#Royal 22nd Regiment

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"IN BATTLE: Vingt-Deuxieme Meet the Hun Again," Montreal Star. July 30, 1943. Page 4. --- One of French-Canada's most famous military formations, the Royal 22nd of Quebec City, with many Montrealers in its strength, is among Canadian formations now at grips with the en enemy on its Mount Etna line in northeastern Sicily. Le Vingt-Deuxieme is pictured above during one of its historic moments in Britain, marching to Buckingham Palace to take over guard duties. Below is Pte. F. J. Tagohald, of Montreal, nonchalantly playing out a hand of solitaire at his gun post as the big big Allied invasion convoy moved towards its destination. Pte. Tagobald's address was not revealed, nor was his unit named,

[foxhopfics]

How the Squads, teams and ranks actually work in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

The dissonance in tumblr users versus the actual branches of the military and how they've been written in fics.

Now, I'm very aware that's because no one here is an actual member of the SAS, and TF141 isn't real. So it's... not exactly like we've had the first hand knowledge about it.

However, I have noticed a lack of research having gone into understanding how the military actually works. The worst culprits are the people who've never actually played CoD, but to a degree, I've seen this in like 99% of CoD writing.

So, here's your OFFICIAL easy to understand guide to how the layout of the SAS and the British Military/Her Majesty's Armed Forces will Affect Your CoD:MW Fanfiction.

SAS:

All non-officer soldiers are returned to the rank of Trooper(Private) when joining the SAS, they then have to work themselves up again.

The 22nd Regiment SAS normally has a strength of between 400 and 600 men and is commanded by a Director-Special Forces of Major-General rank. While you may get ~125 candidates for tryouts, you're only going to end up with 10 new recruits who pass. Tryouts are held twice a year, once in summer and once in winter. A soldier must be a junior NCO to attempt, and only gets 2 total tries.

The regiment has four operational squadrons each consisting of 65 men commanded by a Major. Each squadron is divided into four 16 men troops commanded by a Captain and each troop is split into four patrols with each patrol consisting of four men, referred to as Alpha Company, Squad or Team, Beta Squad, Charlie Squad, and Delta Squad. Our boys from the 141 are part of the Beta company, which is why their callsigns are Bravo 6-0 (Price), B7-0 (Ghost), B7-1 (Soap), and B6-2 (Gaz, or B5-0 in '09) respectively. They are part of the normal British army, not the air force, despite their name being special air service. Where they normally are referred to in fanfiction as "tf141" which includes price, ghost, soap, and gaz. This is incorrect. What you're writing here is SAS Bravo Company, not Task Force 141

NCO, CO, DS, Sergeant, and Warrant Officers:

NCO- Non-comissioned Officer, or Enlisted: Ranked up from Private/Seaman/Airman. The "everyman", or basic infantry. Typically learns a skill and sticks with it (i.e radio techs, mechanical techs, vehicle mechanics, foot soldiers, etc). While any officer is a higher rank than a private, an NCO is never in a higher standing than a CO. After several years, they are eligible to become a senior non-commissioned officer (SNCO). This (NCOs) is who you're likely going to have working in the armoury.

CO- Commissioned Officer: "leaders" or "managers" from the beginning. Oftentimes completed a military degree (Royal Military Academy Sandhurst), or if not, was part of UOTC in college/university. Some others finish a degree and then attend officer training. They start as Lieutenants or Ensigns (navy) and often quickly rank up to Captain.

DS- Drill Sergeant: DSs teach Greenies/new recruits the Initial Entry Training (IET). They have their own Sergeant rank system that is separate from Sergeants. They must complete Drill Officer training to become a DS. Staff Sergeant, or a "regular" Sergeant, ranks up as an or NCO, and is in charge of infantry personnel, and doesn't really have contact with recruits (different from privates, you must complete IET to move from Recruit to Private).

WO- Warrant Officer: Higher than Enlisted, but lower than CO. Oftentimes keep their specialty skill, but without as much of the supervisor role. They come in as the "specialists" for things that the NCO's can't do (i.e complicated vehicle maintenance, machine overwatch, etc)

Ranks in the British Military:

NCO ranks:

- Private

- Lance Corporal

- Corporal

- Sergeant (Soap and Gaz)

- Staff or Colour Sergeant

- Warrant Officer class 1

- Warrant Officer class 2

CO ranks:

- Officer Cadet (officer school rank)

- Second Lieutenant

- Lieutenant (Ghost)

- Captain (Price)

- Major

- Lieutenant Colonel

- Colonel

- Brigadier

- Major-General (eligible to run the SAS)

- Lieutenant General

- General

- Field Marshall

So what does this mean for Task Force 141 and JTF Ghost Team?:

Task Force 141 was created by Captain John Price after Roman Barkov's death in MW1, but before MW2 as an international collaborative task force intended to tie up loose ends via Roman Barkov's associates.

It was approved by Laswell in the CIA and General Shepherd of the US Armed Forces.

Oftentimes TF141 is solely referred to with the British team which is where the confusion between Bravo Company happens.

