Weekend Open Thread

| May 26, 2023

I remember the other posters here pointing to a Russian officer with a big hat on his head. Apparently, even some within the Russian ranks were not happy about the oversized hats. Reasons for the extra room include the hat designer’s being more interested in fashion than military practicality and also the need for more room for military insignias. Many even gave it a nickname associated with Pinochet. I’m still trying to find the image that I saw, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, showing a Russian officer with an extra-large combat helmet on his head. Enjoy your weekend.

Category: Open thread

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KoB

1st

Roh-Dog

Have a great weekend!!!

Passing of the Jewels:

(edit: note, I’d add more ‘Infantry swords’ but my paint app is acting wonky)

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Last edited 10 months ago by Roh-Dog
KoB

Speaking of Fire Missions….AHEM!!!! A successful Time on Target, Recon by FIRE MISSION, FIRE MISSION, FIRE MISSION has placed The King of Battle…THE King of First for the Vaunted EARNED NEVER AWARDED TAH Friday Weekend Open Thread FIRST. Asleep at the switch miscreanted d’weeded deploreables are shaking the cobs of webz away saying….DAHELL!?!!??!. The Bunny of The Guns invites all of his adoring deplorables to Rear Echelon Port Sugar Bug to feast upon the goodies prepared by the fawning over him King of Battle Soccer Moms, including, but not limited to, beef and porked beast meatballs, assorted shrimps, legs of crab, Lady Finger Sammiches, Cakes in cups, cookies, hot wings, homemade pizza/lasagna (Made by the very Spicy Eyetalian Stefania), the vast array of SiL’s Class VI Supplies, and a sampling of all of the goodies from Sultry Sherry’s hubby’s humidor of hand rolled Tampa’s finest (JC Newman & Co.).

No need to bow and scrape, a simple curtsy and a kissing of the Ring will suffice.

SFC D

Separate but equal? 😉

Green Thumb

You should get out more.

Anyway, the False Commander “Phony” Phil Monkress (CEO of All-Points Logistics) works balls while avoiding calls seeking clarification of his dubious and potentially felonious Native American, Navy SEAL and Law Enforcement claims that he (she) uses to procure personal financial gain at the American taxpayer’s expense.

Sapper3307

Anybody got the song stuck in your head?

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Roh-Dog

“To get some head you need some bread”

I joined just as the war on “raunchy Jody calls” and “vulgar cadences” was starting.

Fucking shame that. Couldn’t imagine today…

Last edited 10 months ago by Roh-Dog
fm2176

What if we could have a boy, what if we could have a boy, what if we could have a boy, said the fair young maiden…”

“He’ll be tall as a tree and he’ll fuck like me, said Jack the Airborne Ranger.”

“What if we could have a girl, what if we could have a girl, what if could have a girl, said the fair young maiden…”

“I’ll dig a ditch and I’ll bury the bitch, said Jack the Airborne Ranger!”

It started as a Navy cadence/song, but a Ranger Drill Sergeant sang this once when we were deep in the training areas of Fort Benning, and my squad leader once at Campbell.

Last edited 10 months ago by fm2176
Sapper3307

DR Dirty (1990)

Sapper3307

Buffalo Bill the Sailer, as DS soundtrack

Army-Air Force Guy

I wish all the ladies/Were ships in the ocean/And I was a captain/I’d fill ’em all with seamen/Hey Hey Barbarina(?)/Hey hey boogie woogie.

Fort Leonard Wood, 12B/C OSUT, summer ’87.

Sapper3307

“89”

e.conboy

Bye bye, Birdie.

AW1Ed

I actually understood the reference, Sap.
The horror…

Commissioner Wretched

The King of Battle back on the throne! After a five-week run by Roh-Dog things return to … well, I would say normal, but normal is just a setting on your dryer. So instead, I’ll offer Rats of the Cong to KoB and offer to him and all another trivia column!

DID YOU KNOW…?
Who was the original “Mr. Baxter” in the pilot for the TV series “Hazel”?
By Commissioner Wretched
didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com

It’s been one year since I submitted the manuscript of the book based on all this silly stuff to my publisher.

Did You Know … ? Yet Another Compilation of Useless Trivia is one year old, and if you’ve purchased a copy or three, you have my deepest, most sincere thanks!

