Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Great story. Thank god there was at least one rational person on the other side of the curtain.
I’d say “Man of the Century” – the 21st that is, there never would have been one without him….
The Churchill (archery) story is a must read. Long, but the stuff movies could be made of.
Thanks for finding this!
That was an excellent read. History -how can you not love it.
Vasili Arkipov gave the the opportunity to be driven insane by the infamous MIT junior year physics labs. I understand that Boston and Cambridge were on the list to be gifted by at least 25 thermonuclear warheads if the balloon had gone up.
It shows how mad the Russians were – did they even care how many Communists would have been killed in Cambridge?
Two other very close calls. One in 1983 and one in 1995.
Russkie Haiku:
Big boom in the tube.
Three must say, no path back home.
Arkipov, it’s nyet.
The SOP depth-charging of the Soviet sub, despite ad hoc orders not to, (IIRC) only demonstrates once again the old truism about the “Ten%” who never get the word in any military action.
And Jack Churchill? Is their any doubt that men like him would never stand a snow-ball’s chance in hell of holding command in today’s bureaucratized and PC military world?–American OR British..
Virgil, given the same equipment used by Patton, et.al., I doubt the current military could have won WW2 given the PC domination of the GOFO ranks. The Germans would have made mincemeat of them.
Marshall should get even more credit than he already does for his post-war plan for the wisdom he showed purging the Army Officer corps of a number of the peace-time Generals and promoting the Colonels and LT Colonels like Patton and Eisenhower in the buildup of ’40-41.
OT6, Marshall is woefully underrated (as in, oh yes, he was Chief of Staff) and, in most quarters, his accomplishments are almost unknown. Marshall very much wanted to go overseas, though he believed that his duty was to stay and serve FDR, at FDR’s specific request. Great man.
I don’t believe that I ever read any substantive criticism about the General from his superiors, peers or subordinates during the WWII era. Marshall made some errors, though what leader doesn’t?
For most of the public he is only known from the “Marshall Plan”.
He was the first American general to be promoted to 5 star rank, became the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, two Nobel Peace Prizes (well deserved) and was lauded by Churchill, FDR, Truman and Eisenhower. Not a bad group of fellows to be thought highly of.
That one of Eisenhowers greatest regrets was in not defending Marshall, re McCarthy, was also meaningful.
Pretty good record I’d say.
I walked past a bust of George C. Marshall every morning when I went to work as a NASA co-op student in Huntsville. It was only much later, after I had read more, that I understood what a great man he was. And how cool VMI is. Or was, before the gurl cooties were turned loose there. Curse you, Ruth Bader Ginsburg!
(I like girls as much as the next grumpy old bachelor, but that VMI thing was straight from feminist misandry.)
Our current crop of FOGOs couldn’t carry the WWII FOGOs’ jockstraps.
Most of them are managers, at best. Real leaders are few & far between.
The Mad Jack Churchill story is the best. What a Man! Humor, Bravery and Leadership all rolled into one.
Nice research Lex.
Subsunk
+1!
Loved Jack Churchill story!
Great story about Jack Churchill. His kind still exist, after a fashion, but are smart enough to stay below the PC radar. For them it’s the work, not the glory.
Most of ‘em are Snake-Eaters, Mongo. Most gravitate to the Special Ops field and stay there–away from prying eyes. Which pisses the big kids off as they feel that they are losing their “best & brightest” to a stove-piped world wherein they are not promotable to Flag rank because of lack of breadth of experience in command of larger organizations and tickets punched to all the command & Staff schools as well as the fact that the expertise-by-example of these people is lost to the general service population. Which is why, among other reasons, the separate Special Ops joint-service Command was established–just to get enough critical mass to promote these guys to Flag rank.
I once asked a SEAL LT why he gave up flying A-6′s “I like to surf” He made back to back deployments with different teams, having only a couple of weeks at home, but grinned as he headed out. “If it ain’t fun, Mongo, why do it?”
See more about Jack Churchill here:
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/churchill.html
VR,
Comjam
Yup, EPIC crazy badass!
I’m going to guess that people like Vasily Arkipov are even rarer in the Iranian military than they were in the Soviet military..
