Veteran’s Day

Blog Post
Larry-Lambert

Remembering those who served. My father (pictured) served in WW2 primarily as a gunner’s mate (GMG), but he struck for yeoman after the war and didn’t have enough points to leave the service. He ended his service as a YM2. He served onboard ship and as a component of a USMC landing party/raider at one point. He was onboard USS Hazelwood – DD 531 when it was struck and nearly sank by a kamikaze off Okinawa. He reminded me, “Never volunteer.” It landed on deaf ears.

 

 

Thoughts on Combat and PTSD

This clip from the Shawn Ryan podcast struck me hard. Yes indeed.

My son-in-law, Navy, returned from Afghanistan to an environment where over sixty veterans committed suicide daily, and he was headed there himself. The Navy, not the kindest-hearted of services in most situations, apparently was pierced through its small heart at the dramatic numbers. His commanding officer heard him on the phone, crying and threatening to kill my daughter on a phone call. My Son-in-law (SIL) is a sweet man I love dearly, but he was cracking up. The Navy did an unexpected thing: they got him help, and he made it. I don’t ever think that the PTSD will vanish, but he has been able to cope.

Truth be told, it never vanishes, no matter what people tell you, but you work at coping. During World War 1, the soldiers returned with shell shock, a mental condition in which a person suffers severe anxiety and depression caused by the stress of fighting in a war. By the end of the Vietnam War, the name had softened to combat fatigue. Over the past fifty years, they complicated the condition by calling it post-traumatic stress disorder and then shortened it to PTSD. I’m sure the characterization will change again in the ensuing years from putting people into situations that are well beyond their capacity to cope.

(Ryan Interview) So you’re back in the world and think about going medieval on somebody just because you can. Pipehitter mentality. Who hasn’t thought that? Toxic masculinity? PTSD? All of it comes into play when you return from a place with few rules to a place with many regulations. I don’t justify the behavior, but I certainly understand it.

 

Bullet Points:

** Gongs (right) – It’s Veteran’s Day. What do they mean? What do you want them to mean?

** HEADS WILL EXPLODE! Pres Trump: “Within hours of my inauguration, I will sign an executive order banning any federal department or agency from colluding with any organization, business, or person to censor, limit, categorize, or impede the lawful speech of American citizens.”

** Will President Trump have a summit with NORK Chairman Kim Jong Un? They seemed to have developed a relationship that made the military-industrial complex nervous.

What if they opted for a different course in NORKland, and the Pentagon couldn’t point to them as a threat? It’s a lot like President Trump talking to Vladimir Vladimirovich, and he stood down the Red Hoard in Ukraine and went home with a trade package that was better than what the Chinese offered. What would NATO do if Russia no longer posed a threat but became a mutually beneficial trading partner? Oh, the horror.

** The media refers to President Trump as Hitler. The ‘actual’ Hitler reacts to President Trump’s victory in the YouTube Hitler special.

** Shawn Ryan discusses the democrat plan to de-fang SPECOPS and the recent wars we’ve been sent to fight. X2 Shawn. X2000.

** Movie Trailer – THE LAST FRONT Iain Glen is a good actor – very underrated.

** Elections have consequences for Iran.

** Look at the bright side: when a bowl of flowers falls from the sky, you can make a great salad. And if it happens to squash a cow, you can have meat on your salad. (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)

** “I am always doing what I cannot do, yet, I do it in order to learn how to do it.” Vincent Van Gogh

** You either go home to be with your family or you die and be with God. I couldn’t say it better.

 

The Amish Vote in Pennsylvania

They drove their horse and buggies to the polls in, well, droves.

Just before the election, AP noticed this, and reported, “Researchers say most of the Amish don’t register to vote, reflective of the Christian movement’s historic separatism from mainstream society, just as they’ve maintained their dialect and horse-and-buggy transportation. “But a small minority have voted, and the Amish are most numerous in the all-important swing state of Pennsylvania. They were targeted this year in the latest of decades of efforts to register more of them to vote.

“Republicans are seeking their votes through billboards, ads, door-to-door canvassing and community meetings. Republican campaigners see the Amish as receptive to GOP talking points — smaller government, less regulation, religious freedom.” The votes were there for the taking because of federal government overreach. They want the right to be left alone.

 

 

From The Bee

U.S. — Controversy erupted today following Donald Trump’s landslide election victory, as Democrats admitted that Trump won in 2020 and is therefore now ineligible to serve a third term as president.

