Author: Zero Ponsdorf

  • Anchors Away, or Aweigh! Go Navy!

    I opted for Away vs Aweigh for a reason, but I didn’t mean to confuse the Army guys.

    For the next 72 hours or so TAH will have a different flavor… IF my fellow swabbies and swabettes (sexist, but cute) help out.

    Jonn is getting a high colonic or something and it’ll take him a while to recover. As I understand it he’s so full of shit that it’s effecting his vision. I’m no medical expert so YMMV.

    TSO is getting a suntan with his wonderful wife (who deserves better).

    Those of you with forum access can use that for stories, otherwise my email address is on the contact page.

    I’ m looking for stories that highlight the superior nature of Naval Warfare.

    I will entertain USMC stories as well. Let’s face it. Do we really NEED an army to take care of business?

    Well, I have some good friends who are Air Force types, but…

     

  • Two Events – Common Ground in Arlington

    These seemingly unrelated events happened this week in history.

    Two years ago some Islamic wacko decided to kill some people in the name of his religion:

    FORT HOOD (November 5, 2011)—The families of the 13 people killed in the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center are finding comfort in each other on the second anniversary of the tragedy, saying that staying connected with other affected families helps the grieving process.

    On Saturday, some victims’ relatives planned to place wreaths on the fence that now surrounds the boarded-up building where the shootings occurred.

    Earlier in the week, two of the families visited Arlington National Cemetery in Washington to pay respects to two soldiers killed that day, although they’d never met.

    But, many more years ago some other thing was getting underway:

    Excerpted from Firebase 319

    Early on Friday, November 5, 1965 the 173D Airborne Brigade (Separate) entered War Zone “D” in the Republic of Vietnam to conduct Operation HUMP (OPORD 28-65). Somewhat auspiciously the name of the operation signified the halfway point of our year in Vietnam. The search operation began with the 1/RAR (Royal Australian Regiment) deployed south of the Dong Nai River and paratroopers of the lst Battalion (Airborne), 503D Infantry being lifted by helicopters from the “snake pit” around noon to conduct a helicopter assault on a LZ northwest of the Dong Nai and Song Be Rivers. Leaving my rear detachment under the control of my Executive Officer, First Lieutenant Charles E. Johnson, Jr., B Company deployed with five officers, 195 enlisted men and one ARVN interpreter.

    (more…)

  • Mixed Feelings – Bubblehead Women

    On one hand I suppose it is a good thing the the sub-jockeys finally get to serve with women, on the other hand I’m not sure this is a good thing for the The Navy or our national defense?

    First Women to Report to Subs Graduate

    Groton– The women who will be the first to report to their submarines graduated Friday from the Naval Submarine School.

    Nineteen women completed the 10-week officer basic course, along with 73 men. Eight women graduated from the course in July but went on to further training.

    Friday’s graduates have finished the six months of Nuclear Power School, six months of Naval Nuclear Prototype Training and the officer course. Some report to their submarines as early as next week.

    I’m emphatically NOT a misogynist! Might just be my age or experience, but I do think the jury is still out concerning women on combat ships of all kinds. I’m not saying they can’t do the job in many cases, only that I’m unsure they SHOULD be doing it on combat ships.

  • Guy Fawkes Day

    Don’t you Remember,
    The Fifth of November,
    ‘Twas Gunpowder Treason Day,
    I let off my gun,
    And made’em all run.
    And Stole all their Bonfire away. (1742)

    It’s party time somewhere!

  • Yes He Can!

    There’s an update to the story about the Navy vet and his flag.
    Ore. building lets Navy veteran hang U.S. flag

    SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — A 70-year-old Navy veteran will be allowed to hang the American flag outside his apartment on Veterans Day.

    The management of the downtown apartment complex had threatened to evict Edward Zivica for repeatedly hanging the flag in a commons area in violation of rules against hanging anything on exterior walls. But it has relented.

    The nonprofit St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County announced a deal Friday: Zivica gets to stay and can display the flag on designated days the two sides have agreed on, KVAL-TV and The Register-Guard of Eugene reported Friday.

    The organization said in a statement it had gotten “a lot of attention” over the dispute.

    I’m smiling…

  • Official Puppeteer of Occupy Wall Street

    What a gig?

    Don Surber  offers a teachable moment.

    A few years ago, Joe Therrien, a graduate of the NYC Teaching Fellows program, was working as a full-time drama teacher at a public elementary school in New York City. Frustrated by huge class sizes, sparse resources and a disorganized bureaucracy, he set off to the University of Connecticut to get an MFA in his passion — puppetry.

    Take the time to read Don’s post. It only takes 4 or 5 WTFs to get through.

    I’m an ignorant old hillbilly; I didn’t even know one could get a MFA in puppetry? Or would want one, or mumble, mumble…

     

  • Profound (As in REALLY Important) News!

    This pleases me somehow.
    ‘Birther’ champion Orly Taitz seeks GOP Senate nomination to challenge Feinstein

    California dentist and lawyer Orly Taitz, best known as a leading proponent of conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama’s birth, is running as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.

    In a lengthy interview with The Daily Caller, Taitz expressed optimism about capturing the Republican nomination and defeating incumbent California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2012.

    I’m a sort of closet ‘birther’ myself, and the notion of getting rid of Feinstein is good. We need someone like Taitz in The Senate. It’s called comic relief.

    The obvious question… Will she show us HER birth certificate?

  • I Wish This Story Was One Of A Kind

    Seems to me this sort of thing happens with a painful regularity.
    Navy veteran could be evicted for hanging flag

    SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — Edward Zivica, a 70-year-old who served in the Navy in the 1960s, faces a hard choice come Veterans Day next week: He can obey the rules and remain in his apartment complex, or he can follow his tradition of hanging the American flag outside his place.

    The managers at his subsidized housing project here have given him notice he’ll be evicted if he again violates the rules against putting anything on the exterior walls.

    That notice came after the flag went up Oct. 27 for Navy Day, one of several that Zivica marks by hanging it outside the community room near the main entrance. He’d gotten a letter from the management in June telling him to quit.

    Zivica was in the Navy’s Submarine Service from 1960-67, according to the Eugene Register-Guard.

    As usual there’s likely more to the story than readily available , but in THIS case the logic escapes me.

    The downtown apartment complex is managed by St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, which opened it in 2009 with Zivica as one of the first tenants. CEO Terry McDonald said the action wasn’t aimed at the American flag as such but rather at preventing a precedent that could lead to more-controversial flags or banners.

    “If you’re going to live in a situation where there’s lots of other tenants, you need to follow the rules that are set up,” McDonald told KVAL-TV, which first reported the story.

    Flying the American Flag  on Veteran’s day could lead to more-controversial flags or banners?

    The story adds one final odd head scratching twist:

    After residents requested one, management has put up a flagpole. Zivica calls it “flimsy and cheesy-looking,” plastic with no lanyard to hoist the flag or lower it to half-staff. The small flag, he said, has faded to orange after less than a year.

    H/T Mary Ripley via FB