Prepare For The Coming Battle
Quote of the week (from Federalist Patriot No. 05-27)...
"The struggle over the Supreme Court is not just about law: it is about the future of our culture. To restore the Court's integrity will require a minimum of three appointments of men and women who have so firm an understanding of the judicial function that they will not drift left once on the bench. Choosing, and fighting for, the right man or woman to replace Justice O'Connor is the place to start. That will be difficult, but the stakes are the legitimate scope of self-government and an end to judicially imposed moral disorder." --Robert Bork
Big Bubba once again brings it to your attention that there is no better source of conservative thought information than The Federalist Patriot, hit this link for your own subscriptions. To sign up your whole crew go to the multiple subscriptions page. Sign up to have it delivered via e-mail to stay informed and on top of the issues.
"The struggle over the Supreme Court is not just about law: it is about the future of our culture. To restore the Court's integrity will require a minimum of three appointments of men and women who have so firm an understanding of the judicial function that they will not drift left once on the bench. Choosing, and fighting for, the right man or woman to replace Justice O'Connor is the place to start. That will be difficult, but the stakes are the legitimate scope of self-government and an end to judicially imposed moral disorder." --Robert Bork
Big Bubba once again brings it to your attention that there is no better source of conservative thought information than The Federalist Patriot, hit this link for your own subscriptions. To sign up your whole crew go to the multiple subscriptions page. Sign up to have it delivered via e-mail to stay informed and on top of the issues.
posted by BigBubba at 10:39 AM
![[Link to THOMAS Home Page]](http://thomas.loc.gov/images/link.gif)
39 Comments:
I understand that there's a movement afoot in Congress to change the motto on all US coins to "In the Supreme Court We Trust".
-FJ
Big Bubba
What is going on with the left seriously. I had an idiot call Mr Beamish a Nazi for quoting Thomas Jefferon.
The left seems to be cracking up. Thus my call to end immigration from Muslim countries was called genocidal. The desperation on the left is astounding. Have they lost touch with reality.
I have just purchased my first hunting permit . I plan on duck hunting can you send your pal to Vermont.
beakerkins, They believe that their own intellectuality can solve the problems of this world. They place their own perceived wisdom above that of G-d's Word and the wisdom of the ages. They are abject failures. Two prime examples of their abject failures are public schools and our system of institutions of higher ignorance.
Farmer John, it is a chilling thought.
"The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone." --Thomas Jefferson
Bubba
Do not quote Jefferson the liberals get upset. I am glad to have them on my blog but I refuse to nursemaid high maitenence egos
neptune,
I hate to say it, but the Civil War was the repeal of the Tenth Amendment... only it didn't get a Congressional 2/3 majority vote, it got a Roman "roll call" vote from the legions on the Campus Martius.
-FJ
I have my take on the coming battle @
http://alwaysonwatch.blogspot.com/
2005/07/prepare-for-media-blitz.html
I am very fond of the M2 .50 caliber machine gun. The first love of my life, however will always be the Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1.
Lousy shot that I am, I go for a 12-gauge, 3 in magnum load of No. 8 Dove & Quail shot. It may not be lethal, but it stings a might and like the .45 is well suited for the "urban" environment once the choke gets sawed off. Mr. ducky, Maine will be far, far away if you ever have "need".
But don't worry, we're almost 150 years past our "manly" period. The most courageous display we can expect to see is Teddy and Arlen throwing their meds at each other during the Senate Confirmation hearings. As for the filibuster, the "Constitutional" option will soon prove to be the Democrats undoing.
I fully expect a huffy "Texas Walk-out" followed by an Interim Appointment or two and resurrection of the original "circuit ride" requirement to bounce out a few more of the old fogies off the court and replace them with Bush appointees (Thomas and Scalia should make it through "just fine").
During the "walk-out", I'll place money on mr. ducky running up to Maine for comfort, and eventually lookin' for lodging at the Beaks' new place.
Just goin' out on a limb.
-FJ
"where the minority party has absolutely no say and the majority party is being extorted by the national committee to stay in line?"