In a wise move, Democratic Party leaders finally disclosed that Trump had won the 2020 election against Joe Biden and has been the rightful president. This renders him term-limited and unable to take office in January.

“Yeah, he won a second term in 2020. Sorry about that,” said Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. “It’s a real shame he already served two terms. Unfortunately, that means he wasn’t eligible to run again, which nullifies Tuesday night’s election. We probably should have been more up-front about the fact that we stole the election and Biden was never president, but oh well. Hindsight is 20-20. I guess Kamala wins by default now, right?” (more)

 

 

No Surrender – Yet

As fighting continues in Lebanon and Hezbollah continues to launch rockets and UAVs at Israel, the Defense Ministry claims it has substantially reduced Hezbollah’s arsenal. The Knesset is under criticism for voting to ban UNRWA from operating in Israel.

After the killing of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, Hezbollah announced it has a new leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, who has been with the terror group since its start in 1982. He’s hiding out in Iran, hoping to avoid the fate of the two previous leaders who were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Beirut.

With the election of President Trump, there have been some peace overtures, but the rockets still fly.

 

Identify the Vehicle

1

It was armed with a 120 mm M58 gun.

 

2

 

3

 

4

New and improved – be as accurate as you’re able

 

 

 

Identify the Aircraft

5

Hint: It was commissioned by Shaanxi Unmanned Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. and designed by AVIC First Aircraft Design Institute.

 

6

 

 

 

Parting Shot

 

End

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51 thoughts on “Veteran’s Day”

  1. Best wishes to everyone for the day.

    In Australia it’s Remembrance Day used to remember those who died in war. Anzac Day is closer to USA veterans day in personal opinion.

    Still amazed that all of my family members made it home physically. Everyone in WW1 was wounded at least once. My grandfather four times and left for dead once in the Battle of the Somme.

    At least two of my uncles had major PTSD from WW2. One was only 15 when he joined and my late father in law was 14 when he ran away and joined the navy.

    1. They were different times, a different generation – the greatest generation – who served so selflessly and so completely.

  2. Identify the Vehicle:
    1. M103 heavy tank
    2. Stuart Recce
    3. Light Tank Mk. VI
    4. Leopard 2 A-RC 3.0
    Identify the Aircraft:
    5. AVIC Jiutian SS-UAV
    6. Hawker Hurricane

  3. The Bee – We can’t joke about such things as half their sarcastic concepts have come to pass by The Demented Few…no need to give them more ideas.
    ***
    The Last Front- Irish version of Gibsons “Patriot”…already on the must see list.
    ***
    Beautiful “tribute”…We The People never forget the incredible sacrifice made by those in uniform. Really glad to hear your SIL was able to pull out of the dive with proper intervention. We all have our “demons”…I can not imagine being formed into a singularly focused fighting machine then when that chapter closes told to reenter society like it never happened. Yeah, not so easy for most, especially nowadays. The Terminal List touches on this aspect. SISU MAGA is their theme, can’t imagine the past four years helped them as they witnessed what they fought for being dismantled by Marxists and Idiots.
    –
    Prayers our Veterans maintain their inner peace…God knows what they are challenged with daily. H/t.

    1. Scapegoat for widespread policy.
      *
      “It was an isolated incident by a radical individual”.
      *
      Feh.
      *
      – Kle.

    2. if she’s been been fired, does that mean that she can’t/won’t be indicted (for what exactly I’m not certain) and prosecuted?

      1. I doubt she’ll swing in the gibbet. She should be prosecuted but I doubt the resolve of the system to hold her accountable.

          2. Many felons on death row could make the same claim – “Everyone was doing it.” But it’s not a legal defense.

          4. “Everybody was doing it!”
            a) Mom to me as a 8 year old, “ So, if your friends jumped off a cliff would you do also?”
            b) Define “everybody”. Modern translation: The Demented who think they’re all that.”

  5. All this Trump talking peace is good, but remember the cabal NEEDS an enemy to survive and no matter who won the election the cabal is still there.

