Category: Hard Nosed Folks Both Good & Bad
No it is Not a Gay Porn Film, Get your mind out of the gutter & get with the Program already. Jeez there sure are some really mighty sick puppies out there!
In honor of the anniversary of The Americans With Disabilities Act. An American who didn’t let the loss of her leg stand in her way. (OK, that’s an excuse – I didn’t want to wait for her birthday, which is in April.)Born April 6, 1906. Virginia Hall: America’s Greatest Female Spy – Historic Heroines. This linked article is long, but still worth your time.
She spoke five languages, and worked at several consulates across Europe, but the Foreign Service kept rejecting her application. Mostly it seems, because she was raising the alarm about Hitler long before most Americans – and especially those in the US Foreign Service – were taking him seriously.
While hunting in Turkey, she had an accidental discharge of her firearm, which resulted in her losing her left leg below the knee. (She was climbing over a fence.) She named her wooden leg Cuthbert. Despite the injury she volunteered as an ambulance driver in France during the Blitzkrieg. After the Nazi occupation of France, she made her way to England and joined the Special Operation Executive. (SOE was competitor to MI6, but protected by Churchill.)
After rigorous spy training designed to test the mettle of even the most resolute male candidates, she returned to Vichy France undercover as an American Journalist (prior to the US having joined the war). There, at great personal risk, Virginia, worked doggedly to collect intelligence, help form the French Resistance and rescue downed RAF pilots. She organized sabotage efforts on German supply lines and successfully planned daring POW prison escapes. All the while, knowing that capture would mean imprisonment and certain torture at the hands of the Vichy Police or German Gestapo.
She was on the Gestapo’s “most wanted” list.
After America got into the war, she “transferred” to the OSS (which later would become the CIA). And did more of the same. By this point the Americans wanted experienced agents to prepare for the invasion everyone knew had to come eventually. But since she was known to the Gestapo, she disguised herself (and her limp) as an old woman.
Upon her return to occupied France, Virginia immediately jumped back in with the French Resistance working tirelessly as a covert wireless radio operator reporting critical intelligence that could affect the D-Day invasion. … While on the move, Virginia used her previous experience organizing resistance efforts to assemble a fighting force of French guerillas that could support the Allied Invasion. Many initially refused to take orders from a woman, however, as she demonstrated her ability to provide valuable weapons and explosives with London’s full confidence, their sentiments rapidly changed. When the Allied Troops invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944, Virginia and her resistance army of over 400 volunteers sprang into action. Destroying train tracks, disrupting supply lines, attacking German troops and committing other acts of sabotage, Virginia and her force slowed the Nazi response to D-Day in any way possible.
After the war, she was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the only civilian woman to receive one. The recommendation, and citation – from the desk of Harry S. Truman – can be viewed at this link. (The interface isn’t the best, but you can enlarge the documents.) Some of the documents weren’t declassified until 1991.
Rejected Princesses also has a nice piece on Virginia Hall. I am really starting to love Rejected Princesses. (“Well-behaved women rarely make history.”)
The CIA has an official site devoted to her, but it is a bit short. Virginia Hall: The Courage and Daring of “The Limping Lady”. Still, it is worth a look. (And they gave me the idea about the ADA.)
A native of Baltimore, Virginia Hall Goillot is perhaps best known for her heroic service in the British Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, but she actually spent more time in CIA.
She died in 1982. In 2017 the CIA named a training center in her honor, and a commissioned painting of her hangs in CIA headquarters.
The Dogs of War vs. ISIS Jihadis
Dog 1, ISIS 0:
The hero Alsatian was accompanying the troops on a training exercise in the north of the country when their convoy of four vehicles came under fire from extremist militants.
One of the SAS cars was destroyed by a homemade bomb and the outnumbered forces were forced to split up and take cover.
With the ISIS fighters pinning the British troops down using two heavy mounted machine guns, an American soldier who was with the group released the snarling dog.
That’s like opening a can of whoop-ass, only furrier.
It charged at the attackers, dodging bullets before taking down one of the jihadis and ripping his neck and face.
It then turned its attention to another extremist, savaging his arms and legs in a frenzied assault.
The jihadis, who are thought to have never seen an Alsatian before, fled the scene screaming, allowing the SAS team to call in air support.
Good dog.
The team then made their way to safety with the dog, who is now being treated by the troops as a hero.
Ya think? Bravo Zulu Kilo Niner.
“A snarling Alsatian running at you is very frightening and probably not something the jihadis had encountered.
“The dog did its job and returned to its handler worth its tail wagging.”
This made me laugh out loud. I can just imagine what the dog was thinking in his doggie brain. Didja see what I did? Didja? Didja? Can I do it again? At least, that’s what Wolfgang would be thinking.
This moment of awesome is brought to you by a heads up from the Queen Of The World, who knows a thing or two about German Shepherds.
