Went Garand Shooting

I finally found time to go shooting with the Garand I picked up from the CMP a month or more ago.

    I went to the range at the next town over, the nice range near where I lived was in bankruptcy proceedings.  I was asking the owner of the small range I was using if he knew anything,  Apparently the really nice high speed gun range was in trouble in the court system, the owners are involved with 102 counts of bankruptcy fraud, and theft of weapons "stolen" in two separate robberies that were believed to be "Inside jobs".  That is a shame, because ranges are hard to find, even in "Gun Friendly" Southern States.

     I decided to bring the M1 Garand and my 03A3 "Springfield", actually made by Remington.  I thought that it was ironic that both weapons were made in 1943.  The Garand made by Winchester and my 03 made by Remington.

   I got to the range and set up the rifles, I had some ammo I had already prepared

I used some ammo from Academy, it is 150 grain "Monarch" brand and I was told not to use any thing heavier than 150 grains because it will mess up the sequence of the "OPROD", which makes the Garand do its thing.

Well I was shooting the rifles at the range and really enjoying the fact that I had a Garand that worked and it shot well, the Garand digested the ammo without a hiccup and it was a real joy to shoot.

This pic was my taking a break for a moment and decided to shoot a pic of the rifles.

  I think it was more me than the rifle, I still was a bit nervous, the target were set up at 35 years, the farthest distance the range had.  I didn't change the sight settings of either rifle.  This was more familiarization than accuracy.  I will plan another trip and sight in the rifles.
    I was stoked to shoot the Garand finally and I should have bought more ammo.

Looking forward to shooting tomorrow :)

Quick note, I am going to the range in the morning,  The bullets are 150 grain, and that was what I was told will work well in the Garand.   I will post tomorrow on the results.

  I would go to the usual range that I go to near my house...the nice one...well they are in bankruptcy proceedings.  The range made money but they had several break ins and guns were stolen each time and one of the owners basically shanked the others so the nice range is closed.  I will be going to the one at the next town over, it is a bit farther away and not as nice, but I will see how it goes.

   

I finally put a couple of dog collars and sling for my mosin-nagant.  The rifle looks different, I an considering putting a folding bayonet on the rifle to further dress the rifle.  I haven't decided yet.

Monday Music "On the Dark Side" from Eddie and the Cruisers"

This is the latest edition of my Wednesday Monday Music, I had this song loaded into the scheduler thingie but I forgot to hit "Publish"  , eh it happens.
  
     I heard this song and the movie in the early 1980's while I was in High School but never saw the movie, kinda like "Streets of Fire", I rented the movie while I was stationed in Germany and really liked it.  I bought the soundtrack at "Robinson Barracks" in Stuttgart at the big PX.   I liked the soundtrack, it had the "Old School" feel and I liked it.  I also bought the soundtrack sequel and it was a good album.  I am continuing my "Movie" theme thingie that I am running.


"On the Dark Side" is a song by American rock band John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, though they were credited as Eddie & the Cruisers. The song was written and recorded for the 1983 film Eddie and the Cruisers, and appeared on the film's soundtrack album. The song originally was a minor hit when released in 1983, peaking at #64 on the Billboard Hot 100, though a 1984 re-release of the song helped it gain more fame. The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, #19 on the Canadian Hot 100, and spent five weeks at #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks

Martin Davidson has said that the inspiration for the film came from a desire to "get all my feelings about the music of the last 30 years of rock music into it."He optioned P. F. Kluge's novel with his own money and at great financial risk. He wrote the screenplay with Arlene Davidson and decided to use a Citizen Kane-style story structure. He remembered, "That was in my head: the search."
Davidson made a deal with Time-Life, a company that was going into the movie-making business. However, it quickly left the business after making two films that were not financially successful. He was understandably upset and a couple of days later he went out to dinner and met a secretary who had worked on his first film. He told her what had happened to his film, and she gave his script for Eddie and the Cruisers to her business partners. In a relatively short time, a deal was struck with Aurora and Davidson was given a $6 million budget.