Duck, I have to give you an A+ for accuracy. You are describing the forty years that the progressive liberal demoracists were in charge aren't you? If you are whining about the realities of politics USA today you are probably still somewhat correct. What's wrong Duck? What's good for the (ahem) duck is not good for the goose?
mr. ducky,
When the "balance of power" structure was developed, the issues weren't "minority party" vs "majority party". It was "rich landed aristocrats" vs "small businessmen". The small businessmen (liberals all) were relegated to the House, the rich landed aristocrats to the Senate...with the Judiciary to be advised and consented upon by the rich landed aristocrats, so that the Courts wouldn't pursue every wild-hare scam in town and could "tone the liberal change machine down". But since the shopkeeper's hourly employee's have taken over BOTH House and Senate, you complain that the party of the perpetually underemployed doesn't get to pick the Court. Please. You won't find any sympathy here.
-FJ
Neptune, I guess that you have never heard of 50 caliber rifles, huh?
Advise and consent does not mean that the Senate may dictate or limit the choices of the President. The progressive liberal demoracists have the same opportunity as the Republicans to gain Congressional majorities and elect a president. It's not the Republicans fault that the pseudo intellectual progressive liberal demoracists, like you Duck, choose to make fun of flyover America and our values and try to assert an intellectual superiority that is sadly lacking. Personally I think that most of us Southern hayseeds are immensely amused by the demoracists trying to win back power every four years while either writing us off or even more hilariously trying to win our vote by insulting us and our values. Keep it up Duck. We are amused.
On the source of "checks and balances" and "mixed" forms of government....
Plato, "Statesman":
"STRANGER: The government of the few, which is intermediate between that of the one and many, is also intermediate in good and evil; but the government of the many is in every respect weak and unable to do either any great good or any great evil, when compared with the others, because the offices are too minutely subdivided and too many hold them. And this therefore is the worst of all lawful governments, and the best of all lawless ones. If they are all without the restraints of law, democracy is the form in which to live is best; if they are well ordered, then this is the last which you should choose, as royalty, the first form, is the best, with the exception of the seventh, for that excels them all, and is among States what God is among men.
YOUNG SOCRATES: You are quite right, and we should choose that above all."
--------
And of course, the "seventh" form of government contains elements of monarchy (Presidency), oligarchy (Senate), and democracy (House of Reps).
--------
And Plato’s “Laws”:
“ATHENIAN: Nothing can be clearer than the observation which I am about to make.
MEGILLUS: What is it?
ATHENIAN: That if any one gives too great a power to anything, too large a sail to a vessel, too much food to the body, too much authority to the mind, and does not observe the mean, everything is overthrown, and, in the wantonness of excess, runs in the one case to disorders, and in the other to injustice, which is the child of excess. I mean to say, my dear friends, that there is no soul of man, young and irresponsible, who will be able to sustain the temptation of arbitrary power--no one who will not, under such circumstances, become filled with folly, that worst of diseases, and be hated by his nearest and dearest friends: when this happens his kingdom is undermined, and all his power vanishes from him. And great legislators who know the mean should take heed of the danger. As far as we can guess at this distance of time, what happened was as follows:--
MEGILLUS: What?
ATHENIAN: A God, who watched over Sparta, seeing into the future, gave you two families of kings instead of one; and thus brought you more within the limits of moderation. In the next place, some human wisdom mingled with divine power, observing that the constitution of your government was still feverish and excited, tempered your inborn strength and pride of birth with the moderation which comes of age, making the power of your twenty- eight elders equal with that of the kings in the most important matters. But your third saviour, perceiving that your government was still swelling and foaming, and desirous to impose a curb upon it, instituted the Ephors, whose power he made to resemble that of magistrates elected by lot; and by this arrangement the kingly office, being compounded of the right elements and duly moderated, was preserved, and was the means of preserving all the rest. Since, if there had been only the original legislators, Temenus, Cresphontes, and their contemporaries, as far as they were concerned not even the portion of Aristodemus would have been preserved; for they had no proper experience in legislation, or they would surely not have imagined that oaths would moderate a youthful spirit invested with a power which might be converted into a tyranny. Now that God has instructed us what sort of government would have been or will be lasting, there is no wisdom, as I have already said, in judging after the event; there is no difficulty in learning from an example which has already occurred. But if any one could have foreseen all this at the time, and had been able to moderate the government of the three kingdoms and unite them into one, he might have saved all the excellent institutions which were then conceived; and no Persian or any other armament would have dared to attack us, or would have regarded Hellas as a power to be despised.
