At the moment that I am typing this, 69 years ago a world was dieing.

The United States had climbed back into its shell after World War I. We had sparred diplomatically with the Japanese for a few years, and had been almost a belligerent in the European war that sprang to life in 1939.  But for the most part we were insulated in our sea to shining sea fortress. 

At this moment 69 years ago, soldiers and sailors in and around Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, were preparing for another day in a peacetime military.  Maybe they were on duty, maybe they were on pass.  Either way, they were in paradise, and probably looked forward to a quiet Sunday.

Some, such as crewmen of the destroyer Ward, had an inkling that something was about to happen, as they dropped depth charges on a submarine that had been sighted earlier.  Radar operators had already seen a cloud of fighters and bombers on their way in to Pearl Harbor and alerted their superiors to the presence of what was the first wave of Japanese attackers.

But for the most part, Pearl Harbor and its environs are enjoying a peaceful, quiet Sunday morning.

Within an hour, all of that would be gone forever. 

By the end of the Japanese attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, along with nearby Army and Navy installations, over 3000 Americans were dead or wounded. By the time the war was over, more than 16 million Americans had put on the uniform.  By the time the Japanese emperor signed the surrender documents in Tokyo Harbor in 1945, 416,000 Americans had been killed.  America was shocked out of her isolation, and has spent the intervening 69 years trying to be a liberator, protector, and provider to the rest of the world.

Today we stop to remember the soldiers, sailors, and Marines who fought during those morning hours 69 years ago.  We mourn those who fell defending that island paradise, and we honor both their memories and those who survived.  May we live up to the sacrifices they made.

Remember that movie from the 1990’s called “Falling Down“? The one where a middle-class guy has one heck of a freak out because he’s had one too many gut shots in life in too short a time?

On bad days, I start to think it’s a documentary.

On really bad days, I start to believe it’s a comedy.

Chuck Zeigenfuss over at From My Position, On the Way! has some great advice on how to deal with the Zombie Apocalypse.  

A few weeks ago I realized I had the oldest computer in the house. My daily use computer was a first generation Mac Mini that I ordered the day they announced the line. It was speedy enough when I bought it in 2005, but it was really showing it’s age when I tried to use Open Office or open a lot of tabs in Firefox. Since it’s a G4 Mac, a lot of newer software flat won’t run on it.

Yesterday I rectified that situation. Girlie Bear and I went to the Apple store and walked out with a new MacBook. 2gb of RAM, 250gb hard drive.  It’s definitely got the horsepower to do the word processing, web surfing, and IRC chatting that I use a computer for 95% of the time, and should do just fine with the other 5% too.

So early Merry Christmas to me.

No father hath love like he who braves a McDonalds Playland on a Friday night for the sake of his son.

Hell hath no wrath like a toddler who has been promised chicken nuggets when he sees the car passing a McDonalds.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Or, “DaddyBear gladly gives his life to defend Jihadistan, a little known region of Kentucky just to the southwest of Louisville”.

Last night, I made my way back down to Fort Knox and spent the evening and early morning as a role player at the Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) site.  I was one of the aggressors against a group of U.S. soldiers who are preparing to deploy overseas.  While I did MOUT exercises when I was on active duty, I’ve never done it as a role player, and it’s a totally different experience when you’re the one who’s being attacked.

I was garbed up in a daishiki, keffiyah, hearing protection, paintball helmet, and a paintball gun. After a safety briefing we were bussed out to one of several ‘villages’ that have been set up for units to train on several different missions.  Due to OPSEC considerations, I won’t go into too many details on the scenarios or the layouts of the training areas, but here are a few of my thoughts on the experience:

• The soldiers I fought against were highly trained, extremely professional, and very good at expending ordnance in a very focused and efficient manner.
• When sitting in a conex in 28 degree weather for an hour, you cannot wear too many layers.
• Flashbang grenades, when thrown into said conex in multiples, are extremely loud and will definitely get your attention.
• Up-Armored Humvees with turrets are cool enough to make this cynical veteran geek out.  Also, green paintballs will not penetrate the windshield, but will mess up the driver’s visibility.
• A vehicle that’s been used as an IED will burn for quite a while and makes a good place to warm up in between training scenarios.
• Being captured, flex-cuffed, and placed on your knees facing the wall for 45 minutes sucks.
• 60 rounds of 5.56mm wax bullets, when fired into ones head, torso, and extremities hurts like a mother.  

My one war story from last night deals with that last thought.  In one of the scenarios, we defended a building and the soldiers trained in assaulting and clearing a building.  Everyone in my group but me went upstairs, while I was the lone defender of the first floor, or as the old hands called it “Flash Bang Central”.  Remember, I was the dumbass newbie, so I cheerfully ensconced myself in one of the rooms.  The room had a main area and a closet/bathroom just off of the door.  I set myself up in the closet, and waited for the soldiers to make their way down the hallway to me.  As the pair of soldiers made their way down the hallway, I could hear them kicking doors and slinging grenades.  My hope was that they would be running low on flash-bangs by the time they got to me.  NO SUCH LUCK.  When they got to my room, their grenade flew past the closet and into the main room.  Two soldiers came behind the explosion to check the room, and I opened up with my paintball gun.  I must have startled them, because they turned and unloaded on me from about 3 feet away.  I’m pretty sure they both went through a 30 round magazine because I was hit everywhere they could hit me and they both had to reload after I put my hands up and dropped the gun.  I did manage to get a few shots off and hit them in the legs, but I’m pretty sure they got me.  My multiple layers of clothing helped to make most of the hits to just stinging, but this morning, I have several bruises the size of a dime on my arm and thigh.  If those had been real bullets, it would have been very messy.

