August 2014 - Argghhh!

A war that started on 28 July, ended on 15 August, if you take the long view. The Second 30 Years War for Europe, if perhaps the first for the world at large. And oh, the side-changing that went on... and, one wonders if we're on the cusp of a new one, in the Middle East. TO MY GOOD AND LOYAL SUBJECTS: After deeply pondering the general trends of the world and the current conditions of our Empire, I intend to effect a conclusion to the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure...

After my previous post... On the plus side of the President's martial credentials - while I haven't done the math, I do believe President Obama will hold the record for awarding Medals of Honor not earned on his watch, snatching that crown from President Bush the Younger. And might well be second only to FDR in total number of awards granted under his tenure. That's not snark, by the way, just observation. One reason this President has so many is his predecessor allowed his SecDefs to...

Yesterday was a singular day for the Medal, with 5 awards for the same fight on the same day. Today is similarly so. While there have been several Holders born on 2 August, and several awards issued on 2 August, and 3 awards which covered a period which included 2 August... There are no Medals of Honor that were awarded for actions on 2 August specifically. That makes 2 August a rare day, indeed.

8 August shares a distinction with 2 August with no Medals being awarded for actions on this day. So, today we'll go with an *almost* Medal of Honor. A Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest honor this nation can bestow upon our soldiers. On M ay 14, 2009, Staff Sgt Jarion Halbisengibbs was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for actions in theSamarra, Iraq, on Sept. 10, 2007. Staff Sgt. Halbisengibbs led a combined assault force on agroup of farm houses known to be an insurgent...

Today we open with the Civil War, and one of the opening battles - this one being nearly a local one to the Castle - Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Missouri. Wilson's Creek was a saga of opportunities lost or squandered by both sides, and in microcosm displayed the fissures that would eventually doom the southern cause in Missouri and Arkansas - the squabbles amongst the generals. The Federals lost an able general when Lyons was killed, and saddled with a mediocre one in Franz Sigel -...

So, trying to please Academic Ronin, I gather up some rifles, a box to use as a prop, and the camera. And I take some pictures. Then I put everything away, sit down at the computer, pull the SD card and slap it into the machine. And pull over the pictures and open them up in Photoshop. Only to find I should have looked at the pictures as I took them. The Nikon can do that. Because, well, I fiddled with settings a couple of weeks ago, trying to better understand what the camera was capable of. What...

Grenade and add-on sight for the Austrian Mannlicher M1895 rifle. Both the grenade and sight are battlefield recoveries from the high-altitude battlefields of South Tirol.

5 August - We make up for the 8 Medals in the past four days as we open with the Civil War with a Medal for Baton Rouge in 1862 and then a huge number of Medals for the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. I would note that Yeoman Atkinson had an interesting career. The Battle of Mobile Bay is the most be-Medalled battle in the history of the Medal - with 97 awards. 4 August has one award. This day in history has thus far generated 101 total awards. Almost 3 percent of the total awards of the Medal stem...