    1. >the cabal NEEDS an enemy to survive
      Bingo.
      And I don’t think it’s simply to justify Their lust for money and power. Their entire world view is predicated on Them being the good people who are fighting the good fight against evil people who want to Do Bad Things for no reason at all. I’m pretty sure AOC is convinced she is a good person fighting against ignorant bigots and haters, for example. (She happens to be an idiot, but you get the point.) I haven’t sat down to feast on the roasted corpse of a euthanized child sex-slave with Billy G, so I don’t know what he really thinks, but I’ll bet that in his head he is Doing Good, overall. Vaccines! International Health! Charitable Foundations! See? I’m a good person. That said, Revenge (or Pre-venge — “I KNOW they would genocide us if they had the chance, so it is moral to genocide them first”) is also a motivating factor. There’s probably more than a smidgen of such ancient hatred in Soros, for example. But They really think (mostly) They are on the correct side. It’s much like fanatical religious fervor, and that’s a problem because you can’t bribe or terrify such a person into compliance. Reasoned persuasion certainly doesn’t work.

  6. My Dad went into the Marines in 43 at 17 and Island Hopped until he was blown up on Okinawa in 45. He spent the next year in a Naval Hospital. He would not talk about the war but his best friend was our Insurance Agent and they served together and often would get together at our home and talk. My Dad’s scars were horrific and he would go into the VA every 6 months to be put into traction to have his back straighten. My Dad in his 80s of a massive stroke and later my Mom died and I think it was due to not having him after them being together for about 60 years.

    My brother entered the Army in 69 after HS, which upset my Mom and Dad. My Brother was 6 years older than me. The draft got him and my Dad did not like him being in the Army and not the Marines. My Mom did not want him in Vietnam. We did not hear anything from him until 3 years later when he called us and was being sent back home from an Army Hospital in Vietnam. We heard from him again when he was at Ft Ord and being bussed to Southern California where we lived. My Brother had been wounded twice and was in the Rangers. I asked him how he became a Ranger and he said they grabbed him from his unit after 6 months in Vietnam. We shared a bedroom before he left so his old bed was still there and he had 30 days leave before he had to go to Ft Hood. When he changed I saw the various wounds on him, and he would not talk about it or the war. He stayed in the Army for a total of 6 years and then left and became a Truck Driver in Texas. For some strange reason he liked Texas but he came back home to California to visit the family. Later he was killed in an accident in Texas.

    1. I have a friend who was a chopper pilot in Nam and after that, Europe.
      He is not a drinker and as such, when a night job was called, he was usually the only sober pilot and it fell to him.
      He stayed in for a while but did not retire.
      He opened his own business but struggled with PTSD.
      It wasn’t unusual for him to just shut down.
      I don’t know how he managed his businesses, but his wife was helpful.
      Great guy, not a ticking time bomb. But no loud noises or sudden movement and hates crowds.
      We were talking past service one day and he told me some stories that should be in movies.
      Later, his wife said I was the first person he’d ever talked to about his service.

  10. Veterans Day. Hearing, “Thank you for your service”, has about as much meaning as, “Have a nice day”, for me. Serving in the military was simply something you did in the time and place where I grew up. My deep respect is reserved for those who went in harms way while respecting all who served.
    My deep contempt goes to those who abuse and misuse our military, those who see them as a commodity to be used of and disposed. Like, Robert McNamara and several flag rank officers among others.
    My hope is President Trump will correct many of the current abuse, misuse, and neglect of our military. It is personal. One grandson, 5th generation soldier, is in the National Guard. A granddaughter’s significant other is on a SSBN that can’t go to see because necessary parts are not longer available to fix numerous problems (Pennsylvania).

  11. I have two friends (the only people BTW I consider friends) who were over in Nam: one a chopper pilot, the other a dentist who was stationed in a “not-very-secure-location which required him to defend himself almost daily”.
    Both were solid before they went over and solid when they returned,
    one became more religious (his faith became stronger): one far less so (though this may be due to his church moving very far left), but both had/have a strong faith.
    neither is “into guns”, neither has “nightmares” and both are willing to discuss their experiences (and their reactions/responses to same).
    neither drinks alcohol (one for religious reasons, one because he prefers “soady pop”) neither are into “stimulants/relaxants”.
    As I said previously, both were solid before they went over.
    is it possible that “war experiences” just exacerbated a problem (for those who have PTSD) already extant which might never have surfaced but for the stress?
    have shrinks (and “help groups”) been treating the effect as opposed to the (underlying) cause?

    1. If you talk to a shrink, they’ll kill your security clearance. The shrink will declare you a danger. If you need to speak with anyone, best a friend who understands. Better not to speak to anyone about specifics. You can dispute that if you wish.

