2023 Obituary

[Stuart Galbraith]

6 hours ago, lucklucky said:

Richard Jordan was excellent there.

Also not with us anymore.

Good lord, he didn't even outlive Gettysburg being released. He sure didn't make old bones poor sod.

[sunday]

2 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

I've posted this quote before from Lawrence Taylor;

“When you get old, everything is hurting. When I get up in the morning, it sounds like I’m making popcorn.”

And he played at 230-240lb, hitting 200lb running backs.

Was there a study showing neurological(?) damage in football players, a bit like what happened with boxers?

[Ivanhoe]

4 hours ago, sunday said:

Was there a study showing neurological(?) damage in football players, a bit like what happened with boxers?

Numerous studies;

https://www.insidehook.com/sports/new-data-link-cte-concussions-football

[sunday]

Thanks!

[Rick]

On a similar note.

https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Portals/61/Users/019/71/4371/Overpressure Study Report 20191025.pdf?ver=Nta6RKsuKvaHCTG_HrY1MQ%3D%3D

[Sardaukar]

TBI is more common than many understand. 

[Stargrunt6]

18 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

I've posted this quote before from Lawrence Taylor;

“When you get old, everything is hurting. When I get up in the morning, it sounds like I’m making popcorn.”

And he played at 230-240lb, hitting 200lb running backs.

And the funny thing is?  None of them would ever take it all back if they could.

[17thfabn]

10 hours ago, Rick said:

On a similar note.

https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Portals/61/Users/019/71/4371/Overpressure Study Report 20191025.pdf?ver=Nta6RKsuKvaHCTG_HrY1MQ%3D%3D

When they talk about football players having TBIs I've always wondered how many service members have TBIs from blast injuries. 

Going on a tangent. Many Soldiers from World War I and other eras had shell shock.

Shell shock is generally described as a psychological problem. But I wonder how many also had physical injuries. The ability to do brain scans is a fairly recent phenomenon.  It would be interesting if World War I vets who endured long term shelling had an elevated level of strokes. 

The same with service members that were injured in IED blasts. 

Even imaging such as catscans and MRI can't catch all damage. Some injuries are too small to show on scans but can cause problems. 

It would be a good idea for the U.S. Armed services to have a protocol that if a member is exposed to explosives to do a scan.

[Ivanhoe]

2 hours ago, 17thfabn said:

When they talk about football players having TBIs I've always wondered how many service members have TBIs from blast injuries. 

I've known two. 

[Stargrunt6]

4 hours ago, 17thfabn said:

When they talk about football players having TBIs I've always wondered how many service members have TBIs from blast injuries. 

Going on a tangent. Many Soldiers from World War I and other eras had shell shock.

Shell shock is generally described as a psychological problem. But I wonder how many also had physical injuries. The ability to do brain scans is a fairly recent phenomenon.  It would be interesting if World War I vets who endured long term shelling had an elevated level of strokes. 

The same with service members that were injured in IED blasts. 

Even imaging such as catscans and MRI can't catch all damage. Some injuries are too small to show on scans but can cause problems. 

It would be a good idea for the U.S. Armed services to have a protocol that if a member is exposed to explosives to do a scan.

So many tbi's present with drastic personality changes, in apite of negative imaging. 

[17thfabn]

58 minutes ago, Stargrunt6 said:

So many tbi's present with drastic personality changes, in apite of negative imaging. 

With cancer detection limits where 7 mm or the size of a pencil eraser a few years ago.  I don't know what the detection limits are for TBI injury. I would assume that there can be damage that is below detection thresholds. If that damage is defuse small injuries could add up to major issues.  

[TonyE]

Henry Kissinger at 100.

[Stuart Galbraith]

CNN described him as revered and reviled, which seems accurate enough.

[TonyE]

......and Shane MacGowan at age 65.

Edited November 30, 2023 by TonyE

[Stuart Galbraith]

God is dead.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Had to share this.

 

[lucklucky]

Not surprising, Kissinger was so pessimist that made him a defeatist.

Here in Portugal in 1974 at time of anti dictatorship coup he was completely convinced that Communist would control Portugal and will be a vaccine to Western Europe. 

Frank Carlucci the ambassador had to get behind his back and with help of is long time friend know by everyone from other pastures, Donald Rumsfeld chief of staff of President Ford to have the president order him to support the democratic parties in Portugal and Carlucci.

[Ivanhoe]

1 hour ago, lucklucky said:

Not surprising, Kissinger was so pessimist that made him a defeatist.

Here in Portugal in 1974 at time of anti dictatorship coup he was completely convinced that Communist would control Portugal and will be a vaccine to Western Europe. 

Frank Carlucci the ambassador had to get behind his back and with help of is long time friend know by everyone from other pastures, Donald Rumsfeld chief of staff of President Ford to have the president order him to support the democratic parties in Portugal and Carlucci.

That whole Realpolitik thing may have seemed urbane and nuanced to the chattering classes, but it doesn't necessarily serve the average person.

 

[lucklucky]

Yes, if everything is negotiable then you end up negotiating half of your arm to someone that reclaims the whole.  Negotiation with Communists it is also not made at urban level, there is always a changing battlefield.

Contrasting with  Churchill, who could be urbane but was much more than that.  

[Ivanhoe]

 

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

12 hours ago, lucklucky said:

Yes, if everything is negotiable then you end up negotiating half of your arm to someone that reclaims the whole.  Negotiation with Communists it is also not made at urban level, there is always a changing battlefield.

Contrasting with  Churchill, who could be urbane but was much more than that.  

The comparison with Churchill is appropriate. Because whilst Churchill abandoned Eastern Europe (he didnt have a lot of alternative to be fair), at least he had the good grace to feel bad about it, and raised the iron curtain as an issue as soon as he could.

Meanwhile Kissinger happily raised his real achievements (peace with China, Salt, Detente, Getting America out of Vietnam) at every opportunity, but rarely if ever addressed his failings (Support for overthrowing a Democracy in Chile, Invading Cambodia which paved the way for the Khymer Rouge, Illegal bombing, giving up ABM, Giving the Soviets an increasing nuclear edge or the perception of one by the early 1980's, Making China the superpower it always aspired to be ).

He was a remarkable man. But his moral vacuum and lack of williness to address his failures (which to be fair, even McNamara did latterly over Vietnam) were a real failing. But then, that fits with the Napoleonic era statesman he always aspired to be.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Stuart Galbraith

[lucklucky]

 

[Harold Jones]

David Drake passed away today. I found Hammers Slammers in the post library at Christiansen barracks in 1984. I don't think I went to the field without one of his books for the next 10 years. That he was a former 11th cav trooper was icing on the cake.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Harold Jones

[sunday]

Pity. I think I began to really learn English after discovering military science fiction, first with David Weber after, I think, @Murph mentioned him, then the Baen stable of authors. If Drake was not among them, then he was not very far away.

Ryan O'Neal, he of Barry Lyndon the movie also left us a few days ago.

[rmgill]

I am pleased to have met him at Liberty Con a few years ago.