed themselves. The article lays it out. The USMC flies them from LHA’s and in that role – short-range fleet defense, amphibious top cover, they’re ok. Nothing about the F-35 is ideal for naval applications IMHO. See below for more managed decline.
More Managed Decline in the UK
Claudio and I were discussing how Italy’s Air Force now trains UK military pilots, and that there is hope the EU will continue to fund it from its pot of money. The British company Aeralis has gone bankrupt. That company was building an all-British advanced jet trainer aircraft. The Bristol-based aerospace startup appointed insolvency specialists David Buchler and Joanne Milner of Buchler Phillips as joint administrators, citing UK Procurement Delays: Aeralis faced severe cashflow strain due to prolonged delays in the publication of the UK Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) Defense Investment Plan. Without clear procurement timelines from Whitehall, the company could not unlock further domestic backing. The startup’s primary financial backer is naturally an Arab country. Barzan Holdings (the strategic investment arm of Qatar’s Ministry of Defense) pulled its funding.
Prior to insolvency, the ambitious program existed only as a digital-only concept. Aeralis had projected that moving into production could have supported up to 4,000 highly skilled UK jobs and generated £600 million in annual exports, with parts manufactured across the country and assembled at Prestwick International Airport in Scotland.
The collapse leaves the RAF without a sovereign option to replace its fleet of BAE Hawk T1 trainer jets, which have been flown by the Red Arrows since 1980 and are locked into a firm retirement date of 2030. Because the MoD’s fast jet trainer requirement remains unfulfilled, defense analysts expect the UK to pivot toward Italy’s Leonardo M-346 Master jet trainer, provided the UK can afford it.
Argentina has offered to sell and ship some of the mothballed aircraft it used to sink the British Fleet off the Falklands to Old Blighty for reconditioning and service at a discounted price. The British Ministry of Defense is reportedly mulling over the offer.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
41 built
3
36 converted to this particular variant – important to get the variant correct.
4
61 Variants built under license (outside of France) – Livery is your hint. If you get 2 & 3, you should get 4.
Parting Shot
End
IAI Finger
Identify the Aircraft
1 – Soko J-22 OraoSoko J-22 Orao
2 – FMA IA-63 Pampa,
3 – Lockheed Martin A-4AR Fightinghawk
4 – IAI Finger
Outstanding – you edged Kle by like 14 seconds.
It took me a while to figure out the J-22.
*
A win is a win, and ML Thomas takes it!
– Kle.
(1) Yugoslav Soko J-22.
(2) IA-63 Pampa.
(3) Argie A-4AR Fightinghawk. Just retired, IIRC.
(4) IAI Finger A (Dassault Mirage III, IAI Kfir, IAI Dagger derived).
– Kle.
Excellent, and thanks for the expansion on the IAI Finger A.
At the University of Kansas (the flaw on the Kaw to my people) Natural History Museum, they have the horse Comanche, the only survivor of the battle of little big horn. Stuffed for posterity’s sake. The US Seventh Cavalry horse had been struck by 7 bullets. 14 yr old at the time, he recovered and lived out his life at Fort Riley living to the age of 29. I was a bit amazed at how small he was.
A good cavalry horse is no higher at the back as the shoulders of the rider. Been that way since the days of the armored knight, except for certain circumstances.
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Why? Because you have to be able to get on and off when you’re dog-tired and loaded down with kit and kaboodle (like armor, or weapons, or a drenched woolen cavalry cloak.)
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Tall horses can be faster. But the mid-sized all-seasons performing horse is the gold standard for cavalry worldwide.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Soko J-22 Orao
2. FMA IA-63 Pampa
3. Lockheed Martin A-4AR Fightinghawk
4. IAI Nesher as FAA Dagger
“When was the last time that you forgot what you were doing while you were doing it? What were you doing?”
Regularly, I’m reading VM and I follow a link.
Links here do not normally open a new tab.
Following the link, I start to pursue another thought and hours later remember to come back here.
+1
Left Handed Tacos- Failure to do a thorough market analysis before embarking on a Left Handed Taco venture could result in a major commercial failure. Appx. 1/4 of the world population avoid eating/drinking with their left hand.