Vance asked Davidson to describe his fictitious band and their music. Initially, Davidson said that the Cruisers sounded like Dion and the Belmonts, but when they meet Frank, they have elements of Jim Morrison and The Doors. However, Davidson did not want to lose sight of the fact that the Cruisers were essentially a Jersey bar band, and he thought of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The filmmaker told Vance to find him someone that could produce music that contained elements of these three bands. Davidson was getting close to rehearsals when Vance called him and said that he had found the band--John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band from Providence, Rhode Island.
Davidson met the band and realized that they closely resembled the band as described in the script, right down to a Cape Verdean saxophone player, whom he cast in the film. Initially, Cafferty was only hired to write a few songs for the film, but he did such a good job of capturing the feeling of the 1960s and 1980s that Davidson asked him to score the entire film.

Eddie and the Cruisers was originally intended to open during the summer, but a scheduling error resulted in a September release, when its target audience - teenagers - were back in school. The film had its world premiere at Deauville. Embassy Pictures threw a promotional party for the film at a West Hollywood dance club in September, 1983 where Cafferty and his band played.
The film was a box office flop, receiving many negative to mixed reviews from critics (see below). The film was released in theaters on September 23, 1983 and grossed $1.4 million on its opening weekend. It would go on to make a paltry $4.7 million in North America. The film was pulled from theaters after three weeks and all of the promotional ads pulled after one week.
In the fall of 1984, the single "On the Dark Side" from the soundtrack album suddenly climbed the charts, as the film was rediscovered on cable television and home video, prompting the studio to briefly re-release the album.

Busier than a one legged man in a.....you get the picture...

Yep, it has been one of those kind of days...My Monday Music will probably go up on Wednesday and a post that I have been working on will be pushed off until Friday.   What can I say...it is real life.  I suppose I could cut sleep more than I already do..........

Read the folks on my side bar, they are REALLY Good....Nothing but the best for my readers...all both of them, LOL

4 mistakes the Axis made during WWII

I am a student of history and I always wonder why things work out in History like it does.  The Axis powers had many opportunities to win the war and blew it, the biggest mistake in my opinion was not invading England and starting the war in Russia.  Of course the Japanese screwed up by attacking the Americans in Pearl Harbor, and making it a sneak attack infuriating the Americans and their idea of "Fair play".  Japan paid for that error with Hiroshima.

Looking back at WWII there have been four decisions made that, in the end,  did not work out to the Axis advantage. Of course, you can argue that starting the war in the first place was the biggest mistake made. But, for the sake of the argument, let us look at four mistakes that were made after the war was started.
Nazi Alliance with Fascist Italy
Having allied themselves with Italy, although ideologically similar, was something that the Nazis should not have done. Time and again the Nazis were forced to come to the aid of Italy after the fascists launched an ill-conceived invasion or bit off more than they could chew.
Getting the German forces involved in North Africa, a costly commitment, was bad enough, but the forced German invasion of Greece could not have come at a worse time.
In March of 1941 Mussolini, the Fascist dictator of Italy, was still angry with Hitler after he failed to inform the Italians beforehand of his plans to invade France and the Low countries. This made Mussolini decide he was going to surprise Hitler and invade Greece without telling him. The Italian advance quickly bogged down and after a few weeks, the Greeks had fought them back to their starting point. The British came to the aid of the Greeks and landed forces in what Churchill called the soft underbelly of Europe.

Mussolini and Hitler in the heady days of 1940. The photo was taken by Eva Braun, and is in the public domain.

This loss of face for the Axis powers could not be accepted by Hitler, who ordered his generals to come up with a plan to secure his, now vulnerable, southern flank. This meant that the Invasion of the Soviet Union, which was supposed to start in early spring, had to be postponed to June 22nd. As it turned out, this delay proved fatal. Nazi invasion of Russia

Russian Cavalry Entering a liberated town.