Here is another good news piece from Vice. Which like a lot of the media has its problems. But they do some good & interestings stories about stuff the other clowns either ignore. Or is not allowed to look into. Grumpy
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest military decoration awarded for valour “in the face of the enemy”. It takes precedence over all other orders, decorations and medals. VCs are cast from the bronze cascabels of two cannons that were captured from the Russians at the siege of Sevastopol in 1854-1855.
Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey receives the Victoria Cross from the Queen at Buckingham Palace. L/Cpl Leakey became the first living British recipient of the medal from the Afghan conflict for his courage in three times running through heavy fire to set up machine guns and beat back a Taliban attack in August 2013. The 1 Para man showed “complete disregard” for his own safety as the group came under attack from around 20 insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades in Helmand province.
This medal by the way is awarded by most of the British Commonwealth / Empire Armed Forces. The troops call it the Very Careless Medal by the way. As you really have to not have a care / death wish in the world to win it.
Somebody here picked the wrong guy to piss off!
Ditto for this idiots in Afghanistan lately
Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey receives the Victoria Cross from the Queen at Buckingham Palace. L/Cpl Leakey became the first living British recipient of the medal from the Afghan conflict for his courage in three times running through heavy fire to set up machine guns and beat back a Taliban attack in August 2013. The 1 Para man showed “complete disregard” for his own safety as the group came under attack from around 20 insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades in Helmand province.
This medal by the way is awarded by most of the British Commonwealth / Empire Armed Forces. The troops call it the Very Careless Medal by the way. As you really have to not have a care / death wish in the world to win it.
Somebody here picked the wrong guy to piss off!
Ditto for this idiots in Afghanistan lately
Stand Your Ground
U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- After being in the firearms self-defense instruction business for over 40 years, I have been asked many times what it the most important skill I could pass on to a new student. It made me think each time it was asked. And the answer has been and still is……. Awareness and mindset.
It never ceases to amaze me that most concealed carry permit holders have never been in a violent encounter or even a fist fight.
I have developed a syllabus that covers awareness and mindset in all our curriculum regardless of the platform. Pistol, shotgun or carbine.
We start with several issues, warrior mindset, both definition and application. Next the OODA Loop, history, and usage. Then on to Color Codes of Awareness of USMC and Jeff Cooper fame. The history and usage. How it applies to everyday use. Then on to the dynamics of a violent encounter or patterns of conflict.
The final piece of this puzzle is to know what the TELLS of a violent encounter with another person looks like. A TELL will give you an idea in advance of a violent encounter. A violent criminal does not start a violent encounter in a vacuum. There are many tell tale signs of the oncoming violent encounter, but you must know the signs or tells.
So here we go:
- Verbalization- “I am going to kick your ass” “So, you think you are a badass?” “You will be sorry” “. Those are easy ones. But they can be very offsetting also. “Hey, can you help me out?” “Have any spare change?” “I need some help” Those are meant to get you to lower your guard, gain sympathy and allow invasion of personal space.
- Visable overt awareness- Visible weapons, unusual nervousness, hidden hands.
- Asumption of a fighter stance or bladed stance.
- Looking around to see if they are alone, no witnesses. Looking for an escape route, a possible assistant assailant. Overall assessing their battle area.
- Invasion of personal space .
- Change in Body Language
- Clenching of jaw muscles, clenching and unclenching of fists.
- Blinking eyes unnaturally or squinting. Eye movement changes from the normal 20 closures a minute. Staring hard at or through you.
- Aggression redirected to other objects or people. Kicking cans, kicking or shoving chairs. Smacking walls, breaking pencils, or glasses and inanimate objects. Yelling at others.
- Sweating
- Flared nostrils, heavier than normal breathing. Lips part showing teeth to intake more breath.
- Tensed up posture.
- Stretching back and arms. Opening and closing elbows. Head rolls and neck stretches.
- Removal of excess clothing.
- Pacing, finger pointing shaking fists, over exaggerated hand, and arm movements.
- Facial discoloration, normally to red.
- Dress, what they wear and how they wear it.
Most of these have been noted in a survey that was done by two researchers from University of Toledo, Richard Johnson and Jasmine Aaron in “Adults’ Beliefs Regarding Nonverbal Cues Predictive of Violence. Criminal Justice and Behavior.
When we notice these TELLs, we want to create space and time to make the attack easier to manage or to Avoid, Evade and Escape.
Always remember violent encounters are a mathematical equation of time and distance. The problem is we do not know the digits until the encounter is over.
Time and distance are your friends or your worst enemies.
About Bob Harvey
Bob is a veteran Marine Corps veteran firearms coach PMI, Marine Security Guard, PPSU Instructor, NRA Training Counselor and Instructor. Owner of both South Florida Gun School and SDK Security Consultants. Subject matter expert, an expert trial witness for firearms and their use.