Divisions, all good Generals want lots of divisions...

  My reading of Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fisher, brought a lot of information and thoughts to my mind. About how important leadership is in time of troubles, steady, calm and courageous leadership. And of course some more Continental Soldiers that would stick around and soldier properly.

  One new piece of information was reading how General Washington bemoaned the backcountrymen that didn't know a thing about rifles. I think he was probably correct, how many times have I met shooters with the most excellent equipment; rifles, sighting systems and slings, ammunition, and they barely qualify because they aren't shooting well, they think the shot done when they jerk the trigger...

   And one would have to just look at the evidence that trained Continental Soldiers that fought about the same as the Redcoated Regulars had a lot to do with General Washington's final successes.  He just couldn't get them to replace the fallen, sick and wounded, or just tired fast enough to build more divisions. When he got down off his high horse, and sat and discussed operations with his staff and generals of his divisions, he started accepting some reality after crossing the Delaware after the retreat across New Jersey. He was going to go to war and win with what was available, he would work harder to get more divisions, lengthen the enlistments, and train the Continental units better in the best European traditions, but he had missions for the backwoods boys under Morgan, and the militias could work with his Continental Divisions just don't expect too many miracles from them, they weren't Saints and calling them Hosts was a real stretch. Some seemed more a social club, the richer Associators actually bought their horses, horse pistols, sabers and carbines and then even some light cannon.  They would assist General Washington by crossing the Delaware when he called it off for weather, and alerting the Hessians that militia were troublesome before the General would get it right and cross to make his famous attack.  But they weren't the only militia crossing the Delaware and assisting the General or just making life miserable for the Hessians and the other scattered British troops trying to forage and winter down in New Jersey.

   Fascinating reading, will have to get back to it when my print copy shows up with better map views than my kindle give me.  But the author calls attention to the fact that Tidewater Noble as George Washington was, with his type of society and polish, thrown in with the rabble and riftraff of a rebel people becoming a flexible and even more polished in his leadership skills and his definite handling of his subordinate leaders - often sent far from headquarters to perform impossible missions.  He aided them with what he could, encouraged them, but kept his eye on the prize.
  
   He could only defeat the British Empire and gain independence by, keeping an army in the field, not getting captured, nor defeated into surrender. And once in awhile he had to win, which often meant fooling the enemy, doing things unexpected and allowing your subordinates enough rope to make a victory possible. The whole battle for Princeton is great to read about, not that I would have liked to be one of the many soldiers marching that night and running into the enemy on the road, surprise!

   If the mililtia hadn't existed it would have had to been invented, General Washington needed local forces and friends to make up for missing maps, to provide early warning and information on roaming British units, to cut off some of the Regulars' rations (they never had time to put in crops).  A lot of supply ships would fall to privateers, which made those goods available for the Continentals. Those little independent minded but all for the cause of Liberty, militia units and leaders would be evidence that the Crown would not rest well in the thirteen colonies, soon to be thought of as states.

   To my mind, even gentleman George Washington, could have learned how to herd cats with enough time. Read about his lack of love of Congress and you will see it.

Nothing ever happened to me... not like it was told from Hollywood...

   I could show you a picture of me, in my normal pose in Vietnam 1970-71, and I don't look like Martin Sheen going after COL Kurtz, nor like Forrest Gump, it just wasn't me in those movies I should have tried harder. It isn't like media isn't telling a truth, are they not? Everyone knows that all the US Troops were draftees (I wasn't) and stoned (when did that happen?) or hooking up with hookers (???). I wrote a lot of letters (free mail), read a lot of books, and lost weight eating everything I wanted. It was hot, cold, wet, sweat, and bugs abounded. Not quite like it was presented on the screen. I did see some Miss America contestants, and didn't know how to talk to a lady nor what to say. Real non-resident alien life forms - the lovely young ladies and the over-armed officer protection team (???).  I wrote lots of silly words that I don't re-read ever, so something was going through my mind, but for sure nothing important, news worthy, nor recorded for posterity ever happened to me, thank the LORD.

