Irish Woman, watching the end of “The Empire Strikes Back” with Boo – “Where’s Han Solo?”
DaddyBear, distracted by going through the monthly bills – “He’s frozen in carbonite. Haven’t you seen this before?”
Irish Woman – “Well, yeah, but it’s been years. So the rebel fleet just drifts around and the new DeathStar is chasing them?”
DaddyBear – “The new DeathStar hasn’t been started yet. That’s the next movie. There’s a gap of a few years between this movie and Jedi. A lot happens in those years by the way. Luke continues to improve his Jedi powers, Leia has to get her metal bikini body, Lando has to make all those Colt .45 commercials, and Chewbacca becomes a Ron Paul supporter.”
Overheard in the Living Room
Posted by daddybear71 on January 26, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/26/overheard-in-the-living-room-3/
Books for Junior Officers
H/T to Blackfive for pointing this new list out.
Company Command has done a survey of Army officers about what they read and then published the top fifty. They call it Read2Lead. I’ve always thought that when a leader isn’t doing his job, he ought to be learning how to do it better. I was blessed to have a Command Sergeant Major in Germany who believed that an NCO should read through all of the same reading lists as the officers he serves under. He would assign reading at each NCO development session, and expected us to be able to discuss the contents of each of them, the lessons to be learned, and how they applied to us as Intelligence professionals.
Here’s the list from Read2Lead, with ones I’ve read in bold and my notes:
(Links to Amazon if you want to get your own copy will also drop a few shekels in Uncle’s gun fund.)
- Once an Eagle – Read it, reread it, made my son read it. My daughter will also read it, and so will Boo when he gets old enough. It’s a morality play about the selfless warrior played against the self-interested careerist, but you have to have ideals to strive for, and this one provides them with sprinkles on top. The lessons in this one apply to anyone, military or not.
- We Were Soldiers Once…and Young – Excellent telling of the story of one of the first big fights in Vietnam. Also gave me background information when I learned who Rick Rescorla was.
- Platoon Leader: A Memoir of Command in Combat
- Taking the Guidon: Exceptional Leadership at the Company Level
- Black Hearts: One Platoon’s Descent into Madness in Iraq’s Triangle
- Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach
- On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society – I’ve read some excerpts from this, and I need to read the whole thing.
- Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest – Another one that I’ve read and reread. Also gave to my sons to read, and will give to the daughter when she’s old enough.
- Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
- Infantry Attacks – Read all of it in English and then reread parts of it in German. There is a difference in content.
- A Message to Garcia
- NIV Study Bible
- The Prince
- On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace – I’ve read some excerpts from this, and I need to read the whole thing.
- The Good Soldiers
- Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
- About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior – Read it initially as a young PFC. Reread it every couple of years since. If half of what Hackworth says about his career is true, he was as hard as chicken lips.
- The Leadership Lessons of Jesus: A Timeless Model for Today’s Leaders
- Principle-Centered Leadership
- The Defence of Duffer’s Drift
- The Heights of Courage: A Tank Leader’s War on the Golan
- How to Win Friends and Influence People – Believe it or not, I’ve read this one. One of my former employers thought I needed “people skills”.
- Team Yankee – Great novel. A little dated now, but the leadership shown by the main character still shines.
- The Forgotten Soldier
- East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout In Korea, 1950
- Leadership and Training for the Fight: A Few Thoughts on Leadership and Training from a Former Special Operations Soldier
- The Places In Between
- Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts: The Hopeless to Hardcore Transformation of 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, United States Army, Vietnam – Another great one by Hackworth. He expands on something from his first book and discusses how he took a broken down battalion and turned them into fighters.
- Street Without Joy – I used to think this was kind of dated, but considering how Iraq and Afghanistan are going, I know now that I was wrong.
- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t
- The Village
- First Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
- Passion of Command: The Moral Imperative of Leadership
- Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II
- Leadership: The Warrior’s Art
- Company Command: The Bottom Line
- Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters
- The Defense of Jisr al-Doreaa
- Infantry in Battle
- The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
- Shackleton’s Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer
- Words for Warriors: A Professional Soldier’s Notebook
- The Arab Mind
- Cigars, Whiskey and Winning: Leadership Lessonsfrom General Ulysses S. Grant
- It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy
- Muddy Boots Leadership: Real Life Stories and Personal Examples of Good, Bad, and Unexpected Results
- The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations
- This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History
- The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization
- The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander
The list is interesting because it’s the books that our young leaders, who will be our battalion and brigade leaders in the next war, are reading for their own professional enrichment.
I think I need to read more. I haven’t read too many books on the list that have been published since I got out. How about the rest of y’all?