TF141, while also consisting of Price, Ghost, Gaz, and Soap, is still an international task force consisting of Laswell, Shephered, and Alex (American), Nikolai (Russian), Farah (Urizk), and Alejandro and Rodolfo (Mexican) and ultimately existed for only one purpose.

JTF Ghost Team: Formed by Ghost and Alejandro after they were betrayed by Graves and Shadow Company, believing not many could be trusted at that time.

It was made to flush out the corruption of Graves and Shepherd.

Member consist of: Price, Ghost, Alejandro, Gaz, Soap, Rodolfo, "Ghost 2-4 Pilot" who I suspect is Nikolai, Laswell, and a few freed Los Vaqueros.

[thebaffledcaptain]

Musicians' Uniforms in the Revolutionary War

(Artwork by the legendary Don Troiani)

A favorite descriptor of mine states that British drummers and fifers of the Georgian era were "birds of very gay plumage throughout the whole of the 18th century," a phrase which has irrevocably rooted itself in my head whenever I think of these colorful lads. Often there is curiosity about the vibrant getup of these gents, simply because they blatantly don't fit in with the rest of their units—which happens to be precisely the point.

The reason behind these colorful coats is that musicians had to be the most stand-out members of their regiment: they functioned as the voice of the officers on the battlefield and therefore had to be easily locatable at any given time. Officers would communicate via their musicians in order to convey significant large-scale orders, such as to retreat or cease fire—orders you can imagine quick communication would be vital for—and in the fog of war it would have been difficult to pick a handful of musicians out of a sea of similarly-uniformed men-at-arms. Thus, the musicians wore the inverse colors of their regiments, with the regimental facing colors becoming the main color of the coat, and (in the case of the British army) the standard red coat color becoming the color of the facings. The fellow pictured above is a drummer from the 63rd Regiment of Foot, which was faced with "very dark green" according to the 1768 clothing warrant, and thus the green is the body color of his coat.

These uniforms were also elaborately ornamented with the regimental lace pattern, as you can see above, whereas on the coats of men-at-arms this lace was restricted to the buttonholes on the facings. The smallclothes would still generally be white or buff, matching whichever color smallclothes the men-at-arms wore, unless the regiment was faced in white or buff, in which case the smallclothes would be red so they wouldn’t be the same color as the coat. The regulations were quite specific, as you can tell, but it serves to emphasize the degree of importance the musician held in the 18th century army.

There is some debate as to whether musicians wore cocked hats or bearskins, like the drummer pictured above. Musicians were technically considered part of the grenadier company of a regiment, which is why they bear red "wings" on the shoulders of their uniform and why they often wore bearskins, but there exists evidence of them wearing cocked hats, as well, so it seems likely that depending on the regiment they could have worn either. They would be armed only with a short sword worn across the waist, as they generally were not expected to participate in actual combat. The instruments themselves also functioned as part of the uniform, in ways: the regimental drum was always painted in the facing color of the regiment, and in the case of fifers, the fife sling would also be colored according to the regimental colors—see the 22nd Regiment's "candy colored cord,” as we call it, below (as well as the red smallclothes, as they are a buff-faced regiment... featuring myself and my janky uniform on the right!).

(Photo by Jeff Bross)

As far as I know the Continental Army generally abided by these same practices, which is why you occasionally get instances of the "American redcoat": certain musicians from the Continental army wore red coats with blue facings, looking much like their British adversaries, because they came from Continental regiments faced with red. This kind of cross-army confusion did not occur with the British, however, as those regiments faced in blue were the Royal regiments, and, in accordance with this honor, the musicians of these regiments kept the standard red coat with blue facings as opposed to inverting them (they were, however, still distinguishable by their copious amounts of lacing). Just goes to show that not every red coat is a Redcoat, and not every Redcoat wears a red coat!

[princesscatherinemiddleton]

The Princess of Wales’ Year in Review: February

February 1st - A video was released of the Princess of Wales and "Shaping Us" Campaign Champions February 2nd - A video was released of the Princess of Wales at St Johns C of E Primary for the "Shaping Us" campaign. Photos of the visit were released on January 28th. Later that day, photos of the Princess of Wales and Roman Kemp were released in advance of the release of a video February 3rd - A video was released of the Princess of Wales and Roman Kemp speaking about the early years and mental health February 4th - Kensington Palace released a photograph of Catherine as a baby with her father, Michael Middleton. Catherine was later seen watching George play football with their dog, Orla February 6th - The Princess of Wales visited St John's Primary in Bethnal Green to launch Children's Mental Health Week, as part of her work as Patron of Place2Be February 8th - The Princess of Wales, Patron of Captain Harpreet Chandi's Solo Antarctic Expedition, visited Landau Forte College February 9th - The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall visited Cornwall. They visited the National Maritime Museum Falmouth, before visiting the Dracaena Centre February 19th - The Prince and Princess of Wales attended the British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall February 21st - The Princess of Wales visited Oxford House Nursing Home February 22nd - The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron of the Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, held an Early Years Meeting February 23rd - The Princess of Wales, Patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, received Ian Hewitt at Windsor Castle. That afternoon, she received Major General Christopher Ghika (Regimental Lieutenant Colonel) and Lieutenant Colonel James Aldridge (Commanding Officer) in her role as Colonel of the Irish Guards February 25th - The Prince of Wales, Patron of Welsh Rugby Union, and the Princess of Wales, Patron of Rugby Football Union, attended the Six Nations Rugby Match between Wales and England February 28th - The Prince and Princess of Wales undertook an away day to Wales. First, as Joint Patrons of the Royal Foundation, they visited Brynawel House Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Centre; there, they announced a new project as part of a series to leave a lasting impact. The Royal Foundation brought together national and local organisations to support the design and build, and provide funding, tools, plants, seeds and materials for landscaping. Next, they visited Aberavon Celtic Leisure Centre before finishing by opening the new patient room at Wales Air Ambulance