  I was thinking as I watched White House Down yesterday, that Hollywood knows nothing about weapons and shooting skills either. The Delta Force team took forever to get off the helicopter on quick rope, the three fast moving bombers moved so slowly they could see a girl waving a banner on the WH lawn, and by my projection the time to drop their load was way earlier... do you think Lucas got that Death Star bomb drop right in the film as it would have worked in real physical space?  Yeah, I know that was Luke Skywalker and the FORCE I was questioning...

  So since I am a terrible threat to everyone, being a Life Member of the infamous NRA, I decided to take a poll and see where my audience wanted my efforts.  Shooting or visiting the YMCA?  I did both, ripping off about eighty rounds, not killing, wounding nor upsetting anyone. Okay, the man beside me moved his target before I put mine up, but he wasn't upset. So I would have to guess those governors, mayors and all those people against my right to keep and bear arms - just didn't count in my life today. And they didn't get the message to be on the look out for me, either.  Now, I sure didn't make a smiley face like Mel Gibson, nor do one of those pull down and stare down for one killing bullet like his partner did. Just can't get up to that Hollywood level of expertise. By my count, all the firearms deaths of the Old West haven't even caught up to the Hollywood productions, and some of those Indians and bad men were killed over and over -- they did some splicing of old war party attacks on John Ford's movies, and J. Wayne had gotten older in just two years about thirty... can't measure up to the truth of a great movie. I am such a lesser mortal.

  Now I was happy enough with my shooting, since it wasn't perfect but good enough for all I would ever need it. The reason to have a pistol is to have a weapon to get you to a rifle, according to someone that should have told the movies about fantasy. But they are fantasy aren't they? Just fly away and pretend you are there...

   I figured out when I was very young that my mother and father weren't the same as those on television nor the movies. My sisters and brother weren't like the ones I saw, what we did wasn't the same (imagine hours of movies about people reading books, playing card or board games or chores!) The churches in the movies were brighter, the people purer and the music just so much better.

   The romances are better in Hollywood, too. Although the number of divorces in the stars lives is way up beyond my parents'. But the stars really do know how to portray real love and romance and we should all model ourselves after their true portrayals... yeah, like I am going to shoot like Jimmy Stewart in Winchester 73, I don't think so. Yeah, I have to like not living nor acting like Hollywood, one reason I don't fear much is that I am not being overly influenced by flights of fantasy making millions from fools like I could have been once upon a time.




  

History is written by the winners, or Hollywood screen writers and sometimes Historians...

    David Hackett Fisher writes books about History, and the RWVA uses Paul Revere's Ride as the base for the Three Strikes of the Match and the Dangerous Old Men stories that are shared on the two days of Appleseed marksmanship training and in Libertyseed events at schools and organizations without firearms. So when I found he had written a book: Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in History) I had to get my kindle version because I had the DVD, The Crossing, starring Jeff Daniels , which I had watched and watched many times.

   
   Imagine how much I could learn from the book - since I had the Hollywood writer's version... little did I know how much was untrue and untold by the DVD.  Of course I knew there was much more in the printed word, and my mind is much better than my vision for expansion into depths uncharted by machines or the minds of lesser men.  Okay, I do know that you only have a little time to get the message about the event on the screen and into the minds of the audience, and Shakespeare for all his glory, didn't really have all his plays exactly as History would tell them - so I will expect the medium to incite a little curiosity and then the searchers to go out and find the truth they need in other evidence and reporting.

   If I were to read all the tales about the attack at Trenton, there would be a core of citations that would lead me to my opinion (I wasn't really there, except in spirit). It is a good day, will visit the YMCA, to sit around and talk, no sweating today, and then I will see a movie Ex Machina, one cannot live by old wars alone.

What do you think they have to talk about? Nothing interesting they are too old...

