Category: Leadership of the highest kind

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Hard Nosed Folks Both Good & Bad HUH! Leadership of the highest kind Real men This great Nation & Its People Well I thought it was neat!

WHEN TEDDY ROOSEVELT HAD WINSTON CHURCHILL TO DINNER

By LAWRENCE J. SISKIND

The lives of Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill overlapped, but they met in person only once — at a dinner in the Governor’s Mansion in Albany, New York on December 10, 1900. The 42-year old Roosevelt was about to relocate to Washington DC to assume his duties as Vice President. The 26-year old Churchill, who was visiting America to shore up his finances by a lecture tour, was about to take his seat in Parliament.

What happened at their dinner is unknown. But to the extent historians have noticed the dinner (which isn’t a large extent[i]), they have accepted the view, first attributed to Roosevelt’s daughter Alice, that the two men did not get along because they were so much alike.[ii] As Robert Pilpel, in his Churchill in America 1895 – 1961, put it: “It was a case of likes repelling.”[iii]

But was it?

We will never know for certain because the witnesses are not available for deposition. But based on the evidence, the “likes repelling” theory is unpersuasive. Something else, something deeper, was afoot.

Let’s review the record, starting with Winston Churchill’s reaction to the dinner.

His reaction was a case of the dog not barking. If one examines Churchill’s papers, one might conclude that the event never took place.  On December 21, 1900, eleven days after the dinner, he wrote a detailed letter to his mother, describing his American trip. The letter mentions his lectures, his earnings, and his many meetings with American luminaries. It mentions that he was “considerably impressed” by President McKinley. But as to Theodore Roosevelt, Churchill says nothing.[iv]

Subsequently, Churchill’s references to Roosevelt are very few and entirely benign. In December 1906, after an earthquake had destroyed Kingston, Jamaica, an American admiral landed armed soldiers to help clear the rubble.

Sir Alexander Swettenham, Governor of the island, issued a harsh letter condemning the move, and pointing out that the recent looting of a New York millionaire’s house would not have justified a British admiral landing armed soldiers to help the police. President Roosevelt complained to London about the ill-tempered letter, and Churchill, then the top assistant to the Colonial Secretary, supported Roosevelt, calling Swettenham “an ass … wrong on every point.”[v]

In December 1908, upon learning that the lame duck President was planning an African safari, Churchill sent Whitelaw Reid, the American ambassador in London, a copy of My African Journey, his account of  his own 1907 hunting exploits on that continent, with a request to forward it on to Roosevelt.[vi]

In April 1918, Churchill suggested enlisting Roosevelt as a plenipotentiary in a rather far-fetched and never implemented mission to persuade the Bolsheviks to bring Russia back into the war on the side of the Allies.[vii]

That is all there is regarding the impression Roosevelt made on Churchill. There is nothing to show that Churchill was repelled by Roosevelt.

When we investigate Churchill’s impression on Roosevelt, a very different picture emerges.

To start, Roosevelt’s papers show that the dinner was actually his idea. Roosevelt was eager to meet the young Englishman in person. On December 4, 1900, Major James Burton Pond, the manager of Churchill’s American lecture tour, had invited then Governor Roosevelt to attend Churchill’s upcoming New York City lecture and had even offered him a box in the theater. Pond’s transparent aim in inviting Roosevelt was to use his famous name to promote the Churchill event.

Roosevelt reasonably might have ignored the invitation, or dismissed it with a curt letter of regret. Instead, in his December 6 response, he first declined the invitation due to a scheduling conflict, then lobbied for a meeting:

I am really sorry as I am a great admirer of Mr. Churchill’s books, and should very much like to have a chance of meeting him socially. Is he now in New York? I should greatly like to have him take lunch or dinner with me if he is in Albany on Monday; or lunch if he is here Tuesday, of next week. Where shall I write him?[viii]

Major Pond had merely invited Roosevelt to attend a lecture. He had not suggested a personal meeting. But here was Roosevelt inviting Churchill to break bread with him in Albany, and offering no fewer than three possible time slots, each one a meal rather than  a perfunctory meet-and-greet office session. Roosevelt’s inquiry as to where he could write Churchill directly reveals his eagerness for a personal meeting.

But while Roosevelt very much wanted “a chance of meeting [Churchill] socially,” once he had that chance, he didn’t like what he saw.

After the dinner, on July 12, 1901, the now Vice President Roosevelt wrote to Hermann Speck von Sternburg, a family friend and German diplomat, who had spent time in India. The letter dealt mainly with military and international affairs. Roosevelt wrote: “I saw the Englishman, Winston Churchill here, and although he is not an attractive fellow, I was interested in some of the things he said.” [ix]

The “things” that interested Roosevelt were Churchill’s views on the fighting qualities of Gurka, Sikh, Punjabi, and Pathan regiments. The casual reference to Churchill’s unattractiveness was purely gratuitous and had nothing to do with the subject of the letter. But it set a tone. In subsequent letters, Roosevelt would miss no opportunity to denigrate Churchill, whether relevant to the correspondence or not.

On September 12, 1906, the now President Roosevelt wrote to Henry Cabot Lodge. Referencing Churchill’s recently published 2-volume biography of his father, Roosevelt commented: “I dislike the father and dislike the son, so I may be prejudiced.” He proceeded to describe both Churchills as “possess[ing] such levity, lack of sobriety, lack of permanent principle, and inordinate thirst for that cheap form of admiration which is given to notoriety, as to make them poor public servants.”[x]  (Lodge responded a few days later, admitting he had not read the biography, but adding that he considered the son “clever but conceited to a degree which it is hard to express either in words or figures.”[xi])

On October 25, 1906, Roosevelt wrote to John St. Loe Strachey, a British journalist and newspaper proprietor. Strachey had asked Roosevelt for his opinion of William Randolph Hearst. Roosevelt replied: “[I]t is a little difficult for me to give you an exact historic judgment about a man whom I so thoroly [sic] dislike and despise as I do Hearst.” He called Hearst “a man without any real principle.” Then, reverting to his favored object of invective, Roosevelt added: “But when I have said this, after all, I am not at all sure that I am saying much more of Hearst than could probably be said … about both Winston Churchill and his father, Lord Randolph.”[xii] Although the subject was Hearst, Roosevelt could not resist bringing up Churchill.