Posted by daddybear71 on January 25, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/25/books-for-junior-officers/
30 Days of Reagan – Day 23
I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 25, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/25/30-days-of-reagan-day-23/
Thought for the Day
DaddyBear’s rules for watching political speeches, regardless of the political affiliation of the speaker:
- Assume you’re being lied to.
Actually, that’s about it. If you can keep that in mind, then you’ll do better than 99% of the people in your demographic.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 25, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/25/thought-for-the-day-23/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on January 25, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/25/todays-earworm-64/
Sporterized M1903-A3
A while back I was wandering through my gun store, and took a look at their bargain rack. They usually have a couple of Mosin’s and the occasional Enfield there. One old rifle was mixed in with the used muzzleloaders and such, and something about it caught my eye. After taking a good look, I realized what I had: A sporterized M1903, with an asking price of $225.
Closer inspection showed that it was a Smith Corona M1903-A3.
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| WECSOG. Some things will just make a man cry |
A previous owner had drilled and tapped it a couple of times, finally settling on a Weaver side mount and a scope of unknown manufacture and quality. Almost all of the markings on the scope were worn away. Other than the holes in the receiver, the rifle appears to be in good shape. The finish is pretty thin on much of the gun. There is a bit of surface rust here and there, but I can’t find any pitting.
The person who sporterized it didn’t cut the barrel, so the original arsenal marks are still there:
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| The arsenal mark says “SC above the Ordnance Corps Symbol above “4 43” |
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| Not sure what the “U” mark on the bolt means |
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| Finish on the bolt is spotty, but not bad |
I tried to get pictures of the bore, but couldn’t get the camera to cooperate. It’s shiny, and the grooves in the rifling are sharp. My guess is that the gun was brought out of the cabinet every so often, fired at the range or at a deer, then cleaned up and put back in the cabinet.
Here’s an indication of how long ago the sporterizing was done:
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| 1976 Bi-Centennial Quarter embedded in an old RedHead stock. The glue holding it in has turned yellow with age. |
So what are my plans for it? In the near term, I’m going to give it a good cleaning, put a better scope on it, and use it for my deer rifle. Assuming of course, that it still shoots well. It seems to be mechanically OK, and the trigger is pretty good for a mil-surp. There’s about 1/4 inch of easy travel back to a stopping point, then another 1/8 inch against resistance to where it breaks. Next, I need to get a manual on how to care for it that shows all of the parts that I’ll need for restoration. As time and money permit, I’m going to collect all of the parts I need to put original-ish furniture and sights on it. I’ll see if I can get a gunsmith to fill in the holes that are drilled in the receiver, then see about getting it re-parkerized. I’ll be sure to mark it in such a way that no-one will confuse it with a collectible gun, though. No amount of restoration will make this more than a shooter, and a serious collector would notice it right away. However, I don’t want one of my grandchildren to sell it to someone and both of them be unaware that it’s not original.
I talked the clerk at the store down to $200, which is less than CMP was selling M1903 actions for when I was up there last summer. I figure I’ll have to put another $200 in parts on her, then another couple of hundred or so to get her assembled, repaired, and re-parkerized. Not bad, considering how rare and expensive even an abused M1903 is getting these days.
So, I guess I’ve got my first project gun. I won’t be able to restore it soon due to money constraints, but as I see parts that I can afford, I’ll pick them up and squirrel them away. Hopefully by the time Girlie Bear heads off to college, I’ll have what I need and the money to get it done up right. The first .30-06 I ever fired was a sporterized 1903, and I’ve always wanted one. Now my goal is to reverse the sporterizing as much as possible and restore this beauty to as close as original as I can.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 24, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/24/sporterized-m1903-a3/
The American Peasant Class
I’ve heard and read a lot of references lately to the “Democrat plantation”. The term refers to the belief that Americans of African descent will tend to support Democrat politicians and causes so long as Democrats continue to provide them with bread and circuses.
I’m not just calling out Democrats on this. The Republicans have their taken-for-granted class too: conservative voters. For an example, consider the push to make Romney the nominee even though his appeal to the conservative base of the party is shaky at best.
You can call them plebs, serfs, peasants, peons, or whatever; it’s all the same: people who are brought up in a system that assumes that they are at the bottom of the ladder, don’t see that there are better options, and have little to no motivation to find something better or different are used to ensure that some political movement or another gets and stays in power.
Every person or group that wants to exert control over everyone else requires a lower class because it provides the muscle, either at the ballot box or in the street. The Chekists in the USSR didn’t draw from the cream of Bolshevik society. They recruited their foot soldiers from the lower classes of Russian/Soviet culture and used them to instill fear in anyone who might oppose the regime.
The Democrats have their reliable voting block of urban African-Americans. The Republicans have their reliable voting block of conservative middle-class voters. Either way, they’re all just peasants working the fields of those who tell them just enough scary stories about the bogeymen on the other plantation to keep them in line and voting a straight party ticket.
