Okay, time for a funny story.

Besides, I owe ya something more than just Spirit of America stuff (thanks to those readers who have kindly donated, btw). That, and this cellulitis I'm suffering from is kinda slowing me down. So, lets go into obscure Ordnance and funny story related thereto.

The United States wasn't always a military super-power. It wasn't until we found ourselves mired in the Cold War that we maintained a relatively large standing force and a robust R&D capability. Prior to that, we were like most second-tier military states, just getting by, and stretching out the service life of things like cannon as long as we could. Heck, some first tier states, like Britain, did that too.

Such was the life of the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle.

Developed just prior to the Civil War, it was the second most common, and probably the most favored, field piece. Well made (at least the Union examples), tough, and accurate, it provided good service during the war.

After the war, they remained in service for decades. In the 1870-90s the world was shifting over to breech-loaded cannon, and the Army decided we needed to follow suit.

The last gasp of glory for the 3-inch Ordnance rifle was the Spanish-American war, where it served as a training gun, after which it retired to garrison... as a salute gun. Therein lies our tale. After many accidents in using the guns in the muzzle-loading configuration, they were converted to breech-loaders. The gun was converted to breech-loading by extending the bore all the way through, making it a tube open at both ends, and then cutting through from the side a square hole to take a sliding breech block. Voilà! Instant cartridge loaded gun. Several hundred of these guns went through this process between 1901 and 1907.

The guns were spread all over the country, and had a specific mount built for them. Some were maintained on carriages and used as salute batteries for visiting dignitaries, 4th of July "Salutes to the Nation" and such, but most common were the fixed guns on the Main Parade, by the flagpole. While they could be fired for reveille (morning wake up) they were most often fired at noon and at 5PM, when the flag was lowered during a ceremony called Retreat. Many military installations still fire a gun at Retreat, it's one of those things I like about working on-post - Call To Colors and Retreat played at 5PM, and people will stop their cars and get out and stand at Attention and salute as appropriate. Living off post, I miss Taps being played at 10PM, too.

Anyway, at Fort Sill, in the 20's and 30's, the salute gun was on the Main Parade (it's now in front of Post Headquarters). The actual gun we're talking about is by the Field Artillery Museum buildings. Main Parade is surrounded by stately Victorian quarters, characteristic of all Army posts that existed prior to WWI.

The kids played on the Main Parade field all the time (and still do). During that era, croquet was a popular game, played by children and adults. And the Civil War was the last 'romantic' war - especially in comparison to the recently ended WWI. And the kids used to play around the salute gun all the time. And a croquet ball is... 3 inches in diameter. And it's the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle...

One of the things any cannoneer has drummed into them when approaching a gun you haven't been actively servicing - and that you are supposed to do with separate-loading guns after every shot - is check the bore, to make sure it is clear of obstructions, in the case of a 'cold gun' not recently fired, and to ensure that the bore is clear of burning matter after firing before you go tossing more powder bags in.

Well, one fine day, the crew for the salute gun failed to check the bore. And the kids had been playing croquet. And apparently they'd been playing a little Army, too. And a croquet ball, rammed partially down the muzzle, when helped along with a 1-pound charge of black powder, will do a pretty good job of smashing brickwork on a house, even if it wasn't enough to penetrate.

The 3-inch Ordnance Rifle (76.2 millimeters) was replaced with a 75mm gun the next day.

For your next vacation...

...consider Tora Bora! The clash of capitalism in Afghanistan. The Afghans want to open up Tora Bora as a tourist attraction for Americans. The locals and the Pakistani scrap merchants are frustrating this by hauling off all the junk military hardware and ordnance to sell as scrap.

Dr Hassamuddin Hamrah, the man in charge, believes that the caves which once housed bin Laden and his fighters, together with the remains of mangled Russian tanks and crashed helicopter gunships from the 1980s, will prove a tourist magnet.

Read all about it here, via the Telegraph.