For Roosevelt, it wasn’t enough to express his distaste for Churchill himself. He also expressed his distaste for those who admired Churchill. On November 14, 1906, Roosevelt wrote to Lodge again, this time attacking Archibald Primrose, the fifth Earl of Rosebery. The former Prime Minister’s sin was praising Winston Churchill’s biography of his father as “remarkable.” Roosevelt indignantly referenced Rosebery’s “lack of sense or proportion.”[xiii]

On May 23, 1908, Roosevelt wrote to his son Theodore Jr., then a student at Harvard. Young Theodore had just read Churchill’s biography of Lord Randolph and wanted to know his father’s opinion. Roosevelt answered: “Yes, that is an interesting book of Winston Churchill’s about his father, but I can’t help feeling about both of them that the older one was a rather cheap character, and the younger one is a rather cheap character.” (Underlining in original.)[xiv]

On November 6, 1908, the lame duck President Roosevelt wrote to British historian George Otto Trevelyan about the recent election of his then friend (and later opponent) William Howard Taft to succeed him. After discussing his post-White House plans, Roosevelt turned to history and once again attacked Rosebery, this time for the way “he speaks of Winston Churchill’s clever, forceful, rather cheap and vulgar life of that clever, forceful, rather cheap and vulgar egoist, his father.”[xv]

In January 1909, when Roosevelt received Churchill’s gift of his African Journey, he was taken aback.  He admired the account but he didn’t like the author. So he dashed off a short thank you note to the donor (in which he expressed the hope that he “shall have as good luck as you had”),[xvi] and forwarded it to Ambassador Reid, with this cover: “I do not like Winston Churchill but I suppose I ought to write him. Will you send him the enclosed letter if it is all right?”[xvii]

Time did not moderate Roosevelt’s hostility.

September 10, 1909 found the former President at the foot of Mount Kenya, during the hunt in which he hoped to match Churchill’s luck. In a letter to Lodge and his wife, handwritten in pencil, Roosevelt described the American influence on British colonial reading habits. “Among the novels I see in the houses no English ones are more common than for instance, David Harum, or Winston Churchill’s – I mean, of course our Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill the gentleman.”[xviii] Roosevelt’s reference to “Winston Churchill the gentleman” was to the popular New Hampshire novelist, whose books were widely read and whose political career Roosevelt supported. The implication that the English Winston Churchill was not a gentleman is consistent with Roosevelt’s earlier references to Churchill as “unattractive” and “cheap.”

Following his African tour, Roosevelt traveled to Europe, where he met with a long parade of prominent royal, political, and intellectual figures. But the parade was not long enough to include Winston Churchill, who had been appointed Home Secretary in February 1910. On June 4, Roosevelt wrote to Lodge: “I have had a most amusing and interesting time here, but, literally there hasn’t been a five minutes free…. I have refused to meet Winston Churchill, being able to avoid causing any scandal by doing so.”[xix]

On October 1, 1911, Roosevelt reminisced about his African adventure in a long letter to Trevelyan. Discussing his visit to Khartoum, he described how the white settlers in British East Africa hoped that he would speak sympathetically about them when he traveled on to England. Then he added: “They had hoped much from Winston Churchill’s visit, but for various reasons most of them had disliked him ….”[xx] This of course was Roosevelt projecting his own enmity toward Churchill onto the local English community.

On October 5, 1911, in a letter to the playwright David Gray, Roosevelt described his experience as a special ambassador to the funeral of King Edward the previous year. “I dislike Winston Churchill and would not meet him,” he recounted, “but I was anxious to meet both Lloyd George and John Burns, and I took a real fancy to both of them.”[xxi]

On August 22, 1914, shortly after hostilities had erupted, Roosevelt wrote to Arthur Hamilton Lee, the British politician and soldier. Just as when he received Churchill’s African Journey, Roosevelt was in a bind. It was painful for Roosevelt to say anything positive about Churchill but the situation called for doing so.

Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, had had the foresight to mobilize the fleet before war broke out, much as Roosevelt himself had ordered Admiral Dewey to prepare to attack the Spanish Fleet on the eve of the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt, perhaps gritting his teeth, wrote: “I have never liked Winston Churchill, but in view of what you tell me as to his admirable conduct and nerve in mobilizing the fleet, I do wish that if it comes in your way you would extend to him my congratulations on his action.” To assure that his rare compliment did not gain publicity, he added: “It must be strictly confidential, of course.”[xxii]

The evidence, taken as a whole, contradicts the verdict of Alice Roosevelt and some historians that this was a case of “likes repelling.”

First, the “repelling” was completely one-sided. Theodore Roosevelt was thoroughly repelled by Winston Churchill. After the dinner, he seems to have been determined to make sure that everyone knew how much he disliked Churchill. But nothing suggests that Winston Churchill was repelled by Roosevelt. After the dinner, Churchill simply didn’t think about Roosevelt very much, and when he did think about him, he seems to have just assumed that all was well between them.[xxiii]

Second, Roosevelt and Churchill were hardly “likes.” Granted both were sportsmen born into upper class families, and both pursued political careers. But they were markedly different in age, experience, and family ties. Roosevelt grew up in a warm, loving home, raised by parents who adored him. Churchill was largely ignored by his parents; any warmth he received growing up came from his nanny, Mrs. Everest. Roosevelt favored athletic endeavors that involved close physical contact, such as boxing and wrestling. Churchill stayed a polo mallet’s length away from his competitors.

If this were not a case of “likes repelling,” then what accounts for Roosevelt’s hostility?

As his correspondence with Major Pond shows, Roosevelt was anxious to meet Churchill. When the 26-year old Churchill showed up for dinner, Roosevelt doubtless expected a certain degree of deference from the younger man.

