States of Mind

An M-240L 

Manufactured by the American division of the Belgian company Fabrique Nationale d’Herstal. To achieve 18% weight savings, the M240L incorporates titanium construction and alternative manufacturing methods for fabricating major components. The resulting improvements reduced the soldier’s combat load while allowing easier handling and movement of the weapon.

The US Navy preferred the “CAR-60” (M60E3) version of the M60 machine gun due to its lighter weight and slower rate of fire, which allows a more effective duration of fire with allowable levels of ammunition carried.

The 7.62mm tracers burn out at 900 meters, but the weapon is effective beyond that range.

In California or Connecticut

The police execute a search warrant and seize four firearms. The headlines pronounce that an arsenal has been seized.

In Arizona we laugh and say, “Hold my beer.”

Bullet Points:

** Fun with contact lenses. The eye is the mirror of the soul, you know.

** The enduring mystery is, given the undisputable truth of all the great VDH says here, why do people keep voting Democrat? Because of the Cabal in power, you are poorer, less safe and less free. WHY? Why does anyone sign up for this, thereby inflicting it on the rest of us? It is truly insane.

(left – Big Mike is unhappy that he won’t get to be president because of white people)

** The Journal Nature published a study revealing that of the folks who were early adopters of EVs in California (between 2012 and 2018), 20% of PHEV drivers have returned to fully gas-powered vehicles and 18% of full EV drivers returned to gas-powered–with their subsequent vehicle purchase.

** Special Operations Lioness (Rotten Tomatoes) Season 1 has ended. The sense is that Paramount will announce a second season after the writer’s strike ends. If you watched it, did you like it?

From the Mail Bag

I will drag an e-mail discussion here to the blog. The question was outside of General George Patton who had his own ideas about side arms, what did US general officers carry (if anything) during World Wars I, II and the Korean War. There is an answer because the US Army issued them to general officers in particular.

The Colt Pocket Hammerless, either the Model of 1903, in .32 ACP, or the Model of 1908, in .380 ACP.

Let’s face it, the general can carry what general wants to carry, but the fact that there was an issue firearm for generals meant that many of them who carried likely carried that.

Moving on to Patton. General Patton’s daily carry handguns were fitted with ivory grips. “Pearl handles are for New Orleans pimps.” the General famously quipped to a reporter.

Although popularly remembered as the “two-gun” General, Patton actually seldom wore both of his “carrying guns” together. The handguns most associated with him, and which are now in the Patton Collection of the West Point Museum, are a .45 Long Colt Single Action revolver, 1873 Army Model, and a .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver.

Of the two of them, aides and relatives have said that the .45 Colt was the one Patton stressed for everyday carry, while the .357 was to be the “killing gun,” in his words if the battlefield situation ever demanded it. The .45 was his oldest companion, having been purchased in 1916. There are two notches filed in the left-side ivory grip of the highly engraved .45. They came to be through a 1916 gunfight that took place in Mexico where he killed two Mexican irregular officers.

As a young officer, George Patton was part of General Pershing’s punitive expedition into Mexico to hunt down Francisco (Pancho) Villa, Governor of Chihuahua. On 14 May he came under fire while leading a caravan of three vehicles to obtain food for his troops.

Patton was armed with his own Colt SAA .45 revolver. During the fight, he emptied the weapon as many as three times. In a letter to his father after the fight, Patton wrote, “I fired five times with my new pistol and one of them ducked back into the house. I found out later that this was Cardenes and that I had hit both him and his horse.” Captain Julio Cardenes was second in command under Villa when he was shot by Lieutenant George S. Patton.

Thereafter, Patton carried a second, or backup, handgun. General Joyce confirmed that the experience with the Mexican gangsters convinced Patton he should carry at least two handguns. Patton learned through experience as did we all that two is one and one is none.

Memes

He should have done it.

Isn’t it interesting how the people who want 87,000 IRS agents crawling over our lives don’t want their government crawling over theirs? It’s an old meme, but still on point.

All the people who were foaming at the mouth over President Trump’s tax records are remarkably silent about Pedo Joe’s money laundering through banks and the FTX Scandal where Ukrainian aid was laundered back to democrat politicians. It’s interesting, isn’t it?

Racism!

I was there – a little later. This is a 1969 photo but the subject matter changed very little.

Let’s go Brandon!

Identify the Aircraft

1

2

In 1939, the French Armée de l’Air and Aéronavale ordered 200 and 30 of these aircraft respectively. Of these, 111 had been delivered before France surrendered to the Germans. The Germans put their livery on the aircraft and they flew for the Third Reich. I couldn’t find a photo of one with crosses on it but if I had, it would have been more difficult for this blog’s readers to identify.

3

What special ordnance was it designed to carry?