This morning, I’m tired, sore, bruised in a couple of places, and fired up to go back.  I hope that being shot, grenaded, and cuffed last night gave these soldiers experience that will help them complete their missions and come home safe.

AD has put up one of the most powerful things I’ve read in a long time. 

Go read it. 

Sometimes there just isn’t enough hot water and soap.

I tried to add a few new entries to the blog roll this morning, and that was made of fail. Yes, I know, my blogroll is huge.  Yes, I look at all of the updates to all of those blogs.  Thank Cthulhu for aggregators.

I tried for a long time to sort out the Fun, Gun, Politics, Tech, and whatever kind of blogs I felt they belonged to. Problem was, a lot of my gun blogs talked about politics, the political blogs were a heck of a lot of fun, and everyone mentions technology every so often.

So I give up.  I’m lumping y’all into one long mother of a blogroll.  Makes it simpler to make sure everyone I read gets listed, and stops me from pigeon-holing y’all.

OK, I’m a nerd.  I admit it. 

I was doing some thinking today while I was cutting up and splitting wood for the fireplace.  Try to follow this:  (Remember, I’m not a real historian, just a putz who likes to read about history)

1. France and England fought numerous wars in the Americas, Europe, and India during the 17th and 18th centuries.
2. After losing her colonies in North America, France stuck a thumb in England’s eye and helped the Americans in their revolution.
3. France went into an economic depression that was caused at least in part by the money it spent on the American Revolution, bringing about the French Revolution
4. The great powers of Europe declared war on France following the revolution, which gave rise to Napoleon.
5. Napoleon fought a series of wars with the rest of Europe.  These wars started the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires.  They also started the ball rolling on Italian and German unifications.
6. Europe created several multi-lateral mutual defense accords, at least in part to keep a balance of power on the continent and keep another country from creating a new Napoleon.  These agreements also ushered in a united Germany and Italy.
7. These interlocking mutual defense pacts led almost directly to the escalation of an assassination to the beginning of the First World War, with new empires (Germany and Italy) fighting against old empires (France, Austro-Hungary, Russia, Britain).
8. Russia’s lack of ability to fight a long war with the Austrians and Germans led to the conditions that Lenin used to hold the October Revolution, establishing Communism in Eastern Europe.
9. The aftermath of the First World War and the Versailles treaty created the conditions for the Second World War.  It also destroyed the large stabilizing influences of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires on Eastern Europe and the Mid-East, contributing to the problems we have in those areas to this day.
10. The aftermath of the Second World War put the final nail in European colonialism, which pretty much died in Africa and Asia within 30 years of the end of the War.  
11. The Soviet Union and the United States faced off in a stalemate in Europe, but fought a series of proxy wars in other parts of the world, such as Asia, Central and South America, the Mid-East, and Africa.
12. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the stabilizing stalemate between the United States and the Soviet Union disintegrated, bringing fights that have simmered for a long time back to the forefront in much of the world.
13. The United States has strived to remain a relevant stabilizing force in world that is rapidly returning to the fragmented semi-chaos that ruled throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries.

So basically, I somehow came to the conclusion that the issues we are facing today are directly related to wars that France and England fought 300 years ago.

Sometime my mind wanders. I’m just surprised it finds its way back.

The Russian Duma recently publicly admitted that the Soviet Union, under direct orders from Josef Stalin, was responsible for the massacre of Polish soldiers at Katyn Forest.  For decades, the Soviets blamed this horrific incident on the Nazi’s.  After the fall of the wall, evidence came to light placing the blame squarely on Stalin and the NKVD.  This has been a bleeding sore in relations between Russia and her neighbor, Poland.

Over the past couple of years, Russia has been moving closer and closer to admitting its role in the massacre and the cover-up.  With this declaration, most of the darkness surrounding it has been shed.

Russia seems to be learning, at least in part, from what Germany has done since the end of the Second World War:  Admit everything, hide nothing, apologize profusely.  If Germany had not completely come clean about what happened in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe during WWII, then I cannot see how Germany could have become as central to Europe as it is today.  Countries that now ally themselves with Deutschland economically, politically, and militarily could not do so in good conscience if the Germans denied the camps, the ghettos, and the massacres.

Likewise, as Russia reaches out to Europe for integration and influence, it must admit to past abuses.  Mending fences with Poland over Katyn is a good first step.  I see several more years of Russia admitting to how badly it treated the members of the Warsaw Pact for 45 years.   As sunshine cleanses the history of Russia and her neighbors, hopefully it will allow Europe to truly heal from the World Wars and their aftermath.