Even though it was inconceivable that Nazis would not invade the Soviet Union, so was the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact which they signed on August 13th, 1939. This non-aggression pact allowed Nazi Germany to invade Poland without having to worry about a possible war with the USSR.
It even went so far that Poland was divided between the two and the part that the Soviets took in September 1939 has never been returned to Poland. It also gave the Soviets free reign in expanding their influence in the Eastern European countries and they lost no time in subjecting them to their rule.
The fact that the two sworn ideological enemies were willing to sign a non-aggression pact shook the world and allowed Nazi Germany the time to focus its attention on the western Europe without having to fear a war on two fronts. Germany made the most of this freedom and, in quick succession, defeated Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
Only their planned invasion of the United Kingdom was thwarted by the Few of the Royal Air Force, the first setback for the Nazis. Deteriorating weather caused the invasion of Britain to be postponed indefinitely, and Hitler once more turned to the East where, according to his book Mein Kampf, he believed the “Lebensraum” (living space) was which the Germans needed above all other things. However, this living space was occupied by the Russians. Russia had now moved its western borders hundreds of kilometers closer to Nazi Germany as a result of the pact.
Unable to knock Britain out of the war first and thus faced with a war on two fronts, which he had vowed to avoid at all costs, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Hitler was confident the Soviet Union would be defeated in mere weeks, and he is quoted as having said: “We have only to kick in the door, and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down.”
However, most of the first month, if not six weeks, was spent fighting a way through countries now occupied by the Soviet Union. These countries might otherwise have been ensnared into the Axis camp, had it not been for the pact.
The extra territory gave the Soviets the ability to trade space for time and, with the extra delay caused by the invasion of Greece, meant that Nazi Germany could not complete its conquest during the remaining period of good weather. The autumn rains rolled in and turned most of Russia in a quagmire of mud which made all movement virtually impossible. Then Winter arrived early, with extreme cold for which the Germans were not equipped.
Attack on Pearl Harbor

The photograph was taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island shortly after the beginning of the Pearl Harbor attack.

In a history similar to the German attack on the Soviet Union, the Japanese wanted an empire of their own to secure the future prosperity of a country which they thought did not have enough natural resources to sustain the population. The Germans called it “Lebensraum,” the Japanese called it the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.” It amounted to the same thing.
Having occupied vast portions of China and some countries in East Asia the next step was to expand its empire east into the Pacific ocean. Their eye was on the prosperous and natural resources that were under the control of the British and Dutch empires and the American-governed Philippines. However attacking these would cause the United States to join the war on the side of the allies.
America, on the other hand, had kept an eye on Japanese conquests and brutality and, short of war, did what they could to restrict them. In July 1941 they embargoed the export of oil to Japan which then calculated that, without acquiring the oil in the Dutch East Indies, they only had enough fuel for two years. They reasoned that now there would be no other option than going to war.
Realizing that they could not defeat the USA in direct battle, they chose to deliver a crushing blow to the American fleet based at Pearl Harbor. This would give them time to complete their desired conquests and present the Americans with a “fait accompli.” They reasoned the Americans would not be willing to enter a protracted war with Japan, and they would be able to make peace, keeping their vital conquests and handing back the less desirable places.
Fate, or bad Japanese intelligence, intervened on the Allied side on December 7th, 1941 and the vital American Aircraft carriers were not in port when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor. This meant the Americans were able to fight back causing the Japanese Admiral in charge of the attack to say (supposedly) “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”.
No alliance between the Nazis, Spain, and Turkey

By Ianjameslyon – CC BY-SA 3.0

One look at the map of Europe will show the strategic importance of both Spain and Turkey. However, these two were two of the few countries on the European mainland that remained neutral during the second world war.
Even though Spain remained neutral during the First World War, it was expected they would come in on the side of the Axis after all the help Hitler had given General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. However, despite pleading and perhaps even begging, Franco remained adamant. He would not join the Axis and would not even allow the Germans to pass through his country (as the Swedes did).
Not being able to pass through Spain meant that Great Britain was secure in using its military base in Gibraltar. Not only did this effectively seal off the entrance to the Mediterranean from Atlantic ocean for the German Navy, but it also gave the British a location from which it could support Malta and Egypt. Possession of Malta meant the British could interdict shipping from Italy to North Africa. Possession of Egypt meant it could stop the Axis from linking up with their forces fighting in the Caucasus (Soviet Union) and taking the much-needed oil fields in the middle east.
Turkey fought on the side of the Axis in the First World War yet declined to join them in the Second. This, again, meant the Germans could not link up with their forces in the Caucasus making the capture of Egypt paramount. In February 1945, Turkey joined the Allies and declared war on a virtually defeated Nazi Germany.

an email I got from my Dad and a place we visited.