For all his progressive political inclinations. Roosevelt was deeply conservative in his views on social propriety and decorum. If one were a gentleman, one behaved in a certain way. Roosevelt rode, worked, and endured hardships as well as the lowliest ranch hand in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory.

But it was understood that when he slept in his cabin, the ranch hands were to move their mattresses up to the loft because the “boss” had to have the downstairs to himself. Similarly, the neighboring ranchers were expected to address him as “Mr. Roosevelt,” even if they were wealthy enough to consider themselves his equal. Nobody called him “Roosevelt” and certainly no one called him “Teddy.”[xxiv]

But the brash young visitor had no time for such niceties. If Roosevelt was ruled by his views of social etiquette, Churchill was constrained by his views of his mortality. He believed he had only a short time to live. His father had died at the age 45. His father’s sisters died at the ages of 45 and 51, and their brother died at 48. Churchill did not expect to live much beyond the 42 years of his dinner host.[xxv]

Churchill was not inclined to defer to Roosevelt’s seniority because he did not expect to live long enough to enjoy such seniority of his own.

So one diner appeared that evening expecting deference, and the other diner arrived demanding equality. We can imagine a dinner conversation marred by the incongruity. Roosevelt is accustomed to dominating the conversation. But young Churchill believes he has just as much wisdom to impart, and refuses to yield the floor. Roosevelt wants to talk about his charge up the San Juan Heights. Churchill tries to cut him short so that he can orate on Omdurman. They both consider themselves experts on Indian affairs – although they have in mind Indians of different continents.

For Churchill, the evening’s give-and-take must have been great fun. He probably drank and talked a good deal, as was his wont. More likely than not, he left Albany happy with his performance, and confident that his merry self-assurance had made a positive impression on his older and more accomplished host. In the future, he would just assume that Roosevelt would welcome the chance to read his book on hunting. Why wouldn’t he? After all, they had had such a good time that night at dinner!

But for Roosevelt, the evening must have been one long infuriating ordeal. The brash younger Englishman did not behave as he was supposed to. Rather than conducting himself like a gentleman, he behaved like a showman. He spoke when he should have listened. He interrupted when he should have deferred. How cheap!  How conceited! How insufferable! He was not an attractive dinner guest and would never be welcome at his table again.

And so the two giants of history met for dinner and parted ways, each left with a different aftertaste.

Lawrence J. Siskind is of counsel at Coblenz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP in San Francisco, where he specializes in intellectual property law.

[i] Andrew Roberts, in Churchill: Walking with Destiny, devotes three sentences to the event and its aftermath. (p. 78) William Manchester gives it one half of one sentence in his Churchill biography The Last Lion. (p. 331)  The dinner does not even merit a mention in Edmund Morris’s The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.

[ii] Richard Langworth, Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt, Finest Hour 163, Summer 2015 (February 8, 2015).

[iii] Robert H. Pilpel, Churchill in America 1895 – 1961, p. 38.

[iv] The Churchill Archives, December 21, 1900 Letter from Winston Churchill to Jennie Churchill, CHAR 28/26/77-79.

[v] Richard Langworth, op. cit.

[vi] The Churchill Archives, December 8, 1908 Letter from Whitelaw Reid to Winston Churchill, CHAR 2/36/33.

[vii] Richard Langworth, op.cit.

[viii] The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. II, The Years of Preparation 1898 – 1900, p. 1454.

[ix] The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. III, The Square Deal 1901 – 1903, pp. 116 – 117.

[x] Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge 1884 – 1918, Vol. II, pp. 231 -232.

[xi] Id., at 232.

[xii] The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. V, The Big Stick 1905 – 1907, p. 468.

[xiii] Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge 1884 – 1918, Vol. II, pp. 260 -261.

[xiv] The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. VI, The Big Stick 1905 – 1907, p. 1034. A carbon copy of the letter is in the Theodore Roosevelt Collection in the Library of Congress in Washington DC. The staff kindly made the carbon copy available to the author. It shows the underlining.

[xv] Id., at p. 1329.

[xvi] The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. VI, The Big Stick 1905 – 1907, p. 1467.

[xvii] Id., at p. 1465.

[xviii] Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge 1884 – 1918, Vol. II, p. 349.

[xix] The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol. VII, The Days of Armageddon 1909 – 1914, p. 87.

[xx] Id., at p. 350.

[xxi] Id., at p. 406.

[xxii] Id., at p. 810.

[xxiii] Churchill had a habit of forgetting people, and two of them were Roosevelts. On July 29, 1918, during World War I, Churchill met the Assistant Secretary of the US Navy, Franklin Roosevelt, at a dinner in London. Twenty-three years later, on August 9, 1941, during World War II, the two men met again in Placentia Bay near the shore of Newfoundland. Franklin Roosevelt noted that the two had met before during the Great War, and referred to it as one of his “treasured recollections.” Churchill admitted that the event “had slipped his memory.” Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walking With Destiny, p. 673.Fortunately for the cause of Allied cooperation, this particular President Roosevelt was not as easily offended as the earlier one.

[xxiv] Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 331.

[xxv] Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walking With Destiny, p. 31.

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Teddy Roosevelt and the “Rough Riders” in Cuba

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Pat Tillman: Portrait of an American Hero by WILL DABBS

Behold the face of the real Captain America. Pat Tillman was a genuine hero.

Politicians refer to themselves as public servants. Swamp creatures like Joe Biden will extol their many decades of employment in Washington DC as though they had been some kind of galley slave toiling away on an Athenian man o’ war. I have actually met a couple of those guys. Their idea of selfless service does not quite match my own.

I wouldn’t pee on these guys if they were on fire.

American legislators spend money like drunken sailors. Actually, that’s not true. Drunken sailors couldn’t even begin to burn cash in as profligate a manner as might your typical freshman congressman. They’ve raised wasting money to an art form.

Hanging with a group of US Congressmen for a week back in the 1990s soured me on the American political system forever.

