Somali and Yemeni pirates learn the hard way that it is not wise to attack a vessel of Her Majesty's Navy:

By the time the Royal Marines boarded the piratesÂ’ vessel, the enemy had lost the will to fight and surrendered quietly. The Royal Navy described the boarding as "compliant".

And...the Russians have developed invisible helicopters, apparently:

The Russians claimed a helicopter based on their own frigate Neustrashimy had also taken part in yesterdayÂ’s battle, though the Royal Navy knew nothing about it. The Royal Marine commandos who boarded the pirates' dhow were supported by a Lynx helicopter from HMS Cumberland, the MoD said.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Headline spotted today:

Taliban Said To Be Furious Over US Missile Strike

So? I think I'm furious about a few things the Taliban have helped out on. So, like I said: should I give a flying fig what they are furious about? Let's help a few more on their way to their 72 virgins.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When the 'arf-made recruity goes out to the East
'E acts like a babe an' 'e drinks like a beast,
An' 'e wonders because 'e is frequent deceased
Ere 'e's fit for to serve as a soldier.
Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
So-oldier OF the Queen!

Now all you recruities what's drafted to-day,
You shut up your rag-box an' 'ark to my lay,
An' I'll sing you a soldier as far as I may:
A soldier what's fit for a soldier.
Fit, fit, fit for a soldier . . .

First mind you steer clear o' the grog-sellers' huts,
For they sell you Fixed Bay'nets that rots out your guts --
Ay, drink that 'ud eat the live steel from your butts --
An' it's bad for the young British soldier.
Bad, bad, bad for the soldier . . .

When the cholera comes -- as it will past a doubt --
Keep out of the wet and don't go on the shout,
For the sickness gets in as the liquor dies out,
An' it crumples the young British soldier.
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier . . .

But the worst o' your foes is the sun over'ead:
You must wear your 'elmet for all that is said:
If 'e finds you uncovered 'e'll knock you down dead,
An' you'll die like a fool of a soldier.
Fool, fool, fool of a soldier . . .

If you're cast for fatigue by a sergeant unkind,
Don't grouse like a woman nor crack on nor blind;
Be handy and civil, and then you will find
That it's beer for the young British soldier.
Beer, beer, beer for the soldier . . .

Now, if you must marry, take care she is old --
A troop-sergeant's widow's the nicest I'm told,
For beauty won't help if your rations is cold,
Nor love ain't enough for a soldier.
'Nough, 'nough, 'nough for a soldier . . .

If the wife should go wrong with a comrade, be loath
To shoot when you catch 'em -- you'll swing, on my oath! --
Make 'im take 'er and keep 'er: that's Hell for them both,
An' you're shut o' the curse of a soldier.
Curse, curse, curse of a soldier . . .

When first under fire an' you're wishful to duck,
Don't look nor take 'eed at the man that is struck,
Be thankful you're livin', and trust to your luck
And march to your front like a soldier.
Front, front, front like a soldier . . .

When 'arf of your bullets fly wide in the ditch,
Don't call your Martini a cross-eyed old bitch;
She's human as you are -- you treat her as sich,
An' she'll fight for the young British soldier.
Fight, fight, fight for the soldier . . .

When shakin' their bustles like ladies so fine,
The guns o' the enemy wheel into line,
Shoot low at the limbers an' don't mind the shine,
For noise never startles the soldier.
Start-, start-, startles the soldier . . .

If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white,
Remember it's ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
And wait for supports like a soldier.
Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . .

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier of the Queen!

(Rudyard Kipling)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:55 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 633 words, total size 3 kb.

I'm sure there's an officially sanctioned academically sound politically correct format out there somewhere...but how do I tell my daughter about what happened today? Especially when I still find it so difficult to speak about it myself?

I have wanted to be the one to do so. I feel that she needs to hear it from somebody who was there. Unvarnished from historical distortions as I can make it; as close to the actual experience as I can relate, without scaring the living daylights out of her.

Now I find that I must do so. Why? It seems that a classmate has given her a somewhat distorted version of what happened. No doubt he only heard it from his parents, but it has the taint of the whole it-was-a-plot-by-the-United-States-and-the-Israelis element about it.

"Let me tell you about the day Daddy almost got killed..."

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Going Downtown. There was a fire in the area, somewhere, last night. It involved at least some plastic. Toss that into a mix with some low-flying planes, and a fun night ensues.

I didn't look until I felt the flame.
The steel turns red, the framework starts to go.
Jacks clasp Jills' hands and step onto the sky.
The noise was not like anything you know.
Stand still, he said, and watch a building die.
There's no one you can help above this floor.
We've got to hold our breath. We've got to climb.
Don't give me that; I did this once before.
The firemen look up, and know the time.
These labored, took their wages, and are dead.
The cracker-crumbs of fascia sieve the light.
The air's deciduous of letterhead.
How dark, how brilliant, things will be tonight.
Once more, we'll all remember where we were.

110 Stories, John M. Ford.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 158 words, total size 2 kb.

Continuing my interest in all things HALO (even though I've never played the game, just collected some figures, bought some books, and played some music), here is a view of the Master Chief vs. a view of the Master Chief. Remember that history is written by the victor!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, we met a pair of characters (real people who are real unique, that is), Ed "Too Tall to Fly" Freeman and Bruce (Ancient Serpent) Crandall. Both were entitled to wear the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Joe Galloway, who was a direct witness to the events of the battle depicted in the book writes of the passing of "Too Tall".

