Wolters/CHOP CHOP

CHOP CHOP https://youtu.be/_mE5stttVSI I saw that video on the Smithsonian Channel and freaked.  It's the first time I've ever seen footage about the Army Primary Helicopter school in Mineral Wells, TX.  Larry Lis,  trying to hover, is me!  As previously chronicled, it only took me about 6 hours to master that art, but then, Larry made it through while I wound up in Army Optical School in Aurora Co**. One more thing.  I'd never ever heard about this extraction of 100 ARVN that required pilots to use their rotors to cut down stands of bamboo in order to make the pick ups.  Wow.  Really a thrilling story, even for girls. Here's a list of Helicopter pilots who died in 'Nam Here's a Camp/Fort Wolters Photo Gallery And this memory. ** Larry's "solo gambit" would not been tolerated in 1963 when the attrition rate was 80%, plus*.

Firebrand Steve Stockman

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FIREBRANDS NEEDED  Firebrand Rep. Steve Stockman filed a motion Thursday directing congressional police to arrest ex-IRS official Lois Lerner for contempt of Congress and take her to the D.C. jail for questioning. The Texas Republican filed a resolution that would instruct Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to issue a warrant for Lerner’s arrest, commanding the Sergeant-at-Arms “to arrest and take into custody forthwith, wherever to be found, the body of Lois G. Lerner, and bring her to the bar of the House without delay to answer to the charge of contempt of its authority, breach of its privileges, and gross and wanton insult to the integrity of its proceedings.” Continue Reading Firebrand?  Indeed. I stand before God and my countryman,  and ask,  why isn't Lerner already facing a Grand Jury?  And Lois Lerner is not the only person in this administration who deserves demands similar treatment.

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VIETNAM POW REUNION

REMEMBRANCES A great tribute.  There are some unpleasantnesses however; like Walter Cronkite's appearance.  And comments like this: It is a shame that our corrupt government put our soldiers in harm's way in this, and so many other unnecessary, and unprovoked/pre-emptive wars. When will it end? How long will many of our poorest people, invade distant lands and be murdered under the guise of freedom, only to kill the poor of these other lands? But, then, this is about people who did their duty, not misinformed slugs and agitproppers.  (via metzger)

Piece of Cake

“ Cataract Schmateract Didn't feel a thi  Excruciating pain because, in a G. Gordon Liddy  moment I faced my fear and refused all pain meds.  One nurse yelled, "This is the bravest patient we've ever had."  I wanted to do the cutting myself but the surgeon said it wasn't allowed by my insurance,  Pussies, Piece of cake. Now where's that bear I'm supposed to rape? ”

Moving, but an indulgence too far?

Friends Forever “ His name is Chad Weikel. He is Ian’s younger brother. This photo was captured as part of a news story about Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery by the LA Times, I believe. Ian’s death was rough on him. He later decided to avenge his brother’s death and enlist but a car accident ended that path. His marriage ended, too. [more]   [Arlington cemetary bio] Ian sacrificed his life, Chad, unfortunately, his wife.   ”

Greely

GREEN CRAP "We Stand By It as a Theatrical Work" The Greely Expedition “ Watch The Greely Expedition on PBS. See more from American Experience. In 1881, 25 men led by Adolphus Greely set sail from Newfoundland to Lady Franklin Bay in the high Arctic, where they planned to collect a wealth of scientific data from a vast area of the world’s surface that had been described as a "sheer blank." Three years later, only six survivors returned, with a daunting story of shipwreck, starvation, mutiny and cannibalism. The film reveals how poor planning, personality clashes, questionable decisions and pure bad luck conspired to turn a noble scientific mission into a human tragedy. I watched The Greely Expedition last night and was awe struck—that I had no remembrance of ever hearing about it.  Probably because the government, out of embarrassment, tried to keep it hidden. I highly recommend it for its adventure, but mostly because of this lesson about leadership—the folly of judging a person's ability based on just a  slice of what's happening baby.  But, that's still not what I'm wanting to tell you about.  This is. At the end of this incredible story hardship and survival, this is what PBS sees as the lesson learned. Voiceover:  ".... for more than a century his records gathered dust until once again the Arctic captured people's attention. We are now using Greeley's data to try and understand how global warming happened; how the climate has changed over the past 100 years The irony is that this data is of interest today-- not because it offers an understanding of nature, but rather because it provides a key to how human beings have changed nature Appreciate the level of arrogance it takes to assume that we have the ability, even if we wanted to, to control any long term behavior of a climate that has been evolving for 4.5 Billion years! Especially since those efforts have been proved to be politically motivated, based on manifestly silly argument rife with fraudulent facts and using unreliable data collection models.  These then are people who call themselves Progressives.  As in, progressively getting dumber. And I have been watching them for 35 years. ”

The Best of Us

Above & Beyond “ Dog tags of the more than 58,000 service men and women who died in the Vietnam War hang from the ceiling of the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago on Veterans Day, November 11, 2010. The 10-by-40-foot sculpture, entitled Above & Beyond, was designed by Ned Broderick and Richard Steinbock. The tens of thousands of metal dog tags are suspended 24 feet in the air, 1 inch apart, from fine lines that allow them to move and chime with shifting air currents. Museum employees using a kiosk and laser pointer help visitors locate the exact dog tag with the imprinted name of their lost friend or relative. [More] Tim W ”

Good News, Bad News

THIS JUST IN The good news is my fever broke.  The bad news is that it broke just minutes before a team from the Guinness Book of World Records arrived.  The were summoned by MoSup to verify my claim of having the most serious summer cold in all of mankind,  and  survive.  Without hardly complaining.  Oh well, I would only have broken my own record.  Now, where was I?