Whatcha reading redux.

[308Mike]

cutting about - not sure about that one either

Cutting about is 19th century cavalry and navy slang. It literally means to slash around you with your saber; but also means having a rowdy, probably drunken, most likely violent and/or sexual, good time.

It can also mean dashing around sharply, with little purpose or focus; either physically, or intellectually.

Oh and the Portakabin in the UK, is basically analogous in the U.S. to the singlewide prefab construction office, or "portable classroom" buildings that are brought in and out on trailers.

Portakabins are basically the same as commo vans for example.

Portakabins don't stand up to mortars very well.

The Quarter Master didn't like hearing that all of their Portakabins had been demolished by enemy mortars (along with their air conditioners, etc.). Luckily, nobody got killed or seriously wounded in them during their sieges. The Siege of CIMIC House proved to be not only the longest continuous action fought by the British Army anywhere since the Korean War, but also the lengthiest defense stand since World War Two.

[randy]

Steptoe's yard - From the 70's TV series 'Steptoe and Son' about a scrap metal dealer. His back yard was a mess

Might be more familiar to us Yanks as "Sanford and Son" on American TV, which was a direct ripoff of "Steptoe and Son".

[Weetabix]

I'm reading Walden by Thoreau, but it's proving hard going because of his archaic writing style.

Keep after it. It's worth it. You may not agree with everything he says, but some of it can be enlightening, and it broadens you. It shows you a way of thinking (some of it just via they way they wrote) that you don't really encounter any more.

I have to admit that sometimes when I read too much in an archaic style (Jane Austen, Henry Stanley, James Fenimore Cooper, Sir Walter Scott, etc) I start to talk and write like that for a while until it wears off. It's still worth it.

[HTRN]

Might be more familiar to us Yanks as "Sanford and Son" on American TV, which was a direct ripoff of "Steptoe and Son".

It may have been, just like All in the Family was a ripoff of Till Death Us Do Part, but both took on a life of their own. BTW, if you can get "AntennaTV" locally, they rerun Sanford&Son at night M-F.

[Aglifter]

Just finished Bestiat's, "What is Free Trade?". Excellent book - I compulsively read large amounts, but this was worth posting about.

[AZMARK]

Was cleaning out boxes in the garage yesterday and came across my copies of these books. I'm about half way through the rereading the first book.

[308Mike]

I'm now reading: Dak To: America's Sky Soldiers in South Vietnam's Central Highlands:



And now I'm past the initial chapters, it's getting damned hard to put down! The author provides a lot of background to the major USA players in each battle incident (so far), some of these battles are quite harrowing, reading about units getting mauled by HUGELY superior NVA forces looking to overrun and annihilate them. Some of these folks survive by sheer luck alone. Unbelievable!!

And yet I'm reading about grunt's cammies rotting off their bodies while the REMFs had fully stocked wall lockers ready for an IG inspection with EIGHT SETS of cammies pressed and starched, while the guys in the bush are walking around with their junk hanging out and cammies rotting off their bodies and BEGGING for replacement clothes. WHAT A TOTALLY FUCKED UP SITUATION!!

[SeekHer]

Mike,
Boozer = also means a drunkard, a pub (watering hole) and also called a Booze Can—an after hours, usually illegal, drinking establishment with twice or thrice charged drinks.
Jolly little punt = a sweet bird not necessarily with great big Bristol bits (tits)—cunt, an easy lay but not a skank who’ll ”do a train!”

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I started this book when I first got it and found the introduction boring as Hell so I stopped reading it and decided to finish it, finally.

DO NOT, repeat, do not, waste you time reading or your money buying “Ronin—A Marine Scout Sniper Platoon in Iraq” written by Mike Tucker.

It isn’t badly written but it certainly is very poorly edited.

200 pages long, 97 pages bitching that the upper ranks didn’t allow them to take out this one bad guy and another 97 pages of bitching that the Iraqi Police were in league with Al Qaeda and the last six pages described the shitty living quarters.

He interviews the guys from the incidents and does a credible job of describing them, their motivation in joining up and their backgrounds but if five guys were involved all five give their descriptions of the same incident but from slightly different angles but no one, none, differ in that Capt or Maj shit for brains didn’t allow us to kill that SOB or the IP would scarper off when ever an IED or ambush would happen…That’s the whole book and nothing but the book.

[308Mike]

SeekHer, I'm hoping you're talking about "Sniper One" and NOT about my latest book, "Dak To" - Which I've finished and am reading again to pick up the bits and pieces I missed on the first go 'round.

The "Dak To" also starts out slow, but the reason being is 'cause the book fills out the players in the book. Later, in one of the appendixes, the author lists a Roll Call and gives updates about the various battle participants and what happened to them afterwards. This book has enough action that I recall AT LEAST TWO awards of the CMH, several Distinguished Service Crosses, quite a few Silver Stars, MANY Bronze Stars (with "V" device) and an ENTIRE BOATLOAD of Purple Hearts!!

This book has LOTS of action, and it is WELL RESEARCHED, documented, and reads like a novel - yet is almost a chronicle of the events in the Central Highlands of 'Nam during the same period of the book. *IF* you're an action junkie, you won't like the first couple of chapters, but you'll love the rest of the book as it heats up (but the first part IS relevant, so read it even if you have to grit your teeth, you'll get an idea about how the upper dweebs of the military act and think during that time - some of this book will probably piss you off how good troops are wasted due to commanders being stubborn assholes)!!

AFAIC, it's HIGHLY recommended!!

It starts slow with unit/company/battalion positioning and documentation, and setting the stage for the battles to come.

A DAMNED-GOOD book, if you don't mind some research in your novels. It's a great mix of novel and historical record!!

YMMV

[SeekHer]

Mike, what the Hell are you talking about? You smoking something skunky?

The first section, above the *+*+*+*, references "Sniper One" which I've also read, twice and enjoyed as I don't think you Yanks used the phrases Boozer or a right little punt in The Nam?

The second section, below the *+*+*+*, references "Ronin" since I didn't think that Iraqi Police were in The Nam? I also highlighted the title since they're hard to see.

I read history up to just after WW1, the sieges of Leningrad and Stalingrad during WW2 (as I had family there, then), Israeli Wars but very little after that unless it's dealing with snipers and their deployment(s)--military & civilian and occasional events during WW2/Korea to the Gulf War Two time frame but those aren't very many...What I especially care for are "debunking" books like "Lies My Teacher Taught Me" or "Naughty Tales in the White House" or "What Our History Books Didn't Tell Us" etc..

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I should mention another book that I just finished and enjoyed and learned something from called "Police Sniper" by Craig Roberts.

Details a number of shooting incidents over the years where SWAT/HRT snipers were deployed and while very close to what we used with the Border Police there were many different aspects that we didn't encounter due to being in the boonies as opposed to a huge city.

When we did get into the city we were proactive on rooftops watching for suspicious actions not hunting down and dealing with barricaded, hostage situations...Different training, mindset, chain of command and political considerations.