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Happy Canada Day! As you'd expect, today is a national day of celebration up here. But what some of you might not know is that today is also a day of mourning in one province, because of what happened to The Royal Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel on this day in 1916.
So today, while I'll raise many a glass in celebration, I'll also raise one in sombre salute. We will remember them. - Damian
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Jets. Up close and personal.
For this, words are entirely inadequate. However, having lived in the desert where temperatures reached 125, I understand the foot placement... - FbL
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Damian is a bit understated.
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Happy Canada Day! As you'd expect, today is a national day of celebration up here. But what some of you might not know is that today is also a day of mourning in one province, because of what happened to The Royal Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel on this day in 1916.
So today, while I'll raise many a glass in celebration, I'll also raise one in sombre salute. We will remember them. - Damian
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Jets. Up close and personal.
For this, words are entirely inadequate. However, having lived in the desert where temperatures reached 125, I understand the foot placement... - FbL
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Damian is a bit understated.
At Beaumont-Hamel, the 1st Battalion of the Newfoundland Regiment, part of the 29th British Division, lost two-thirds of its entire strength in about an hour's exposure to German artillery and machine guns. July 1 in Newfoundland is still a day of commemoration and mourning.
More here, at Veteran's Affairs Canada. Today the Maple Leaf and the Red Ensign wave in the breeze above Castle Argghhh!. - the Armorer
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Today is also the anniversary of the opening of the Battle of Gettysburg, when the Union lost a darn good General, John Reynolds. -the Armorer
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Oh, yeah - the New Castle - one year old and going strong. -the Armorer
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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires. Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute. Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*. The UAVs we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now. Of course, now I have to call them UAS's, because someone got a Legion of Merit for the name change.Anyway, I call the post H&I Fires because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to that particular topic. Another term of art that might be appropriate is Free Fire Zone.
But in my mind, it was 80-proof...
Bill, I'm humbled to see that you take GO1 seriously. As an enlisted guy, I, of course had to push that envelope. However being an older enlisted guy, I was very careful and never got caught.
That said, I'm now in a more accepting environment (UAE), so I will toast the Canadians who served so valiantly in a terrible meat-grinder in WWI. I surely do appreciate the patriots who live North of the longest undefended border in the world (and that says about everything about how we really feel about each other (regardless of what some media reports have said).
They have non-alcoholic beer over here, but I figure drinking one would be like taking a shower while wearing a poncho...
I come home from work to find out you've been pimping me around?
And all this time I thought you were a gentleman...