[codmw2019-2022]

COD MW 2022 - Price

Here is Price's Original Operator Bio from before Modern Warfare 3 came out. Clip is from ScereBro PSNU, uploaded : 28 October 2022. Link for the YouTube video is below. [Timestamp: 17:21 to 18:21]

//Operator Bio

Name Price Citizenship: United Kingdom | Language: English Faction Affliation: SpecGru | Status: Active

Backgroung: John Price has spent most of his career with the 22nd Special Air Service Regiment fighting in the shadows. Shot, captured, abandoned, beaten to near death, blown-up, locked up, all before the age of twenty. Surviving that and more, he completed Commando selection, ultimately joining the British SAS. Captain Price is a veteran of military operations in nearly every conflict-prone corner of the wold. John Price leads from the front. He is a man of few words, but his words always count. He knows the rules, reads from the back of the book and is willing to break ranks and violate orders to get the job done.

Born in Herefordshire England, John Price joined the infantry at the age of sixteen and has served the British Army for 18 years. One of the youngest cadets to ever graduate the Royal Military Academy as a commissioned officer, he was ‘Badged’ a member of SAS in 2005, spending the next ten years in the Middle East, the horn of Africa. Promoted to Captain in ‘10, Price commanded ‘Bravo Six’, a highly effective mobility patrol,

[heliads]

Leave It

Based on this request: "male reader gets hurt and try to hide it, but nikolai sees it and is worried about him, so he tries to help the reader, and it ends with confession of their feelings"

masterlist

The wind whips cold and dark above the battlefield. This close to the Ravka-Fjerda border, the air is always gray and thin, cutting to the quick. The Fjerdans should be pleased to know that their climate will kill you even if their soldiers cannot.

You won’t be under attack for a while, though. You shouldn’t, at least. You’re still on the Ravkan side of the border. That doesn’t stop some of your fellow soldiers from stalking back and forth in the snow, all but daring the enemy to materialize and shoot you where you stand. They are blustering idiots in need of a scare, but you get the feeling they’ll get that soon enough.

After all, they’re not truly without fear, not really. You are soldiers drafted to protect your kingdom. There is no way you will leave this fight without shedding at least a little blood. If you do not die, then it will be one of your friends, and that is both better and worse depending on how strongly you let your heart speak for you.

A commotion of boots stalking through permafrost signals that you’re no longer alone. You don’t have to turn your head to recognize the pattern of footsteps nor the rhythm of the walk.

“My prince,” you remark by way of greeting.

Nikolai Lantsov rolls his eyes. “Always so formal, Y/N. Can’t we skip to the part where you’re threatening to steal my rations because I didn’t shine my boots to company standards? It’s what everyone else has done.”

You grin to yourself. “I’m not everyone, Nikolai.”

“Don’t I know it,” he says, although judging by his tone, he’s quite pleased with that.

So you managed to befriend a prince in your time serving in Ravka’s troops. It came as a shock to you as well, to be sure. You had already been in the 22nd Regiment for about three months before Nikolai came along. It wasn’t a whole lot of time, but it still gave you a bit of superiority in address that he didn’t have when he was still as green as the grass he left behind in Os Alta.

Nikolai rose up quickly through the ranks, though. He has this way of winning anyone over, even the most hardened of the captains and generals. You suppose that’s a sign that he would make a decent king, or at least be able to try his luck at politics if Vasily doesn’t die before Nikolai grows too old to ascend to the throne.

In all his time of regaining status, though, Nikolai only seems more determined to make you like him. Any advantage you had over him regarding leadership favoritism is long gone now, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Nikolai still chooses your company over that of any other soldier. Even now, when he could be off messing around with the other servicemen, he’s out standing in the cold with you.

He’s been like that since the beginning, actually. It’s as if Nikolai marked you out as a primary target the day he arrived at camp and won’t give up until he’s crossed some imaginary finish line of friendship in his head. 

He’s damn good at it, too. You were dead set on not letting him charm you as quickly as the others, but Nikolai found his way into your head regardless of what you decided. He did it slowly, carefully, a master bluffer playing his cards just right. He signed up for the bad watch times with you, so it wasn’t just one boy up at dawn watching empty fields but two. He always chose you as a partner for those awful training drills, even if it would have benefitted him more to keep switching out people to network as much as possible.

Maybe, if Nikolai were to have one political misstep, he would be content with letting it be you. He always seemed to have more fun that way, at least. And when is Nikolai ever pleased if he’s not going about things his way? Stupid boy, to enlist as infantry instead of letting his royal lineage rise him to an officer’s established and bloodless spot. Brave would-be king, to give his people one fewer reason to hate him.