If you haven’t, and are of a mind to do so, head over to amazon.com and look it up.

I’m contemplating a second volume. (Not sure if that’s a promise, a threat or a warning, so interpret that any way you wish.) If you like the idea, drop me a line at didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com and let me know. Do that if you don’t like the idea, too, so I have a gauge on which way the wind is blowing.

Now, on to this week’s wind – er, trivia!

Did you know …

… during the 1909 Seattle World’s Fair, a baby was given away in a raffle? According to newspaper reports from the event, a one-month-old baby boy was “donated” to the Fair by the Washington Children’s Home Society. The boy, named Ernest, was given away in a “blind” draw – the winner would not know the prize won until after the drawing. No one is sure what happened to the boy after the raffle. (I’d simply love to read the fine print in the contract for this prize!)

… the average person has more than 1,460 dreams a year? (And the vast majority of them don’t come true, darn it.)

Commissioner Wretched

… one of our most athletic presidents was a real fighter? Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the country’s 26th President, loved to box, but scaled it back a great deal while serving as President. TR said it was “rather absurd for a president to appear with a black eye or a swollen nose.” (You have to wonder how TR would fare in today’s modern political climate, wouldn’t you?)

… love can be almost eternal? As an example, comedian Jack Benny (1894-1974) arranged to have a rose delivered to his wife Mary Livingstone (1905-1983) every day following his death until the day she died.

… Christmas celebrations were outlawed in England for eleven years? From 1649 to 1660, the only way to legally celebrate Christmas was with sermons and prayers. This was at the command of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), Lord Protector of England, who led the country during its brief time as a republic. (A real killjoy, that Oliver Cromwell.)

… Congress once changed the ending date of a war? The Korean War was declared over on July 27, 1953, with the cessation of hostilities. But the U.S. Congress lengthened the war to officially end January 31, 1955, in order to extend benefit eligibility for soldiers. The reason? Peace was very uncertain for a while following the 1953 negotiations. Additional trivia note: The Korean War is still not officially over, at least not as far as North and South Korea are concerned. No peace treaty or agreement was ever signed between the two nations; thus, they are still officially at war with one another.

A Proud Infidel®™

The Korean War came about from the end of WWII. Russia declared war on Japan in the waning days of WWII and liberated the Korean peninsula north of the 38th Parallel the US doing it from there South and Stalin installed Kim Il Sung as his puppet dictator, who fled to Siberia during the war after tha Japanese invaded..

Commissioner Wretched

… the lead male role in a classic 1960s TV comedy was recast before the show aired? It does happen a lot, but in this case it was, in its way, rather jarring. In 1961, Hazel premiered, a show about the maid in an upper-middle-class family, created by cartoonist Ted Key (1912-2008). The show starred Shirley Booth (1898-1992) as the titular maid to the Baxter family, and it ran on NBC for five years and a final year on CBS. The pilot episode, filmed in early 1961, featured the cast as it would appear for the first four seasons – Booth, Whitney Blake (1926-2002), and Bobby Buntrock (1952-1974) – except for the actor who played George Baxter. In the pilot, that role was played by Edward Andrews (1914-1985), a noted character actor. But test audiences said he seemed “creepy” in the role, so when the series was green-lighted the part was re-cast with actor Don DeFore (1913-1993). The pilot is occasionally available to be seen on YouTube.

… the first Medicare card was issued to former President Harry S Truman? The 33rd president (1884-1972) received it when the Medicare bill was signed into law on July 30, 1965, from President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973).

… Dr. Seuss had a vanity license plate on his car? The license plate issued by the state of Massachusetts for Seuss (born Theodor Seuss Geisel, (1904-1991) read “GRINCH.” (Of course.)

… Milk Duds™ are really duds? The machine making them was supposed to turn out perfectly round candies but could not, so the “duds” were sold under that name. (And the rest, as they say, is history.)

Commissioner Wretched

… a good reason exists for the name of a popular drink? The mixed drink called the screwdriver (orange juice and vodka) was named that because engineers used screwdrivers to stir them in the 1950s.

… bison vote on migration? When a majority of individual bison in a herd face one direction, the herd migrates in that direction. (“No, Bill, we’re not going in that direction this year, I don’t care who lives that way.”)

… you are more likely to be injured using a folding lawn chair than on a roller coaster? (I know I would be. I don’t ride roller coasters.)