You think I’m kidding. Back when I was a soldier I spent a week as a local liaison officer for a group of congressmen on a fact-finding mission after the First Gulf War. It was amazing just watching them eat. They’d go to the nicest restaurant in town and order one of anything they might be curious about. Then they swapped plates around so everybody got a taste. One of my several duties was to scurry back and forth to the Officers’ Club cashing $500 government traveler’s checks to pay for it all. It was surreal.

I willingly voted for both of these people. However, I don’t trust anybody in Washington DC. If you weren’t broken before you got there, you were after you’ve been there a while.

Everybody in DC has sold their soul to somebody. I’ll champion the folks on my side of the aisle in the vain hope that they might someday just leave me the heck alone, but they are all irredeemably corrupt. The system perpetuates itself. It will never get better.

This is Pat and Kevin Tillman. They were both real public servants.

On May 31, 2002, Pat Tillman and his brother Kevin walked into a local recruiting office and enlisted in the US Army. Pat walked away from a $3.6 million professional football contract and Lord knows what else so he could serve his country in the immediate aftermath of 911. Pat Tillman’s story is that of a conflicted man and a horribly flawed system. However, his is a tale of epic sacrifice and genuine selfless service.

Origin Story

Pat Tillman excelled at everything he touched.

Pat Tillman was the eldest of three sons born to Patrick and Mary Tillman in Fremont, California. By NFL standards, Tillman was not a terribly big man. He stood 5’11” and weighed 202 pounds when dressed out as a safety for the Arizona Cardinals. Pat personified the axiom, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

That is one seriously intense guidon bearer.

In high school Tillman preferred baseball, but he failed to make the team as a freshman. At that point, he turned his attention to the gridiron. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Pat was powerfully close to his friends and family. He married his childhood sweetheart just before he enlisted in the Army. He and his brother Kevin enlisted together, trained together, and were eventually both assigned to the 2d Ranger Battalion based at Fort Lewis, Washington.

Pat Tillman really came into his own as a college football player.

Pat Tillman attended Arizona State University on a football scholarship and excelled as a linebacker. An exceptionally deep young man, Tillman was well read and made good grades. He maintained a 3.85 GPA in marketing and graduated in 3.5 years despite the rigors of starting on his college football team.

Pat Tillman had everything the world could offer, yet he gave it all up to serve his country.

Pat thrived in the NFL. Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman named Tillman to the 2000 NFL All-Pro team based upon his stellar performance as a defensive player. He turned down a $9 million offer to move to the St. Louis Rams out of loyalty to his Arizona team.

Once he completed his 2001 NFL contract Pat Tillman enlisted in the US Army.

Eight months after the 911 attacks and with the remainder of his 15 games completed from his 2001 contract, Pat Tillman left $3.6 million on the table to go to Army basic training alongside his brother. Pat’s brother Kevin gave up a burgeoning career in minor league baseball for the same path. These two men put their love of country ahead of the sorts of things the rest of us would just about kill for.

There’s really no telling how far Pat Tillman might have gone in life.

Appreciate the details here. I’m a happily married hetero man, and even I admit that Pat Tillman was an exceptionally good-looking guy. Intelligent, articulate, and well-educated, Tillman had the world by the tail. Once his time in the NFL was complete Pat Tillman could have easily parlayed his gifts and experiences into a career on television or in Hollywood. Instead, he opted for the Ranger Regiment.

The Rangers have an undeniably sexy cool mission. However, life in a Ranger Battalion is unimaginably grueling. The Ranger Regiment is the only unit in the Army to have been deployed continuously throughout the Global War on Terror.

I was an Army aviator, but I worked with those guys on occasion. Theirs was an absolutely miserable life. Junior enlisted soldiers don’t get paid beans, and the optempo in the Ranger Battalions is utterly grueling. In less than two years on active duty, Pat Tillman completed basic training and AIT as well as the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program. He was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in September of 2003 after which he attended Ranger School at Fort Benning. Once a fully tabbed Ranger, he returned to Second Bat at Lewis and deployed to Afghanistan where he was based at FOB Salerno.

It’s easy to sit back in the comfort of our living rooms and lose track of exactly what this stuff costs.

Up until this point, Pat Tillman was the US Army’s poster child. An American superhero with a face right out of central casting, Tillman’s story could not have been any more compelling had it been drafted by an action novelist. Then Something Truly Horrible happened.

The Incident

Combat is not the clean sanitary thing Call of Duty might have us believe. The reality is vicious, messy, and sad.

Combat is an ugly, filthy, chaotic thing. It is seldom as tidy or predictable as the movies and sand table exercises depict it to be. On April 22, 2004, the fog of war claimed a genuine American hero.

Even today nobody really knows exactly what happened to Pat Tillman’s mounted patrol.

On a forgotten road leading from the Afghan village of Sperah about 40 klicks outside of Khost, Pat Tillman’s small HUMVEE-mounted patrol ran into trouble. Their mission that day was to retrieve a disabled HUMVEE. This tale is made all the more tragic in that we abandoned tens of thousands of these vehicles when we fled Afghanistan recently. The details are fiercely debated to this day, but here is the official description.

Pat and his fellow Rangers moved on foot to support the element they thought was in contact.

Tillman was in the lead vehicle designated Serial 1. Serial 1 passed through a mountainous pass and was roughly one kilometer ahead of Serial 2, the following HUMVEE. At that point, Serial 2 was purportedly engaged by hostile forces.

It was chaotic, and the situation was confusing. The end result was a tragedy.

Upon hearing of the ambush, the Rangers in Serial 1 dismounted and made their way on foot back toward an overwatch position where they could provide supporting fires for Serial 2. In the resulting chaos, the Rangers of Serial 2 lost touch with the specific location of the lead Rangers. In the violent exchange of fire that followed Tillman’s Platoon Leader and his RTO (Radio Telephone Operator) were wounded. An allied member of the Afghan Militia Force was killed. Pat Tillman caught three 5.56mm rounds from an M249 SAW to the face from a range of 10 meters and died instantly.