  By dividing our lives by peer groups, education levels, genders, professions and so many other categories we miss a lot of truths.  Two young hip people talking about the latest fun, fad or foolishness may glance at two elder folks and in a break in their busy texting and conversations, make that remark - what do they have to talk about - and a response - nothing interesting, they are too old...

  The younger folks have missed the truth, they aren't looking at two old folks, kindly thought of as Seniors in modern America, and as 'grand folks, fathers and mothers' in other cultures.  They don't understand they are looking at surviving veteran Time Travelers.  Yes, you think you know what Woodstock was about, but some of them were there, and they could tell you what it was really like. Or when one of your friends does something really stupid and dies for no good reason, they can likely tell you what it was like when that happened to them, but I don't think they will. I think they have a mission not just to travel into our future until it is time for them to report, but not expose the youngsters to the most terrible things that men will do to men when they go really wrong.

   We are all time travelers, marching ever onward towards the end of the journey. As we stop playing with toys and tots and grow into adults why we do things, what might be better, what didn't work in the past and no reason to think it will work now -- all those questions and challenges may have answers found in those elder time travelers, ask them before they slip into memories and silence.

   It is the day to remember the dead, one whole day a year to remember people that gave up time travel for a duty to protect their loved ones, the future, an idea long repressed, or just lost it trying to make a difference and bring peace. You would have to ask the other surviving time travelers about it, the ones that didn't keep traveling on, they are reporting to the higher authority.

   Here on Earth, in the United States of America, here you could walk the gardens of stones, listen to politicians or catch the remaining family talking about the person named on the Memorial or written upon the marker. I hope it brings them a little peace, an important part of the Time Traveler is to reflect and remember the fallen, the departed, the ones that gave purpose and texture to our lives in love, and laughter. We wished for them to linger longer - but the pace is constant and it doesn't make long stops anywhere except in the mind of the Time Traveler, until they wake up to find it has all changed while they slept. Ah, Time Traveler, make sure that recliner and other serious distractions DO NOT get in the way of your participation, you are on a mission - to observe and report, to adjust and overcome, and to constantly enrich the journey before you, too, drop out to report.

Things that make you think no one really knows enough...

  Well, it is Memorial Day weekend, and the holiday spirit is good. At my church someone had put together a video tribute for fallen of America's wars, monuments and pictures with the total number of war dead for each. Although I saw it twice I didn't catch the war dead for the American Civil War, the War Between the States, but the video had started with the proudly rippling in the wind Stars and Bars, the first National Flag of the Confederacy: http://www.usflag.org/confederate.stars.and.bars.html.

    Then cut to a picture of a Civil War battle field, maybe the numbers were in the clouds and I didn't see them clearly. What struck me, since I recognized the flag immediately was that as talented as the video editor was in putting it together he didn't know he was rippling the harmony of those that might think the Confederacy was an enemy instead of a wayward brother.  I will of course forget to see if I can help the editor in the future.

   I did great things yesterday, got my demonstration rifle with a mounted green laser prepared for the next Appleseed and my own dry fire here in the home. I am so far behind in my reading and writing, I may never catch up, so the procrastination pile increases and awaits my attention. Be good.

Raised my ire, it did, just raised it right on up...

   I do hope I am not bothering anyone anywhere. Just wish y'all the best possible in your life and loves.

   I have been very happy as a member of the Revolutionary War Veterans Association, I first joined in 2005, but then after getting targets, lots of reading from Fred, and a t-shirt which I still have, there wasn't an Appleseed shoot anywhere near where I was nor likely to be any time soon. So, after a year, my interest in an organization that sounded good, would be fun to work with and learn how to shoot better and maybe get an M1 Garand one day, well, my investment hadn't paid off, and my membership and interest waned and withered and died.

   Until sometime in 2008, I bought an M1 Garand and a bunch of 30-06 in clips and in boxes, and there was now an Appleseed in Yakima, Washington in October, so I signed up again and paid five year membership (because I could save twenty dollars). That started my Appleseed Trail - all linked on the left side of this blog. In 2011 and 2012 I was medically absent more than present, but there were special people to come back and help and celebrate their moving up in the organization, and gosh, just have a great time remembering, Bickleton, WA April 21-22, 2012, those were the wonder years of a great time.

