Blog Archives

The World's Largest Army

3/28/2016

Recent saber rattling by North Korea should have us keep in mind those nations that have the largest armies. According to Wikipedia, by including the military and all reserves, militia and militarily trained police forces, available statistics show the number, in millions, stack up as follows – North Korea 7.7, South Korea 6.6, Vietnam 5.5, India 4.8, China 3.5, The U.S 2.4, Brazil 2.0, Cuba 1.2 and all the rest are less. It would seem that we should have cause for concern. But, rest assured, we have one great advantage that none of these countries have, nor any others. We have a Second Amendment.

The latest available census data shows there were 894,543 licensed hunters in one recent year in the state of Wisconsin which made it alone the eleventh largest army in the world. More people under arms than in Iran, more than in France and Germany combined. These individuals, men, women and youngsters, were deployed in the woods of a single American state to hunt with firearms. They did so efficiently and with expertise - no one was killed and only ten buildings of any nature, being mostly abandoned barns, were hit by stray bullets. Michigan had 1,005,000 hunters the same year. All told, our country had 13.7 million hunters in our fields and forests in one year.

Oh! By the way, in case you may worry about these guys and gals running out of ammunition, we have a back-up force, a ready reserve - the Archery Trade Association’s latest count tells us we have 18.9 million Americans active in archery and bow hunting.

Nuclear power aside, America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower. That's why all our enemies, foreign and domestic, would love to see us disarmed.
Letter to Editor, Bradenton Herald,3/28/16

0 Comments

Women in Combat

3/24/2016

0 Comments

In the last couple of years there has been a strong attempt to have all of the services permit to have their female members exposed to combat conditions. Of course, this has been the case for many years - evidence the women that served in front line hospitals, as motor vehicle drivers and even ferrying combat aircraft in World Wars I and II. But the recent emphasis is having them actively engage in combat. At first the services opposed the idea but, as pressure was applied, they started to allow such activity to take place and we find women serving on ships, in submarines and in combat aircraft to the extent that it has become something to be expected and some women have risen to high levels of rank in these endeavors.

During this time the Marine Corps dragged its feet and tried to avoid this trend but, they too began to buckle under the pressure and started moving women into positions that exposed them to combat conditions - with one exception -following extensive testing they concluded there was to be no such change made with regard to their infantry.

Early this year, after additional pressure from the Obama regime, they too buckled and agreed to begin moving women into infantry positions. Over night the internet was flooded by Marines objecting to this decision. The following was my contribution to the mail storm, in this case joining over 450 mailings to military.com with not a single one supporting the change!

"From everything I’ve heard and read, it’s obvious that 99.9% of the Corps is against women Marines serving in the infantry. The reason is simple – they don’t belong there, for their own good and for the good of their fellow Marines. The solution to this dilemma is also simple. The Corps should establish a rule that there will be no female members in Rifle Companies.

There are many, many activities that are conducted “in combat” and that the ladies could handle just as effectively as their male compatriots – artillery, Battalion and up staffs, Motor transport, air support, possibly even tanks – but never as grunts. Living through four seasons (as we did in Korea) with no roof over your head, your abode a hole scratched out of the ground, no hot meals served in a mess for 2 ½ months, no showers for weeks, a change of clothing maybe once a month, trekking over hills and ridges with fifty to sixty pounds of gear (sometime more if you were a mortar “man” or a machine gunner), often for days at a time and, most importantly, no bathrooms except for a nearby bush or tree, it just isn’t going to work. It’s a shame that HQ Marine Corps caved in to the politicians. Their troops will have to discover this the hard way.”

0 Comments

Hypnagogia

3/16/2016

0 Comments

(Hipp-na-GO-chia)

I suffer from many things but just found a new one. It’s not a disease, in fact quite a normal condition, with 75% of us experiencing it at some time or another especially as we get older.

Ever since teen age I’ve had the habit of reading something before going to sleep. In the last year or so I’ve noticed something that happens frequently when I do this. At some point, usually after just a few pages I will get drowsy and, in the past, that was a signal to close the book and turn off the light. Lately, however, when I reach that point I will suddenly realize that I’m reading something that makes absolutely no sense. This occurs to me almost always before I’ve finished the sentence that doesn’t seem right. For example, I may read a sentence that says, “Then George picked up the tray and pushed it off the barrel and ---”. I will shake my head, refocus my eyes on the page and see that the sentence I just “imagined” I’d read actually reads, “He turned toward the girl at the counter and asked her if his table was ----”. What the H is going on? To male matters more interesting, almost every time this happens I will see, for just a milli-second, a figure of a person, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing and either facing me or with their back to me..

This doesn’t happen all the time but it also has occurred when I’m just sitting in the lounger on the lanai after lunch and am reading the newspaper but start to drift off. Obviously, some research was in order and, after a number of attempts on Google the use of the word “hallucination” led me to the condition called “Hypnagogia” which is related to hypnosis, hallucination, sleep and dreams.