The Weapon

The original FN Minimi was a fairly revolutionary weapon.

First introduced in 1984, the Belgian-designed M249 Squad Automatic Weapon was an Americanized version of the FN Minimi. An open-bolt, gas-operated design, the M249 was conceived to provide the Infantry squad with a portable source of high-volume, belt-fed automatic fire. The M249 has seen action in every major military engagement since the US invasion of Panama in 1989.

In its most evolved state, the M249 is a mature and effective combat weapon.

The M249 weighs 17 pounds empty and 22 pounds with a basic load of 200 linked rounds. The weapon fires from an open bolt and features a quick-change barrel system. The gun will feed on either disintegrating linked belts or standard STANAG M4 magazines. In my experience, the magazine feed system was never terribly reliable.

This Ranger is wielding a Mk 46 in an overwatch position.

USSOCOM adopted a lighter, more streamlined version of the M249 titled the Mk46 for use with special operations forces. The M4 magazine well, vehicle mounting lugs, and barrel change handle were all removed on the Mk 46 to save weight. The USMC has aggressively supplemented their rifle squads with the HK M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle in lieu of many of their SAWs. These weapons are currently issued at a ratio of 27 IARs and 6 SAWs per rifle company. The Next Generation Squad Weapon-Automatic Rifle program is tasked with finding a suitable replacement for the aging M249’s in the Army inventory.

The Rest of the Story

The sordid circumstances surrounding his death sullied the story that the Army wanted told.

What happened next was a blight on the US Army. To have Pat Tillman, the real live Captain America killed due to friendly fire in a botched combat operation was not the story the Army wanted pushed. As a result, several senior Army officers moved to massage the narrative and outright suppress the story to both the media and the Tillman family. The end result was an absolutely ghastly mess.

Pat Tillman earned a posthumous Silver Star for his actions in Afghanistan. He has been rightfully revered as an American hero.

There were allegations that Tillman, by now disillusioned with the war in Iraq, was about to offer an interview with controversial activist Noam Chomsky upon his return from his Afghanistan deployment that would be critical of the Bush Administration.

As Tillman’s death occurred in a crucial time leading up to the 2004 Presidential elections conspiracy theorists even proposed that he had been intentionally murdered. However, interviews with his fellow Rangers verified that Tillman was a popular and selfless member of the team. In the final analysis, it all seems to have been a truly horrible mistake. After several investigations undertaken by the military, three mid-level Army leaders purportedly received administrative punishment as a result.

The bond among these guys in combat is as strong as it gets.

A word on the conspiracies. Soldiers don’t fight for mom, apple pie, and America. They fight for each other. There’s just no way you could get a Ranger to intentionally shoot another Ranger to protect the reputation of a sitting President. This was simply a horrible accident.

Pat Tillman gave his life for his country at age 27.

The sordid circumstances surrounding the death of Pat Tillman in no way diminish the truly breathtaking scope of the man’s patriotism and sacrifice. Tillman was an avowed atheist throughout his life. After his funeral, his youngest brother Richard asserted, “Just make no mistake, he’d want me to say this: He’s not with God, he’s f&%ing dead, he’s not religious.” Richard added, “Thanks for your thoughts, but he’s f&%in’ dead.” It was an undeniably strange end for a genuine American hero.

Marie Tillman has gone on to a remarkable life of service after the death of her husband.

Soldiers in combat will often pen a “just in case” letter to be opened in the event of their death. Pat’s note to his wife Marie said, “Through the years I’ve asked a great deal of you, therefore it should surprise you little that I have another favor to ask. I ask that you live.”

Marie Tillman has ably continued her husband’s legacy of selflessness.

And live she did. Marie Tillman today is Chairman and Co-Founder of The Pat Tillman Foundation. This non-profit works to “unite and empower remarkable military service members, veterans, and spouses as the next generation of public and private sector leaders committed to service beyond self.” The Foundation has sponsored 635 Tillman Scholars and invested some $18 million in philanthropy. Marie has since remarried and is the mother of five children.

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This day off brought to you by G. Washington!

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Ah the good old days!

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As I have learned the hard way, Its always the basics that make or break you! Grumpy


For example here is the Big Guy (General George Patton) who is doing some land navigation with his compass it the right way! Note that he is OUTSIDE & FAR AWAY from his tank. So that is its magnetic signature will not f*ck up his compass sighting.

It was stuff like this & other stuff that made his Armies so much more effective. Like stress on Land Navigation, Marksmanship, Combined Arm Tactics, Communicatiosn, taking care of your gear and your troops. etc etc. No wonder why the German High Command always rated him as their most dangerous opponent!

I just hope that Valhalla is as much fun as the Old timers say for him!  Anyways thanks sir for terminating with extreme prejudice so many of our Foes in your time.

Grumpy

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JOHN WAYNE’S TRUE VIETNAM WAR By J. David Truby


John Wayne’s departure for a three week
tour in Vietnam in the Spring of 1966 was just
what you’d expect from old Duke’s modest
sense of deprecatory humor, when he told
reporters, “I can’t sing or dance, but I can
sure shake a lot of hands and share a bunch
of cold beers with our boys there.”

He did just that, then stayed another four
weeks on his own dime and time. Therein is
the real story of John Wayne in Vietnam.
Hollywood lore is the stuff of legend, especially when it involves iconic actor John Wayne, best known for
playing macho soldiers or western characters in more than 250 films
before his death in 1979. However, his real-life military involvement is
what had people talking in 1966 during the height of the Vietnam War.

Thanks to the USO’s tireless efforts, celebrities have visited and
cheered American soldiers since 1941. However, Wayne’s visit was
different. The U.S. Department of Defense contracted Wayne for the
three-week tour of Vietnam. According to Wayne, he would be “going
around the hinterlands to give the boys some personal support.”
John Wayne’s Vietnam tour had three missions.