I dunno about you, while I wouldn't mind visiting, right now I still think I'd like an escort of some 'rough men' in US uniform. Sounds like a long-term project to me, Dr. Hamrah.

Sanger_M's rant is too good to waste in the comments.

Frequent commenter and sometime contributor SangerM has a pretty good rant buried in the comments to this post.

I thought it worthy of the light of day.

SangerM briefed on December 1, 2004 10:45 PM You know.....

Some days, the rage is barely containable.

Anymore, every time I look at yet another picture of a man, woman, or child who has lost a loved one to a terrorist act, I feel ever more keenly the unbridled, fetid rage that has been growing and rumbling around in my soul for decades.

It has always lurked there. I have been aware of it since I was a boy, a keen and righteous hatred of bullies and bad men, of Nazis and Nips (whatever they were), of mean girls and venal teachers. Of injustice and hate.

Of course, I was raised in Philadelphia, where I was weaned on Mad Anthony Wayne and George Washington and Mom Rinker and Valley Forge and Trenton and Germantown. A house near ours had been an underground railroad station, Gettysburg was only a few hours away, and on weekends and in the summer, we'd go downtown and visit Independence Hall, where you used to be able to climb on the Liberty Bell until the Park Rangers ran you off.

I was spoon-fed John Wayne and Vic Morrow and Ben Hur and Spartacus and weekly episodes of 12 O'clock High and later Rat Patrol and Branded and Johnny Yuma and even Sea Hunt, and in real life I overheard stories of men I knew doing things that were to me bigger than life. When I started reading Marvel Comics, they were new, and my favorites were Sgt. Fury and Captain America. I never did like the unbelievable Superman or Green Lantern; I was drawn more to good stories about gifted people doing great things. I was the kid on the trike in The Incredibles, just waiting around hoping to see something amazing. And I thought fighting evil to the last was the most glorious and noble thing a man could do....

In fact, when I was young, one of my favorite books was "These Men Shall Never Die," by Lowell J. Thomas. It was a book of stories about WWII folks who were real heroes, not just the been there, done that kind, but the sacrificing their lives for others kind. I lusted after that sort of thing, and as I grew, I found myself drawn to Medal of Honor displays, like those at the Confederate Air Museum in Harlingen Texas, and to military museums of all types, like the Airborne Museum at Bragg, the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, or the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, TX (a very nice one, that).

I still am drawn to Military Museums and memorials, and I have visited them from Hawaii to Germany and all points between. I never cease to be impressed, awed, humbled and uplifted. And of course, whenever I get back to Washington, I make the time to revisit Arlington and The Tomb, and the Wall, and last time, the very haunting Korean War memorial. And I always end my visits at the Lincoln Memorial, where I like to revisit the words of my favorite hero. And the older I get, and the more I learn, the more easily that place and those words bring tears to my eyes.

Also, as I've aged, I've gained a man's understanding of the real cost of our Freedom. Fighting evil is still the only option as far as I am concerned, but now, the pain in other people eyes becomes my pain. Having lost loved ones, I know what I am looking at--what I am seeing in the faces of people like Captain Sims' wife. I know how confused and how hurt and how numb she feels. And I know how sometimes our puny little bodies just don't seem capable of containing the pain and the upwelling of grief.

And THAT, right there, is what I rage at. I HATE the people who caused that pain I see and feel. And I hate the people who have inflicted this war on us, and who have sent so many of our country's best to the grave. I hate the kind of people who could kill children in Russia, or who could fly planes full of innocent people into buildings full of other unsuspecting people, or who could take such joy in the suicidal deaths of their own children. I hate that I can't stop it. That I can't DO something!

Mostly, though, I hate that I can't look at pictures like that anymore without feeling such unbridled hatred. And it's times like that when I am glad I am not the Commander in Chief, because in my mind, the hardest thing George Bush must do every day is resist using ALL the power at his command to show the bad guys who they are REALLY screwing with.

I am not sure I could resist that urge. I am not sure I would even try.

-SangerM

Iraq Index.

