Memorial Day Musings and Monday-(not) Metal

Usually we're up at the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction for Memorial Day (we weren't last year either, Covid). But it's been raining all weekend up there and we might as well just sit around the house here. No bucolic lake house pics from us.

We do two days on, one off at the gym. But after the previously mentioned Saturday misfire we wanted to hit the treadmill again. As John Larroquette once said, 'When you fall off that horse you got to get back in the saddle'. Where hubris ruined us on Saturday, on Sunday we approached the treadmill with great humility. We started off at 4.1, and were fine for the first half an hour. No AC/DC for us this time; four Bon Jovi songs*, some Black Crows, Aerosmith, etc etc. Fatigue set in and gradually we reduced speed all the way to 3.7. Time is what we care about, not speed. We gained strength back and at the 50 minute mark we gradually brought the speed back up to 4.1. We hit 60 minutes. We thought we'd be sick late afternoon but all we needed was dinner. 

Today we'll be cracking open the Great Nuclear War of 1975 and taking a look for the first time since late March. So that's one hell of a fresh look. One month, right? We're working on The Weser as well. It's happening.

My Paternal grandfather, Mark Stroock, was a sergeant in a medical triage unit and was slated to go ashore with the first wave in Japan. My mother's father, George Hunter Thompson (my middle name is Thompson) was a lieutenant in the 407th AAA battalion 'Buzz-bomb kings' and saw action in France and the Netherlands.

That pic was taken yesterday by one of our cousins in Kentucky. His grandfather, my uncle, Joe Henry Thomason, was a sergeant in Merrill's Marauders.

And here's out great grandfather, William Eisman (for whom we are named) in the Great War. Of course, he was flying biplanes for der Kaiser:

We're not happy with the war movie selection in the AMC Memorial Day Marathon. Not happy at all. Here's out list of the best war films, those that evoke memory, the past and sacrifice: Gettysburg, They Were Expendable, Battleground, Memphis Belle, Air Force, Back to Bataan, A Walk in the Sun, Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers...

Below, Monday (not) Metal

*Let it Rock, You Give Love a Bad Name, Lay Your Hands on me, Bad Medicine. That's about 20 minutes right there.

Memorial Day Universal

One of the features of memorial day is the spate of hand-ringing articles about the nation's lack of shared sacrifice.

Hey, when I was a kid everyone's grandfather had been in the war. A few of our dads had been in Vietnam. I know two guy from my graduating class that went into the service.

Look, folks, we as a nation decided after the Vietnam War to do away with the draft. That leaves us with a military somewhat separated form the rest of the nation. It's an all volunteer, professional military and since the mid-1980's its been the best military we've ever had. In training, equipment, leadership, the army of Desert Storm would run circles around Patton's Third Army, or Pershing's AEF, or Sherman's Army of the Tennessee.

Of course there are highly trained militarizes that rely on the draft. We're thinking of the Israelis, where everyone, serves, even cute 18 year old girls. Just Google it! of course Israel is a nation under siege.

The British managed to run 2/5ths of the world with an all-volunteer military.

After the Civil War, the United States conquered the west with a few thousand cavalry.

So large, conscript military establishments aren't always necessarily.

Going back to a conscript military has all kinds of social benefits a leveling effect if you will. But doing so would impact the military in some negative ways. For instance, you'd have a military loaded with lots of people who really don't want to be there.

So make your choice.