One was his good
will visit to cheer American combat troops and their wounded, plus
some serious fact-finding for a movie he had in mind. Also, he
believed in the political necessity of the war.
Wayne said, “It is important that we keep our word on treaties to
protect our allies, a universally unpopular view in peace-loving, pink
Hollywood.”

He felt so strongly about this that he said it was his duty to make a film
that showed why the war was needed. He said that his planned film,
The Green Berets, was “anti-Communist, pro-Saigon and prompted
by the American Left’s anti-war sentiment.”

It was the only major Hollywood film to support the war effort.
Wayne’s son, Patrick, told me of his father’s Vietnam experiences,
“To make a truly realistic, authentic film, My father said he needed
to go to Vietnam personally and meet with the real combat soldiers
who were literally sometimes face to face with the enemy on their
turf….and gain their first-hand experiences. He wanted this film
to feature the Army’s Special Forces guys, the early Marines in
Vietnam and their role in the war…and he wanted to get it right.”

John Wayne’s in-country education began in the spring of 1966,
at age 59, with a visit to the 3rd Battalion 7th Marines at Chu Lai,
where he shook a lot of hands, passed out a lot of good will, cold
beer and also came away with a lot of good Marine field craft.

For the rest of his tour, though, Wayne visited the Army’s Special Forces (SF) camps, especially the ones out in the boonies, far away from REMF Central.

Former SF SSG John E Padgett recalled, “When an SF camp began
construction, the first priority was a strong defensive perimeter. The
very next priority was a heavily fortified team house/club from which
planning and missions originated, often accompanied by copious
supplies of Carlings Black Label and Pabst Blue Ribbon beers. This
was also the guest house for our few welcomed visitors.”

Retired SFC Ken Richter recalled Wayne’s time at the 5th Special
Forces Group, Detachment A-219, Mike Force, Pleiku, saying, “I
remember him in the C-2 bar one evening saying he hoped he could
witness us SF guys kicking Charlie’s ass. He got his wish.”

After his discharge, SFC Richter worked for Wayne as dive master on
his boat, working on a charitable discovery and salvage assignment
for Stanford University. He adds, “John Wayne was a true patriot and
his boat was full of memorabilia from various military units.”
Wayne’s boat, a World War II minesweeper he bought and converted into his private yacht, was named The Wild Goose.

It was
added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Speaking of WWII, there has always been a persistent myth that John
Wayne dodged the wartime draft, which he did not do. He was classified as 3A (head of family) in 1942. In 1943, he requested a change to 1A, which was turned down, through backdoor politics by Republic Pictures.

He persisted and in May of 1944, was re-classified as l-A. Republic Pictures intervened openly against Wayne’s wishes and got his classification changed to 2-A (support of national
interest) in August of 1944.

Some insiders, including family, said that
he always felt guilty about not serving in
WWII and that is what drove him to be so
personally up front about Vietnam.

Thus, John Wayne made stops at Nui
Ba Den to visit the men of A-324 B and
Detachment C-3 at Bien Ha. His stated
goal to his Saigon minders was to spend
time with most of the A and B teams in the
III Corps, soaking up SF background and
accuracy for his film and hoping to boost
the morale of these warriors.

By June 1966, already past his scheduled
departure time, Wayne made layovers at
Throng Toi and An Lang, where he gathered real and hard experience from the
warriors of A-425. Officers, NCOs and EM
debriefed him on their mission, operational
area and the enemy situation. He was also
shown how the new camp was set up,
including its defenses.

“This was not an easy visit for us,” recalled
former SGT John McGovern, who was one
of Wayne’s guides there. McGovern, a Psy
Ops NCO, recalls, “He wanted to go where
the action was, far away from the flagpole
and the safer sites. Our S-2 knew that the
other side knew he was there and we knew
what a coup it would be if the Cong could
kill the great John Wayne.”

One of Wayne’s guides was SGT Leroy Scott, who told how Wayne’s
helicopter was headed into a Special Forces camp near Pleiku in
the middle of some heavy incoming action, and were warned to
abort landing when two rounds smacked the Huey. SGT Scott adds,
“An immediate 180 occurred.”

This was a larger problem, too, as there was documented intel
that the Republic of North Vietnam’s Soviet mentors, the GRU and
Spetnetz, had already planted the propaganda benefits of Wayne’s
chopper being shot down, his jeep blown up or for a sniper to pick
him off.

John Wayne spent time under fire at the wire plus in the OPs and
LPs. And, of course, he chowed down with the guys. But not every
day in Vietnam was a picnic. Stories abound about the “close calls”
Wayne had. One report mentioned that a Viet Cong sniper’s bullet
narrowly missed him, hitting the ground 50 feet behind him. Wayne
Beer in hand and in his rarely seen reading glasses, The Duke visited the fighting men at SF a Team
323 at Camp Trai Bi in June of ’66. (Jari Salo)

It was a welcoming Jeep delivery of Wayne from the chopper pad at Plei Djerang, with Capt John Kai,
camp CO, at the wheel. Passengers were chopper crew, PIO officer, C-2 officer and The Duke. (Don Briere)
later said to film historian Michael Munn in 1974, “I almost walked
into a sniper’s bullet that had my name on it. I heard the wind of the
bullet whistle past my ear and realized I had had a narrow escape.”
He added later to family members, “Those tough kids of ours over
there have narrow escapes every day, God bless ‘em, ‘cause sometimes they can’t escape getting hit.”

Fortunately, wherever John Wayne would go, for the most part,
good times rode along. From all reports, he had a true and sincere
knack for putting soldiers at ease by signing autographs, taking pictures of them and happily posing for pictures with the guys.

Young Marines called him SGT Stryker, his character’s name in his classic
WWII film, The Sands of Iwo Jima. Men from out of the way firebases threw parties and barbecues in his honor. All agreed that
John Wayne knew how to party and how to work.
4 Sentinel | November 2020

“When he visited us, he brought in both ice
and beer, so we started the day with an
ice chest of cold American beer,” recalled
Retired MAJ John Hyatt, of Wayne’s visit
to A-219. “It was empty when we returned
home at the end of the day.”

