Author Topic: A Few Perfect Words  (Read 21422 times)

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #40 on: January 13, 2017, 09:40:19 PM »
Quote
  "I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."  (I can just see God wincing at the truth contained in this one.)

 At least you and your Maker are on a first name basis.

 
 Thanks for the post.
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Brad Young

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #41 on: January 13, 2017, 09:47:35 PM »

At least you and your Maker are on a first name basis.


Um, no.

I use the names "Mom" and "Dad" for them  ;D   ;D

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #42 on: January 14, 2017, 08:22:04 AM »
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-  "Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."  (True when he said it, true in the past, true now.)

 A Matryoshka Doll.

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #43 on: January 14, 2017, 08:29:09 AM »

 This is the line. I refrain from a political comment leading to a quagmire of discussion that can happen somewhere else.
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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #44 on: March 25, 2017, 07:21:54 AM »
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There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless. Observe the ass, for instance: his character is about perfect, he is the choicest spirit among all the humbler animals, yet see what ridicule has brought him to. Instead of feeling complimented when we are called an ass, we are left in doubt.
- Pudd'nhead Wilson
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Brad Young

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #45 on: December 14, 2017, 07:48:09 PM »
Military historians naturally develop favorites within their areas of study. Favorite eras, favorite wars, favorite commanders. And also favorite military forces.

I've always highly, highly admired the U.S. Navy, for example. Equal in my esteem has, of course, been Britain's Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy once almost literally ruled the seas. They have centuries long traditions and a history to match. Their performance as a military force has at times been mediocre. But not usually. Usually the Royal Navy has been an aggressive, well led, well equipped military force. One of the best forces in military history. Often its performance has been brilliant.

Famous British admirals range from Sir Francis Drake to the most famous of them all, Horatio Nelson (of Trafalgar fame).

One British admiral is a particular favorite of mine: Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham. Cunningham served in World Wars One and Two. He was an admiral in World War Two, serving in the Mediterranean, mostly during the desperate days of 1940 through 1942.

Cunningham's Mediterranean fleet was all Britain could spare during those years (the majority of the navy had to be retained in British waters - fighting U-Boats and waiting for possible German sorties into the Atlantic - to preserve the merchant shipping that was the country's lifeline). He had to be careful with it; lost ships were not likely to be replaced.

And yet he had to fight hard battles. Against the Italian fleet and German U-Boats and bombers. He had to prevent resupply of North Africa, to support Malta and to, as far as possible, keep the "Med" open to, and maybe in parts controlled by, his forces.

Two of his most famous fights were against the Italians. He attacked the Italian fleet in its home port of Taranto with biplane torpedo bombers launched from aircraft carriers (and yes, that was before Pearl Harbor - the Japanese studied this attack very carefully in preparing for their own). At Cape Matapan he handled his forces very aggressively and routed an Italian force that was larger than his own.

During the first half of 1941 the British tried to help the Greeks. First they helped them fight against the Italians (who'd invaded without cause) and then they helped against the Germans who'd followed up to help their allies.

It didn't go well. By the end of April the Greeks were done for. And the British had conducted a forced and hurried evacuation of their Army forces by sea (a "mini Dunkirk"). The evacuation was largely successful, although Cunningham's naval forces took some significant losses while helping their army evacuate.

In May the Germans followed up their conquest of Greece with an airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete. Crete dominates the eastern Mediterranean and the British had to fight for it. But this fight also went poorly (mostly due to British command and control problems). By the end of May and into June (1941) the British (mostly dominion forces - New Zealanders and Australians) were forced to make another hasty evacuation by sea. Naturally the evacuation was done by the Royal Navy.

And it wasn't easy. Three British Cruisers were sunk outright. Two Battleships took significant damage. Lighter forces were battered. The question arose of whether the Mediterranean fleet could take the loses and still function. The essential question literally became: could the Royal Navy still be able to fight for the Mediterranean Sea if it persisted in trying to save the British army from the south shore of Crete? Some commanders urged Cunningham to stop, to abandon the army units to their fate in order to save the even more vital Royal Navy units then in the Med.

Cunningham wouldn't have any of it. His was a fighting force. It would fight. It would evacuate the forces of its brother service no matter the cost.

Cunningham summed up his thinking on this issue in a few perfect words. His words made his intentions plain. At the same time they summarized in one phrase all of the Royal Navy's history and traditions.

Urged to quit the fight, to save his ships for the long battles ahead, Cunningham famously said: "It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue."


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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #46 on: December 15, 2017, 06:36:32 AM »
 What mettle. In 58 years the US Navy will have bumped their way into fully cured traditions. Thanks for the account Brad.
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Brad Young

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #47 on: May 29, 2018, 09:03:15 PM »
In January I watched the PBS, Ken Burns series “The Vietnam War.” It’s 20 or so hours long. The series is unbelievably well done. It’s history explained, described, analyzed and, well, felt, incredibly well. The history of the war is presented in detail, and in very objective terms. But the highlight is the interviews. With U.S. veterans and Vietnamese. Of soldiers, leaders, and politicians. Of anti-war protesters, and with family of soldiers now dead.

Anyone with even the slightest interest in history should watch this program. Anyone who lived through those times or heard of them in their youth should watch this series. Be well prepared to cry.

My older daughter Katie has been home often this spring. I suggested to her that I’d like to re-watch the series. She immediately agreed to watch it with me. We finished this evening.

One of the soldiers interviewed is Karl Marlantes. Watch the series to get the full story of who he was. A fair summary would be this: He was an Oxford scholar in the late 1960s and opposed to the war. He had no need to join the military. He was out of the country on a scholarship. He thought the war was a terrible, terrible mistake. But, consumed by guilt that others were dying while he was safe, he joined the Marines and became an officer. He went to Vietnam to try his best to lead Marines in a way that would keep as many of them as possible alive. He saw heavy, heavy combat.

