RIP, sir.

This man has more balls than I could ever hope to have. Fare thee well sir.

The biggest face palm on Fark is the assholes who bash people serving in the modern military but call veterans of WWI and WWII heroes. WTF is the difference?

MIguy: The biggest face palm on Fark is the assholes who bash people serving in the modern military but call veterans of WWI and WWII heroes. WTF is the difference?

Tactics

SilentStrider: MIguy: Not a hero, he was just doing what he signed up for.

not quite. he was drafted.

Well that's even worse.

Seems like every god damn month there's a new "Last member of WW1" news article popping up.

Chlorine gas called for one to cover mouth and nose and breath through a urine soaked rag or old sock.. Alternative was to use water but it was not as effective.

The older and staler the urine the more ammonia the better it worked. Or this may be BS I have been told.

We will be honoring the last surviving Gulf War and Operation Freedom vets 90 years from now in much the same way.

But...I've been to Shiloh and Vicksburg to tour the battlefields there and been on the decks of the USS Texas and Alabama. All of these places felt hallowed and of a special nature that I haven't felt anywhere else. Those men left an imprint of themselves behind that remains to this day. I honor them and Mr. Patch for their sacrifice and lost youth.

/military brat for 18 years.
//living on Ground Zero for H-Bombs/SAC bases lends a certain...zest to life.

Thats an 827: Chlorine gas called for one to cover mouth and nose and breath through a urine soaked rag or old sock.. Alternative was to use water but it was not as effective.

The older and staler the urine the more ammonia the better it worked. Or this may be BS I have been told.

It's BS. They had gas masks back then.

MIguy: The biggest face palm on Fark is the assholes who bash people serving in the modern military but call veterans of WWI and WWII heroes. WTF is the difference?

One group consists of pampered pussies with gold-plated benefits that constantly need their ass kissed while picking on third world nations in protracted conflicts that they never actually win. The other group sucked mustard gas while fighting other first-world nations, enjoyed trench foot, got surgery without anesthetic, and most importantly, actually won their war. It's pretty clear cut to me.

lol WWI was so 1914

And with that simple event, WWI passes from living memory to recorded history.

/awestruck

shower_in_my_socks: And I think anyone who puts on a uniform and puts their lives on the line for us is a hero.

I wouldn't exactly say that, but I like to say instead is that everyone who puts on a uniform and serves honorably gets the benefit of the doubt until it's shown that he or she is an arse. Then you're just an arse in a uniform, no different then any other arse out there.

Flying Lasagna Monster: One group consists of pampered pussies with gold-plated benefits that constantly need their ass kissed while picking on third world nations in protracted conflicts that they never actually win. The other group sucked mustard gas while fighting other first-world nations, enjoyed trench foot, got surgery without anesthetic, and most importantly, actually won their war. It's pretty clear cut to me.

Flying Lasagna Monster: One group consists of pampered pussies with gold-plated benefits

"Gold-plated benefits"? WTF? You obviously have never been in the military.

cameroncrazy1984: Thats an 827: Chlorine gas called for one to cover mouth and nose and breath through a urine soaked rag or old sock.. Alternative was to use water but it was not as effective.

The older and staler the urine the more ammonia the better it worked. Or this may be BS I have been told.

It's BS. They had gas masks back then.

The urine soaked rags is true.
Link (new window)

fro123: If anyone ever gets to Kansas City you need to check out the Liberity Memorial WW1 museum.

Jinx! Really though, it is one of the best museums I've ever been in. Link (new window)

Flying Lasagna Monster: One group consists of pampered pussies with gold-plated benefits

A friend of mine in boot camp told me today how he fractured his hip by sprinting in his body armor. He thinks he fractured his leg from other forms of activities as well, and is worried he will have to drop out of his current training class because of it.. His words were that there are too many quitters out there, and he won't be a pussy like that.. Therefore your smug condescending attitude towards those who can actually serve is a bit out of place.

My statement to MIguy was a bit misplaced itself, as i didn't realize he was talking more to douchebags like yourself who think our modern military is some imperialist bully. Sure, they don't experience the certain death that their predecessors faced.. But pound for pound, the soldiers i know are still the most hardcore of individuals you can find. Take your criticism and shove it up your ass ;)

shower_in_my_socks: This notion has lit a fire under me and I'm planning to professionally film a series of interviews with him when I see him again in a couple of months.


Please do. History is lost without the efforts of people like yourself. (not to mention yer gramps)

cameroncrazy1984: Thats an 827: Chlorine gas called for one to cover mouth and nose and breath through a urine soaked rag or old sock.. Alternative was to use water but it was not as effective.

The older and staler the urine the more ammonia the better it worked. Or this may be BS I have been told.

It's BS. They had gas masks back then.

If you can get to them. More advanced masks had charcoal filters that hung down and were worn on the belt (Gasses would rise, so lower to the ground would have higher quality air). They did have masks that people were issued in emergencies that when dampened would allow safe breathing until you could get away. THey looked like Surgeon's Masks and tied on. If caught with nothing, a piece of cloth could be used. Since chlorine gas is water soluble, these temporary and improvised masks only needed water, but chlorine reacts with Urea (a component of urine) to make a non-harmful liquid, and it was thought that the urine was more effective (if slightly more disgusting). I've heard nothing in my research about the use of older or staler urine to increase effectiveness - the only thing I could think of is that it might have a higher concentration of urea, which might make it work better. Other then that though, I can't confirm or deny that.

FTFA: Last year, Poet Laureate Andrew Motion wrote a poem for him, The Five Acts of Harry Patch.

Not to be confused with the porno of the same name

shower_in_my_socks: Alien Robot: And with that simple event, WWI passes from living memory to recorded history.

/awestruck


That's what makes me sad. In my lifetime, the last of the WWII vets will leave this Earth. I'm comforted by the fact that we've documented the hell out of their experiences, though.

Still... my grandfather is 87. There will come a day in the near future when I won't be able to ask him anymore questions about what he went through, not just in WWII, but in the Space Race as well. All that I will have is whatever he told me while he was alive. This notion has lit a fire under me and I'm planning to professionally film a series of interviews with him when I see him again in a couple of months.

If you'd like to contact me privately, I'd love to send you some resources on doing oral histories. It's part of my job as an Archivist. It's a noble project, and more then a few people would be very interested in your content if you wish to see this project through. GIve me a ring. My email should be in my profile.

Kudos to you.

Flying Lasagna Monster: MIguy: The biggest face palm on Fark is the assholes who bash people serving in the modern military but call veterans of WWI and WWII heroes. WTF is the difference?

One group consists of pampered pussies with gold-plated benefits that constantly need their ass kissed while picking on third world nations in protracted conflicts that they never actually win. The other group sucked mustard gas while fighting other first-world nations, enjoyed trench foot, got surgery without anesthetic, and most importantly, actually won their war. It's pretty clear cut to me.

(Why am I feeding this troll?!?!)

Soldiers follow orders.

If they are ordered to deploy in 'Third-World" protracted engagements, then they follow those orders or face reprimand.
I'll be happy when all the lib-tard anti-military wankers simply up and die. Serve or STFU in regards to those who do/did.

If you have an issue with people following orders, then perhaps you need to re-examine your understanding of the military.

And heroes.

/WTF?! Challenging DRAFTED Vets and VOLUNTEER Vets and current service men and women? Please DIAF.
//please?

PTSD is real, and yes, a lot of soldiers get it. It's usually associated with prolonged levels of acute stress (i.e., imminent fear of being killed). Patients with it display a unique pattern of brain activation when exposed to war-related stimuli (the usual fear-inhibiting pathways of prefrontal cortex-to-amygdala are suppressed if active at all). The reason why we're hearing so much more about it now than we did during previous wars is the same reason why we hear more about depression now than we did fifty or a hundred years ago, or why we hear more about what radar and satellite detect regarding the weather: our instrumentation and knowledge are greater and more sensitive than they were fifty or a hundred years ago.

Do you think that the clouds weren't visible from orbit during world war 1? Was war somehow nicer or less traumatic a hundred years ago? Had human nature and our society changed that drastically that people simply can't handle war anymore? Doubtful. Stop belittling the real emotional struggle that these soldiers are going through. Or don't, whatever. I'd advise against telling THEM they're pussies, though. Causing them emotional stress could make them cry, but it could as easily make them lash out in anger. Then again, you probably all know ten martial arts and carry a dozen guns with you everywhere, so what do you have to fear?

Later, buddy. Take care, and thanks.

At ease, soldier (new window).

RIP, Andy Rooney

/am I doing it right?

Gwendolyn: Spoonfed'sBuddy: fro123: If anyone ever gets to Kansas City you need to check out the Liberity Memorial WW1 museum.

Jinx! Really though, it is one of the best museums I've ever been in. Link (new window)

The only WWI military museum I've been to was Boalsburg Military Museum, (new window) They had a trench set up with censors and as you walked through it explosions, shouting, screaming, and shots would sound off. It used to scare the fark out of me as a child.

Interesting. I'll check it out if I'm in the area. You won't get ambushed at the one in KC, but they've got a couple trenches and bomb craters set up. The videos they show are really well put together. The intro movie gives a good concise background into the conflict and the second movie / trench presentation mixes a trench warfare experience with informative clips on how and why the US got involved. The collection of weaponry, uniforms, and vehicles is impressive as well.

http://armorgames.com/play/2267/warfare-1917

Obligatory.

We shall not see men the likes of these again.

Hopefully, someday we will be able to identify a generation, not by the war they fought. But by the things that they accomplished to improve the lives of all people.

Your watch is ended, Sir.
I thank you, and I salute you.

shower_in_my_socks: Still... my grandfather is 87. There will come a day in the near future when I won't be able to ask him anymore questions about what he went through, not just in WWII, but in the Space Race as well. All that I will have is whatever he told me while he was alive. This notion has lit a fire under me and I'm planning to professionally film a series of interviews with him when I see him again in a couple of months.

Thank you. Don't delay. I saw my Dad getting older and frailer and had planned on doing something similar. I acquired some video equipment over the Christmas holidays one year in preparation for a long visit I had planned with my Dad the subsequent summer. He passed away that spring.

Falcon Hunter: Flying Lasagna Monster: MIguy: The biggest face palm on Fark is the assholes who bash people serving in the modern military but call veterans of WWI and WWII heroes. WTF is the difference?

One group consists of pampered pussies with gold-plated benefits that constantly need their ass kissed while picking on third world nations in protracted conflicts that they never actually win. The other group sucked mustard gas while fighting other first-world nations, enjoyed trench foot, got surgery without anesthetic, and most importantly, actually won their war. It's pretty clear cut to me.

(Why am I feeding this troll?!?!)

Soldiers follow orders.

If they are ordered to deploy in 'Third-World" protracted engagements, then they follow those orders or face reprimand.
I'll be happy when all the lib-tard anti-military wankers simply up and die. Serve or STFU in regards to those who do/did.

If you have an issue with people following orders, then perhaps you need to re-examine your understanding of the military.

And heroes.

/WTF?! Challenging DRAFTED Vets and VOLUNTEER Vets and current service men and women? Please DIAF.
//please?

So wait, because I did well in school and I got to go to college instead of being deployed in some sh*thole I should STFU about others who didn't make the greatest choices?



Never go full retard

How quickly the lessons learned fade. An unimaginable price paid. The brutality of that war is gone from living memory. A handful of generations later, most people don't even know how or why that war started.

May they rest now. A war to end all wars. If only that were the case.

Rest well. Good night sir.

holiday_inn_in_cambodia: r1niceboy: I'm from Scotland, and every Scottish kid gets a sound grounding in WWI history. Hell, that teaching spawned the band Franz Ferdinand.

One thing stuck with me. A bunch of my year (15 year olds) went to Sanctuary Hill in Belgium, where they have preserved trenches from that war. My class was told to get in a trench, and when a whistle blew, get out and run toward another trench a hundred yards away. Two sixth year chaperones stood in the far trench sweeping their arms back and forth. By the time we all reached the trench, the teacher said "Imagine you were running through mud, blood, bones, explosions, and these two in this trench each were firing a machine gun firing a thousand bullets a minute each. That was World War One!"

That stuck with me. Anyone who survived that was altered, and I won't use the word hero, because Hitler survived it. But if you came out the far side intact and mentally competent, well, I can't begin to honour you highly enough.

We took a field trip to an amusement park when I was 15.

THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA.

Your school wasted a spot on the bus to the amusement park to a killjoy?

/took a trip to Fort McHenry in the fourth grade
//they had tiny 22 caliber single shot handguns for sale in the gift shop
///bought a lighter for a buck with an American flag sticker on it
////next week I'll tell about my trip to The Enchanted Forest in the third grade

I always think of The Pogues doing "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" when I think of WW1.

Then in 1915 my country said son
its time you stopped rambling
there's work to be done
so they gave me a tin hat
and they gave me a gun
and sent me away to the war

I know its a song about an Aussie getting maimed at Gallipoli, but is there a more mournful sound than Shane McGowan warbling at the end of the song, "waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, who'll go a-waltzing Matilda with me..."?