CLEINIAS: True.”
-FJ
neptune,
Of course the Roman "Republican" form of government (pre-Caesar) followed the Spartan form, with two "Consul's" of equal power, a Senate, and two or more "Tribunes of the Plebs". In dire emergencies (ie - invasion of the Gauls), a dictator was chosen to "unite" the separated powers. Cincinnatus was one. Washington was "another".
And of course, Aristotle was Plato's student. Aristotle's student was, of course, Alexander.
Cincinnatus
-FJ
neptune,
As for the Founders, I'm afraid they found little use for Plato and, as you say, favoured Aristotle and the late Republican Romans like Cicero. They had good "reason" for thinking Aristotle a more “enlightened” model.
Jefferson to Adams
Plato provides the model for "republic", Aristotle "empire".
-FJ
mr. ducky,
Like the good German, I like winning wars on the battlefield, not losing them to the ACLU in Court or in the press at home. As von Clauswitz said, "war is an imposition of will". Those that don't have the "will" need to sit down and shut up.
And the troops know the story. It's the billion Arab civilians on the street that I don't want to gettin' the "wrong idea", that we don't have the "will".
-FJ
I probably will not be playing very much today. I just returned from an unscheduled visit to the VA dentist. He pulled three of my teeth.
Duck, I no longer miss FPM. I usually found only three or four posters to be of any interest whatsoever. You, Farmer John, Neptune, beakerkins and I seem to be here pretty regularly. Samwich is fairly regular. There were quite a few down right idiots at FPM, on the left and the right, who I do not miss at all.
I am still looking for the right format for my proposed blog site. The emphasis of my current search is threaded comments like FPM, Richard Poe's old site and others.
Please, dear friends (I hope I left out no one), please keep returning. It is amazing that a non-threaded comment could amass 50-80, and more, comments. It says alot for the intellect of the regulars on my humble Blog.
mr. ducky,
You just miss the "in your FACE, SUCKAH!" nature of the FPM "argument".
BB, et al,
I think we've starting to gain a little too much respect for one another around here. I kinda like driftin' over the Beaks blog now and again and probing the "wit" level, but I must admit, I'm about FPM'd out. I hate arguing the same topics (war and education), day in, day out. It's like not having to "think" anymore. I think we all need to go out and scare up some new talent for BB's blog, some newbies that we can all learn to love to hate! In fact, I think I'll start lookin' for a few to bait over right now!
-FJ
mr. ducky,
Is this the link?
bbc link
You really need to start learning to "embed" these yourself...
As for Texas, all I can say is that the cable rates are probably too high...
-FJ
mr. ducky,
Is that ALL we've spent? Wow, I wonder what the market value of the world's second largest oil reserve is? No wonder we sold off our own paltry national "strategic petroleum reserve".
And with America controlling the world oil supply now, I guess we no longer have to worry about the $20 trillion dollar unfunded Social Security liability or the $6 trillion dollar national debt or the money runnin' out in 2026. We've got a little "collateral" now.
If you ask me, GWB is a MUCH better investor than Pat Robertson.
And if you ask me, Iraq is a much higher fidelity test range than China Lake or Edwards, there are no "protestors" running out into the middle of the drop zone AND no need for those silly "Red Flag" umpires. We save a bundle "closing down the test ranges"!
And best of all, once the ordinance gets dropped, there's no EPA cleanup afterwards. Superfund lawyers don't get a single penny!
;-)
-FJ
Ducky, please point me to the site to document soldiers complaining about the Iraq War and their role in it.
You have to be a real man to live in Texas. We are currently once again showing the world why Little Phil deliriously stated,
"If I owned both Texas and Hell, I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell." --Union Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan
While attending a banquet honoring former President Ulysses S. Grant, in 1880, at Galveston's Tremont Hotel, Union General Phil Sheridan, mellowed by good liquor and southern hospitality, arose and apologized for his famous remark that if he owned Hell and Texas, he would rent out Texas and live in Hell.