We went to North Georgia to an "apple farm" and while scoring some cool munchies,

 I saw this and bought a couple of signed books.

   Here is the Author, he is a Vietnam Veteran that flew helicopters and he was a maintenance pilot

DEAR NEIGHBOR: Hi, Fred, this is Richard, next door. I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve been riddled w/guilt for a few months & have been trying to get up the courage to tell you face-to-face.  At least I’m telling you in this text, & I can’t live w/myself a minute longer w/o your knowing about this. The truth is that, when you’re not around, I’ve been sharing your wife, day & night.  In fact, probably much more than you.  I haven’t been getting it at home recently, & I know that that’s no excuse. The temptation was just too great. I can’t live w/the guilt & hope you’ll accept my sincere apology & forgive me. Please suggest a fee for usage, & I’ll pay you. Regards, Richard NEIGHBOR’S RESPONSE: Fred, feeling very angry & betrayed, grabbed his gun, went next door, & shot Richard, killing him.  He went back home, shot his wife, poured himself a stiff drink & sat down on the sofa.  Fred then looked at his phone & discovered a 2nd text message from Richard. 2ND TEXT MESSAGE: Hi, Fred.  Richard here again.  Sorry about the typo on my last text. I expect you figured it out & noticed that the darned Auto-Correct had changed “wi-fi” to “wife.”  Technology, huh?  It’ll be the death of us all.

How did Coca-Cola become so popular in WWII

 I live in the Atlanta Area, and there are 2 iconic images from Atlanta, one is Delta Airlines, the other is "Coke",   They say that babies are nursed on this stuff and if you don't drink Coke, then you must be a carpetbagger or some Yankee sympathizer.  The locals take their "Coke" seriously, so seriously that every carbonated drink here in the south is called "Coke".

The Coca-Cola trademark remains one of the most iconic brands in history, and the company behind it remains one of the wealthiest corporations in the world. The secret formula for the original flavor that makes this beverage so distinct is guarded with maximum security, as enthusiasts all over the world try to copy it.
It first started as an alcoholic drink, similar to vermouth, but switched to its non-alcohol taste which we know today in 1886, when John Pemberton, the inventor of the patent, had to step down from alcohol production due to legislative circumstances in Atlanta, where the company was seated.
But how did the brand become so influential?
Well, part of the success of the Coca-Cola company lies in its cunning use of marketing and its even more cunning use of investments. When the U.S. entered the World War II, Coca-Cola made sure to be the official drink of every GI Joe on the field. In 1941, a subsidy for servicemen was introduced, making the price of a coke bottle 5 cents, which was more than affordable at the time.

Coca-Cola horse drawn delivery wagon on the Boulevard in Leaksville, North Carolina, 1909.

Also, Coca-Cola briefly turned its investments into weapons manufacture, operating a propellant ammunition loading plant in Talladega, Alabama.
An average of 30 railroad cars of ammunition per day was reportedly produced from their Coosa River Ordnance Plant until closure in August 1945.
The subsidy and the munition production made the company immune to war-time sugar rationing, therefore leaving the production level at its normal rate and even blossom, while their reputation skyrocketed.
The conscripted Coca-Cola employees were also used to operate the 64 newly-formed bottling factories which supplied the military with the beverage. As a result, many of the employees were granted Technical Observer status and were called the Coca-Cola Colonels, never stepping on the battlefield, due to their expertise.

