May 2014 - Argghhh!

I've been DVR'ing History Channel's "World Wars." I had hopes from the previews. O.M.G. I can't get past a slovenly Captain Patton using a not-yet-invented machine gun (with the frickin' plate glass windshield up on the car), after having failed to drop a Villista with his trusty Lee-Enfield, followed by the Enfield and Spanish Mauser using Germans, while Hitler lovingly slides his WWII version of the M1905 (the M1 bayonet) bayonet on his Springfield rifle, before he...

...to go with the German one from last week. GEW98 and Berthier M1907/15 in the loops.

[Since traffic will be light over the weekend, what with all of you out there doing the three-day weekend thing - I'm putting up the Memorial Day post today.] Here we are at Memorial Day again. The eleventh since these ramparts were erected here in cyberspace. Per the Governor's directive, the flags will fly at half-staff until noon, when they will head back up the pole. It was another mixed year here at the Castle. . We did fewer memorial posts this year than past years at the Castle, a...

Oh, it's never going to happen. No one in the right places actually gives a proper damn. Secretary Shinseki knows better than this. The organization does well what the boss checks. He and I grew up in the same Army. We know that if you set a reporting metric, and never do anything but accept the report at face value, the weak will prefer to game the system rather than make it work. That was one of the purposes of the Annual General Inspection. To make you prove that what you reported was true...

Two or three times a year some of us older folks get a bit tangled up in memories (or memories of memories). Late April and much of May are my primary dates.

The only Medal awarded for today came in WWII, during the breakout from the Anzio beachhead. DAVILA, RUDOLPH B. Staff Sergeant Rudolph B. Davila distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action, on 28 May 1944, near Artena, Italy. During the offensive which broke through the German mountain strongholds surrounding the Anzio beachhead, Staff Sergeant Davila risked death to provide heavy weapons support for a beleaguered rifle company. Caught on an exposed hillside by heavy, grazing fire from...

No, really, you can't make this stuff up: Justice department about to indict Chinese officials for hacking US computers. Chinese counter-charges re: NSA in 3... 2... 1... Clearly, rules for thee, but not for me applies not to just US citizens, but the world. In that, at least, the government is consistent. Justice Department to announce indictments against Chinese officials in cyber-espionage case.