|
10492. robertjayb - 12/8/2012 7:54:36 AM Maybe this can be news and current events because today, December 7, is Pearl Harbor Day. Also because I continue to be listed as host of the thread.
------------------------------------
I was five. I think we heard of the attack at school. I was considered, by some, a precocious child (Whom the Gods would punish, they first make promising) and certainly had pushy parents, particularily my old man, so I was in school at that age, a year earlier than most.
Soon I noticed that my brother, then 19, and his buds from our rural dirt-farmer community were very active. My clearest memory is of watching through the screen door as my brother and pals stood around an old car engaged in earnest conversation. I thought for the longest time they were talking about a scheme I had overheard to make the car run on kerosene. Later I realized they must have been discussing which branch of the military to join.
And within a week or so they were gone. Most went to the army. A neighbor boy to the south of our farm, a brother of my best pal at the time, went to the army and was killed in Europe. He was 24.
The oldest son of the family to our north joined the Marines and was shot to pieces at either Gaudalcanal or Iwo Jima. I don't remember which. He came back and lived until 81, limping about his rural mechanic/blacksmith business. Always jovial and telling tales. Repeating often about how a fallen log separated him from an exploding grenade and certain death.
Neighbor boy to the east went to the army in Europe and as far as I know never said a word about the war. He was a fine, solid, slow-talking man who was of great help to my parents. He lived as a bachelor for many years, eventually keeping company with the widow of a cousin.
When they married he moved out of the family place in the woods and lived in her little white house by the side of the road. After their wedding a group of supposedly well-meaning neighbors conducted a shivaree. An old custom that is a raucus, teasing assault on the newlyweds home with banging pots, horns, bells and other noisemakers. I think the expectation was that the merry makers would be invited in for refreshments. The solid, stolid groom would have none of it. He was royally pissed and used words never before heard from him. Must have learned them in the army. He died at 80, a well-respected man.
(more) 10493. robertjayb - 12/8/2012 8:01:38 AM ADD1
Neighbor boy to the west went to the army and I know nothing of his experience. He came home intact to farm, raise cattle and become an admired horseman. Later he was a deputy sheriff. He died at 82.
My brother joined The Army Air Corps (became the Air force in '47) and served with the Eighth Air Force out of England. He was a tailgunner on B-17s. He never talked much and stupid me never asked questions. The exploits of the Eighth Air Force are well known. They made the first daylight raids over Germany, hit petroleum complexes, ball bearing factories and railyards. My brother received shrapnel wounds from flak and one mission a crew member wearing the brother's wristwatch was blown completely out of the aircraft, leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage that threatened to destroy the aircraft. I have seen a number of B17s and tried to imagine being trapped in that tiny aft section. It's no wonder to me he had nightmares for the rest of his life. He came home and got involved in some sort of construction business in Houston. When that didn't pan out he joined the Air National Guard and later transferred to the regular Air Force where he served until retirement. He lived alone at the family farm and reconnected with some of his boyhood friends. But he failed to take advantage of the medical treatment available to him as a retired vet. He died too young at 65. Bad heart. I carry guilt for not dragooning him into a VA or military
hospital.
============================================
Were these ordinary country boys the greatest generation?
Was it duty, anger, adventure, or simply getting out of Dodge that motivated them to move out so unhesitatingly and serve without complaint?
Whatever, they are heroes to me and I wish I had taken the time to get to know them better.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you have toys to put away? 10494. arkymalarky - 12/8/2012 10:37:51 AM Wonderful reminiscence. 10495. Wombat - 12/8/2012 8:12:33 PM Good thing he wasn't a ball-turret gunner.
My dad wanted to join the Army Air Corps, but his eyesight wasn't good enough for flight duty. He ended up as a diesel mechanic in the Army. I've been under fire more than he was, and I never served! 10496. judithathome - 12/14/2012 8:06:21 PM Here Ya'Go...the Second Amendment in Action ONCE AGAIN
Authorities in Connecticut responded to a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday morning, the local NBC station reports.
Police reported multiple deaths, several wounded children and at least one injured teacher, according to the Hartford Courant.
One gunman is dead, authorities told ABC News. Two guns were recovered from the shooter, according to CNN.
Update: 26 dead...this is an elementary school, people! 10497. judithathome - 12/14/2012 8:14:21 PM What do you want to bet the shooter was someone who will be deemed crazy... as if that weren't obvious.
One of the sad things I heard in the reporting is that schools today actually have drills for lockdown for when a shooter invades the school...like a fire drill...or "duck and cover" when I was in school.
They are saying this will be tagged as "worst school shooting ever in this country"...isn't that great...to live in a country where peole think it's acceptable to have a LIST of "worst school shootings" just so people can justify owning guns?
Go ahead, gun nuts, defend your postions to these parents.
At Christmastime. 10498. iiibbb - 12/14/2012 9:11:29 PM Well considering that two close friends, on two separate occasions, were saved using a gun for self defense (one a battered wife, the other ambushed in a remote area at night by two guys armed with knives --- in both cases they didn't shoot, but the firearm made the difference, as the assailants made their intentions known).