People Gathered By Coca-Cola Stand. Photo: Credit: Rosemary Gilliat Eaton / Library and Archives Canada..

They would go on to produce and distribute 10 billion Coke bottles to Allied military bases and fleets in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific.

Speaking of Africa, while fighting on the North African front, Germans would come across the typical American soft drink. Even though it was forbidden for German soldiers to consume the treat of their enemies, Coca-Cola soon earned its popularity among the members of Wehrmacht, and especially the Luftwaffe.
Allegedly, pilots would wrap Coke bottles in towels while on their sorties and attach them to the underwings of their BF109 fighter planes. This was truly an ingenious cooling method, as the altitude cooled the drink to almost freezing, which was a true refreshment in the desert sun.
A similar method was used by the American pilots in the Pacific Theater of War. They would freeze an ice-cream mixture in mid-air, and upon their return, voila―an excellent icy treat!
As for the Germans, they relied on captured Coca-Cola bottles, which reached an incredible price as contraband goods in the soldier’s black market. The flavor was truly adored by German soldiers, but this was in part due to the fact that Coca-Cola had a factory in Germany prior to the war, and the Germans weren’t all that unfamiliar with the tasty beverage.

Coca Cola advertising. Photo: Karsh, Malak/Library and Archives Canada

For a decade before the war broke out in 1939, the Coca-Cola Company in Germany operated uninterrupted. Once the two countries declared war on each other, the import of the syrup necessary for production was prevented by the embargo. Germany’s new Coca-Cola factory director, Max Keith, then decided to use the potential of the factory and produce a local soft drink that would serve as an equivalent to Coca-Cola.
He gathered the experts to make a combination of fruit pomace and whey―which were ingredients classified as “leftovers”―and thus Fanta was born. The name came from the German word for “fantasy,” as it really took an imaginative effort to make anything tasty from the given ingredients.
The drink was distributed to soldiers, but due to war rationing, its flavor was often used by military and civilians alike to sweeten their food instead of sugar, which was a wartime luxurious commodity.
After the war, Coca-Cola regained its factory in Germany and continued to produce Fanta under its trademark.

During WWII, a trade embargo was established against Nazi Germany – making the import of Coca-Cola syrup difficult. To circumvent this, Max Keith, the head of Coca-Cola Deutschland (Coca-Cola GmbH) decided to create a new product for the German market, using only ingredients available in Germany at the time, including whey and apple pomace—the "leftovers of leftovers", as Keith later recalled. The name was the result of a brief brainstorming session, which started with Keith's exhorting his team to "use their imagination" (Fantasie in German), to which one of his salesmen, Joe Knipp, immediately retorted "Fanta!"
The plant was effectively cut off from Coca-Cola headquarters during the war. After the war, The Coca-Cola Company regained control of the plant, formula, and the trademarks to the new Fanta product—as well as the plant profits made during the war.
During the war the Dutch Coca-Cola plant in Amsterdam (N.V. Nederlandsche Coca-Cola Maatschappij) suffered the same difficulties as the German Coca-Cola plant. Max Keith therefore also put the Fanta brand at the disposal of the Dutch Coca-Cola plant, of which he had been appointed the official Verwalter (caretaker). Dutch Fanta had a completely different recipe from German Fanta, elderberries being one of the main ingredients.
Fanta production was discontinued when the German and Dutch Coca-Cola branches were reunited with their parent company. Following the launch of several drinks by the Pepsi corporation in the 1950s, Coca-Cola competed by relaunching Fanta in 1955. The drink was heavily marketed in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.

The FT-17 Tank, the precurser of the modern Tank.

 I remembered seeing a story when I was little and I would read the comic "combat", it usually had stories of Sgt Rock, there was a story about the French resistance using these little WWI tanks to attack "La Boche" in support of the D-Day Landings.  I thought it was a made up story, perhaps it was but the tank was actually real.  I saw one while I was in Germany and visited a museum I think in Sinsheim Germany.