Sgt. Rick Abner, a tactical psychological team chief with the 350th Psyop Co., attached to TF 1-27 Inf., hands out coloring books to Hawija children during a slow part of Operation Wolfhound Power on Nov. 14. (Sgt. Sean Kimmons)

If you are of the analytic bent, and like to see lots of numbers, charts, tables, and just general geeky data - have I got a present for you.

The Brookings Institution Iraq Index.

Some grim numbers, pretty much consistent with typical phasing for this kind of conflict - but the polling data in the back (not completely through it myself) shows some surprising (to me, who's had his head down in the tactical weeds for a while) optimism on the part of Iraqis.

It's all open source data, collected by Brookings. Perhaps more important - the website for your bookmarks, if this isn't something you guys already have.

If that whets your appetite - it's on the web, updated regularly.

It's interesting reading.

The Price.

It's not only insurgents who are dying in Iraq. And this ties in with this article in USA Today - about those who are left behind, the hidden walking wounded.

Subject: My Son

From Col. Tom Sims (US Army Retired):

My son, the soldier, comes home for good.

At last report, he had left Iraq and was waiting a flight in Kuwait. With luck he will be in Germany today and then on to Texas. By the way, he is called "remains" but I know better. He is my son.

I want to tell you about him. Not because he is so great a guy _ although I think so, but because he represents the thousands of sons and daughters America is sending to far away places to secure our peace and our liberties at home.

Captain Sean Patrick Sims, commanding officer of A Company, 2-2 BN, 1st Infantry Division, was killed in action Nov. 13 in Fallujah, Iraq while clearing insurgent occupied buildings. A tough assignment, clearing an urban area. Dirty, dangerous work. Sean lost his executive officer the day before and I read of the deaths of two Marine Captains who were similarly killed in Fallujah.

It is sad when a father must write his own son's obituary. I don't know what to say. My son, like others falling in that conflict, was a hero who believed in his mission, his unit, and his men. He also believed leaders should be in the front, leading, not following. And that is how he died. He was well liked and respected by his superiors and the men in his company, who sensed his concern for their well being. He was also concerned about the well being of the Iraqi people and did his utmost to guard them from harm.

Sean was a devout Catholic, who lived the tenets of his faith on a daily basis. There is no doubt in our minds that Sean is now in heaven and in the hands of our Lord. We grieve for his loss, which is our loss, but not for his soul. If anything, we ask his intercession on our behalf as he is now much better placed for that effort.

I don't know what to say or how to describe the sacrifice of your blood for this country. Having served in Vietnam, twice, having a father who spent 36 years as a soldier through two wars, and a brother who served in Vietnam twice and is now 100% disabled from his injuries there, I am encouraged by the awareness of our countrymen for the sacrifices of our children. I am thankful for the realization by our citizenry that freedom is not free.

My son was not a rampant political supporter for any party, although he was probably more Republican by instinct. But he did have an abiding trust and belief in the United States of America. He felt we are a moral nation, steadfast in our principles; this nation does not take its commitment of its sons and daughters to war lightly. But unlike many nations in the world, we do not shirk our duties to commit our blood to just and necessary causes. Because that is what keeps us free.

I think he understood something which seems to have been lost in the debates over weapons of mass destruction and poor intelligence estimates in this particular war. That is that sovereign nations must be held accountable for their actions. We cannot tolerate nations that hide behind borders and provide support to enemies who are intent on our destruction. We can debate on how this war developed and was executed. It can not be debated that nations now look carefully at their responsibility and accountability before providing such support. America has made its statement. If you support terrorism, we will find you and destroy you, whatever the cost.

My son understood this and believed what he was doing was right. But he also believed that you can't go in and destroy a country and walk away. He was anxious for the insurgents to be quickly defeated so we could start the nation building that Iraq so sorely needs. He chafed at the delays and the debates in implementing aid. He was not a romantic. He understood well the backwardness of the country, the strangle hold of its religion and more challengingly, the social and political pressure of the tribal system. They all looked insurmountable when you add them up. But he had been raised in a tradition of grit and putting one foot forward at a time, so he was not deterred by the challenge. He was faced with a difficult, dirty and seemingly impossible task, but his response was not how do I get out of it but how do I get it done.