He delivers one of the most striking comments of the series. He speaks in a calm, reasoned voice. And yet his words act like a slap in the face. They aren’t “a few” words, but they otherwise fit in this thread. Marlantes said:

“One of the things that I learned in the war is that we're not the top species on the planet because we're nice.  We are a very aggressive species; it is in us.  People talk a lot about how well the military turns kids into killing machines, and I'll always argue that it's just finishing school.”

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #48 on: May 30, 2018, 09:52:32 AM »

Great series. I watched it free on YouTube but the subtitles for all the Vietnamese interviews were in Vietnamese. :incazzato:
I really enjoyed the series even with what I was missing and was determined to get the whole story - so I ordered the DVD's (on sale) from PBS. It turned out that I missed a lot of good stuff.
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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #49 on: June 03, 2018, 04:08:42 PM »

 
Quote
WBraun

climber
   
Jun 3, 2018 - 04:48pm PT
The elite do elite stuff and reap high praise and that's why they're called elite.

When stuff goes wrong they can suffer elite failure.

That's the name of the game and it's not going away ......

 From ST thread about two climbers who fell off Freeblast this week.



 
 Brad, thanks for posting the above. JC, when you are done may I barrow your DVDs?
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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #50 on: June 03, 2018, 05:11:26 PM »
Interesting write ups brad. I am of the school that the Americans eventually benefited from losing our battle ships.
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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #51 on: June 03, 2018, 05:44:17 PM »

 From ST thread about two climbers who fell off Freeblast this week.
 

Lexi emailed me that she and Dean were in the meadows when it happened and they heard them crater - awful.
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mynameismud

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #52 on: June 04, 2018, 05:57:46 AM »
Werner has had some quotable lines.  But, the one below I think is his best.  Sad day for sure.
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Brad Young

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #53 on: November 04, 2019, 08:42:47 PM »
The United States was brought forcibly into World War Two by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941.

They caught the U.S. Pacific Fleet at anchor, totally unprepared and utterly surprised. Pearl Harbor was a disaster for U.S. arms. More than 2,000 soldiers and sailors were killed, and almost the entire U.S. line of battleships was sunk or crippled.

It was a massive shock to our country, a source of sadness and anger, even of hate.

But one western leader in particular rejoiced at the Japanese attack. Rejoiced to himself, at least. Inwardly, Winston Churchill saw the Pearl Harbor attack as very literally Britain's salvation in World War Two. Before the shock had worn off, before any victories had been won, and with many defeats yet to accrue, Churchill saw what was coming, now, with the world's most powerful country in the war.

He said a series of words about what he saw. They aren't a "few," but they're incredibly powerful and near perfect. And they're one of my favorite quotes in all of military history.

This is what Winston Churchill said about his learning of the Japanese attack:

"No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. I could not foretell the course of events. I do not pretend to have measured accurately the martial might of Japan, but now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all! Yes, after Dunkirk; after the fall of France; after the horrible episode of Oran; after the threat of invasion, when, apart from the Air and the Navy, we were an almost unarmed people; after the deadly struggle of the U-boat war -- the first Battle of the Atlantic, gained by a hand's breadth; after seventeen months of lonely fighting and nineteen months of my responsibility in dire stress, we had won the war. England would live; Britain would live; the Commonwealth of Nations and the Empire would live. How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end, no man could tell, nor did I at this moment care. Once again in our long Island history we should emerge, however mauled or mutiliated, safe and victorious. We should not be wiped out. Our history would not come to an end. We might not even have to die as individuals. Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force."

"We had won after all," and we'd just suffered a terrible defeat. But, indeed, they had.

Their "fate was sealed," and it was.

"Ground to powder," and they were.

"...the proper application of overwhelming force."

He saw it all coming.


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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #54 on: November 05, 2019, 05:50:51 PM »
Quote
All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force.
Yup, this is what I tell James.....US had resources and people....we would send in 10 tanks against 1.

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #55 on: April 09, 2020, 09:24:19 AM »

 I hope Brad doesent mind this being placed here. This is a few lines from an account of climbing man made structures, in this case a dam, before the advent of climbing gyms. Written by(our own) Bruce Hildenbrand

 "You might think that drilling holes in a structure holding back billions of gallons of water was ill-advised. And such an act would certainly be frowned upon by the local constabulary. But the thing looked climbable and we lacked common sense."

 
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mynameismud

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #56 on: April 09, 2020, 12:21:10 PM »
That is indeed quotable.
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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #57 on: April 09, 2020, 01:58:40 PM »
"You might think that drilling holes in a structure holding back billions of gallons of water was ill-advised. And such an act would certainly be frowned upon by the local constabulary. But the thing looked climbable and we lacked common sense."

Drilling quarter inch holes less than 2 inches deep in a massive, concrete dam.

Several orders of magnitude less than shooting at an elephant with a BB gun.
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Brad Young

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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #58 on: April 09, 2020, 02:30:39 PM »

Drilling quarter inch holes less than 2 inches deep in a massive, concrete dam.

Several orders of magnitude less than shooting at an elephant with a BB gun.


Taking repeated 20 foot falls onto those quarter inch bolts....


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Re: A Few Perfect Words
« Reply #59 on: April 09, 2020, 04:50:11 PM »
Still a non issue.  For instance, the Hoover Dam is 660 feet thick at the bottom.  2 football fields.

Crystal Springs Dam is 176 feet thick.

They like em thick  :ciappa: