I was reading a kindle book in between airplanes called "One Decisive Victory" a Grimm War book number#3 and there was a quote where he used before he sent his ship the U.S.S interceptor into battle and it caught my interest....So I looked up the quote to get the rest of the story.
To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods.
The quote caught my interest and I figured I would look up the backstory:
The Lays were composed by Macaulay in his thirties, during his spare time while he was the "legal member" of the Governor-General of India's Supreme Council from 1834 to 1838. He later wrote of them:
The plan occurred to me in the jungle at the foot of the Neilgherry hills; and most of the verses were made during a dreary sojourn at Ootacamund and a disagreeable voyage in the Bay of Bengal.
The Roman ballads are preceded by brief introductions, discussing the
legends from a scholarly perspective. Macaulay explains that his
intention was to write poems resembling those that might have been sung
in ancient times.
The Lays were first published by Longman in 1842. They became immensely popular, and were a regular subject of recitation, then a common pastime. The Lays were standard reading in British public schools for more than a century. Winston Churchill memorized them while at Harrow School, in order to show that he was capable of mental prodigies, notwithstanding his lacklustre academic performance
The first poem, Horatius, describes how Publius Horatius and two companions, Spurius Larcius and Titus Herminius, hold the Sublician bridge, the only span crossing the Tiber at Rome, against the Etruscan army of Lars Porsena, King of Clusium.
The three heroes are willing to die in order to prevent the enemy from
crossing the bridge, and sacking the otherwise ill-defended city.
While the trio close with the front ranks of the Etruscans, Roman
engineers hurriedly work to demolish the bridge, leaving their enemies
on the far side of the swollen river.
Horatius
Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods."
Haul down the bridge, Sir Consul,
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?
As the span becomes unstable, Horatius urges Lartius and Herminius to
retreat, while he fights on alone. His companions regain the Roman
side before the bridge begins to collapse, but Horatius can no longer
cross to safety, and therefore leaps into the river, still fully
armoured. Macaulay writes,
No sound of joy or sorrow
Was heard from either bank;
But friends and foes in dumb surprise,
With parted lips and straining eyes,
Stood gazing where he sank:
And when above the surges
They saw his crest appear,
All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry,
And even the ranks of Tuscany
Could scarce forbear to cheer.
He reaches the Roman shore, is richly rewarded, and gains mythic status by his act of bravery:
With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old.
I have read 2 of the three new books I bought and downloaded this week. I will promo the 3rd one later. The Authors are friends of mine and I swear they planned this when they released them around the same time....ain't they supposed to space them out so we can savor them like fine wine rather than load up what you can dodging the heavyweights at the buffet line at Golden Corral?
Whoever said retirement was quiet never met John Cronin...
The
old man may have retired for the final time from the Sheriff’s office,
but there are still cows to run, court cases to testify at, and
consultation calls to tap decades of experience. And that’s not even
counting the cold cases he’s still trying to solve...
With his
granddaughter Jesse running the gun store and managing the ranch books,
and her husband leaning how to fill Cronin’s shoes on investigations and
arrests, John is keeping busy training the next generation, while
settling a few old scores!
This is a blurp from the book on Amazon. I have read all of J.L Curtis's offering and they are all good. This is number 6 of the trilogy...yeah let that sink in...the storyline and material was good enough that it way passed the initial thought of 3 books...3 books HAH, we got 3 more out of the series, and the last one is "Sunset" and it closed up a lot of loose ends, but the ending is vague enough that if J.L wanted to, he could add a "Lucky Number 7"...Just a thought Jim.
Well anyway the "Gray Man" series is a story of a retired deputy Sheriff/investigator of a Texas Sheriff Dept named John Cronin, who is a Vietnam Veteran, and also a veteran of the drug and cartel wars in South America in the 1970's and later. The story also has his granddaughter who he has raised and she is also law enforcement and run the ranch and the gun store/range on the property. The protagonist are what we on the south call "Good People", you would love to have them as neighbors and friends. I have gotten to know all the characters in the series and I feel like they are old friends and comfortable like a favorite coat. Well worth the read.
Martin Shelby's latest client is a
woman out to hurt her husband where it matters most to him - his pride.
She's teamed with the best lawyer in town, and The Boogeyman is out to
find the evidence to turn her shark loose in divorce court.
But
indulging a taste for younger women isn't the only shady thing her
husband's been up to, and the blood in the water is all too real as the
body count starts mounting.
A bit of background, Martin Shelby is a PI or private investigator and he hangs his shingle in Louisville Kentucky and some of his clients deal with supernatural events, in this book, Zombies. If you live in the Louisville Area, you will recognize some of the scenery because Tom actually lives in the area. I spent a lot of time in that area because my best friend transferred to Kentucky Truck Plant from Atlanta Assembly plant and I went up there quite a few times to visit him and my other friends but I digress. Well anyway a lady hires Martin to get dirt on her husband whom she is convinced that he is screwing around, and a regular PI assignment veers into the supernatural. Well worth the read. It will help if you get the first 2 books also, it will help in providing background. Although this book can stand alone, it makes more sense to read the others.
I read a book recommended by Peter and name of the book was ""Three Sips of Gin" and it talked about some of the exploits of the Rhodesian Bush war and the aftermath. The book was very good and I got a chuckle out of the term "FlatDog" a term used by the Rhodesians for "Crocodiles". I had known a bit before and it did expand my knowledge. I knew some of the stories because I read a lot of "Soldier of Fortune", and the Rhodesian bush war was a big part of the magazine in the late 70's and early 80's.
Now I wish I still had all those magazines, but when you are a teenager, you don't think of stuff like that. I did some more reading and rolled with it.
This exerpt is from "Wiki"
The Second Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902) was fought between the British Empire and two Boerstates, the South African Republic (Republic of Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, over the Empire's influence in South Africa. It is also known variously as the Boer War, Anglo-Boer War, South African War or Anglo-Boer South African War.
Initial Boer attacks were successful, and although British
reinforcements later reversed these, the war continued for years with
Boer guerrilla warfare, until harsh British counter-measures brought them to terms.
The war started with the British overconfident and under-prepared.[11] The Boers were very well armed and struck first, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley,
and Mafeking in early 1900, and winning important battles at Colenso,
Magersfontein and Stormberg. Staggered, the British brought in large
numbers of soldiers and fought back. General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener.
They relieved the three besieged cities, and invaded the two Boer
republics in late 1900. The onward marches of the British Army were so
overwhelming that the Boers did not fight staged battles in defence of
their homeland. The British quickly seized control of all of the Orange
Free State and Transvaal, as the civilian leadership went into hiding or
exile. In conventional terms, the war was over. The British officially
annexed the two countries in 1900, and called a "khaki election" to give the government another six years of power in London. British military efforts were aided by Cape Colony, the Colony of Natal and some native African allies, and further supported by volunteers from the British Empire, including Southern Africa, the Australian colonies, Canada, India and New Zealand. All other nations were neutral, but public opinion in them was largely hostile to the British.Inside the UK and its Empire there also was significant opposition to the Second Boer War.
The Boers refused to surrender. They reverted to guerrilla warfare under new generals Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, Christiaan de Wet and Koos de la Rey.
Two more years of surprise attacks and quick escapes followed. As
guerrillas without uniforms, the Boer fighters easily blended into the
farmlands, which provided hiding places, supplies, and horses. The UK's
solution was to set up complex nets of block houses, strong points, and
barbed wire fences, partitioning off the entire conquered territory. The
civilian farmers were relocated into concentration camps, where very large proportions died of disease,[citation needed]
especially the children, who mostly lacked immunities. Then British
mounted infantry units systematically tracked down the highly mobile
Boer guerrilla units. The battles at this stage were small operations
with few combat casualties (most of the dead were victims of disease).
The war ended in surrender and British terms with the Treaty of Vereeniging
in May 1902. The British successfully won over the Boer leaders, who
now gave full support to the new political system. Both former republics
were incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910, which Boers controlled.
Boer Militia at Spion Kop
“The Boers are not like the Sudanese, who stood up to a fair fight. They are always running away on their little ponies.”
– General Kitchener, 1900
The Second Boer War (1899-1902) was a grueling campaign which the
British won despite their commanders rather than because of them.
British commanders were in general of a poor quality in the war. Faced
with Boer guerrillas fighting a careful, tenacious campaign for freedom
from Britain, the forces of the empire would have struggled at first
even under forward-looking and capable officers. Instead, they were
repeatedly led by men of stunning ineptitude, who cost many brave men
their lives and probably prolonged the war.
1. General Sir Redvers “Reverse” Buller
Once an excellent major, General Buller had been promoted far beyond
his abilities. He had also been away from the action, having not
commanded any troops between 1887 and 1899. He was put in charge of the
British expeditionary force to put down the Boers.
With little grasp of his mission, Buller failed to direct the
officers beneath him, even promoting the terrible General Warren.
Buller’s undoing came in December 1899 at the Battle of Colenso. There
he failed to identify where the Boer troops were, despite hurling
artillery shells against the hillsides to try to drive them out. His
advancing columns were devastated by the dispersed Boer riflemen. In
this action, some field guns were abandoned.
Becoming obsessed with retrieving a set of field guns, Buller lost
track of the big picture. By the time he gave in and retreated at eleven
in the morning he had lost 1,139 men, compared with around 40
casualties on the Boer side.
Photo of Victoria Cross recipient Redvers Henry Buller.
His setbacks earned the general the nickname “Reverse Buller” among his men
2. General William “Backacher” Gatacre
Major-general William Forbes Gatacre
The bearer of another unfortunate nickname was General Gatacre. He was called “Backacher” by his unhappy troops.
Gatacre’s most notable disaster was when he tried to launch a
surprise raid to seize the Stormberg railway junction. Taking 2,700 men
on a hard night march, he failed to bring the one man who knew the
terrain, leading his troops to become hopelessly lost.
At dawn, Boer soldiers found themselves looking down a sheer cliff
face at the lost British below. They opened fire, and those British
soldiers brave enough to try climbing the rock face soon found it
impossible. As his men fled, Gatacre ordered a retreat that descended
into chaos. 600 men were left behind, not having been given the fallback
order. Surrounded by the Boers, these men surrendered, while Gatacre
ran off to lick his wounds.
3. General Lord Methuen
Lord Methuen, circa 1902
Approaching a hill near Magersfontein, Lord Methuen concluded that it
was defended by Boers and took the sensible decision to bombard it
before advancing. Unfortunately, he failed to find out where the Boers
were before putting his artillery into action. A rain of shells fell on
the top of the hill while the Boers sat safely dug in in trenches at the
bottom.
Believing he had shaken the defenders, Methuen ordered an advance by
the Black Watch through a moonless night of pouring rain. As dawn broke,
the soaked Scots found themselves marching in close formation towards
the bottom of the hill. From 400 yards away the Boers opened fire.
Most of the Highlanders leapt for the inadequate cover of bushes and
anthills. The heat of the African sun and the bites of the insects added
to their misery as they lay trapped. When the Light Infantry panicked
and ran many of them were shot down from behind.
Of 3,500 men who advanced, 902 were killed or wounded.
4. General Sir Charles Warren
Charles Warren carbon print portrait by Herbert Rose Barraud of London
Following Colenso, Buller was reinforced by troops under General
Warren, who had spent the previous year in retirement. While crossing
the Tugela, Warren spent so much time supervising the crossing of his
own baggage that the 600 Boer defenders grew to ten times that number.
Buller made Warren commander at the Battle of Spion Kop. Neither
Buller nor Warren ordered proper reconnaissance of the hill they were
planning to attack. With little purpose, plan or information, Warren
ordered General Woodgate – a man even Buller considered stupid – to lead
an advance. He gave Woodgate neither machine guns nor a telegraph team
to keep in touch.
Ill-equipped and ill-informed, Woodgate and his men fought their way
to what they thought was the top of the hill, but was actually a plateau
mid-way up. The Boers took the ridges and rained down death from three
sides upon the British, who could not even dig in on the rocky ground.
It was nine hours before Warren thought to send reinforcements, by
which time Woodgate was dead and his men in retreat. When a war
correspondent named Winston Churchill had urged Warren to act earlier in
the day, Warren had ordered him arrested in a fit of rage.
5. Colonel Charles Long
Buller’s failings at Colenso were compounded by his subordinates below him, including Colonel Long.
Long was an old-school officer who believed that “the only way to
smash those beggars is to rush in at ‘em”. Ordered to keep his horse
artillery at least two and a half miles back, Long instead ordered them
to gallop forwards, leaving behind the infantry meant to protect them. A
thousand yards from the Tugela River, Long set up his guns in what he
considered a pleasingly straight line and began firing at the Boers
across the river.
This close, Long’s men were defenceless in the face of a thousand
Boer rifles. After an hour’s firing, with no ammunition left and no
cover to hide behind, they were forced to retreat, leaving behind the
guns, which were later used by the Boers against the British.
6. Major-General Hart
Herbert Hart, in the uniform of a brigadier general
Not to be outdone, another of the officers at Colenso, Major-General
Hart, ordered his men to advance towards the enemy in close order in
broad daylight. Unable to cross the swollen Tugela, he kept moving along
it despite warnings from other officers of Boers all along the far
bank. Surrounded on three sides by Boers, the British came under deadly
fire. As his officers tried to move their men into open formations, and
so reduce their losses, Hart ordered them back into close order and as a
result he Boers were able to pick off many British soldiers with their
rifles.
Of 1,139 British casualties at Colenso, 532 – nearly half – were from Hart’s brigade.
The Boer War turned into a bloody conflict. If the British Army had
been properly led, then it would have been shorter and far less bloody. Sources: Geoffrey Regan (1991), The Guinness Book of Military Blunders.
A couple of goings on, I went to a Band performance of my son's High School Band, and they won, they were the "Grand Champions" of the competition. I recorded the video and disregard the occasional yelling, the parents are very enthusiastic, LOL, .
I went and found the performance on Youtube, My recording because of the wind picked up the video, but I lost a lot of the sound. Here is the performance "The Last Train Out"
According to my son, even with the audio limitations, he said that it was a better video.
My blog buddy the "GodFather" Old NFO, whom is a class act by himself but we don't tell him this BTW. Old NFO published a book called "The Morning The Earth Shook", The book talked about the Calexit movement from the Military point of view around San Diego after California seceded from the United States. The book was well received and rated well. Well Old NFO mentioned to me that he was thinking about doing another book with other people writing stories based on the book. I was intrigued and came up with a story and sent it to Old NFO whom edited my random brain squeezing into a workable story. I was totally humbled that my story made the cut, the people in that book are very good. Go buy the book Calexit "The Anthology"
I cut and pasted this from the Amazon link
When California declares independence, their dreams of socialist
diversity become nightmares for many from the high Sierras to the
Central Valley. Follow the lives of those who must decide whether to
stand their ground, or flee!
In San Diego, the commander of Naval
Special Warfare Group One finds his hands tied by red tape, even as
protesters storm the base and attack dependents.
In Los Angeles, an airline mechanic must beg, borrow, or bribe to get his family on the plane out before the last flight out.
Elsewhere, a couple seeks out the new underground railroad after being forced to confess to crimes they didn't commit.
In the new state of Jefferson, farmers must defend themselves against carpetbaggers and border raiders.
And in the high Sierras, a woman must make the decision to walk out alone...
Featuring
all-new stories set after Calexit from JL Curtis, Bob Poole, Cedar
Sanderson, Tom Rogneby, Alma Boykin, B Opperman, L B Johnson, Eaton
Rapids Joe, Lawdog, and Kimball O'Hara.
My blog buddy Jim wrote a BOOK about Calexit several months ago, I almost wonder if Jim is clairvoyant or has ESP abilities. But I digress, Go get a copy of the book, it is well worth the read. Jim has researched what might happen, he has used open source and social media sources for how the progressives in Cali will react and do. This book is a work of Fiction but the background is well researched.
“If everyone in the middle class is leaving [California], that’s actually a good thing.”
“If everyone in the middle class is leaving [California], that’s actually a good thing.”
In the case of Brexit, ordinary British citizens defied the
elites in Brussels who thought they know what’s best for the British
people. Calexit is the opposite. Proponents of Calexit are elitists who
are angry that Americans elected Trump and they want a divorce. Let’s
give it to them.
The initiative has a chance to appear on the 2018 ballot, as my colleague Leslie Eastman pointed out in her recent post: #CalExit is resurrected as measure approved for signature gathering
Shattuck: #CALEXIT would be a truly golden idea
California could secede from the United States. Signatures are being
hurriedly gathered for a 2018 ballot initiative that would begin the
process of independence for the Golden State.
Awesome. Break a leg. I wholeheartedly endorse “#Calexit” and here’s why you should too.
About a third of the entire welfare population of the United States
lives in California. Let’s make that the Independent Country of
California’s problem, not ours.
An estimated 2,350,000 illegal immigrants (about the population of
Connecticut) reside there too. In the new California they can all be
legalized and won’t have to dwell “in the shadows.”
Taxes in the state are astronomical and yet the fleecing of the
battered upper middle class has failed to keep roads and bridges from
crumbling, or the K-12 schools from performing dismally. I’d look for an
eastern wall to keep the remaining affluent within the borders.
When we shed California, we’ll be saying goodbye to state with the most murders per year.
We won’t miss anything about California. Do you know anybody whose favorite pizza is at California Pizza Kitchen?
Think about it. If California was its own country, there would
finally be a place for progressives who are embarrassed to live in
America. They can run it how ever they want and the rest of us can enjoy
life in the U.S, without them.
The Calexit movement is also a perfect example of how we got Trump.
It was middle class Americans in the midwest and elsewhere in the U.S.
who felt abandoned by DC elitists and saw in Trump a candidate who
listened to them. Democrats have shown no interest in winning back these
voters.
In fact, a leader of the Calexit movement appeared on the Tucker
Carlson show this week and said that he’s happy about middle class
citizens who are fleeing California for other states.
Here’s a partial transcript from Real Clear Politics:
Calexit Leader to Tucker Carlson: Export Middle Class To Make Room For Next “Wave” Of Immigrants
Calexit leader Shankar Singam appeared on Tuesday’s broadcast of
Tucker Carlson Tonight to promote the secession of California from the
union. Singam said California doesn’t have much in common with the rest
of the country. He declared, “This is California. We’re not the United
States.”
The Calexit proponent also said it is a “good thing” that the middle
class is fleeing the state because it will make room for the “new wave”
of immigrants. Singam told Carlson that “the United States” should be
thanking “us” for “exporting” the state’s middle class to the rest of
the country.
“If everyone in the middle class is leaving, that’s actually a good
thing. We need these spots opened up for the new wave of immigrants to
come up. It’s what we do,” Singam told Carlson…
“Tucker, you have to look at the bigger picture here,” Singam
answered. “The fifth largest economy in the world. Just repeat that. Say
it again. We are the fifth largest economy.”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard that,” Carlson said. “It’s
basically the economy of Mexico. You’ve got a small number of rich
people, the tech people, and then you’ve got a ton of poor people and
the middle class is leaving. That’s a recipe for instability. You’re
aware of that, right?”
“If everyone in the middle class is leaving, that’s actually a good
thing. We need these spots opened up for the new wave of immigrants to
come up. It’s what we do. We export our middle class to the United
States. You guys should be thanking us for that,” Singam said to a
stunned Carlson.
Here’s the video:
Again, this is how we got Trump. Let progressives have California.
They can ban guns, flood their country with as many refugees and illegal
immigrants as they please. They can also forfeit every penny of federal
assistance they currently enjoy, along with their 55 electoral college
votes.
Everybody wins.
Featured image via YouTube.
My Blogbuddy Jim, who is a class act and all around good guy but we don't tell him that. He has released a new novella(I'm not sure what that means lol), but anyway, I have bought everything that Jim has written from the Stellar "Gray Man" series which are now 4 of them, he also has branched out into MilScifi and they are worth the read. Jim is a very good storyteller, he is the kind of guy you would have around the campfire and he can spin some good stories.
A year after Calexit, the last US bases
in Southern California are under siege, with their power and water cut
off. Their perimeters are under constant probes by a now hostile nation.
There is intelligence the government of California is planning a final
all-out action to overwhelm the last bases and claim the spoils of
victory for their own… But the men and women in uniform aren’t
going to let their bases be overrun, especially after the murder of
their dependents. This is their story, a novella of the last military
withdrawal from California. And if there’s one thing the Sailors and
Marines are not going to do, it’s go quietly!
My Blog buddy Jim A.K.A. "The old wise gray one" released his 4th "Gray Man" book.
Here is the Linkie to order either the digital or dead tree. I get both. Digital to read on my tablet and the dead tree version, autographed for close family. Order and read the book. I have read all the prior books and I feel like the characters are family as well as I know them. Reading those books is like visiting good friends as they go through their trials and tribulations but somehow you know that they will succeed because of the caliber of people they are.
This is a quick post and an apologies to my blog readers, I have been busy...and I will blame this ..
I could shameless blame Old NFO for this....and I will...he can handle it. Seriously now, reading his books are like visiting old friends, you know when you read a series of books and you like the characters and wish the world had more like these. The storyline is based on the situation with the Tex -Mex border and the smuggling cartel wanting to continue moving product and people, and the ruthlessness of the cartel to squash all that stand in their way. On the other hand we have the main characters just trying to continue living their lives as a family....strange family with the cast of characters that are there, but a very good group of characters. Like I said, reading his books is like visiting old friends and watching them change as life takes them through the rivers of time and the eddies of life. Very enjoyable.
Good book...Good Coffee...quiet Morning...
You can buy your own copy Here. Mr Curtis will also do "Dead Tree" versions for those that like the real books in their hands. He will also sign them..you just contact him via the link or through his Website.
My son is wanting to go to see a movie the latest terminator saga, so we will go to see this Sunday Afternoon.
And finally I will talk about my Airbus A350 XWB experience after my Monday Music I will post tomorrow......
My blog buddy Peter just published his new book. It is slated to be different than the "Maxwell Books" which I enjoyed immensely. This is a new trilogy. I just downloaded it. Y'all need to check it out and support one of our own. This ain't charity, Peter writes very well and it get better with each book and if you like a good Military Sci-Fi Yarn, go check it out.!!
Here is the particulars shamelessly cut and pasted off his Blog
'War To The Knife' has just gone live on Amazon.com in its Kindle version. A CreateSpace print version has been uploaded and will go live as soon as it's passed that company's approval process, which is a bit more convoluted than Amazon's (not surprising, given the added difficulties in working with paper editions).
I'd be grateful if those of you with blogs and social media pages would please help me spread the word of its release. If you read it and like it (or even if you don't like it), please leave a review on Amazon.com too - reviews really, really help other readers decide whether or not to try it for themselves.
Thanks for your patience with somewhat irregular blogging while I finished this project. It's been a whole lot of fun, and I really think my writing's risen to a new level with this book. Now for Maxwell Volume 4 (hopefully to be published in September), then the Laredo War Volume 2, hopefully in December. Keep your fingers crossed!
My blog buddy OldNFO Just published his first book, I have read some of the stories when he had posted snippets on his blog and they are well written. Now a word about Mr Curtis, he is very knowledge and a class act which is rare in this day and age. Go check out his book You will be pleasantly surprised.
And up in electronic formats for both Kindle and Nook. Edit and apparently also as a real dead tree HERE!!!
I will warn you now, the print version is $14.00 which is high, but as a self publish I couldn’t drive the price any lower without having to pay them…
If you were one of the folks that helped as an alpha or beta read, check your email. For those who expressed an interest in a signed copy, I will be able to get those out the end of April (I still have a real job… dammit). Please send me an email with your mailing address, how you want it personalized and I’ll give you details and approximate dates I expect to be able to fulfill your requests. IF any of you folks are going to NRA, I will try my best to have a few copies there.
Thanks again to all of you for your support. It’s not the next great American novel, but I hope you’ll enjoy it anyway!