I think his sacrifice to his nation can best be summed up in a message I received from a friend expressing condolences for his loss: His sacrifice was made to keep my family, my sons and my grandchildren as well as all Americans safe and free and for that we will eternally be grateful. That's nice. My son would agree. That's what he thought he was doing.

In retrospect, the true hero here is his wife, who is left a young widow with a young son to raise. She is a woman of grace, and grit. She will do well by her son and her warrior husband.

Regards, Tom Sims (Col. US Army Retired)

For more on Captain Sims check out

The Miami Herald
The Bryan-College Station Eagle
And what is possibly the source for the email I received, Texas Bug.

Hat tip to AFSister for the links in her comment, below.

Now is the time at Castle Argghhh! when we dance: In Memoriam.

If you want an idea of what this family is going through, I would point you to my Memorial Day Post. Start at the bottom post, move up.

Letter from Fallujah.

This is a letter that could have been written from the ETO (European Theater of Operations) in WWII. Posted as received.

Subject: From a buddy in Iraq

Hi everyone,

I just spent about 24 hours up in Falluja taking a look at where we will be working. When we leave here, email will come to a halt, and we probably won't get much mail. So, I thought I would take the opportunity to share a little...

Two words about Falluja. Completely devestated. In fact, I think they should have just gone a head and leveled the town, WWII-style. That way they could just start over from scratch AND send a very powerful message to the Sunnis. However, now the government will have to rebuild houses, and neighborhoods. Waste of money. There were few if any "innocents" in that town.

The Battle. We got a pretty good briefing on the battle before going up. Basically, the days prior, a propaganda campaign was conducted. Leaflets were dropped which read, "when the lights go out, its time for you to leave." The night before the battle, we took out the power plant. The next day the city was empty except for a few old folks who refused to leave and a lot of foreign terrorists. (mostly Syrian and a few others including some from Sudan) The terrorists plan was for us to come in and fight house to house, thus creating huge casualties. They were expecting us to come in from the east, and spent the last year building up their defenses (in civilian houses). Our forces acted in ways that would reinforce this belief. However, all the while the Marines and Army were massing to attack from the North and surrounding the south and west of the city. (Falluja is small, but very dense. About 4km x 6km)

Once the attack began, the insurgents got a big surprise. Rather than fight house to house, the Americans just blew up the house. They went in with tanks and other armored vehicles. Thus, the battle was relatively short. Now, both the US and Iraqi forces are moping up the remaining insurgents. This is a difficult process, as they had a year to prepare their defenses. Our guys are finding HUGE caches of weapons and munitions of all kinds indicating they were prepared for a long fight. Again, if the cache is too big to move, they simply blow up the house. (and because of the urban density, it takes a few others with it) Every house has a stock pile of food, too. So, the few remaining, hardcore insurgents have been able to move from house to house, get a little chow, stock up on ammo, and take shots at our guys. Our guys are trying to either use or destroy the food to deny the bad guys resources. They still won't fight us in the street. They make our guys go in after them. That can get dicey. Our mission, once we get our guys up there, will be more of this and then to maintain order once the residents are allowed back into town. Needless to say, the locals will
not be happy. TOUGH. That is what you get for supporting terror and oppressing others.

We know that this defeat hurt them. The Sunnis are now trying to get into the political process. Only problem is, negotiation is considered to be weakness. That is how Falluja got so out of hand in the first place. So whether PM Allawi gives them any quarter now is anyone's guess.