The tank is a resilient and devastating war machine, and a key element in many conflicts throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. To break the deadlock of trench warfare in the western front during the WWI, the concept of tank battle was developed. Britain and France simultaneously and separately developed the first tanks during the WWI.
The name ‘tank’ was adopted for the British ‘land ships’ in 1915 to maintain the secrecy of the armored vehicles. In an effort to fool the enemy spies, British army propagated the myth that they had been building ‘mobile water tanks’.
The world saw tanks in battle for the first time on September 15, 1916, when British Army deployed these armored land ships during the Battle of the Somme. Throughout 20^th century, tanks have played a dynamic role for the army and it has seen fierce and devastating action.

It is a strong mobile weapon platform with a large caliber rotating cannon capable of preventing enemy vehicles from advancing. From the the Battle of the Bulge in WWII to the 1981 Battle of Dezful during the eight year long Iran-Iraq war, tanks performed as the most significant offensive weapons around the world.
Following the fall of France in 1940, the country’s development of armored vehicles was suspended for a period that lasted throughout WWII.
France probably had the best tank designs in Europe before the War, but it was reduced to the puppet state of Vichy France after occupation by the Germans.

The French Renault FT was among the most influential and revolutionary tanks in history. Following the very poor performance of the French Schneider CA-1 tank at General Neville’s April 1917 offensive at Berry Au Bac, Colonel Estienne, the designer of the CA-1 tank gave his full support for the development of a technically more advanced tank, a task which was borne by the Renault Automobile Company.
The Renault was also called FT-17 as a factory code for tank projects run by the Renault Automobile Company. Louis Renault, the famous car maker and owner of the Renault Automobile Company, had begun designing a tank that had a realistic power-to-weight ratio, better agility, speed and trench crossing ability. The tank was also to be cheaper to produce, and easier to maintain.

Abandoned FT-17 somewhere in France 1940

Before then, he had declined involvement in any tank-making project, but after meeting with his friend, Col. Estienne, he would later take interest in the challenge and began his design. Although his design offered much more promise than the heavy, Schneider CA-1 and Saint-Chammond tanks, it faced some challenges with production.

At that time, the French were undecided about whether to use a large number of small tanks or a small number of large tanks such as the Char 2C—just like the British who had performed well with heavy tanks at the Battle of Somme.

Abandoned Renault FT-17 Light tanks 1940

With the intervention of Colonel Estienne, the French government made two large orders in April and June 1917, for tanks based on the specifications of the Renault prototype. Renault was now able to proceed with production of the Renault FT. Only 84 tanks were produced initially, but before the Armistice, about 2,697 tanks were manufactured.
The Renault FT weighed 6.5 tons and had a power-to-weight ratio of 5 hp/ton. Its main armament comprised a Puteaux SA 1918 37mm gun or a Hotchkiss machine gun within a fully rotating turret. It was the first tank ever to use a fully rotating turret.

In 1920, Brazil received a total of 12 brand new FTs from the Delaunay-Belleville factory in France. Six were fitted with a Berliet tower and armed with a 37mm Puteaux cannon. Five were fitted with an octogonal tower and armed with a 7mm Hotchkiss machine-gun and one model without a rotary turret for communications only. One of these surviving tanks with a 7mm Hotchkiss is now on display at Museu Militar Conde de Linhares (Count Linhares Military Museum) at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Renault FT had a speed of 5 mph and used a rear engine configuration. It had space for only a crew of 2 – the driver and commander who also served as the turret operator. It had a modified Holt chassis which enabled it to have a good grip of any terrain. To deal with trenches a rear tail was fixed to the Renault FT which gave balance. Although lightly armed, the Renault FT’s turret made it quite versatile and efficient in many conditions.
There were no means of communication between the turret operator and driver because of the very noisy interior, so a kind of “kicking code” in the back, shoulder or head was used by the turret operator to command the driver.

Captured FT tanks in German service in Serbia (World War II)

The small FT, without doubt, was a success during its first missions in the World War irrespective of its initial flaws such as radiator fan belt and cooling system problems. Several Renault FTs were involved in all major offenses of the Western front units, with about 4356 engagements featuring the FTs. About 746 FTs were lost in all.
The first operational unit to use the Renault FTs was the 1st Battalion De Chars Legers, on February 1918.
The Americans, soon after the war also developed their own version of the FT-17.