No, you suppose you couldn’t ever hold him back. Not forever, at least. Nikolai seems to know this and appreciate it, too, so you gave up that battle long ago. Now it’s just the two of you against the world, or at least it will be until his tour of duty ends and you’re alone again.

That, at last, is what made you fear friendship with him the most. It’s one thing to become as close as brothers with another village craftsman or scholar, someone you have a decent chance of finding again once you’re done slinging guns in the name of Ravkan soil.

Nikolai, though? Prince Nikolai? He will leave you behind in the icy dust and never think of your name again. In your place, he will meet a thousand princesses and noblemen, and if he ever muses over past war memories, it will only be that of long-gone days and misplaced faces. He is yours for a very brief time now, and then never will be again.

Nikolai doesn’t have to know that’s what you’re thinking, though. He just has to entertain your friendship now while he’s got it, so both of you can pretend that it isn’t going to end just as abruptly as it started.

So you force yourself back into the present moment, the snow, him looking back at you. “Got any exciting plans for the day?” You joke to him.

Nikolai chuckles. “Oh, tons. I think I’m going to start out my morning with some light meditation, then maybe a few rounds of intellectual discussion with my fellow man. In all honesty, though, I’ll probably just be watching those idiots get in trouble.”

Nikolai jerks his chin towards the soldiers still goofing around near the border. Their shouts are loud, too loud for what is supposed to be a peaceful holding of the line. If they’re not careful, they’re going to get themselves killed.

Killed. The word echoes around your brain for a touch too long, and you stare around the snowy forests, wondering what’s suddenly got you feeling so uneasy. It’s not just Nikolai’s laughing comments getting to you, it’s something else. Something like the sensation that you might not be alone any longer.

Shots ring out seconds later. Nikolai grabs for you, pushing you down to the snow and behind cover. His breath is hot over you as he scans the white hills for any signs of the sudden attackers. “I take it back,” he whispers in gasps, “I shouldn’t have said a damn thing about trouble. We’ve certainly got it now.”

You nod, trying to keep your breathing steady. Your gun is in your hand seconds later, and one glance towards Nikolai confirms he’s done the same. You can make out three figures of Fjerdan soldiers moving through the snow. One of the Ravkan men is on the ground, but you think you see movement. The other is screaming for aid. You pop up quickly from behind the snowdrift and take a shot at one of the moving shapes. You see a spray of red, but he doesn’t go down. Not yet.

“Good shot,” Nikolai whistles after you come back down, “nailed him in the arm, I think.”

You shake your head, murmuring swears under your breath. “Would have been better if I could get him in the heart.”

“Let me do that for you,” he grins, cocky as ever even when you’re under imminent attack.

Nikolai stands up, taking careful aim. You peer over the top of the snowdrift and see the Fjerdan you’d hit go down in a flash. One of his comrades comes out from behind a stand of trees and you fire at him, too. This time, you don’t miss.

“We’re tied, then?” Nikolai challenges.

You grin even as you take aim at another enemy soldier. “That’s two,” you say, pulling the trigger. It isn’t a lie, and the Fjerdan collapses in an untidy heap of limbs.

Nikolai pivots slightly, chasing something to even the score, and while he targets a man to his right, you see someone else to his left. He’s already raising his gun, and you only have time to push Nikolai to the ground before the shots rattle out. Several strike the snow in front of you, but one hits you.

You don’t think Nikolai saw it, because he’s still firing even from his reduced vantage point, but you can feel the gunshot like a firebrand forced against your shoulder. Saints, it hurts like death itself. You try to clamp an arm over the wound to stop the bleeding, but you can tell that it will only do so much.

Nikolai notices you shift slightly and frowns. “Y/N, are you hurt?”

There is nothing he can do right now, so you shake your head. “Focus on the fight.”

Nikolai’s brow furrows, and he stares at you further. “No, you’re hurt, aren’t you? I can see blood in the snow. Y/N, show me.”

You hesitate a second longer, and his eyes grow wide with imagined fears of lungs shot out and hearts pierced. “Show me,” he repeats.

You relent at last. It’s not bad, just a wound to the shoulder, and the bullet only clipped you. So you tell him, at least, but Nikolai doesn’t seem all that inclined to let you go that easily.

“We have to get you back to camp,” he says, “come, you can lean on my arm. I’ll get you to the medic.”

You shake your head firmly. “We have to get rid of the threat first.”

Your fingers are still tight around your gun, and you move to straighten up and fire again, but Nikolai stops you, pulling you back down beside you once again.

He’s frustrated, one hand clawing through the pressed gold wire of his hair. “Why won’t you just let me help you?”

You let out a harsh breath. It ends up as a sigh. “Because–”

Because he’s a prince and you’re not. Because, at the end of the day, your entire damn regiment is there for one purpose and one purpose only. It’s not to defend Ravka, it’s to defend him. You’ve never had a problem with it before. In fact, the only one who seems to want to challenge that is the very Lantsov you’re meant to be saving.

You cannot say any of that, of course, but you think Nikolai gets it anyway. His jaw is set. “I’m not letting you get hurt again.”