Obozo has had guys come forward claiming sexual encounters.
He certainly has had. Larry Sinclair wrote a book about humping Barack and using cocaine with him. I didn’t buy a copy. Jeremiah Wright set up Barack and Mike because they both attended his church in Chicago and thought that they might hit it off. He talked about it back when Barack was first running for public office and then radio silence. But no women have come forward…
I quite fancy that jacket, it would look great with a pair of cowboy boots.
As to what I was doing five minutes ago, haven’t got a clue but I found something else to distract me so it doesn’t matter.
Great parting shot!
The jacket is clearly meant to be worn in conjunction with cowboy boots with Juju on them. Custer wore a straw hat on campaign as did most of the soldiers of that period because they were cooler than a felt hat and it’s hot out there in the Sun.
Jules wearing that coat, her boots, and having the dogs tag along…what better ‘don’t even bother me’ could one ask for.
QOTD: All the time, even as a kid when ADHD wasn’t ‘a thing’. Reminded me of a funny story I heard on Rosen’s 850KOA program moons ago…goes something like this:
You go to the garage to put away a hammer, on the way to put the hammer down you spot the missing screwdriver and decide to go back into the house to tighten the loose outlet. On the way you remember there’s a bulb out in the ceiling fan…go back to garage for the short ladder and a bulb where you see your soda and half-eaten sandwich from the day before…take a bite and a drink.. Then you spot the spray attachment for the garden hose and realize your rose bushes need water. You water them, then remember they need fungus spray. You grab the chemical sprayer and accidentally coat the car with white mist so you rinse the car off and notice the bushes also need trimming. You spend two hours trimming bushes and tidying the yard. You sit down exhausted, realizing you never put the hammer away, the hose attachment is lost, and you have no idea what your original task was…and your wife comes home from shopping and asks what you’ve been up to? “Not much.”
–
Yup…me to a ‘T’…which leads to my QOTD: “Have you ever done some menial task, write it on your ‘To Do’ list, then immediately cross it off just to feel like you got something ‘important’ done?” (Me: All the time)
***
Barry Sotoro ‘The Manchurian’ is still a bit of a mystery…swear this guy’s history is known by only a few still living, maybe PDJT, which – if memory serves – is why he didn’t meet with Obama for the standard hand-off prior to the 45 Inauguration. The guy is a living lie.
***
LH & RH Taco’s…straight from AOC’s new Food Truck where she will explain the difference.
Incidentally, ALL adult males who ‘do stuff’ have Adult ADHD as the above illustrates…it’s built into the wiring…which is why we’re usually exhausted by the end of the day yet can’t pinpoint exactly what we did to get so tired.
I think that AOC would prefer the leftist tacos to the right tacos – partly because they’re cheaper…
:-)
The inflight meal on her trip to the sun…at night.
Buy one Taco for the price of two, get second Taco absolutely free!
– Kle.
Custer’s jacket seems devoid of any obvious holes. Maybe he took it off before the fight?
—
Forgetful. Making breakfast. Stepped from the stove to the frig. Staring at fridge, total blank. Usually happens when I’m doing something routine, and my mind wanders off. Our five year old grandson and I have a (well, more than one) shtick routine–He says “Grandpa, you’re out of your mind”. I reply, “Yes. Be right back”.
—
We did not accomplish anything today, but we did add a couple of simple tasks to our list, so we should be able to accomplish something tomorrow.
As I recall, from one of my visits to The Little Big Horn Battlefield (only an hour down the road), it was 93 degrees that 25th of June. There would have been no cause for anyone to be wearing a coat they didn’t absolutely have to wear. At least one Sioux (Cheyenne?) participant said he fought much of the battle naked, having slept that way the night before because of the heat.
True. My guess is that Custer wore a light shirt – light fabric, Something on the order of a Lindsay – Woolsey shirt. I’m applying Ockham’s razor at this point. Uniform wear on campaign wasn’t as “uniform” as we think of it today. That was also the case during the War of Southern Rebellion. Suttlers sold lightweight summer clothing to soldiers and the officers didn’t enforce uniform discipline because it wasn’t needed. They knew who the hostiles were without the need for uniform distinction. General Crook, who led the army coming up from the south that was turned back during that campaign, famously wore a brown tweed suit with a sun helmet and rode a mule. Not that uniform.