Crew locations shown with panels open

Diagram of internal Layout of French Renault FT-17 Char Mitrailleur “Mosquito” Tank, 1918.

FT 17 Panzerkampfwagen 17R 730(f)

Renault FT-17 color photo, somewhere in France 1940

RENAULT FT17 tank (1918), in front of the entrance of the Armistice museum in Rethondes Compiègne, Oise, France.

Two German soldiers posing with a tank FT-17 1940

US Army operating FTs on the Western Front, 1918

Monday Music "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor

This is one of the songs that defined the early 1980's, the movie soundtracks that dominated the charts.    I remember when this song hit, man they were playing it everywhere. I heard it all over MTV, and when Rocky IV hit a couple of years later, it is much the same.  Even now the song gets a lot of airplay on my Sirius/XM radio.

"Eye of the Tiger" is a song composed by American rock band Survivor. It was released as a single from their third album of the same name Eye of the Tiger and was also the theme song for the film Rocky III, which was released a day before the single. The song was written by Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan and keyboardist Jim Peterik, and was recorded at the request of Rocky III star, writer, and director Sylvester Stallone, after Queen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust", the song Stallone intended as the Rocky III theme. The version of the song that appears in the movie is the demo version of the song. The movie version also contained tiger growls, something that did not appear on the album version. It features original Survivor singer Dave Bickler on lead vocals.

It gained tremendous MTV and radio airplay and topped charts worldwide during 1982. In the United States, it held No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks and was the No. 2 single of 1982, behind Olivia Newton-John's "Physical". It spent fifteen consecutive weeks in the top ten, the second longest run of 1982, behind "Hurts So Good" by John Cougar (which was prevented from reaching the top of the Hot 100 by "Eye of the Tiger"). This top ten run is tied with the aforementioned "Another One Bites the Dust" as well as "Physical" as the longest run in the top ten for a number one song during the entire 1980's decade. The band won a 1982 Grammy Award for "Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group With Vocal" at the 25th Annual Grammy Awards. In September 1982, it also peaked at No. 1 in the United Kingdom, remaining at the top of the UK Singles Chart for four consecutive weeks.

The song is also the title song to the 1986 film of the same name.
It was certified platinum in August 1982 by the RIAA, signifying sales of 2 million vinyl copies. The song had sold over 4.1 million in digital downloads in the United States alone by February 2015. It was voted VH1's 63rd greatest hard rock song. Combined sales of original vinyl release and digital downloads total over 9 million copies.

In an interview with Songfacts, co-writer Jim Peterik, who shared writing credit with Frankie Sullivan, explained the song's title.

At first, we wondered if calling it "Eye of the Tiger" was too obvious. The initial draft of the song, we started with "It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight, rising up to the spirit of our rival, and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night, and it all comes down to survival." We were going to call the song "Survival". In the rhyme scheme, you can tell we had set up "rival" to rhyme with "survival". At the end of the day, we said, "Are we nuts?" That hook is so strong, and "rival" doesn't have to be a perfect rhyme with the word "tiger". We made the right choice and went with "Eye of the Tiger".

The song was nominated for the 1982 Academy Award for Best Original Song, the only Oscar nomination for Rocky III. It lost to "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman.
The song was also nominated for the 1983 Grammy Award for Song of the Year, but lost to the Willie Nelson hit "Always on My Mind"

• "Theme from Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser)", by "Weird Al" Yankovic in his 1984 album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D.

Angry Staff Officer, "The Military "Give a Crap" spectrum

I just came back from NOAC, I will post something in a day or 3 on NOAC.  I had a good time but I am glad to be home.

I saw this on "Angry Staff Officer", Like I have stated in the past, Mack had turned me onto the guy, so it is his fault.  He told me that he actually met the guy and that is one angry Army Officer.