“Then help me kill the rest of these soldiers,” you plead.

Nikolai still looks like he’d rather drag you back through the snow to base by himself, but you’re just as stubborn as he is, so he caves at last and joins you in taking out the rest of the Fjerdans in quick, efficient shots. The moment the last of them are gone, he grabs you around the waist and helps you to stand.

“Healer. Now,” he says. You don’t exactly have a lot of other options, so you let him help you out. You’ve lost a fair amount of blood by now, and the amount of scarlet staining the snow makes Nikolai’s first step almost as wobbly as yours. He manages to pull himself together in a second, though, and you’re at the camp medic before you know it.

Nikolai doesn’t leave the whole time they’re stitching you up. His brow is furrowed, and he denies every single soldier who tries to come up and talk to him. His attention will not be dragged from you until he knows that you’re going to be alright.

He waits until the last of them are gone to finally say what’s on his mind. You can tell that he’s been stewing over it for a while, what you didn’t say back there on the battlefield.

“Let me love you,” he says, “Please.”

Princes aren’t meant to ask for things. They demand and they are satisfied. Nikolai is not asking you this as a royal, though. At this moment, he is a boy, a bastard, and he wants to be loved. He will love you regardless of what you say back to him. All that he can gain from this is someone else’s opinion of him, and Saints know he gets enough of those already.

You exhale slowly. This isn’t going to last. Of course it won’t. Still, you have just enough time that you think you’d like to try.

“Alright,” you say, “I can do that.”

When he smiles, you think you can do just about anything. It’s a good thing that you’ll have Nikolai there with you to make sure of that.

grishaverse tag list: @rogueanschel, @deadreaderssociety, @cameronsails, @mxltifxnd0m, @story-scribbler, @retvenkos, @thatfangirl42, @amortensie, @gods-fools-heroes, @bl606dy, @auggie2000

[theworldofwars]

Lieutenant Thomas Stanley Agar Cowperthwaite. Unit: 22nd Battalion, London Regiment, attached to Machine Gun Corps and then to Royal Air Force. Death: Not known

[scotianostra]

On May 22nd 1915 was a very sad day for Scotland when 227 people were killed and 246 more injured in a rail crash at Quintinshill, near Gretna Green.

At 6.49 am that day a Liverpool-bound troop-train carrying half of the 7th (Leith) Battalion, The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) collided head on with a local passenger train, which had been ‘parked’, facing north, on the south-bound main line at Quintinshill, just North of Gretna, to allow a following express to overtake it.

Normally the local train would have been held in one of the loops at Quintinshill but both of these were already occupied by goods trains. The troop train overturned, mostly onto the neighbouring north-bound mainline track and, a minute later, the Glasgow-bound express ploughed into the wreckage causing it to burst into flame.

The ferocity of the fire, and consequent difficulty of rescuing those trapped in the overturned and mangled carriages, was compounded by the fact that most of the carriages were very old, made of wood and lit by gas contained in a tank beneath them. Between the crash and the fire a total of 216 all ranks and 12 others , mostly from the express but including the driver and fireman on the troop-train, died in, or as an immediate result of what was, and remains, Britain’s worst railway disaster.

Two days later thousands of soldiers and residents of Edinburgh and Leith lined the streets for the three-mile funeral procession for men of the 7th Royal Scots as they are being taken for burial with full military honours at the city's Rosebank Cemetery. The coffins were laid three deep.

The public were excluded from the cemetery, although 50 wounded servicemen who were convalescing at a nearby military hospital were allowed to attend. The ceremony lasted three hours, at the end of which a volley of three shots was fired and the Last Post was sounded.

[renegadesstuff]

-I present Nikolai Lantsov, Major of the 22nd Regiment, Soldier of the King's Army, Grand Duke of Udova, and Second Son to his Most Royal Majesty, King Pyotr the Third, Ruler of the Double Eagle Throne.-

~ Shadow and Bone, S2. Nikolai Lantsov ~

[18thfoot]

22nd July 1888 - India. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Wray, CO 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, died at Murree in the Punjab, India. Wray was born on 21st October 1834 in Danapur, West Bengal, India, the son of Octavius Wray, Surgeon in the Bengal European Regiment (later Royal Munster Fusiliers), and his wife Sarah, nee Wright. Wray served with the Royal Irish Regiment in New Zealand and in Egypt in 1884. As a Lieutenant he took part in the action at Keri-Keri on this date in 1863. The photo was taken in New Zealand about 1866.

Photo Credit https://collection.pukeariki.com/objects/171080

#18thfoot #royalirishregiment #newzealand #maoriwars #india

[casbooks]

Books of 2023

Book 4 of 2023:

Title: Flashing Saber/Brennan’s War Authors: Matthew Brennan ISBN: 9781503102941 Tags: ACH-47 Guns-A-Go-Go Chinook, Forward Observer, FRA Groupement Mobile 100 (Indochina War), FSB Baldy (Vietnam War), FSB Bird (Vietnam War), FSB Cobra (Vietnam War), FSB English (Vietnam War), FSB Montezuma (Vietnam War), H-13 Sioux, KOR ROK Republic of Korea Army, LZ Hammond (Vietnam War), LZ Hereford (Vietnam War), LZ Montezuma (Vietnam War), LZ Porrazzo (Vietnam War), LZ Ross (Vietnam War), LZ Willy (Vietnam War), Military Police, OH-6, OV-1 Mohawk, UK Royal Malaysian Tracker School, US USA 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, US USA 12th Cavalry Regiment, US USA 173rd Airborne Brigade, US USA 196th Light Infantry Brigade, US USA 1st Cavalry Division, US USA 1st ID, US USA 21st Field Artillery Bn, US USA 227th Assault Helicopter Bn, US USA 35th Infantry Regiment, US USA 35th Infantry Regiment - 1/35, US USA 4th ID, US USA 9th Cavalry - 1st Squadron (Headhunters), US USA 9th Cavalry Regiment, US USA Combat Trackers - K9, US USA LRRP Team (Vietnam War), US USA United States Army, USA Capt. James Taylor (MOH) (Vietnam War), USAF Phu Cat Airbase (Vietnam War), VNM 1968 Tet Offensive (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM 506 Valley, VNM A Shau Valley, VNM An Khe, VNM An Lao, VNM An Loc, VNM Battle of Hue City (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Battle of Khe Sanh (1968) (Tet Offensive) (Vietnam War), VNM Binh An, VNM Binh Dinh Province, VNM Bong Son, VNM Bong Son River, VNM Bu Dop Special Forces Camp (Vietnam War), VNM Camp Evans (Vietnam War), VNM Camp Radcliff (Vietnam War), VNM Chu Lai, VNM CIA Phung Hoang / Phoenix Program (1965-1972) (Vietnam War), VNM Crow's Foot War Zone, VNM Da Nang, VNM Deo Mang, VNM Deo Mang pass, VNM DRV NVA 18th Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 18th Regiment - 27th Co, VNM DRV NVA 22nd Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 2nd Division, VNM DRV NVA 33rd Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 3rd Division, VNM DRV NVA 812th Regiment, VNM DRV NVA Sang Vao (Yellow Star) Division, VNM DRV VC 2nd Regiment, VNM Duc Pho, VNM Hiep Duc, VNM Ho Bo Woods, VNM Hon Kon (Hong Kong Mountain), VNM Hue, VNM Khe Sanh, VNM Kim Son, VNM Kontum, VNM Lang Vei Special Forces Camp (Vietnam War), VNM Loc Ninh, VNM LZ Ross, VNM Mang Yang Pass, VNM Million Dollar Hill, VNM Monument Hill, VNM Nui Ba Ra (Mountain of the Old Man), VNM Operation Cravy Horse (1966) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Masher (1966) (Vietnam War), VNM Perfume River, VNM Phouc Vinh, VNM Pleiku, VNM Quan Loi, VNM Quang Tri, VNM Que Son Valley, VNM Route 1, VNM Route 14, VNM Route 19, VNM Rung Sat Special Zone, VNM RVN ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam, VNM RVN ARVN Vietnamese Rangers - Biet Dong Quan, VNM RVN RVNP Can Sat National Police, VNM Saigon, VNM Song Re, VNM Soui Ca Mountains, VNM Tam Ky, VNM Tan Son Nhut Air Base, VNM The Graveyard, VNM Tiger Mountains, VNM USMC DHCB Dong Ha Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM USMC KSCB Khe Sanh Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM VC Valley, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975), VNM Vinh Thanh Valley (Happy Valley), VNM War Zone C, VNM War Zone D, VNM French Indochina War (1946-1954) Rating: 5 Stars  Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.US Army.Infantry

Description: 

"The division's expendables." That's what one division commander called the 1/9th Cavalry Blue platoons during the Vietnam War. The Blues, as they were called, were perpetually understrength and considered to be acceptable losses in hopeless situations--but their amazingly successful record proved otherwise.

Flashing Saber is memoir about mortal combat with the First Air Cavalry Division's reconnaissance squadron. Included is the account of an air-ground raid that killed more high-ranking enemy officers than any similar engagement of the war: a full colonel, four majors and four senior captains.

An expansion and careful reworking of his previous work, Brennan's War, published in 1985, and in the vein of classic memoirs by Johnnie Clark and Frederick Downs, the book is a harrowing firsthand account of life and death in war.****

Review: I’ve read Brennan’s previous book, Brennan’s War shortly after it was published in 1985. A lot of what was in it stuck with me as a classic retelling of some ones honest look at their own experience, their failures/stupidity, and both good and bad choices. 

This version adds a lot more nuance and more understanding to what he experienced, and the added snippets add a lot to round out some of the people and tales without watering down the experiences or raw emotion.

His experiences are unique due to his circumstances, and most importantly, he has an excellent way of telling the story. It’s not just a cut and dry “i went here, I did this...” ... but he understands narrative, he understands human emotion, and he is able to convey things in a way many other authors of this genre actually fail to do. 

