I myself feel that this one is a latrine rumor at best. Grumpy
Categories
The Suez Crisis (1956)
Categories
Soldiering
Tommyby Rudyard Kipling
I went into a public-‘ouse to get a pint o’ beer, The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.” The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die, I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I: O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”; But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play, The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play, O it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play.
I went into a theatre as sober as could be, They gave a drunk civilian room, but ‘adn’t none for me; They sent me to the gallery or round the music-‘alls, But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls!
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, wait outside”; But it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide, The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide, O it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide.
Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap; An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.
Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, ‘ow’s yer soul?” But it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll, The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll, O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll.
We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too, But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you; An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints, Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;
While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, fall be’ind”, But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind, There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind, O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind.
You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all: We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!” But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot; An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please; An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool, you bet that Tommy sees!
“The two victims do not appear to respond to the Defendant in any meaningful way.”
During the investigation, testimony was given that Tyree had assaulted one of the victims two days previously. This implies the shooting was an targeted attack.
The victims move past Tyree and stand in front of the football field. As the victims move away, Tyree unslings the backpack and removes a firearm. It was probably an AR-15-style pistol, based on the description and the 20 recovered .223 cases at the scene. It was at this point that Tyree opened fire on the two victims.
One of the victims runs toward the football field. The other took cover behind a parked pickup truck. He draws his legally possessed 9mm handgun. He engages Tyree, firing away from the crowded football field.
At some point, Tyree is hit in the ankle. He runs away, firing backward while running. It is at this point one of his shots hits 12-year-old Khloe Ishway. She was shot as Tyree was running away. She was entering a car in the parking lot as he ran by. A .22 caliber bullet was recovered from her body.
Three other victims were wounded. They all appear to have been at the football field. One was shot in the face, one in the calf and a third in the lower back. Those three were released from the hospital.
The incident was initially portrayed as a random gunfight over a parking space. After the investigation, it was found this was an erroneous assumption. The person who defended themselves and others had a Handgun Carry Permit.
The person with the Handgun Carry Permit is unlikely to have a criminal record. During his interview he told police Tyree had pulled a gun on him two days previously and had struck him in the face. The press release does not say what precipitated the previous altercation.
Tyree had been released from prison eight days before the shooting. Tyree had served five years of a 15-year sentence. He was released on probation. Tyree is 23 years old. Senior Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) official Mark Mason wrote a letter on official stationery advocating for Tyree’s release. The Mayor’s office says the letter was not approved by MONSE.
Maryland law bans possession of “assault weapons”. The law bans possession of firearms by convicted felons. The law bans assault, murder, and about two dozen other counts which appear to be pending against Tyree, including six counts of “Use of a High Capacity Magazine in the Commission of a Crime of Violence”. Tyree was violent when he went to prison five years earlier. It appears he was more violent when he was released from prison on parole.
Tyree does not appear to have been concerned with the hundreds of bystanders behind the two people he attempted to assassinate. His instinct for self-preservation appears to have engaged when one of his targets took cover and started firing back.
The police have already stated the man with the Handgun Carry Permit was legitimately acting in defense of himself and others. He fired away from the crowd. The only person hit by his projectiles was Tyree.
Analysis: All the laws prohibiting Tyree from assaulting and killing people failed to stop his violent and foolish rampage. A law abiding armed defender saved his own life, and possibly others. The firearm used by Tyree has not been recovered. If the defender had not hit Tyree, it is plausible Tyree would not have been arrested or tied to the crime scene. It is likely there were confederates, because Tyree was transported to the hospital by private conveyance.
Maryland’s ban on “assault weapons” failed. Maryland’s assault on the Second Amendment remains. On December 2nd, 2026, the United States Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of AR15 bans, which translate into “assault” weapon bans. The results of the case will likely become known in late June of 2027. Many commentators believe the results of the case will apply to the Maryland “assault weapons” ban as well. The Supreme Court is expected to find the bans to be unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
Ours is a most fascinating culture. Bernard of Chartres was a 12th-century French philosopher who first suggested that we accomplish great things not because of any superior sight or stature of our own but rather because of the solid foundation of our predecessors.
Sir Isaac Newton codified that in a letter to academic rival Robert Hooke when he said, “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” In our case, we have taken our amazing American birthright and done some of the most despicable stuff with it.
Over the course of our storied 250 years as a nation, around 660,000 young Americans have given their lives for freedom. Our forebears endured the taming of the West, the Great Depression, and two massive world wars so that we could enjoy the fruits of liberty and thrive in a land of plenty. Now look at what we have done with that.
As a people, we are just a hot mess. Emotional support animals, ubiquitous anxiety medication, and a fixation on our mental well-being would have seemed otherworldly in eras past. That is because we now finally have the luxury of fretting with such stuff. On the American frontier, if some effeminate mountain man struggled unduly with his emotional state something would just eat him.
My Role Model
My maternal grandfather went by Pappy. He was born in 1901 in rural Mississippi. Pappy was a natural storyteller. I like to hope that perhaps I inherited a bit of that. One of his many compelling tales involved some early-American frontier justice.
Pappy worked as a clerk with the railroad. Steam-powered railroads were the primary means of moving people and goods around the country back then. The railroad depot typically served as the commercial center of a small community. As a result, they also kept cash.
America is much richer today than was once the case. Nowadays, you are poor if you cannot afford DoorDash. Back then, you were poor if you could not afford to eat. In such austere spaces, that cash box full of money held upstairs in the railroad depot began to look awfully inviting.
The Crime
One morning, Pappy and the station master arrived at work to find that some miscreant had scaled the gutter on the outside wall, jimmied the upstairs window, and made off with the cash box. The high sheriff was notified, and the theft duly reported. The company made that right. Then, a couple of weeks later, it happened again.
Somebody had obviously happened upon a good thing. If this criminal guy could spread his nocturnal scalings out a bit, then the local railroad would theoretically keep him in whiskey money indefinitely. However, that didn’t seem like a great idea to the curmudgeon who served as the local station master.
The Solution
Rather than post himself inside the depot for weeks on end waiting for this guy to return, the railroad official brought his side-by-side 12-bore from home and wired it to a chair. This he oriented toward the window before running a cord around to the big gun’s twin triggers. He armed this contraption every evening before locking up and going home. He did not have long to wait.
Two weeks later, my grandfather arrived for work to find a dead man sprawled out on the dirt street below. The hapless burglar had caught two full charges of buckshot to his chest. That clearly had not hurt for long.
The sheriff duly investigated and notified the proper agencies to dispose of the man’s cooling corpse. My grandfather replaced the shattered window. It never even occurred to anybody to extend the long arm of justice toward the station master who had contrived the diabolical device. If the dead man had not wanted to get shot, he shouldn’t have been trying to break into the train depot.
A Brave New World
Suffice to say, things would be adjudicated somewhat differently today. The media would no doubt fixate on the poor demised criminal’s sordid home life and dire personal state.
He might have hypothetically needed money to pay his smart phone bill or support an unfortunate drug habit. The owner of the shotgun would be roundly vilified and his response decried as criminally disproportionate. The station master would no doubt rot in jail.
By contrast, in Pappy’s day, they just buried the bad guy and moved on with their lives. Word got out that poking around the depot looking for money to steal was a bad idea, and nature found its level. This was the foundation we were built upon. This is where we came from. It remains to be seen what sort of legacy our generation leaves for those to come.