The Military “Give a S**t” Spectrum

Let’s face it: the Army can be a place that wears you down, both physically and mentally. It takes a special kind of person to be able to take the brand of crazy that the Army pushes year after year and walk away from it relatively unscathed. As such, it seems like you usually get several different types of people that manage to make it to that ten-year mark of service.

First off, you’ve got the overly-motivated person who’s still acting as though it’s their first day in the military. They’re the majors or sergeants first class that still wear high and tights, own Army-themed apparel, and don’t understand why people leave the military. Their enthusiasm is nauseating and one suspects that when they go home at night they enter their home, sit down facing a blank wall, and simply stare at it all night until they reboot for the next day.

Next you get the ones who probably *shouldn’t* still be in uniform. In normal society we call these people “crazy.” In the Army they’re called “seasoned.” Whether they’ve been on too many deployments or not enough, they use lingo like “we’re gonna go in there and stack bodies,” which should make you wonder just how they envision an operation going. Polite people refer to them as the “break glass in time of war” type of person, while the rest of us would like to see them behind glass or at least out of uniform before they do something colossally illegal/stupid.

Then you have the incredibly talented, intelligent, and passionate officers and NCOs that have been bashing their heads against the brick wall of military bureaucracy for ten years. They fight for every hill and for every soldier. They are amazing leaders who inspire their troops and are beloved by them. However, at the ten year mark, they realize that they are getting promoted and recognized at the same pace as the mouth-breathers and window-lickers. After all this time of fighting, they are burnt out and exhausted. And so they leave.

Which leaves us…

The most dangerous ones: the ones that have seen all the stupidity that comes with ten years of military service and decide that they’re okay with it. They are not only immune to the “hurry up and wait” mentality but seem to thrive off it. They are not motivated in any way, they are just…there. They have no special talents to speak of, are not noted leaders, and don’t often care about the troops they lead. They simply exist. However, since they can tolerate the BS and have remained when the talented troops are gone, they get promoted. And then promoted again. And unless they’re caught, they rise to levels of rank not commensurate with their mediocrity.

Lastly, you’ve got the rest of us. Neither dull nor brilliant, we simply muddle our way through, attempting to avoid the poor leaders and stay close to the ones that shine. Often our motivation is simply spite: the desire to hang on long enough to get to a point where we can make some changes and hopefully watch those bad leaders retire. And we spend our days in fear of becoming the very people that we despise. Which is why we’re all cynical, jaded, and have turned to sarcasm as our weapon of choice. We can’t believe we’re gonna try to do ten more years of this.

More Pics from NOAC

Here are some sore pics, I also have some video's I gotta figure out how to upload, apparently the video file is too big for me to upload it through my email like I have been doing.

Patch trading...In Prison Cigarettes are currency, in the Boy Scouts, it is Patches...

More patches...

Wonder how many liberals got triggered on campus

Another parody poster made an appearance

I really like the humor...but I am warped...

Origami....Don't know the significance, but thought it was pretty neat.

Some Pictures from NOAC

I am presently at NOAC, the "National Order of the Arrow Conference".  I am having  a blast, but I figured that I would post a few pictures.  I will post more about the conference upon my return to the land of milk and Honey.

This is one of the classes I attended, this was for stuff higher than Lodge level.  Very interesting class.
 

What boy scout event be complete with out patch trading....wherever there is a flat surface, someone will lay out their "stash" and trade patches with some one else.

We also went to evening shows,  and the spectacle outside was almost as good as the inside of the show.

People waiting to get inside the stadium,

I'm not sure why the canoe's were there...but several were being carried around..

I also saw dinosaurs, I was looking for cigarettes, (If you are in doubt of what I am referring to, see the prior article.)  The Dinosaur attacked me once the camera was shown.
  I also saw a couple of other things....

There were several of these laying around, the front wheel is locked up, but the rest of the bike is missing.
    This song was going through my mind...

"One is the...."

And finally someone put up this parody of an "Official" notice up, I got a laugh out of it.  But the notice was removed several hours later.  The Phone number was legit, I googled it, LOL