What would you say to them? They should be dead instead?
There is no senseless death that can be explained.
How do I explain to someone who loses a loved one that alcohol was involved? We going to re-ban alcohol?
There is no relationship between this shooting and my gun ownership. 10499. judithathome - 12/14/2012 10:09:33 PM No but there IS a relationship between this shooting and guns. And the availability of guns to people who are not as sane as you. 10500. iiibbb - 12/14/2012 11:07:23 PM So make medical records accessible to those who do background checks... right now that's a medical "privacy" issue unless there is a conviction involved.
Is it gun control, or insanity control that is needed.
At any rate. I don't know how any currently proposed "common sense" measure, that is politically viable, stops these kinds of crimes. 10501. iiibbb - 12/14/2012 11:19:36 PM Over sensationalized... because I thing it's a not a certainty that permit holders would intervene.
However, gun control advocates frequently say you have no chance against perpetrators.
I am neutral on whether a law abiding citizen carries a gun. I am neutral on licensing to carry, but think that it should mean something. 10502. thoughtful - 12/15/2012 1:29:37 AM Please, can you hold off for a day? Until they can at least identify the dead?
This is so horrible...I can't imagine sending your 5 yr old off to school in the morning, and the next time you see them is to identify their body. Then multiply that by 20. Then to see your spouse off for the day and then never see them alive again, and multiply that by 6.
This happened in a town next to ours, to our neighbors, our community.
Please mourn the tragedy respectfully. Save your sniping for another time. 10503. Wombat - 12/15/2012 1:29:57 AM Another problem is that the same (Republican) lawmakers who go on and on about existing gun controls are adequate, refuse to fund enforcement on national, state and local levels, thus rendering existing gun controls inadequate. 10504. iiibbb - 12/15/2012 1:33:43 AM Call it a coping mechanism thoughtful...
... my wife was telling my mom that "she couldn't imagine". My problem is that I absolutely can imagine... and I do about 100 times a minute. 10505. arkymalarky - 12/15/2012 6:58:44 AM When Jonesboro happened it was beyond belief on so many levels. And those two boys are free adults today. There needs to be some honest, sober assessment of our mental health system and our gun laws, in addition to our criminal justice system. We keep replaying the same tragedy, and with seemingly increasing frequency. Our paralysis on this issue is inexcusable. All and nothing aren't the only two options when it comes to gun control. 10506. iiibbb - 12/15/2012 7:12:46 AM I want better linkages between these kinds of medical/mental conditions and background checks. It seems like every single shooter in recent months was on someone's radar somewhere.
Just to illustrate how difficult it would be to "ban" firearms.
The pictures below was done in some guys garage with basic tools.
becomes
becomes
becomes
becomes
which shoots like this
10507. thoughtful - 12/15/2012 3:19:03 PM If you want to fix this situation, take action over those things you can control Tend your own garden. Are your negative emotions in check? Are you loving your family members? Loving them enough to listen to their stresses? Helping them deal with their negative emotions? Are you reaching out to members of your community who may be in distress?
I know Newtown, I know Sandy Hook. If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. The best thing you can do to see this doesn't happen again is to make sure it doesn't happen in YOUR community, in YOUR family. 10508. iiibbb - 12/15/2012 4:26:47 PM I don't know if I told you guys at the time, but I was at Virginia Tech when that happened. Although it didn't happen in my building, Cho probably passed outside my 1st floor window on his way to that building. 10509. arkymalarky - 12/15/2012 5:29:19 PM As a teacher in a small and close knit community for over 30!years I know that some children and young adults need major help and intervention beyond what anyone they know can provide. There are no real intervention structures in place for those rare individuals. My BRo and SIL have such a student living with them right now because she has nowhere else to live. She was my SIL's student. Her mental issues are diverse and severe and they have ZERO help or recourse except to throw her out. 10510. thoughtful - 12/15/2012 5:36:06 PM I agree, arky, and even if they did have all the resources and help that anyone thought they needed, there is still no way to perfectly predict when someone may go OTT. This fellow had no history of issues with the law or issues with violence as far as we know.
Just like with acts of terrorism, where terrorists can try many times and the defenders have to be perfect every time to prevent tragedy, friends, family, counselors, etc. can try to save someone many times, but only need to miss once to have tragedy strike. If someone is hell-bent on doing harm, they will find a way. 10511. arkymalarky - 12/15/2012 7:29:05 PM True. What really haunts is the people who tried to get help, or whose families did, like the Aurora shooter apparently did, and it just wasn't there. A counselor needs recourse to instigate dramatic intervention where needed, imo. At any point in my career, even in a small community of under 400, I've known at least one volatile student or former student who was not getting serious help he or she needed. Many don't make the news but harm themselves and/or others and make their families miserable, even if they stay out of trouble with the law.
|