The yankee general may have talked remorse, but he didn't end his days in Texas. He died in Massachusetts and is buried at Arlington.
Neptune, FJ, BB, Ducky et al.
That was always my primary criticism of FPM: its endlessly recycled articles which prompted endlessly recycled message threads. If that wasn't frustrating enough, all the posters who seem perfectly content to spout their usual jibber-jabber.
The willful ignoring of the issues of the day at FPM is frustrating. Its "cultural" articles are abysmal even by its own standards. It's peculiar obsession with Israel is boring at best and suspect at worst. You have to wonder if they truly have the courage of their convictions when they can't even deal with current events.
Bubba, I'm enjoying my Federalist subscription. Also been delving into the classics when I can thanks to FJ.
There's still some cool folks on the boards I wouldn't mind seeing over here for a free-for-all.
Neptune,
Sounds like a worthwhile series on History Channel International. Wish I could have seen it.
Norm,
I've downloaded a copy of Joyce's "Dubliners" from gutenberg. I've got one last Greek tragedy on my reading table, then I aim to give it a shot. I'll try write a review, which you are free to "critique" (in fact, it would be quite helpful). I often like scribbling a review at Barnes & Noble.com in order to "organize my thoughts". I'll keep you posted.
-FJ
Mr. Ducky, Big Bubba was an Im Jin Scout At this link "Keep up the fire" has nothing to do with Im Jin Scouts. It is the motto of the Ninth United States Infantry. Im Jin Scouts served in every unit of the Second Infantry Division. During my day in Korea we were designated Im Jin Scouts upon graduation from the Advanced Combat Academy. I was a member of the 2d Battalion (Mechanized) 23d United States Infantry. Our motto was "We Serve." That is exactly what we did, serve. We did what we were asked to do. I did it for over two years, 1966-1968. You can find out more at Scenes From an Unfinished War.
I laugh at people like you with your maudlin nonsense about our soldiers in Iraq serving and dying. None of them were drafted and none are there against their will. I was proud to say "We Serve" and I am certain that today's soldiers are equally proud to serve.
I find your lame brain pontifications about what the Iraqi people want to be most tiresome. Even those intellectual defects with a modicum of ability to exercise logic and reason should be able to figure out why the Shiite majority, long oppressed, tortured and killed by Saddam's minority Sunni Arabs are the target of Sunni insurgents. The Sunnis miss the murderous good old days when they were in control of Iraqi's rape rooms. Wake up and think, Duck.
Farmer John, I don't know about your "respect" theory. I became a little out of hand at FPM because there was a large number of brain dead mental defects who were wearing me out. The people who have migrated here I always respected - even my natural adversaries, Norm Chompski and Mr. Ducky. Sometimes Duck wears me out with his ignorant BS, but I have always been very amused by his language. Chompski and Duck are both intellectual. You can't have an argument if everyone agrees.
People used to accuse me of having nothing to say other than mindless twit, low grade moron, imbecile, etc. and they were 100% correct. I never was able to see the point of arguing with a brain dead moron with the intellect of a lamp post. Nothing wrong with a little respect Farmer John. I respect everyone here and appreciate their presence for our mutual intellectual amusement. We do need to expand our little merry band.
Norm, I wonder if there is a liberal equivalent of the Federalist Patriot?
Neptune, you hit the nail on the head with your suggested topics; 1. Current Events, 2. Sports & Entertainment and 3. Religion & Education. Clarification on Religion Topic. I am an avowed Calvinist and Evangelical - Baptist to the core. I am not interested in proselytizing. I am interested in discussing the Judeo-Christian foundation of our country and its institutions. I will discuss my particular beliefs as appropriate to the discussion at hand. I do like arguing with atheists. I am pro-Israel and will occasionally want to discuss that topic.
I like the Spurs and Cowboys. My interest in major league baseball waned years ago. I didn't fully understand why until I saw that wonderful HBO program "When It Was a Game." In my youth I was an avid Brooklyn Dodger fan. I never got over the move from Brooklyn. How could they!? I like to comment on entertainment on a cultural values basis. That could be a frequent topic of discussion. Everyone knows that I love to discuss our institutions of higher ignorance and the rape of our educational system by the progressive liberal pseudo intellectual social engineering secular humanists. It is my fervent belief that they are attempting to hijack our great nation in a wheelbarrow destined for Hell. Current events are always a great topic. Any more input guys?