Thoughts like this are one of the reasons that I’m considering myself an independent voter more and more. Maybe I’m just cynical, but I honestly don’t believe that either party cares at all about what happens to the people on the streets of America so long as their personal gravy trains and power trips keep rolling. In this way, they’re no better in my eyes than the most staunch Stalinist or banana republic dictator. So long as we all know our place and do as directed, they’re just fine. If one of us pokes our head up and dares to bleat out of time with the rest of the herd, then they drop the hammer down on us or cut us off from the herd lest our disease of independent thinking infect the rest of the flock. Only if enough of us make our voices heard do we have hope that those who think they rule our country will listen.
So I’m going to stop being a good peasant. I will vote for a good Democrat instead of a bad Republican if I think that the Dem would do a better job. I refuse to vote for or against something on the ballot just because the local Republican committee thinks I ought to, and I won’t be quiet about it. Hopefully others will get the same idea.
What do you call it when the peasants quit working the fields or toiling in the factories? You call it revolution.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 24, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/24/the-american-peasant-class/
30 Days of Reagan – Day 22
I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it and see it still.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 24, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/24/30-days-of-reagan-day-22/
News Roundup
- From the “Yanking the Leash” Department – The Supreme Court has ruled that law enforcement must obtain a search warrant before affixing a GPS device to a vehicle in order to track a suspect’s movements. I agree with this. If the police want to know where I go and when, they ought to have to go before a judge and prove their case a bit. Of course, any policeman tracking my movements is going to die of boredom, but hey, I might become interesting again. It could happen!
- From the “Pretty Lights” Department – A large and powerful solar flare is expected to impact flights over the Earth’s poles this week. I expect to be going out and watching the Northern Lights if the sky is clear. I need to get a short wave radio one of these days so that I can show Girlie Bear how to listen to the aurora borealis. It’ll be a bummer if the storm interferes with digital communicaac8qfnq1l24kinmva8.
- From the “Tread Lightly” Department – My senator, Rand Paul, was detained at the Nashville airport yesterday because he refused to allow a TSA agent to perform a proctological exam on him after the porn-o-tron showed an anomaly on his leg. Apparently showing the part of the body that’s been indicated isn’t good enough. For those of you paying attention, inconveniencing a senator who will have an impact on your funding is considered a less than optimal move for a federal agency. Personally, I hope this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
- From the “Wishing Her Luck” Department – Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in an assassination attempt by a deranged man last year, has announced that she is resigning her seat in Congress so that she can concentrate on her recovery. I wish Mrs. Giffords luck and continued progress. Brain injuries are a hard row to hoe, and she’s going to need all the time and energy she can muster.
- From the “Steam” Department – NASA has announced that it has observed and recorded a comet disintegrating as it plunged into the sun. I can draw a political line from this in that if the Republicans don’t get their act together soon, that’s what’s going to happen to them in November.
- From the “Blotto in a Volvo” Department – A man in Florida was arrested after police discovered he was drunk. Nothing particularly newsworthy there. Unfortunately, people get drunk and climb into the driver’s seat every day. What is unique here is that the gentleman was so drunk he didn’t notice he was missing a tire. Now, I’ve had a tire fall off of a car before, and it puts on quite a light and sound show, so you’d have to be pretty messed up not to notice. Maybe he just thought the sparks was part of a new flame job he didn’t know he had.
- From the “Prescient Without a License” Department – Authorities in Massachusetts are summoning psychics in the Boston area to a special board to explain why they are operating without a license. Apparently in order to look at auras, stare at tea leaves, and gaze into crystal balls in Boston, you have to give city hall their pound of flesh. I’m guessing the psychics will cooperate fully. I mean, it’s not like they’re holding the tribunal in Salem or anything. Although, if I were one of these people, I’d be getting with anyone else and seeing if anyone has a bad vibe. You just never know.
- From the “Don’t Let The Door Hit You” Department – A member of the Norwegian government has stated his opinion that unemployed immigrants should go home and stop utilizing the generous benefits of the Scandinavian country. Sounds good to me, and I’m not surprised that people would be staying in Norway for the benefits. It’s not like they’re staying for the mild winters.
- From the “Don’t Mess With Grandma” Department – An 85 year old woman saved her husband’s life by driving off an angry moose with a shovel recently. Having been chased by a moose across two lakes in the Minnesota Boundary Waters, I can appreciate how much guts it took to start whacking the swamp donkey about the head and shoulders. One thing’s for sure: That husband will never give his wife lip again. Not only does he owe her his life, he also knows that she is not afraid to die.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 23, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/23/news-roundup-31/
30 Days of Reagan – Day 21
“We the people” tell the government what to do, it doesn’t tell us.
My Take – This opinion, of course, assumes that we can still vote our way out of this.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 23, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/23/30-days-of-reagan-day-21/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 