… playing a spy in the movies can run in the family? The brother of Sir Sean Connery (1930-2020) starred in a James Bond satire movie called Operation Kid Brother. In the 1967 film, Neil Connery (1938-2021) plays the brother of James Bond who takes the lead in foiling a world-domination plot. (Predictable)

… soldiers throughout time have had a strange sense of humor? For example, a slingshot bullet extracted from a 4th Century BC site in Athens, Greece, had the word “catch” engraved on it in Greek. (Gotta love that ancient Greek humor.)

Now … you know!

Graybeard

I thought they were called “screwdrivers” because of the effects they had on barroom romances.

KoB

My Man! Belly on up to the Buffet Bar and make yo’self a platter.

You keep writing ’em and many of us will keep buying ’em.

I have at least that many dreams of OAM…in a month!

I’d put my money on Ol’ Bull Moose.

Love is blind but lust will be blinder. Didn’t Joe DiMaggio send a rose to Marilyn’s grave everyday?

Bah Humbug on Cromwell.

Thought you had to declare a war FIRST before you could end one? Who knew?

Whitney Blake and Lynn Borden were both HOT!

Sheldon Cooper used Milk Duds to his advantage in Behavior Modification Studies.

Them screwdrivers will screw you up.

If you ever get a chance, trek out to the “Buffalo” Roundup at Custer State Park in SD one year, usually happens in late September. The Thundering Herd (also the title of a good Zane Grey Book). Toob of Ewe has a vid on it, too.

Soooo…PVT Snuffy/Kilroy was a Greek FIRST.

Fine J.O.B., per usual, Good Sir. We Thank You!

Commissioner Wretched

I think DiMaggio sent the roses every week, not every day. And I’ll keep writin’ em, you may be sure of that, my friend.

NDHoosier

Not first, but early. Have a great holiday weekend, all you dickweeds. Eat well, drink non-woke beer, and never forget, Biden is a burden.

Harry

Was it this guy?

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AW1Ed

Here ya go.

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A Proud Infidel®™

All he needs to do is fasten a chinstrap and he could go hang gliding with that hat!

Daisy Cutter

Someone stole a page out of someone’s playbook.

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SFC D

This guy?
comment image/revision/latest?cb=20181223231601

Deckie

I guess they just have to grow into them like our guys do.

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jeff LPH 3 63-66

first # 16. My hats off to the Squid in the above pic. I wonder if his name is larry.

Sparks

Maybe 20th. Russia…the land of the Big Hats for small brains.

SidneyBroadshead

The early Soviet military used to issue fleece lined felt caps with earflaps and a pointed crown. Fanatic Communists like the Cavalry Divisions used to tailor them to a sharper point.
People used to nickname them “rod brains”, implying they’d had their brains scooped out and replaced with a steel rod to keep their hats from collapsing.

ChipNASA

Checking in you bunch of chromosome only challenged ass masters.

Had to take one of the kids to a doctors appointment so I missed my 3 o’clock here, but everything is good on the homefront

Good jerb KOB, for climbing the shit mountain to the throne again.

Anonymous

First, Russky (Soviet then) flag officers decided they needed really big hats in the ’80s; now, everybody Russian military wants to do that.

Daisy Cutter

OMG, hilarious announcer’s slip of the tongue: “turn the clock back” or “or turn the black c0c# back” – you be the judge.

ESPN Announcer Had an Incredibly Inappropriate Slip of the Tongue While Calling NCAA Baseball Game
https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/05/25/espn-announcer-turn-back-the-clock-slip-of-tongue-sec-baseball-tournament

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Last edited 10 months ago by Daisy Cutter
Graybeard

Present yet again. Got out of prison early today.

This week we celebrated Mrs. GB completing yet another trip around the sun (and no, I’m not about to publicly reveal how many trips she has made – I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid.)

For those newer to TAH, I have traditionally made her a from-scratch birthday cake, and used a different recipe for the 48 different cakes I’ve made. (I missed one year due to being out of town that week.)

As one may guess, that means I’ve had to get creative with my recipes.

As background, the GB Compound is home to a stand of wild plum trees that produce well every few years – this year being one. Favorite 2nd d-i-l made us several jars of plum jelly, but we still had plums left over – the main resource for this years cake: Wild Plum Cake.

