H&I Fires* 1 April 2008

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.

Time to add a new caveat, because from email it's not clear to some folks (mind you, if you don't read this it won't matter...) Being an open post, people (collectively, the Denizens) other than I post in the H&I. They sign their work (most of the time) - keep that in mind when you want to flame someone in email please - if it doesn't say "The Armorer" or "John" then I didn't write it! And honestly - if you don't like something said or posted... leave a comment, and hash it out (within the context of The Rulez which are clearly posted on the comment form, I would add).
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Get your "Hillary Bosnia Tour '96" t-shirts here.

The only thing better than Brit Obits are the people who are the subject of them. Meet Sergeant Dougie Wright:

Sergeant Dougie Wright, who has died aged 88, earned a Military Medal and a legendary reputation as a fighting soldier with Lord Jellicoe's 1st Special Boat Squadron in the Greek islands.

In April 1944 he distinguished himself in a close-quarter attack on an enemy post on Ios, which resulted in no SBS losses but five enemy casualties. He was also involved in two dramatic attacks on a radio station on Amorgos. In the first he found himself under the command of Anders Lassen, a Dane (later to win a posthumous VC) who hated Germans and usually killed them; but on this occasion Lassen did a deal with a captured wireless operator by which he took the man's dog as well as the station's code books, while Wright took the German's Greek mistress.

Catch the rest of Sergeant Wright's exploits in the Telegraph. H/t, CAPT H.

63 years ago today:

The Tenth Army goes ashore at Okinawa. As our buddies at Global Security note:

Okinawa was the largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific campaign and the last major campaign of the Pacific War. More ships were used, more troops put ashore, more supplies transported, more bombs dropped, more naval guns fired against shore targets than any other operation in the Pacific. More people died during the Battle of Okinawa than all those killed during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Casualties totaled more than 38,000 Americans wounded and 12,000 killed or missing, more than 107,000 Japanese and Okinawan conscripts killed, and perhaps 100,000 Okinawan civilians who perished in the battle.
The battle of Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. Thirty-four allied ships and craft of all types had been sunk, mostly by kamikazes, and 368 ships and craft damaged. The fleet had lost 763 aircraft. Total American casualties in the operation numbered over 12,000 killed [including nearly 5,000 Navy dead and almost 8,000 Marine and Army dead] and 36,000 wounded. Navy casualties were tremendous, with a ratio of one killed for one wounded as compared to a one to five ratio for the Marine Corps. Combat stress also caused large numbers of psychiatric casualties, a terrible hemorrhage of front-line strength. There were more than 26,000 non-battle casualties. In the battle of Okinawa, the rate of combat losses due to battle stress, expressed as a percentage of those caused by combat wounds, was 48% [in the Korean War the overall rate was about 20-25%, and in the Yom Kippur War it was about 30%]. American losses at Okinawa were so heavy as to illicite [sic] Congressional calls for an investigation into the conduct of the military commanders. Not surprisingly, the cost of this battle, in terms of lives, time, and material, weighed heavily in the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan just six weeks later.

-the Armorer

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As a whole, major media's coverage of the Iraqi-led military action in Basra continues to be appallingly bad. Honestly, I think this may be the absolute nadir of major media's incompetence, laziness, ignorance and ideology-driven reporting/analysis (at least we can hope it's the nadir, but they may be beyond recovery).

This piece from the AP fits the pattern. If anybody can read it and tell me what actually happened, please do. It's incomprehensible, though the final paragraph seems to at least clarify who the Iraqi army was fighting--and surprise, surprise, it seems it's exactly who the U.S. and Iraqis said they were fighting. - FbL

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Schatman says US Army (or military in general) might be trying to buy bloggers. If so, John, you're gonna owe me and Kat mega if you start getting paid for this place, and I bet Dusty and Bill would write more regularly too.
--ry
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Exploring the "Black Budget" by the shoulder/chest insignia of the participants... H/t, The Flea. -the Armorer

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Cheyenne, Wyoming, bans new pets or other animals within the city limits. Zip, nada, zilch. Once existing pets die off or run away - no replacements. They are making an exception for the rodeo... -the Armorer

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Do read the *whole* article. -the Armorer

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Really. I mean it. Read the *whole* thing. All the way to the end. Honest. -the Armorer

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No, not this post - the Cheyenne, Wyoming story. -the Armorer

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