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My wife just called to tell me that NewDog (Mark 4.0) pulled a leather-bound copy of The History of the Peloponnesian War (by Thucydides) off the shelf and proceeded to chow down on the leather cover. It was not in its usual place, I was referring to it as I read Donald Kagan's The Peloponnesian War (his one-volume "popular" treatment of his four-volume opus).

"...the first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the commencement of real history. All preceding narrations are so intermixed with fable, that philosophers ought to abandon them, to the embellishments of poets and orators." (David Hume)

With this, she has joined a very exclusive club. OldDog (Mark 2.0, readers may recall that OldDog, Mark 3.0 passed away last may) chewed up a omnibus edition of The Lord of the Rings when she was roughly the same age.

I know I can get another copy, heck, I can get it for free from Project Gutenberg. But I had this one for about twenty-five years. Ah, NewDog, you're trying my patience!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 180 words, total size 1 kb.

Last year I read the book We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, by Lt. General Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway. The book details the Battle of the Ia Drang, in which a US unit of newly organized airmobile soldiers encounters a large body of North Vietnamese regulars.

The book was made into a movie starring Mel Gibson as then Lt. Colonel Moore. I had not seen it until recently, when I viewed the DVD. A couple of things "made" the movie for me.

First, there is the excellent cast, especially in the form of Sam Elliot portraying Sgt. Major Basil L. Plumley. He absolutely nailed what is important about a fighting sergeant major with his portrayal. Then there's the story, a good distillation of the complicated events of the book. Weapons, uniforms, special effects, all good.

Then there's this song...Sgt. MacKenzie, by Joseph Kilna MacKenzie. Occasionally a song will grab me from a soundtrack. In Blackhawk Down, it was the piece called Leave No Man Behind. With this, as soon as the music started, I knew I had to have the album. Excellent, absolutely chilling music.

Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun

When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid

Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

Ains a year say a prayer faur me
Close yir een an remember me

Nair mair shall a see the sun
For a fell tae a Germans gun

Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun

Utterly amazing music. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 435 words, total size 3 kb.

Satirical maps of the First World War.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It's about dang time.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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...ever happened to Tom Clancy? I mean, there are books "co-written" by him. Which I suspect means they slap his name on the cover, he gets some money for the act, but the writing is done by others.

Long spell of writer's block? I mean its summer...and there ain't no Clancy to read. Hasn't been for years!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:44 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 63 words, total size 1 kb.

Τιμή σ' εκεινους όπου στην ζωή των
ώρισαν να φυλάγουν Θερμοπύλες.
Πότε από το χρέος μη κινούντες΄
δίκαιοι κ' ίσοι,σ'ολες των τες πράξεις,
αλλά με λύπη κιόλας κ' ευσπλαχνία,
γενναίοι οσάκις είναι πλούσιοι κι όταν
είναι πτωχοί, πάλ' εις μικρόν γενναίοι,
πάλι συντρέχοντες, όσο μπορούνε΄
πάντοτε την αλήθεια ομιλούντες,
πλην χωρίς μίσος για τους ψευδωμένους.

(C.P. Cavafy, Thermopylae) more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 161 words, total size 3 kb.

When boyhood's fire was in my blood
I read of ancient free men
In Greece and in Rome where bravely stood
300 men and 3 men

(Thomas Osborne Davis, A Nation Once Again)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 37 words, total size 1 kb.

The review can now be viewed here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:26 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Have historians gotten the date of Caesar's invasion of the island of Britain wrong?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've read Homer's The Odyssey several times, including once in Latin (high school). One thing that has fascinated me about The Odyssey...as well as The Iliad...is how much "truth" there is to the epic. Amazing to find an occasional bit that has survived the passage of time, countless re-translations and re-interpretations and the like.

And then there's the fanciful side. For example, here's a depiction of the "cosmos" of The Odyssey...as a snowglobe.

Addendum: The scholarly paper (Adobe Acrobat).

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:18 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 83 words, total size 1 kb.

A long time ago I decided Stephen King was a bag of wind and stopped buying his books. Nice to have it confirmed, yet again.

I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got, the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's, it's not as bright. So, that's my little commercial for that.

Hey, Stephen, thanks for supporting the troops! Oh, by the way, you really express your total ignorance of the military here. Moron.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:44 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 112 words, total size 1 kb.

David Drake: The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume One (Night Shade Books; 2006; ISBN 978-1-892389-69-5; cover by John Berkey).

David Drake: The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume Two (Night Shade Books; 2006; ISBN 978-1-892389-73-2; cover by John Berkey).

David Drake: The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume Three (Night Shade Books; 2007; ISBN 978-1-892389-80-0; cover by David Martin).

As I read more and more of David Drake's books, I find that I did him something of a disservice in my earlier review of this series. It is only after going through the series, hearing a couple of interviews with him, and reading a chunk of additional tales (of varying lengths) that I see how lightly I dismissed his work.

And for that, I apologize.

more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yes, folks, even the end of the world can be funny. But you have to have been in a unit with a new butterbar to really appreciate something like this.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.