Bob Mayer's Blog, page 48
February 1, 2020
The Unit Meets Warehouse 13
That’s the way I pitched Nightstalkers. First three books only .99 all of February.
When I was flying around with my team in black helicopters, we wondered who the other guys flying around in them were?
Nightstalkers are the elite Special Ops unit that take care of the things that go bump in the night; and worse. They correct the mistakes of scientists. They’re also a little bit crazy and a long way outside the bell curve, and not necessarily on the good end.
The team leader greets each new team member with this speech:
“We are here because the best of intentions can go horribly awry and the worst of intentions can achieve exactly what it sets out to do. It is often the noblest scientific inquiry that can produce the end of us all. We are here because we are the last line of defense when the desire to do right turns into a wrong. We are here because mankind advances through trial and error. Because nothing man does is ever perfect. And we are ultimately here because there are things out there, beyond mankind’s current knowledge level, that man must be guarded against until man can understand those things. We must remember this.”
Eventually the Nightstalkers evolve into the Time Patrol but that’s another story and another series.
January 30, 2020
A Real Dirty Dozen that turned out terribly: Unit 684
When I was writing my book Section Eight (Shadow Warriors) which I pitched as a modern day Dirty Dozen, my research revealed that there had been a real unit in the South Korean army modeled after it: Unit 684.
After an attack by North Korean commandos attempting to assassinate their president, the South Koreans put together a unit that ended up being called Unit 684. The NK raid was called the Blue House raid, after what their presidential mansion is named. This occurred in late January 1968. This attempt was stopped just short of the target and a firefight broke out. The NK commandos dispersed. While hunting them down, four American soldiers were killed, a little known part of history.
Unit 684Unit 684 was formed to retaliate and assassinate Kim Il-Sung. It was made up of criminals and unemployed youths who appeared to have no future. A somewhat different idea than the Dirty Dozen. They were promised financial rewards and jobs if they succeeded in what was clearly a suicide mission. 31 men were recruited for this.
They were moved to an uninhabited island off the coast of Inchon (echoes of Doug MacArthur ringing in my ears) called Slimido.
There they underwent three years of intensive and brutal training. Seven of the thirty-one died during this training, which probably didn’t do much for moral.
They were kept there for years, training and training, but the South Korean government never pulled the trigger. Tensions eased between north and south and in August 1971, the mission was canceled.
On 23 August 1971, the 24 surviving members mutinied. They killed all but six of their guards, made their way to the mainland and hijacked a bus to Seoul. No one is quite certain what their new objective was.
The bus was stopped at a checkpoint and a firefight broke out. All were killed or committed suicide except four. They were captured, tried, and executed.
South Korea kept the entire event a secret until the 1990s.
The entire affair gained more notoriety when a film, Slimido, loosely based on the unit, was released in 2003.
As a fiction writer you “what if” things a lot. For example, what if the mutiny occurred because right after the government decided to shut down the mission, the decision was also made to get rid of these troublesome soldiers in a secret program? And they got wind of it and that’s what started the mutiny? The true story may never be told. But as a novelist, I get to tell my own version of the Dirty Dozen and that’s Section Eight (Shadow Warriors).
January 29, 2020
Are You Warmer in a Tent or By Building An Igloo?
I participated in numerous winter warfare training exercises and deployments with 10th Special Forces, the one Group that is focused on cold weather and high altitude training because of our area of operations. My first Winter Warfare was an eye opening experience.
Forget about an igloo. Takes too long and you probably can’t make it anyway if you’ve never done it before.
Forget about the tent. Dig a snow trench. Just big enough for you to put your sleeping pad down. Cover it with a poncho. You will be warmer than in a tent. Snow is an insulator but you don’t want to get wet. You can glaze the walls of the snow trench with a candle to keep them from crumbling if the snow won’t hold.
It is key to stay off the ground/snow below you. The cover keeps the warmth in. I woke up one morning to find the poncho just about on top of me, but nice and toasty since six inches of snow had fallen overnight, adding to the insulation.
What a tent will is block the wind. But usually you have a lot of space that will dissipate your heat.
I was also known for not carrying a sleeping bag. I carried extra thermal middle garments and would put them on, then get inside a Goretex bivy sack at night. It also helped when I had to pull security at oh-dark-thirty.
Another lesson learned was to not bring weapons into the snow trench. They’d sweat and then freeze. We left them outside on a rack made of branches or ski poles.
One of the most important things in cold weather is to stay dry! I used to give time warning for the team to strip down before moved out, usually to just our polyprop undershirts, putting the rest in our ruck. We were freezing when we started but warmed up fast with over 100 pounds of gear plus weapons, etc, cross-country skiing.
January 27, 2020
What if there had been a Declaration of Emancipation in Addition to Independence?
First off, if it had worked, many of the big problems in our Constitution that had to be incorporated to allow slavery wouldn’t exist and our present would be much different.
But the bigger question is this: would the one for Independence then have even been passed by the slave-holding colonies?
That’s the issue confronting Doc, a member of the Time Patrol when he goes back to 4 July 1776. It’s one of six mission in Independence Day (Time Patrol), which is free 27-29 January on Kindle and in Kindle Unlimited all the time.
The other missions on that day are:
The Battle of Mantinea, Greece 362 BC. What if Sparta won?
Monticello and Jefferson dying, 1826. What secrets does he have?
Gettysburg, 1863, the day after Pickett’s Charge. What if the Union counterattacks?
Entebbe, 1976. What if the Israeli raid fails?