I am very close to setting up my website. The thought occurred to me today that this Blog can be an important part of my new website. I just need to move it over and keep trucking. I can do that while constructing the rest of the site. My major hang up continues to be finding a forum threaded format like FPM, or Richard Poe's site. I really like that. I don't like the format at David Yeagley's BadEagle.com. My forum is out there somewhere. Trust me. I am working between visits to the VA. Tuesday things will slow down for Big Bubba's Sixtieth Birthday.
Ducky, I wouldn't mind vacationing in Maine. I saw some waterfront resort on the travel channel that looked very appealing. Why on earth are you interested in the 50 caliber Barrett. What do you do with it? That's the type of rifle that would get Samwich very excited.
BB,
Its going to take a little time to digest your recent posts... especially the DPRK/ ROK and US miltary unit histories. And it looks like you've been busy on the Coulter front as well, I look forward to reading it... all great work by the way. And so forgive me if I lapse into silence for a little while...
-FJ
Farmer John, you have caused several lapses of silence on my part with your classical posts. I love it, but it does require considerable more brain activity than commenting on everyday political events.
Neptune, the Blog will not be interim it will be a permanent fixture. I spend a little time every day looking. I am in danger of living my quote on the front page. I always take note of every good idea/suggestion, Neptune, even if I do not address each and every one.
In my internet travels I have found the information highway littered with forums that have been closed down because of flamers, trolls and just out of control in general. I am going to state right up front that I intend to just flat boot any disruptive personalites, i.e. sukrates and the sukratic clone army. I have no intention of turning my efforts over to intellectual deadbeats. I would not consider such actions censorship either. I would not give the boot to smokingidiot, Mr. (dis)Unite Us, dumbya, dumbjo, watchidiot, wackyweed, NEONINK, tony, uptownmindlesstwitsteve, Liberal Professor the old drag queen, promothean muddlehead, Cross Rose, VOR (Voice of Ridiculousness), Right Wing Idiot, Rid.(culous) Judas Priest, Unholy Idiot, C(ertified) B(onehead) S(tupe), weasel -- FPM moron. Let's face it, idiots can be immensely entertaining.
BB,
I'd probably be through reading the "Unfinished War" link you posted but for the wonderful opportunities for digressions it has offered thus far. Being more a student of naval warfare and less "contemporary" military conflicts, I find it very well organized and illuminating.
I don't know if the website itself induced you to do any exploration, but if it didn't, I wanted to make you aware of a resource being developed there for dealing with "current" issues and events (at the bottom of the page).
Papers
In perusing one of the documents on the Arab Urban Environment, I came across a very interesting comment made by an author... that the Prophet Mohammed was an "urban" merchant and that Sharia (sic) was intended for imposition on "urban" dwellers.
I wonder if mr. ducky knows that once Islam has been imposed on Americans, the Imam's will be chasing him around with "fine Corcyraean wings" trying to get him to change his ways (Aristophane's "Birds").
Which brings me to what I consider, so far, to being the "key" to understanding the failure of DPRK agents to convert the local peasantry... Urban ideas are obviously false to anyone who eats three square meals a day provided by the fruits of his own labor on his own land. The blue iliteratti still don't get it (i.e. - Thomas Frank, "What's Wrong with Kansas"). The red-blue political map data doesn't lie.
neptune,
I'd like to read your ideas on the soul one day. I too would also appreciate a "religion" category, or a mixture of culture and philosophy issues category at BB's future blog site. That way, contributors could avoid having to wade through all my rather lengthy and laborious posts and I would plague only those with an appetite for performing "penance". ;-)
-FJ
Farmer John, about this unfinished war business - I lived it. I was a participant in SCOSI (Security & Counter-espionage Operations South of the Im Jin) operations, the Blue House incident, the capture of the Pueblo, Paul Bunyon and much, much more.