What I learned was that, during a very short time, possibly a tenth of a second or so, just before falling asleep, a person might have a form of hallucination that can show itself as a tactile, optic, auditory or olfactory effect, or any combination of these. The most common occurrence is to see a flicker of something moving out of the corner of your eye causing you to turn and look only to find nothing there.

Some people will feel a short instance of paralysis. A frequent event reported by many is having a dog appear in front of them who places his front paws on their chest. I’ve never experienced either of these but I have had three unusual events. They occurred weeks apart and always around the same time; while watching late TV and beginning to feel a little drowsy. The first time I saw a young man standing a few feet off to my left, He had on khaki trousers, a light colored shirt and short blond hair. He was facing to his right and his face was not distinct. The second time I saw what was surely the same young man since the attire was the same and again he was a few feet in front of and to my left. But this time he was facing directly toward me yet I still did not take notice of his face in the so very brief time I saw him. The third time I saw a girl or young lady appear at my right and moving to my right. She had on a black skirt and a white blouse with black stripes and long black hair. Again, this occurred in a mili-second. I should note that none of these hypnagogic experiences are the least bit frightening or disturbing.

I mentioned this to my Wednesday morning coffee group – three old geezers like myself. One admitted to seeing the flickering movement but that’s all. Well that’s 50% but I’m guessing if we had a bigger group I’d discover the 75% is accurate – I hope..

0 Comments

Thoughts of an Old Curmudgeon

3/12/2016

0 Comments

I used to be a staunch Republican but then the Bush family came along and the invasion of Iraq and I quit them in a huff and registered as an Independent. But now I don’t quite know what I am or should be. For want of anything better I’ll pick the term Revivalist – someone who would like to see things return to what they were – in my case it would be the world as I remember it when I was a young man.

You’ve all heard the observation made that no nation has maintained its ascendancy to what some call a “Super Power” for more than 200 years. Well, our 200 years was reached in 1976 so we’ve managed to squeeze an extra 34 years out of our reign. I like to think that is because of the strength of our resolve to avoid our prophesized downfall that has, I’m afraid, now begun.

We have been an unusual nation – a Republic founded on Democratic principals with an economy based on Capitalism. Add to this pot a continuing influx of mixed new participants and you have a stew of energy, innovation and individualism of a kind the world had never seen before. That’s what fueled our ascendancy, helped bring peace and save democratic nations after two terrible worldwide wars and created the largest “middle class” of any other nation. We had a “Greatest Generation” but we will never have another.

I blame the motives of both the right and the left for this. Maybe they each, or at least some of them, want to do what they feel is best for everybody. But, even if they do, it’s the difference in the method they each propose that is what has led us to the brink and possibly pushed us over. Unfortunately each side of the house seems to believe saving their own skins is more important than saving the nation. The problem we have is simple to understand albeit painful to solve but not that difficult. Any businessman knows that when his business has insufficient income and excessive expenses he is headed for bankruptcy. That’s the present economic condition of our country. The solution is simple – increase income (taxes) and reduce expenses (entitlements, waste, greed and the cost of government) for everybody. If we don’t do it ourselves the results will be much worse than expected.

0 Comments

I've Had It

3/3/2016

0 Comments

I, for one, have had it - with both political parties, the blue and the red, and with those that support either one vociferously. The President has the right and the duty to appoint Supreme Court judges and the Senate to approve them. Threatening not to is just another sign of bullying, resulting in more grid-lock. Tactics used by both parties, like eight-year olds on the playground.

Our country is headed for bankruptcy, economic doom, the solutions for which are simple. When that happens to any business or organization it has to increase its income (raise taxes) and cut its expenses (reduce size and entitlements) and do so drastically over a period of reasonable time. We all have to contribute to this effort – rich, poor, middleclass, corporations, and unions; even politicians. Our international stature is in tatters resulting from confusion, misuse of our military assets and disagreement between parties.

In 1948 President Eisenhower had this to say in a letter to our nation’s students:

“It is dangerous to assume that our country’s welfare belongs alone to that mysterious mechanism called “the government.” Every time we allow or force the government, because of our own individual or local failures, to take over a question that properly belongs to us, by that much we surrender our individual responsibility, and with it a comparable amount of individual freedom. But the very core of what we mean by Americanism is individual liberty founded on individual responsibility, equality before the law and a system of private enterprise that aims to reward according to merit.”

So, let’s take that responsibility and the next time we have to vote for someone, whether it is President or county sheriff, ignore the hoopla and BS of campaigns and media selfishness but be personally convinced that the individual deserving your vote, regardless of race, sex, religion or party affiliation, is not on an ego trip, but rather is sincere, literate, an experienced manager, offers an attainable and sensible platform and has limited campaign funds. Kick everybody else out.

0 Comments

T﻿h﻿e World's Largest Army

Wom﻿en in Combat

Hypnagogia

Thoughts of an Old Curmudgeon

I've Had It

Archives

Categories

The World's Largest Army

Women in Combat