Reno attacked the Sioux Confederation camp at about 1500 HRS. Custer engaged the camp, possibly an hour or two before at most. And it was light late in the day for Reno and Benteen, who survived by entrenching.
** Question of the Day – When was the last time that you forgot what you were doing while you were doing it? What were you doing?
I saw an ad for a GPS for seniors. Not only does it tell you how to go somewhere, it tells you what you are going for. I forgot to order it.
Just keep driving until you ‘find what you’re looking for’. Eventually you’ll run out of gas or you’ll find it.
Custer was first and foremost, a political animal. He used his military expertise to raise his political ‘capital’ until he ran afoul of people who saw through his posturing and self-aggrandizement.
Yes, the Brits are DIW, and circling the drain, not just on their fighter trainer, but their entire air force. The F-35s they bought are ‘decent’ for shipboard, but not much else. And their ships are even worse.
George Custer wasn’t a bad “wingman.” Sheridan valued that in him and so did Pleasanton. In his campaigning as “Son of the Morning Star” he figured out, or his scouts explained to him that the Indians didn’t post sentries. If you hit them at dawn, you’d catch them unprepared. In the Apache Campaigns in Arizona, that was a tactic that worked every time. I have always had difficulty believing that, but every account that I’ve read underscored that to be the case.
.
General Crook, who spent a lot of time fighting Indians learned that the only troops who were truly effective against Indians were other Indians in the Southwest (where they didn’t survive on buffalo and you couldn’t just kill them and starve the tribes). Crook would send an officer with a scout like Al Sieber and friendly Apache who knew where the water was, where the camps were and the habits of the hostiles to fight them. There were noteworthy exceptions like the Battle of Big Dry Wash (near the White Wolf Mine where I live) where it was Army vs Apache, but the reduction of the Apache was achieved by using the Apache to make it happen. Custer used Crow scouts to great effect but they were up against larger populations on the plains.
** Question of the Day
I’m weird! OK. I admit it. I have a task in front of me, I finish it.
I have two tasks to complete for the condo, 1. water potability, 2. solar panels on the roofs (rooves?) of assigned parking for the increasing number of electrics and hybrids
BTW, today I had to go in for replacement of my pacemaker, the 10 year battery was coming to end of its usefulness. Anyone know anything aout micro-nuclear-generators for pacemakers
Pacemaker.
Facing the same soon; still have two years left per the last checkup. Did you get a new pacemaker? I can’t imagine them replacing just a battery. New leads?
When “they” made the appt, the nurses told me that the Dr. would just be replacing the battery – not true.
When I got to the hosp, the nurses there told me the Dr. would be replacing the entire mechanism; unless there was a problem with the leads, they would be merely re-attached.
I would go in for a “battery” check every 6 mos, then as “my time approached”, I found myself with appts every two weeks, then every week.
When the machine read, “TTR” (Time to Replace), I had a window of 6 months; the last 2 mos of which were considered “highly questionable prognosis.”
Since the wife & I are “git’er dun” people, we made an appt for me ASAP.
The procedure at Sarasota Memorial was performed by Ricardo Alan Yaryura, MD, FACC ( I knew of him and his reputation – top-notch).
The staff wheeled me in, levered me onto the operating table, affixed I-don’t-know how many leads, covered me (not quite cap-a-pie) with surgical paper having taped edges from head to waist, leaving open a small surgical area just below my left clavicle.
The anesthesiologist gave me two injections of Lidocaine (I don’t believe there was much if any epinephrine in the solution) – for duration just below the clavicle. It was way far less painful than a mandibular injection in the dentist’s office – barely noticed it – less than a fingernail’s pressure.
Just prior to the cardiac surgeon’s entry, I received a small amount of Versed to put me into a very mild, short stay in (wide awake) LaLa Land.