E-mail to Big Bubba about the Engineer chow line incident,
“Saw your post about the Katusa comment. I was actually in that chowline they walked the AK' 47 fire down. I had just come in from the field and was on my way back from the motor pool, got at the end of the line but changed my mind and decided to go back to the hootch. I was sitting on my bunk leaning back against my wall locker having a smoke, when I leaned forward to throw my butt in the buttcan a round went right through the locker where my head had been. My families prayers were working that day! The 2 GI's that were killed were Sp/4 Mike Vogel, killed as he ran from the motor pool, and PFC Curtis Rivers, shot in the chest as he served chow. He died the next day. The actual count was 4 KIA and 27 WIA. The other 2 dead and 12 of the other WIA were some of the KATUSA's that someone apparently has contempt for. The last WIA was a female civilian that was collecting the laundry. It was not a good day. I spent many nights after that sitting up in the position that we blasted out of the rock above the rock quarry as well as in the bunkers around the camp. What really hurts is that these guys have been ignored and forgotten. All I read about is the Paul Bunyan "tree trimming massacre". Hell they even renamed the Base Camp after the Captain. Not to denigrate their loss but hell we lost 4KIA and 27 WIA out of an understrength company of 92 for crissakes! And the worst part was later that year after we went back south the company yearbook was published and not only was the incident not mentioned but the names of the dead, and those whose wounds were bad enough to require shipping them home, were not even mentioned in the book. Sad that so many of the guys who served at Camp Liberty Bell (named because we were the Liberty Bell Battalion and we built it) never knew what it cost. Including the mingling of the blood of Americans and some of those KATUSAs they think so little of. I worked and lived and fought with them and they were good soldiers.”
Big Bubba’s e-mail response to someone asking the date of the Engineer chow line incident,
I also received this e-mail (Note: e-mail above) about the incident. Thought that perhaps you would be interested in what Monahan has to say about the incident. I found it very interesting. The date of the incident was 28 Aug 1967. I remarked to my ex-wife that it seems like every time I was involved in security operations I never saw who I "was securing." On this operation I remember deciding to split my fire teams on two pieces of high ground. Seems like from one position you could barely glimpse Liberty Bell in the distance. When I was briefed on the operation I was told that Joe Chink had machine gunned the Engineer's chow line.
When the 2/23d ran security for President Johnson's Korea visit we must have humped about 12 yamas to set up on the military crest of some high ground from where we had a day long glimpse of nothing. After staring at nothing all day long we packed up and convoyed back to Camp Lawton.
Major, I spent most of '66, '67 and up to Jul of '68 in the 2/23d. I was assigned there as a tank crewman the day after the battalion had turned in their tanks. I liked it so I stayed in A Company as the First Sergeant's protégé and number one operative. He was a stone cold alky, but, he liked me for some reason. I worked in supply, moved on to the motor pool and finally Top's ultimate position for me, company clerk. The easy life made me restless and I convinced Top to send me before the Sgt E5 board. I did good so that's when I began my days as an Infantry Sqd Leader. I loved it. I forget why, but, someone wanted me to be the Bn S2 NCO. I spent about a year in Battalion Headquarters.
I saw it all. I went out on the first SCOSI patrol. I was in the briefing when the Division ADC (M) concluded that we were playing with ourselves. I went right back out on the new and improved SCOSI that the good General dreamed up for us. My driver and I hauled cement with our APC for the barrier fence. Then I spent who knows how many nights, with my squad, on barrier fence stake outs. My exit was a fire fight in Ambush Alley in, I believe, April 1968. I didn't mean to be in a fire fight. I was just there investigating an incident in my capacity as S2 NCO. My clue that it was to actually be an "in progress" investigation was seeing one of my friends being hauled out on a litter, wounded.
I returned to Korea in 1976 to, guess where? HHC, 1/17th Infantry. I was there for Operation Paul Bunyan. I have never seen any mention of the classic deception operation that the 2d ID pulled off that totally masked the seriousness of our intents about that damned tree. I was the Battalion Truckmaster. Part of our little role in the deception was loading/unloading our 50 tons of ammo twice in 24 hours. That would certainly separate the men from the boys.
There was a motor pool papasan working there who had been the A 2/23d motor pool papasan. I guess the Koreans loved us because they stayed with us for so long. My first tour we had two Mess papasans who had been with the Battalion since the Korean War. I just barely missed being in the 1/8th Cav which became the 2/23d Inf (M).
