Royal

Did Selva say if we were going to be offered cyanide capsules?

With regard to WWII, A History of the Second World War by B.H. Liddell Hart should be a staple in every officer's library. It's European-centric, but it has a lot of good information about the Pacific as well. You can get it used on Amazon for $0.70; I guarantee it'll be the best seven tenths of a dollar you'll ever spend.

Hah, sorry, sir; for some reason I was thinking that whole incident was post-Vietnam. Was he well respected in the community? Did you guys think the treatment he received when he got home wasn't right?

HiFlyer, were you squadronmates with Gary Powers?

And cue the obligatory Gen Mattis video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTXzcILPPp8

America's oldest veteran, 107, still smokes cigars and has whiskey in his morning coffee. Cheers, Mr Overton.

Stumbled across some good quality WWII pictures; enjoy.

Commander Carpenter was the second man to orbit the Earth, leaving John Glen as the only living member of Mercury Seven. Godspeed, sir. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/astronaut-scott-carpenter-to-be-remembered-at-colorado-funeral-2nd-american-to-orbit-earth/2013/11/02/3bb6871a-4394-11e3-b028-de922d7a3f47_story.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Carpenter

I remember hearing about a similar situation to this circa 1692 that also had tremendous results.

I thought I saw this posted on the forum a while ago, but I couldn't find the thread. Anyhow, a couple years ago a Gurkha single handedly engaged 12 to 15 (some reports say as high as 30) Taliban soldiers to protect his FOB and brothers-in-arms. He used 400 rounds of ammo, 17 grenades, a mine, and a tripod to lay waste to the attackers. Acting Sgt Pun was quoted as saying, "Before they kill me, I have to kill some of them." Link to the details. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8-LRxSl9aw

I've lived through that nightmare, brother; it's the closest I've been to trench warfare. We lost a lot of good men in that lobby.

I can sympathize with Lauren; I get PTSD every time I think about the spotty wifi coverage I've had at Yokota during my past TDYs. War is hell.

In 1969 during the height of the war in Vietnam, a sergeant in the Army warded off an untold number of Viet Cong with an automatic rifle and a tattered sniper rifle in order to protect his platoon and a major that was pinned under their downed helicopter. When the rescue birds came, Sergeant Eaton stayed with Major Perkins because he didn't want his brother-in-arms to die alone. As a direct result of Sergeant Eaton's badassery, both him and his major eventually made it out alive. Link to the whole story: https://halloftheblac...incible-sniper/

Does no one else see what's happening? The entire gov't shutdown is a ruse to distract us from the real threat of...SKYNET https://news.cnet.com...-self-assemble/

As a tribute to Mr. Clancy, Charlie Rose played part of an interview he conducted with the author in 1996; it starts at about 46 minutes. Incidentally, the first part of the show is a discussion with Benjamin Netanyahu that's worth the watch. https://www.charliero.../watch/60275377 Cheers to Mr. Clancy; a great man who was dedicated to his craft, his country, and our nation's military.

Baghdad Bob!

Hey, bro, we're going to have to furlough your paycheck for 11 months when you get back from Syria so we can afford to send you to Syria. Cool?

Is it normal to have this much information being released in the midst of an investigation before the NTSB reaches a final conclusion?

Here's an interesting history lesson on what happens when you're low and slow going into SFO: Japan Airlines flight 2. The news put together some footage of the incident after Sully ditched in the Hudson; if you watch the video, I recommend putting it on mute while the "journalists" are talking because it will make you want to claw your eyes out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VnAvH6z3-c

I'm very hesitant to levy an indictment against this guy, not knowing all the circumstances, but there's not much of an excuse for being both low AND slow. I haven't flown the 74, but I'm fairly certain their flight manual doesn't state that flying in the stick shaker on visual approaches is procedurally correct.

Gents, Happy 4th; thank you for your service. Stay sharp, fly safe, and next time you get an altimeter setting from Approach, remember this:

It's a difficult situation, man; and none of us were there. All we have is a bunch of hearsay because no cop in his right mind is going to indict himself. There are a lot of variables we aren't privy to. If I were this dude's brother, would I be upset that he was killed? Absolutely. If I were one of the police officer's kids, would I say they made the right move? Of course I would; because I would care more about my parent than I would care about some drunk guy. I'm well aware of the fact that cops are conditioned to protect themselves, and conditioning, by definition, is mutually exclusive to judgment. So I don't necessarily blame them for their reaction, but it's not like we're not talking about South Central here either; it was Long Beach. Realistically, my man, this whole situation has some pretty deep philosophical and political implications. I know where you're coming from, and I'm partially inclined to agree with you. The other half of me says that this is a litmus test that gives us a lot of information about where we're at in society these days. Either way, it sucks.

Cops shoot and kill unarmed man in Long Beach:

We better arm them while we still have the chance...wait, what?