Far as I could tell, the entire operation lasted about 10 minutes. They took me off the table and wheeled me back to a “Watching Room” where they kept me for over an hour making certain that everything was working up to snuff.
Was given instructions not to lift anything over 10 lbs for the next two weeks, and not to bathe (known as Bathless Groggins anyhoo) for the next four days and to stay out of the
swimming pool, Gulf (of America), and the hot tub for the next two months; showers OK after four days.
Pain – zero. Discomfort – zero.
In short,they haven’t yet found a way to recharge the thing or make it nuclear-powered. Maybe in my next go-’round in 10 years when I’m 95, they’ll have it figured.
Tony Stark came up a good solution, the arc reactor, in an Afghan cave.
Thanks for the info. Mine was high drama – bradycardio with two faceplants and four days in IC. The faceplants combined with the operation was the medicos concern. First checkup showed a lead had come loose so another operation to put in longer leads. That was early morning and I went home that evening.
The stored history shows about five episodes a year with only one lasting more than two minutes in the past five years. One Afib three years ago. My cardiologist has retired, bless her, and I turned out to be her last patient on her last day. I now do a remote check every six months.
The pacemaker went in 8/2014.
My neighbor across the street has a pacemaker and it is tied to her (but not hers) IPhone.
It won’t support an Android.
The phone was purchased by her longtime paramour, my good friend Mike who passed a couple months ago.
Now Mike’s son is being a bastard and insisting she return the phone he won’t make payments on from the wealth he inherited.
Maybe they could put a port in that connects to a solar panel on a ballcap to keep the pacemaker ‘topped off’.
Kidding aside, advancement in medical tech has been pretty good over the last few decades…my dad called one day back in the mid-90’s, he was hypoglycemic so needed to do the finger prick once a day. Says to me, “There’s gotta be a way to test blood sugar without doing the finger prick which in this day seems stone age, by the end of the week you run out of fingers.” I looked into it, seemed MIT was fiddling in one 9f their labs using an MRI to test sugar levels in fruit. At the time I was working to develop RFID tech, so thought an implant capsule would be a solution, but that was invasive. A few years back there was a blood sugar monitor of some nature using an App on your iPhone or Smart Watch. Pretty amazing tech that made checking blood sugar massively less archaic….but it took 25 years from dad’s call. Pacemakers, while amazing tech, seem a little outdated…as in, what’s the next gen advancement in that arena? Maybe something Start Trek level.
“Tushnet” Tush diminutive of toochas (the “ch” pronounced like the “ch” in the Scottish loch) תּוּכעס meaning “butt” or “ass” — specifically the rear end, backside, derriere.
a more than reasonable surname for him.
“More Managed Decline in the UK” I look around my country, substituting U.S. for U.K. and wonder just how many Congress critters, TV talking heads, and presidential assassins are on the payroll(s) of countries inimical to our country and The Donald’s policies.
Johnny Horton made an album with songs about important battles and men on the frontier. Sink the Bismarck , Battle of New Orleans , Jim Bridger, Comanche ,,,Wore the grooves out on that one around 1963 Can prolly still sing most of them. The songs actually got me started studying the people and battles. In those days Custer was represented as a hero of heroes , it was later I learned that , though personally brave , he was an ego motivated politician. He did pay for his mistake ,unfortunately so did his troopers.
“In 1814, we took a little trip – along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Missisip”.
*
Yep. When you’re my age, and born on the Anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans,
you get real familiar with Johnny Horton!
– Kle.
speaking of the “Question of the Day” (as well as being focused on and finishing one task at a time
I am re-rereading (for the third time) all three volumes of the biographical hx of Hud (and waiting impatiently for the next); I find it amazing the history, references, allusions that I’ve picked up reading the volumes more closely – and increased enjoyment as well.
Side Note:
while sitting in the waiting room of the “cath lab” for 2½ hours, I picked up a copy (someone had left on a table) of “The Sun Also Rises”
In comparison: boring.
I apologize to Hemingway fans
The next book involves Sleeping Wolf, you get his backstory and so forth. It’s coming together, Boron.
QOTD – yeah, all the time, and IDK, I forgot!
– Kle.