What a great country! Between Korea and Viet Nam I never thought I would live to be 30. I turn 60 next month and I am still breathing. When I hit Fiddler's Green I will proudly tell all that I was a 2/23d Mechanized Infantry trooper from the Second to None Division, "We Serve."
NOTE: The 1st Squadron 8th United States Cavalry became the 2d Battalion (Mechanized) 23rd United States Infantry in early 1966 (if I remember correctly). In the 1970s it became the 1st Battalion (Mechanized) 17th United States Infantry. In 1966 the Second Infantry Division set a policy that Reveille, or any other formal military formations, would not be held north of the Im Jin River. The reason was that the 1/8th Cavalry's Reveille formation at their camp just north of Libby Bridge was machine gunned one morning.
BB,
It would appear that you have certainly lived in the "interesting times" of Kai Lung. Perhaps this will entitle you to avoid his "other" two curses...
interesting times
The closest I ever got to the DMZ was in '76 and '77, port calls to Busan where the single hazard to be faced was getting back to the ship before curfew. I do remember one thing, the ROK's Port Security folks were not to be messed with, even at that late date. They were ALL business.
The history of the unfinished war is something that needs more publicity. I was still going to grade school in Caracas ('66-70) when this all happened. My dad retired in '70, Sr. Master Sgt. USAF, after 25. We didn't get much war news to speak of down there. We entertained our family watching all the new training films that got flown in once a month from Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico on a 16mm projector "excessed" by the embassy.
The curse of the modern era is that the only stories we seem to be able to relate in our culture are the ones that turned out badly. And this story is a nice counter to all that "Peace Studies" propaganda being dished out in the universities, and all the doom and gloom ladled out daily by the press.
Thanks for posting it.
-FJ
ps - It would be interesting to know what would have happened if Bonesteel had understood the significance of Kim Il Sung's purges and been allowed to remove his gloves. I'm a tit-for-tat kind of guy. I wonder how HIS peasants were fairing at the time, and how THEY would have responded to an active A-Team presence (million man militia or not). We might not be talking about DPRK WMD's today.
But somehow I suspect, those cards never had a ghost of a chance of ever getting played.
We're "rule followers" that have a hard time "loosening" the Rules of Engagement (especially once the UN's been dragged in). It's the only reason why some of our enemies are still in the game. I do applaud Bonesteel for doing it after the first attacks and infiltrations, he defintely "changed the box"... and ulktimately, the whole "game".
-FJ
I often hear the question of two Koreas discussed while Red China goes unmentioned. It is utterly useless to discuss the two Koreas, reunification, or the use of force on the peninsula without considering Red China. Nothing will happen on the Korean Peninsula without the approval of Red China.
General Bonesteel's nickname was "The Happy Pirate." Can you figure out why. I saw him once while I was in a class. He was standing in the door, observing, smiling, and doing that happy pirate thing.
I suspect the eyepatch had something to do with it. I understand Bonesteel had a hand in crafting the Marshall Plan for Europe post WWII. He's also rumoured to have advocated for Truman nuking Soviet nuke development sites after their first atomic tests (Glazov Symposium at FPM). He was a "West Point" legacy... probably a Cincinnatus, so not likely a Yale Bonesman.
As for China, the author of the "Unfinished War" seemed to believe that Russia and China were squabbling at the time and Kim Il Sung was relatively isolated at the time... but you're right, China would probably fight to maintain a controllable buffer state on her border... which is one of the only reasons N. Korea probably never actually collapsed (if all today's "starving peasant" rumours are true... you would think it would be "ripe" for an insurgency). Since the Korean's had to set "political commissars" over their military officers following the failed S. Korea venture, you'd think Kim Il wouldn't be getting much sleep, either. And if a "coordinated" DPRK people's "revolution" happened, would China commit forces to suppress the people's revolt and prop up another strongman? How about if ROK forces were "actively" in evidence? I admit, I don't know for certain, it would depend upon the number of "distractions" she might be facing at the time (ie - Taiwan or S. Vietnam focus).
-FJ
On the current "peasant" situation in DPRK...
Mr. Kang's Story
-FJ
More on the DPRK peasant situation from NRO...
NRO article
-FJ
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