  Anyway, the health improved and I started back on the trail, and working on Appleseeds. Times were a little tougher, ammunition wasn't always available and sometimes the shoots weren't as well attended as we liked. But still there isn't much better than two days of rifle marksmanship and heritage and history of April 19th, 1775.

   For some strange reason people that love Liberty don't like to be organized, homogenized and pasteurized. And some folks just want to be in charge... every organization will have them, find them and work with or under them... which could be a problem, like herding cats, it just doesn't always work smoothly. So, volunteers depart in singles or droves depending on how much noise they made and how off the permitted track they went. 

   What seems to be worse, is that the leadership (those that think they are in charge and want our attention) will run around talking about disloyalty, and shame, and sending volunteers into the corner or off the forum for a 'time out'.  Maybe King George the Third should have sent the rebellious colonists into the other world, without recourse except to stand on their own two feet. It sure would have been less costly in the long run, in blood and treasure. 

    To make sure those of us still volunteering and working know all the bad stuff about the departed members and why we shouldn't have any truck with them ever again - they send out letters, one of which I received today, and it just raised my ire. and I wondered again how people get so rude, uncaring and merciless. Doesn't really matter, I am only an old fat man back in the corner of the world and I wish all the parties all the best for all their best. No need for shunning or shouting or chastising.  We really all can get along in Liberty - but it is easier if one is nice and thoughtful and respectful of differences and others.

Define yourself, your life, your country and your choices...

  Maybe we don't do enough looking into our mirror, we don't want to see what we have become nor acknowledge that it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, because you aren't in the grand scheme of things, are you?

  Rifleslinger was looking at many things, measuring and analyzing and working on more better for the longest time. His admirers thought it was great he was doing it, and isn't that a nice way he did that.. or this.. how does he find the time? You do realize this is my story, my blog and I am telling it my way.  He was never wrong, but sometimes mistaken, but he could work it out and come back at it from a different angle.  A young man with energy and passion, why would he do otherwise?

  I am still trying to find the meaning of Liberty, honor, manliness, gentleman, meek, good, bad, and such. They (who think they must be obeyed and are correct) keep redefining what it means to be American, I think it is great to be an American, even in the broadest sense of the word (everyone in North and South America). My brother is ashamed of all that was done in the name of America - killing civilians, corporate cuddling, and tons of other bad stuff trumpeted by those of a different point of view.  I know that humans are sinners, do not accept blame for their sins, nor do I define my country, America, by the criminals selling drugs and shooting up rival biker gangs, or disobeying the strict gun control in Chicago along with other laws and killing their neighbors and innocents. I just thank God that I am not a fool of their disorder.  And I look for my own to fix, address and correct or make good enough, good being the easier than perfect to achieve consistently. But the truth that hurts the fools the most, America and Americans have done wonderful things for civilization, PEACE, prosperity, opportunity and the future -- so I am an American and proud to be one.

  A Facebook friend found no money in his bank account today, it had been cleaned out. That is bad, really bad, how can that happen? Did we make it too easy to move money electronically? around the world, across town? Is it an attack by ISIS or Russian Organized crime or just the neighborhood youth with too much time on the computer and he is only playing? I am hoping it all works out, as he mentioned he has no money for lunch now. Dillinger would have left him a few bucks, but then Dillinger was an honorable thief, or something like that.

1960 Fifty years of Marriage and their posterity, Will and Beulah Dungey

 

  Did you question getting out of bed this morning? There are many things to fear out there, and you could die from any of them at any time, the government is only really trying to take care of its own, which does seem to be the elected class and those connected to the same. But I am cynical, or should that be spelt 'SINinCal' (nope, that looks like a word for modern California). Well, time to go to the YMCA, otherwise it would be movies or FOXNews and death by degrees of reclineritis.