Cats and Dogs. As most of you know, I am a pretty much a pet guy, especially cats. In this regard, Falluja was a tough place to visit. Homeless/ownerless dogs and cats are everywhere. The house I slept in had several dogs and cats hanging around. I think the cats have is the worst. In fact, I wound up having one curled up next to my feet all night on the couch I slept on. I didn't mind. I couldn't help but wonder if I was on "his" or "her" couch and they were just trying to sleep where they normally sleep. Poor things. Out of desparation, the dogs have begun to pack-up and hunt at night. The big ones prey on the small ones. Its not a pretty sound. There is a puppy living next door to the house I stayed in. He had a little buddy who was carried off during an attack by bigger dogs. He was pretty traumatized by that. Now if you walk by the house at night, you can hear him growling from his hiding place. Tough little guy... I hope he makes it. I have way more sympathy for them than I do for their owners.

Apparently, some of the Iraqi soldiers who are up there now uncovered a location used to behead hostages. Lots of pictures of the proud terrorists and their evil work. These people know nothing of the God they aledge to fight for.

Falluja is not a nice place. Again, we should have just leveled it, and the rest of Iraq would not have so much as batted an eyelash. Most would have been happy to be rid of it.

I hope to be able to check email about once a week up there, but I doubt it. I may be heading up sometime next week as part of our advance group, but no later than the 10th. I will let everyone know what our new mailing address is if and when we get one.

Until next time,

Steven

Happy Birthday! (A Day Late)

To Israel.

May there be many more, eventually in peace.

Via NoOilForPacifists.

Big Balls Run in the Family...

This young man comes from a rather well-known Air Force blood line..."Hero in the Making" my a**...he's one already.

Yeah, this has been on the web for awhile, but it is so friggin' cool that it deserves re-posting on Argghhh!

May God watch over Joel and his buddies.

Instapilot

(HT: B5)

Obligatory Swipe O' the Day...

No day would be complete without at least one frog gigging session (those of you who grew up in the South know what I mean)...

From one of the more well-known Iraqi bloggers, we have this on life in Baghdad:

It seems that the French are not afraid of the terrorists. Were they excluded from the terrorists' targets list for some reason? Is there a peace truce between them? Did we miss something here? Because the French are moving freely and saying for the terrorists:

This may explain why no one is anymore worried about the two French journalists; they're in friendly hands!

Good point. Heh.

(HT: Iraq the Model)

P.S. If you haven't donated to Spirit of America yet, you're a wuss.
P.P.S. John: Can I say that?

P.P.P.S - Not only can you say that - but I add this - from Iowahawk. The Armorer

A little more Fallujah news.

Know someone who fought at Fallujah? Know someone who didn't, but is in awe of the fight and fighters? Know someone who likes to collect comparatively rare t-shirts?

Look no farther! The wife of a deploying National Guardsman has designed a shirt to fit your needs!

LollaFallujah 2004

Her eBay store can be accessed here.

Hat tip to Myron for the pointer!

Regular visitors to the Castle know about the Arsenal. And the fact that the Armorer generally eschews new firearms for those that have a firmly established history.

The Armorer is pleased to see that US troops serving in Fallujah share his tastes, and are making use of an oldy-but-goodie, the PPSh 41, the Russian 'burp gun.' Although, given the source of most Iraqi weapons, this one is probably actually chinese, the Type 50.

Hat tip to Chris C. for the pics.

Next, Strategy Page has two interesting bits on Fallujah:

1. Some analysis of how we went about it. Fallujah, the Plan Survived Contact with the Enemy.

and,

2. Jim Dunnigan's thoughts on how Iraq may represent a tipping point in how Muslims are forced to view the world.

Update: Doug MacGregor continues his habit of not making friends. In the last link, he continues to show that truth-telling to power never is a very popular job that gets you promoted - just like John Boyd found out. Interesting views expressed herein - and I'm not in a position to strongly agree or disagree, but I find the viewpoint, well, interesting, and I freely admit I'm always having to fight with myself to keep an open mind and *not* get locked into a "Waterloo Mentality."

Fallujah, a soldiers story.

I've been giving you the jounalist's portrayal of the fighting in Fallujah. Now that many of the troops are back in their camps...

Let's hear their side. Truth-telling here - this is 2Slick's story, already linked to elsewhere by other people, but one more link can't hurt!