      1. dispute it? Nah! No way! Nevah!
        during my lifetime, in and around (medical) parties, meetings, conventions, I’ve met only one “shrink” (including psychologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts) who had any idea of what he was doing.
        I think he treated (his patient load) only “normal” people; sorta defused (relieved them of business stresses so they didn’t take it home with them) for an hour once a week for a (to say the least) very high fee

      2. Nothing to dispute. The only “shrink” I have ever seen was the one I saw after the light aircraft crash in Indonesia. I only saw her at the urging of a friend of mine, who was a retired neurological surgeon and combat veteran of the Second World War, and who arranged the first visit. Just to be on the safe side he said. I only lasted two and one half visits. Halfway through the third visit she told me that in seeing her I was wasting her time, my time, and my money. I never went back nor felt the need to. In fact I had not felt the need to go in the first place, only going at my friends urging. Regarding speaking. As I said in my book, until I wrote the book I had never, in over fifty years, spoke about anything to anyone. Whilst I say I never spoke to anyone this is not strictly true though. I did, on the infrequent occasions when we met, speak with the man I called “Major Hough” in the book, he having done similar work in the Second World War, Korea, and during the Malayan Emergency. The only thing that precluded him doing the same thing in Borneo and South Vietnam was his age, although he did serve in both theatres, albeit not out running missions.

  12. Marn’i Washington is REAL? This is not some sort of parody or prank?
    I thought the apostrophe was the “tell” — the wink and nod to the h8trs who Notice Patterns.
    But if Marn’i Washington is real, then that (annoyingly over-used) phrase “banality of evil” applies. “Drink coconut water” on the same list as “deny services to my political enemies”? Also, what a moron.

    1. It seems that she is real. Drink your coconut water and chill, or people will call you a racist or a sexist, or just an “ist.” I’m sure that she’s also a Muslim – religion of peace and all that.

      1. I may get called an -ist or a -phobe, but more likely to be called an anti-
        Fresh out of coconut water. [back of hand to forehead in dramatic gesture] What ever shall I do?

        1. How could you allow your supply of coconut water run out? There must be a Whole Foods somewhere near where you are.

  13. Last night, MRSLL and I were at a veteran’s home in the wilderness near me. A Raven FAC, older than I am, flew over “disputed territory” where we claimed not to be involved during the Vietnam War. MRSRAVEN made meatloaf – very good meat loaf. We discussed a few things. MRSLL said that we live in the wilderness so that I won’t be tempted to revert to my pipe-hitting past and cull ANTIFA or BLM terrorists who threaten our home. She’s not wrong. The whole Roof Korean thing is dormant, but it doesn’t die. And this is my point. Many thousands of trained people have been very patient for many years. I fear that should people try to take out the Trump agenda, the political left will come to know toxic masculinity at a different level than they have in the past.

    3. I just want to be left the hell alone. Unfortunately, that’s not what “they”, that fast and fancy “they”, do. Also unfortunately, I’ve done got too old to do much about it. Load MAGAzines for somebody else, maybe. “Music plays and peace is made for someone else”.
      .
      I’ve said it here before, I think, but Daddy never talked about WWII until the night I got home from Viet Nam and he opened up a bit, but only just that one time. After that, he rolled the newspaper back up and that was it. I don’t begrudge him that, at all. He earned the right to be left alone. Had to get my own dose of it to understand. R.I.P.

  14. We all handle our PTSD differently. Nuff said… but 21-22 suicides/day is WAY too damned many dying for nothing. Reach out to those you know and talk to them, maybe YOUR phone call will be the pick me up they need!

  15. It’s Veteran’s Day (or Armistice Day), not Memorial Day. No disrespect to those that lost their lives, but a day to honor the living.

      2. NOW THEREFORE, I, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, President of the United States of- America,
        ‘do hereby call upon all of our citizens to observe Thursday, November 11, 1954, as Veterans Day.
        On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us re-consecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.
        I also direct the appropriate officials of the Government to arrange for the display of the flag of the United States on all public buildings on Veterans Day.

  17. “What would NATO do if Russia no longer posed a threat but became a mutually beneficial trading partner?”
    The horror indeed. Especially as the families of a million plus casualties start holding politicians to account.

    1. An article on the situation in Ukraine is coming up in a blog shortly. The situation there is serious in a bad way as Russia gains ground. The US Congress wants to dump money on them but they’re running out of soldiers and Winter is here. It means that the rasputitsa has ended and the mud is frozen. Russians are notoriously good in the winter. The North Koreans are a wild card but there are 10,000 of them.

  18. The thing that is insulting to vets is to read in the news that many liberals are claiming PTSD because Trump won!

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