Vicksburg, 1863 and what if the surrender to Grant goes horribly wrong?
For more information, here’s a slideshow:
Independence Day; Missions Overview from Bob Mayer
January 25, 2020
Are You Prepared for a Pandemic?
Given the news out of China and now spreading around the world, we’re seeing what is hopefully only a foreshadowing of what is inevitable: a world-wide pandemic. They have happened regularly through history and another one will come. As we are seeing, there are things that make it even more dangerous, such as international air travel.
The following slideshow gives the basics of what to look for and how to prepare:
How to Prepare for and Survive the Inevitable Pandemic from Bob Mayer
January 24, 2020
Newly published; Here Next to an Iphone
The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide is now available. It’s an updated and upgraded version of previous guides and designed to fit just about anywhere.
This is the essential book we all need at least one copy of.
The prefect manual for your grab-n-go bag; glove compartment; kitchen drawer. Designed to fit in your purse or pocket.In order of priority, this book is a guide for dealing with emergencies, disasters, accidents and survival situations.
Written by a former Green Beret and instructor at the JFK Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg: the course designed to train new Special Operations personnel.
It covers the five core areas: first aid, water, food, shelter and fire.
Then it goes into the wide array of specific situations: flood, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, tsunami, wildfire, drought, heat wave, blizzard, nuclear-biological-chemical incidents, terrorism, crime, riots, dangerous plants and animals, emergency communications and much more. Scavenging is also covered.
With the proper knowledge, we can survive.
January 19, 2020
What Can We Learn From Past Disasters To Prevent Future Ones?
This is the premise of Stuff Doesn’t Just Happen: The Gift of Failure. Two books, each one focusing on seven great disasters of the past. Have we learned from them? What can we learn?
Every disaster usually involved seven things happen. Six cascade events and then the seventh, the disaster. At least one of the cascade events is human error. Thus each could have been avoided.
FREE today, 1/19 and tomorrow, 1/20, is the second book in the series. Stuff Doesn’t Just Happen II: The Gift of Failure.
January 18, 2020
Today in 1985, the Coen Brothers debuted with Blood Simple
Any film with M. Emmett Walsh is to be watched. Throw in Frances McDormand? Even better.
January 14, 2020
When an artist gets discouraged remember this . . .
There was a young girl who wanted to be a violinist. She practiced hard for many years. Finally, when she was a teenager, her hero, a famous violinist, a master, whom she modeled herself after, was coming to town for a concert. The young girl attended the concert and was able to meet the master afterward back stage. They talked and then the master asked the girl to play something for her, offering her own violin.
The girl took the master’s violin and played her heart out. When she was done, she waited for a response. The master reached out and the girl handed back the violin. The master put it in her case, stood, looked at the girl and said “Not enough passion.” Then she left.
The girl was crushed. She never played the violin again.
Years later, the two crossed paths. The now woman confronted the master and
angrily reminded her of what had happened. The master listened, then nodded. “I
was right. If what I said was enough to make you quit, you didn’t have enough
passion.”
Then she walked away.
January 8, 2020
When Should You Not Trust Experts?
Passenger on British Midland Flight 92 reflecting on hearing the pilot announce he was shutting down the right engine: “We were thinking: ‘Why is he doing that?’ because we saw flame coming out of the left engine. But I was only a bread man. What did I know?”
We put our trust in experts every
day. We trust the car we drive will work. The crew of the space shuttle put its
trust in the engineers who designed it. A soldier trusts his weapon will fire. Often
we put our trust and our lives directly into the hands of experts, such as when
we board an airplane. We trust that the people who designed and built the plane
knew what they were doing and did it right. We trust that the mechanics who
worked on the plane, did so correctly. And we particularly trust that the pilot
is a professional.
We believe that the pilots know
what they are doing and are well trained. That they will react properly in
emergencies. That we shouldn’t interfere with their judgment. After all, what
do we know about flying a plane?
Every one of us has been in a
situation where we over-rode our common sense in deference to an expert. It can
be as simple as a repairman telling us something needs to be fixed, when we
really believe they aren’t going to fix the right thing. Or that the chef
undercooked our meal. But how often do we speak up?
When we put our lives in the hands of experts, and common sense says they are making the wrong decision, it’s time to speak up. Even if, as is likely, we’re wrong. Because once in a while, they’re wrong.
The Facts
On 8 January 1989, a Boeing 737-400 crashed just short of
the runway near Kegworth in the UK. 47 people were killed and 74 received serious
injuries out of a complement of 126 on board.
Shortly after taking off and
passing through 28,300 feet en route to a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, a
blade detached from the turboprop in the left engine. It resulted in a jolt and
a bang. This was followed by a pounding noise, vibration, and smoke coming into
the cabin. Several passengers near the rear of the plane noted smoke and sparks
coming out of the left engine.
For reasons discussed below, the
pilot shut down the plane’s right engine; the wrong engine. The vibration and
smoke decreased and they descended to make an emergency landing at East Midland
Airport.
Just short of the runway, the
vibration and smoke returned as power was increased to the left engine for
landing and that engine ceased operating. The crew attempted to restart the
right engine using airflow, but because they were getting ready to land, the
plane was flying too slow and too low for this to work.
The plane crashed a quarter mile from the edge of the runway.
The seven cascade events that led up to this crash are in Stuff Doesn’t Just Happen: The Gift of Failure. It’s FREE today, 8 January, and always in Kindle Unlimited. Also sign up for my newsletter to be informed of good deals, as I rotate over 70 titles through free and discount.