[art-of-manliness]

25 Amazing, Rarely-Seen Photographs of D-Day

12,000 aircraft. 7,000 ships. 13,000 paratroopers. 150,000 troops from a dozen countries. The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 was the largest amphibian invasion in history. The epic scale of the operation is hard to grasp, as is its historic consequence. D-Day paved the way for the liberation of France and, ultimately, the end of the war. Victory came at a high cost: over 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives on D-Day itself, and tens of thousands more were killed in the battles that followed.  80 years on, we’ve dug deep into the photo archives to bring a bit of D-Day’s sweep and significance back into our cultural memory. Below, you’ll find 25 amazing, rarely-seen photos from D-Day, along with their original captions. For more amazing photos of WWII as a whole, check out this post. Four ‘stick’ commanders of 22nd Independent Parachute Company, British 6th Airborne Division, synchronising their watches in front of an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle transport of No 38 Group, Royal Air Force, at about 11 pm on 5 June 1944, just prior to take off from RAF Harwell, Oxfordshire. This pathfinder unit parachuted into Normandy in advance of the rest of the division in order to mark out the landing zones, and these officers (left to right: Lieutenants Bobby de la Tour, Don Wells, John Vischer and Bob Midwood) were among the first Allied troops to land in France.  British Airborne troops admire the graffiti chalked on the side of their Horsa glider as they prepare to fly out to Normandy as part of 6th Airborne Division’s second lift on the evening of 6 June 1944. Members of an airborne unit make a final checkup of equipment before taking off from a British air base on the invasion of Fortress Europe.  Set to be flown to spearhead the beginning of the battle for the liberation of Europe, men of an infantry paratroop regiment are shown inside a Douglas C-47 of the Ninth Air Force Troop Carrier Command, over France, June 6, 1944.  Thumbs up from these British paratroops before they left England in a glider to reinforce Allied troops in France. Their slogan, to match their camouflaged faces, and names of their girls, adorn the side of the glider. A few minutes before they embarked for the invasion of Europe, American assault troops kneel on a British pier, with their assault boats in background, and received benediction from Major Edward J. Waters, Catholic Army Chaplain from Oswego, New York. A few hours later these men were hitting the beaches of France in the first attack on Hitler’s fortress. English Channel…Some are grim-faced, some are smiling, but all are eager in their own way to come to grips with the enemy. These American soldiers were photographed aboard a Navy LCI (landing craft, infantry) on their way to the invasion coast of France. They were anxious to do the job for which they had been trained for and for which they had been waiting. They made good, too. Packed in assault craft completely ready to fight as soon as their feet touch land are these Canadian troops pictured when Allied armies, including Canadians, landed on the French Normandy coast to start the invasion of Hitler’s Europe. One of the many B-26 Martin Marauders of the Ninth Air Force is shown over the coast of France during the early morning, giving cover to the landing craft shown on the sandy beaches below. This Coast Guard landing barge burst into flames when it was hit by Nazi machine gun fire, and a soldier’s hand grenade exploded, but its crew steers it toward the beach despite the rising smoke and flame. Choppy waters in the Channel didn’t make the job any easier, either. Canadian soldiers land on Courseulles beach in Normandy. Christians Praying in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on D-Day . Allied troops from the 8th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division of the British Second Army come ashore on Queen Red Beach, Sword Beach area from Landing Craft Infantry (LCI). In the foreground are sappers of 84 Field Company Royal Engineers, part of No.5 Beach Group who are identified by the white bands around… http://dlvr.it/T7tBkn

[wikiuntamed]

Five steps of Wikipedia for Sunday, 22nd October 2023

Welcome, こんにちは, नमस्ते, 안녕하세요 🤗 Five steps of Wikipedia from "Southend Airshow" to "9 Regiment Army Air Corps". 🪜👣

Start page 👣🏁: Southend Airshow "The Southend Airshow, in aviation, later officially known as the Southend Festival of the Air, was an annual airshow held in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in the United Kingdom and was held for 27 consecutive years: it was said to be the longest running seafront airshow. The airshow usually spanned a..."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0? by william

Step 1️⃣ 👣: Battle of Britain Memorial Flight "The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events commemorating the Second World War and upon British State..."

Image licensed under OGL v1.0? by Cpl Phil Major ABIPP

Step 2️⃣ 👣: Avro Heritage Museum "Avro Heritage Museum is an aviation museum in Woodford, Greater Manchester, England, that opened on 13 November 2015. It is located at the former Woodford Aerodrome, and it replaces the former Avro Heritage Centre. ..."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0? by Lestocq

Step 3️⃣ 👣: Army Flying Museum "The Army Flying Museum, previously known as the Museum of Army Flying, is a British military aviation museum about the history of flying in the British Army. It is located beside the Army Air Corps Centre in Middle Wallop, close to Andover in Hampshire, England...."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0? by geni

Step 4️⃣ 👣: 6 Regiment Army Air Corps "6 Regiment Army Air Corps is the sole Army Reserve regiment of the British Army Air Corps (AAC) falling under the Combat Arm of the British Army. The regiment consists of five Squadrons based around the south of the UK. 6 Regiment provides soldiers trained to assist Joint Helicopter Command on..."

Step 5️⃣ 👣: 9 Regiment Army Air Corps "9 Regiment Army Air Corps is a regiment of the Army Air Corps (AAC), that currently serves as the Battlefield Helicopter Wing of No. 1 Flying Training School RAF (formerly the Defence Helicopter Flying School)...."