The recipe follows:

Graybeard

Wild Plum cake (2023)

2½ c flour
2 c sugar
1½ tsp baking soda
1½ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
½ c shortening
2 eggs
1 c raisins
½ c chopped pecans
2 c plum mixture*

* plum mixture

aprox. 1 qt wild plums
½ c sugar
4 tbsp cinnamon
cut out the pits of the plums
using a pulse blender, blend the plums to a sauce
put plum sauce into saucepan with sugar and cinnamon
turn on low heat and allow to simmer 15-20 minutes or while preparing the rest of the cake ingredients

Graybeard

Cake
Heat oven to 350º
Grease and flour baking 2 8” or 9½” pans
Measure all ingredients into a large mixer bowl adding plum mixture last
Blend ½ minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly
Beat 3 minutes on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally
Pour batter into pans.
Cook 50 to 55 minutes or until wooden matchstick in center comes out clean.
Turn onto cooling rack to cool

Icing – Vanilla Butter Frosting
½ c soft butter or margarin
4½ c Confectioners sugar
2 tsp vanilla
about 3 tbsp milk

Blend butter and sugar
Stir in vanilla and milk
Beat until frosting is smooth enough to spread

Frost cake and keep cool

Graybeard

This creates a heavy (think banana-nut type) spice cake.

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Graybeard

‘Tis tasty, indeed.

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KoB

Brother Graybeard, your shameless pandering to Mrs. GB is making some of the rest of these miscreanted, d’weeded deplorables look bad. Good Job!

Bet that would be even more right tasty with a scoop of ice cream applied.

Graybeard

I freely and unabashedly confess to shamelessly pandering to Mrs. GB.😆

AW1Ed

Baking is far too precise for my style of slinging hash. Impressive!

Graybeard

I forgot to add, the basis for this recipe is an Applesauce Cake found in our Betty Crocker Cookbook, with some ideas incorporated from multiple recipes for Plum Kuchen found on the interwebz.
Like a good programmer never writes code from scratch, but modifies an existing program to fit the new requirements, I just modify existing recipes.

Sapper3307

I miss them gas prices.

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A Proud Infidel®™

I once again declare myself “Present” and award myself another Honorary First.

((((OVER))))

Epstein did not kill himself.

26Limabeans

I was taking a dump when it came to me….those hats look
like toilet seats.

rgr769

You have a valid point. All they need is a hole in the center.

NHSparky

Well, got to spend a few days at Casa de Sparky this weekend, certainly not looking forward to the one long construction zone drive back to the Western Annex, tho.

Devtun

Henry Kissinger turned 100 today. Born Heinz Alfred Kissinger on May 27, 1923. Fürth, Bavaria, Germany. Served as a sergeant in the US Army during WW2. He is the last surviving member of the Nixon Cabinet.

Hate_me

Any zoomies here ever serve with or under Gen. Brown?

Coming from a small USASOC background, Milley was a mistake. Of all the roots one could tap, that was an unsettling surprise and my world is turned upside-down… he was shit…. Also spent a good deal of time on Drum – Austin was less of a surprise, but still a stain.

I’ve no doubt that Brown was nominated for his particular skin tone, but that doesn’t mean he is a bad choice overall. I’ve never worked with him (though I can’t complain about the AFCENT folk I dealt with during his tenure). Anyone here with first-hand experience?

*edited for typo

Last edited 10 months ago by Hate_me
MarineDad61

This Memorial Day weekend,
I think of the hijacking of the holiday
by an assortment of phonies, past and present.

You know, those who use(d) the holiday
to tell BS stories and Phony Rambo tales
at parades, ceremonies, and cemeteries.

Like Maggie DeSanti.
And not so dearly departed Les Brown.

Let’s hope none of us encounters any of this in 2023.

Les Brown – Fake Special Forces Ranger IAS | July 19, 2019

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=89053

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Last edited 10 months ago by MarineDad61
SidneyBroadshead

I think the less everyone cares about Dylan, the faster they’ll burn up their 15 minutes of fame and stagger into obscurity. Once the Left sees there’s no reward or attention for supporting them, they’ll move on to greener pastures.
Who was Dylan Mulvaney before this stunt anyway? Why does anyone care? What have they ever accomplished?