Then a first lieutenant with the 281st AHC,
flying support missions for 5th SF units, John
Hyatt recalls John Wayne’s visit to Det C-3,
Bien Hoa, in June. “We had just put A-323 on
the ground at Trai Bi, Tay Ninh, and were taking sporadic fire on the perimeter, and there goes The Duke out to join some of the team
on the line. Helluva man.”

Interestingly, two years later, John Hyatt was at Ft. Rucker flying a camera ship to film some of the scenes for The Green Berets.
Even though Wayne was offered VIP treatment, he visited very remote Special Forces camps, unlike many celebrities, who stayed
comfortable in safer urban zones.

The few others who joined the field troops included
brave USO visitors, the wonderful Donut
Dollies, and the heroic Martha Raye. One of the more amazing “John Wayne in Vietnam” stories centers around the SF A-251 camp at Plei Djereng.

As Wayne made his stop there in June, the camp
allegedly came under attack. Supposedly, everyone was returning fire, including Wayne, who was on an M-60, according to
the tales, which the Internet grew taller than
The Duke himself. Someone was quoted on
at least two blogs saying, “I’m telling ya…
John Wayne was real fuckin’ John Wayne
right with us. He was on top of the TOC
choppin’ Charlie with a 60.” Dramatic, exciting and what you’d expect from The Duke.
But, it’s fiction, not fact.

Special Forces vets
who really were there at the time deny the
story totally, as did Wayne and his family.
Spec4 Donald Briere, who was the camp radio operator then and
who would retire as an SF LTC, said, “There was no raid when Mr
Wayne was there. That nasty raid happened a few days prior to his
arrival. Obviously, the camp was under enemy observation and tension was high. While there, John Wayne did get familiarization with
some of SF’s own special armament.”

As for his dad “chopping Charlie,” son, Patrick, said of the incident,
“Never happened. If it had, he would have told us in grand detail. It
is also a certainty that the military PIO and the Saigon press corps
would have had a field day with it, too.”

For all the stories of fun, heroism and adventure, there are also tales
of sentimentality. Two of these center around bracelets that were
bestowed on Wayne during his time in Vietnam. The first bracelet
was a POW/MIA bracelet that represented the life of CPT Stephen
P. Hanson, USMC. Hanson had sent his wife and son a picture of
himself with the caption “Me as John Wayne.” Sadly, the Marine
was shot down over Laos; he never returned home. Wayne wore his
bracelet to commemorate Hanson. He kept in touch with Hanson’s
wife and son until his own death.

The other memento was a “Yard” bracelet given to him by the Degar
or Montagnard People of Vietnam’s Central Highlands, fighters
against communism. The brass bracelet was a gift from the II CTZ
Mike Force, presented by their Montagnard commander, Ka Doh.
The bracelet is a symbol of friendship and respect. Sentinel editor
Camp Plei Djerang was home to SF Team A-251 during John Wayne’s memorable visit there in 1966. It
is where the reality of then and the internet rumors of today were separated. (Special Forces Association)
Plei Djerang, June 1966, Camp CO Capt John Kai; their guest, John Wayne; SP4 Don Briere; unidentified C-2 officer. (Don Briere)
November 2020 5 | Sentinel

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All About Guns Leadership of the highest kind Manly Stuff

Churchill’s Guns from Historical Firearms

CHURCHILL’S 1911

In May 1915, following the failure of the Allied landings at Gallipoli, Winston Churchill the First Lord of the Admiralty and one of the architects of the landings was sacked.  In November he returned to the army, he had graduated from Sandhurst in 1894 and had seen active service in India, Sudan and South Africa. Since 1902 he had been a reserve officer, a major in the yeomanry regiment the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars. On the 20th November, Churchill was attached to the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards to gain experience at the front and to prepare him for command of a brigade.

In December 1915, the Grenadier Guards rotated out of the frontline and Churchill toured nearby French sectors where he was gifted a steel Adrian helmet. Churchill wore this for the rest of his time on active service.  The brigade Churchill had hoped for never materialised with Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig willing only to give Churchill command of a battalion.

On 1st January 1916, Churchill was promoted to lieutenant colonel and given command of the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers replacing Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Northey.

The battalion had taken heavy casualties at the Battle of Loos and was suffering from low morale when he took command. Initially struggling to gain the trust of his officers and men, in part due to his cavalry training he quickly learnt the necessary commands for infantry and learnt how to use all the weapons the battalion was issued with.

 

During this time Churchill armed himself with a privately purchased American Colt Government Model (or Model 1911) with a specially made custom holster to fit his Sam Browne belt (see image #3). Bought in London, with London proof markings, Churchill had his name engraved onto the right side of the slide.

It is unclear if the pistol was bought by himself or he was given it as a gift. However, he liked the pistol and certainly favoured it over the often carried Webley revolver approved by the army and carried by many officers.

As a wealthy man Churchill had always enjoyed being able to purchase the latest and best campaign equipment. While serving in the Sudan he had carried a Mauser C96 and while in France he had his own water heater brought to the front line and had his wife send him wading boots and a sheepskin lined sleeping bag.

image

Churchill wearing his French Adrian helmet and possibly armed with his Colt 1911 (source)

When the battalion returned to the frontline Churchill was in his element visiting the trenches three times a day and directing the improvement of his sectors trench fortifications. He frequently came under fire but was said to be calm and collected even when his command post was shelled.

While Churchill commanded the battalion the sector remained quiet and was not called upon to undertake offensive operations. In May 1916 the understrength 6th and 7th battalions of the Royal Scots Fusiliers were ordered to amalgamate with the 7th battalion’s commanding officers taking command. Churchill spent 108 days in command and took this opportunity to return to London and was appointed Minister of Munitions in July 1917.

Churchill himself later said: “I shall always regard this period when I have had the honour to command a battalion of this prestigious regiment (Royal Scots Fusiliers) in the field, as one of the most memorable in my life.”