David, in this regard I read an interview with a recently retired Pakistani Army Col. circa 2004/5 in “The Atlantic Monthly” which chilled me to the marrow. I had always taken solace in the hope that the upper reaches of the Sr.-level Pakistani military leadership being, in the main, products of Sandhurst and possessed of a fair amount of inculcation in British culture, traditions and out-look, would keep a cool head and tight rein on the religious impulse and, insofar that many of their opposites in the Indian military mirrored their backgrounds, hoped rationality would always somehow prevail. But this Pakistani Army Colonel floored me. He was all for nuclear war–and the sooner the better–the more to settle things once and for all. I was ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED at the vehemence of his feelings and left the article totally dismayed. Since reading that article I am afraid you might be right even more than you know concerning the Iranian leadership structure, who are far, far more radical on this subj than even the Pakistanis–if that’s possible. The influence of Islamic radicalism may be wider and deeper among senior military leadership levels in the Mid-East than we possibly dare believe if that interview in “The Atlantic” is any guide. I am not sanguine about the prospects for good outcomes once the Iranians get the bomb.
When I was young and naive (in middle and high school), I enjoyed reading the Time Magazine and had a great interest at the end of the year in who the journalists thought was worthy of all the glory.
But eventually, I came to realize that there are far too many unsung heroes (military and civilian) who make decisions every day that impact lives in ways we cannot imagine. To put all of the fame in one person, or as Time recently became famous for, a group of people (you, 2006) or non-humans (ie, the year they labeled Electronics or the PC (1982), the Endanger earth (1998)) as the person of the year is not satisfying in the end.
… Especially when they label Ben Bernanke as 2009 winner of the title, and I don’t believe a word he says.
My understanding is that they did not literally “depth charge” the sub, but dropped dummy charges on it. Still, it must have been unnerving, to say the least.
During an exercise against a French sub during the cold war, my crew found and worked over the Frog diesel boat rather thoroughly. Try as he might to escape we hemmed him in, hammered him every way he turned and executed multiple simulated attacks. Strangely, he did not surface as agreed at the end of the exercise period.
Later analysis proved the target was actually a Soviet diesel that was operating in the exercise box. This was not entirely disappointing to us at the time.
Later, I wondered who got the better training out of it, them or us?
This was one of the best posts of interest I have seen in a long time. I was 3 years old then….
Yea Gods, Rob, don’t make me feel any more of a fossil than I already am! I was a freshman at LSU that fall, and the near-fatal week of the crisis was Homecoming. We were busy building “house-decs” (Our fraternity won for 3rd yr in a row & retired the Trophy) pretty much oblivious to the seriousness of it all. Little did we realize at the time how close we actually came. At that time Baton Rouge was home to the world’s largest oil refinery (the ESSO “Blue Jay” plant) and would have been a prime tgt. The only sensible types on fraternity row were the DEKE’s who, rather than build house decorations, built a bomb-shelter in their front yard out of beer cases with a card-board cut-out of Carling Beers’ barmaid “Mabel” holding a trey shoulder high (“Hey Mabel–Black Label!”) standing in the entrance with a banner above it all which said:”To Hell With Homecoming–We’re Building a Bomb-Shelter!” LOL!! Very few had TVs in their rooms in those days, so many of us went to the old Student Union in the old Field House (which still houses the nation’s largest out-door collegiate swimming pool) to watch JFK’s address to the nation on an old B&W TV in one of the packed standing-room only TV rooms.
(BTW, we easily beat the Fla Gators that Sat night for Homecoming–just HAD to get that bit in…BYRON?
)
Virgil, you, as with so many of the other usual suspects on this site including the host, have led a rather full & interesting life to date. Part of why I enjoy this blog so much.
Well, the discussions, edumacation, banter and camaraderie offered may also have some effect on my partiality.
Those who are new to the site owe it to themselves to spend a few weeks reading posts and comments in order to capture the flavour and quality of this site. Oh, and do please read the archive.
Regards
I have read that the SAS used to use bows and arrows to eliminate German sentries, so Mr. Churchill may have started something. The British do have interesting people among them, don’t they?