[churchoftheconfusedchicken]

ITS HAPPENING ITS HAPOENING

NIKOLAI LANTSOV MAJOR OF THE 22ND REGIMENT SOLDIER OF THE KINGS ARMY GRAND DUKE OF UDOVA AND SECOND SON TO HIS MOST ROYAL MAJESTY KING PYOTR THE THIRD RULER OF THE DOUBLE EAGLE THRONE

HAS ARRIVED

[princesscatherinemiddleton]

The Princess of Wales’ Year in Review: November

November 1st - The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron of the Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, visited Dadvengers November 2nd - The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay visited Outfit Moray, Burghead Primary School. Afterwards, they visited Brodieshill Farm, before finally visiting Day1 at Inverness Kart Raceway November 8th - The Princess of Wales, Colonel-in-Chief of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, visited the Regiment at Robertson Barracks November 11th - The Prince and Princess of Wales were present with the King and Queen at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall November 12th - The Princess of Wales joined members of the Royal Family at the cenotaph for the Remembrance Sunday service. During the 2023 Earthshot Prize ceremony, a video of the Prince and Princess of Wales snorkelling in the Bahamas with Coral Vita was released November 14th - The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron of the Royal Foundation, received Mr. Jack Shonkoff (Director of Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University) at Windsor Castle. That evening, Catherine attended a reception at the Design Museum. Afterwards, the Prince and Princess of Wales joined members of the Royal Family at a private birthday party for the King November 15th - The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron of the Royal Foundation, held a symposium on Early Childhood at the Design Museum November 16th - The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron of the Royal Foundation, held a meeting at Windsor Castle. The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales and Mayor of Greater Manchester announced £100,000 funding to support the work of the Manchester Peace Together Alliance to provide positive opportunities for young people and reduce youth violence November 17th - The Princess of Wales opened BBC's Children In Need with a message about the importance of childhood November 18th - A photo of the Princess of Wales decorating a christmas tree was released to announce her carol concert November 21st - The Prince and Princess of Wales welcomed The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee on behalf of The King at the Four Seasons Hotel. They then drove to Horse Guards and were met by The King and Queen. At Buckingham Palace, they viewed an exhibit of South Korean art from the Royal Collection. Finally, they attended a State Banquet at Buckingham Palace November 22nd - The Prince and Princess of Wales, Joint Patrons of the Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, held a reception at Windsor Castle November 24th - The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron of the Royal Foundation, visited Sebby's Corner November 30th - The Prince and Princess of Wales received Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden at Windsor Castle. That evening, the four royals attended the Royal Variety Performance in aid of the Royal Variety Charity at the Royal Albert Hall

[codmw2019-2022]

Modern Warfare® Campaign: Biographies of the Story’s Major Players.

Part 1 (1 of 2): Captain John Price

September 30, 2019 by Call of Duty Staff

Captain John Price

Captain, British 22nd Special Air Service Regiment

With his service in the Special Air Service Regiment, John Price has spent most of his career fighting in the shadows. He’s been shot, captured, abandoned, blown-up, locked up, tortured and left for dead, Price is a veteran of military operations in nearly every conflict-prone corner of the world, distinguishing himself with acts of gallantry and intrepidity. His achievements have risen to the stuff of regimental history.

John Price joined the infantry at the age of sixteen and has served in the British Army for eighteen years. One of the youngest cadets to ever graduate the Royal Military Academy as a commissioned officer, he completed Special Service Commando selection and was ‘badged’ a member of the SAS, proving his worth on countless covert operation over multiple deployments in the Middle East. Promoted to Captain in 2011, call sign ‘Bravo Six’, Price is the officer in charge of a highly effective unit, tasked with anti–hijacking counter–terrorism, specializing in Close Quarter Battle (CQB), sniper techniques and hostage rescue. He is unofficially missioned to capture or kill high value targets (HVTs).

Blessed with uncanny instincts and an unchecked determination, Captain Price is a peerless combat-tracker, known for exceling in a fluid and volatile environment. An elite seek-and-strike expert, Price is versed in a wide range of field craft and tactical capability. From airborne shock-trooper to long-range reconnaissance operator, Captain Price is a covert, jungle, desert and urban operator, sniper and saboteur. With a knack for developing and maintaining links to foreign fighters across the globe by earning goodwill through trust, Captain Price works closely with Western intelligence agencies assigned to aggressively pursue HVTs. His counter-terrorism squadron is on call to mobilize anywhere in Europe with immediate readiness.

Price believes, the duty of every soldier is to fight for the greater good— “The rules of engagement don’t change, but their justification does.” Price always fights for what’s right but he knows what’s right isn’t always what you’re fighting for. He’s often said, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” Sometimes unpredictable and unrestrained, John Price has a golden rule all his own: “We get dirty, and the world stays clean.”

Although an officer, Captain Price has always preferred to keep the company of the enlisted warfighter. John often tells new recruits: “All it takes to change the course of history... is the will of a single man or woman.” Not above a rogue move or an unholy alliance in the name of getting the job done, John has a deep but often strained relationship with the system. Specializing in unconventional warfare, Captain Price is a target-focused warfighter who deploys a cut to the chase lethality.