Sources:

Image One Source

Image Two Source

Image Three Source

Churchill and War, G. Best (source)

Finest Hour “In The Field” – Churchill and Northey, B. Nanny (source)

Churchill During the Great War (source)

Colt Government Model (civilian, 1911) IWM, (source)

Churchill Rejoins the Ranks, Military History Oct. 2015, B.P. Tolppanen

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Thanks Guys!!!!!!!!!!!

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Hard Nosed Folks Both Good & Bad Leadership of the highest kind

MAJOR JIM LAND: FATHER OF THE USMC SNIPER PROGRAM by Amanda Baity

Commonly known as the father of the modern U.S. Marine Corps sniper program, former NRA Secretary and retired USMC Major Edward James “Jim” Land Jr. has had a life full of significant accomplishments, challenges
and change.

Edward James Land, Jr. was born in 1935 and was raised on a farm in Lincoln, Nebraska. Land graduated at 17 from high school in 1953. He had a full scholarship to the University of Nebraska Agricultural College because of his work on his family farm with soil conservation. “Most of the time when we sat down for a meal, the only thing at the table that didn’t come off the farm was salt and pepper,” said Land. A few days after he graduated high school, Land changed course and enlisted in The Marine Corps.

Planning on serving his country and then using the GI Bill, Land was transferred to Marine Barracks 8th & I which is where he met his wife. They were married and welcomed a daughter while stationed there. Somewhere along the way he changed his plans and wanted to become a Marine Corps officer. He started taking college courses and reenlisted for recruit training to become a Drill Instructor (DI). In 1957, Land went to Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego for Drill Instructor School and upon completion of their 9-week school became a DI. After 22 months Land was selected for Officer Candidate School (OCS).

Land was raised on a rural farm in Nebraska and is pictured here as a young boy with two of his farm dogs .

After 12 weeks of training at OCS, located at Marine Base Quantico, Land was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He had 9 months of training at The Basic School (TBS) and was transferred to the 4th Marine Regiment in Hawaii. After being a platoon commander at Marine Corps Base Hawaii for a year, Land began to grow restless. “Mrs. Land pointed out that I had achieved my goal to become an officer. She said ‘You need a new goal, that’s your problem.’” Land said it made a lot of sense to him since he had always had goals to aspire towards, so he set a new one. To get his college degree.

Land was scheduled to go to Marine Corps Reconnaissance Company that was attached to the Brigade in Hawaii. Before joining Recon Company, he had orders to Panama for Jungle Warfare School. Ten days before his departure, Land was informed by his battalion commander that his orders had been canceled and he was now going to Division Matches. “I had no idea what the division matches were, and I had never shot competitively,” said Land. They won the Pacific Division Match Team Championship his first competition. He was then selected to join the FAF PAC Rifle & Pistol team.

General Leonard E. Fribourg, presents Maj. Gen. W.P.T. Hill mess award trophy to Major Edward J. “Jim” Land, Jr. of Weapons Training Battalion.

Land worked with CWO Arthur Terry to found the Corps’ first modern sniper course. “We decided you can only give the commanding general so many pot medal trophies…we needed to provide a service,” said Land.
“So we were trying to find something that could provide a service.” Land got the idea from an Army shooter who attended a Canadian sniper school. “So that got me started on the sniper business.”

“My mom used to have a saying ‘If you want to hear God laugh just tell him your plans.’ Because I was going in one direction and he took me somewhere else,” said Land.

Land went to Vietnam as Officer in Charge (OIC) of the 1st Marine Division Sniper Teams. It was in Vietnam that he was the Commanding Officer of legendary Marine Corps sniper, Carlos Hathcock.

Land in Vietnam

After his time in Vietnam, Land was Inspector-Instructor (I&I) for a reserve unit. In 1973 he was sent back to Washington, DC, this time to Headquarters Marine Corps Henderson Hall to be a briefing officer for the Commandant. Due to the high-stress environment of the position, briefing officers were only given a 6-month billet. Land was then assigned as the Marksmanship Coordinator for the Marine Corps, making him responsible for all the marksmanship training across the Corps. Unfortunately, the sniper program had been canceled in 1972. Through his efforts and the help of several fellow Marines, Land managed to get the sniper program started again.

Land was able to reestablish the MOS (military occupational specialty), got the table of organization (TO) and the table of equipment (TE). And finally, the Commandant approved the first permanent Marine Corps Scout Sniper School in Quantico, Virginia. It is still in full operation today.

“The good Lord gave me the contacts that helped me make this possible,” said Land. “I had no idea how to function at that high level of bureaucracy of the Marine Corps. I had many help and guide me along the way.”

When Land retired from the Marine Corps in 1977, he had finally achieved his goal that was set back in Hawaii. He graduated with a Bachelor of Political Science from George Washington University in 1976 and upon his retirement he found himself unemployed and again, without a goal. 6 days later he was hired by the National Rifle Association (NRA), and he would start the second career path that would lead him to be the Secretary of the NRA for 21 years.

Land at a charity bird hunt for Semper K9 Assistance Dogs in Hustle, Va.

In 2015, at the age of 80, he retired from the NRA after being there for 31 years. Shortly after his retirement, his wife of 60 years passed away. “When I was on I&I duty in 1976, I was a Casualty Assistance Officer,” said Land. “I knocked on 211 doors for casualty notifications to families, and one of the things I always told them was not to make any major decisions for at least a year.” He took that advice after his wife, Elly, passed and tried to come up with a new plan.

He purchased a small farm in rural Virginia that he says was “the only thing that kept me going at the time.”

Land starts each day as he always has, with his “plan of the day.” He works on projects out at the farm, hunts and encourages other veterans, many of them his former Marines, to continue living life to the fullest. He has a bucket list of items that he checks off as he completes them and has no plans of slowing down.

Also on his list of projects are motivational sayings that he has come up with and used over the years:
“Establish your priorities and get to work.”
“Nothing will work unless you do.”
“Done is better than perfect.”

He looks at this every day to keep him on track and encourages others to do the same.

Not too bad for a “friendly drill instructor.”