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[Manray9]

Dj wrote: "Manray9 wrote: "Geevee wrote: "Take note Tech Support is on holiday."

They must be Orthodox Christians."

Ah what? I missed the reference. Does it have to do with 12th day?"

A holiday on Jan. 7th. Orthodox Christmas.

[Dj]

Ohhh, never knew that. But it sounds like as good a reason as any to take a vacation. LOL.
Thanks for clearing it up.

[happy]

Manray9 wrote: "I read today U.S. forces will cease ops at RAF Mildenhall, RAF Alconbury and RAF Molesworth. The U.S. is closing its facility at Lajes Field in the Azores too. Times change. Maybe we'll save a f..."

If they close Molesworth, they might as well close Alconbury - all Alconbury does right now is provide support for Molesworth - Commisary, Housing, Schools etc.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

And on the "non-US" side of Alconbury it is already decommissioned and is used as a big, big car park to hold and distribute manufacturers cars.

[Dj]

So a little more on the trip. I did in fact add a WWII twist to it, the Tillamook Air Museum, which was due to close this last year has been taken over by the Port of Tillamook and will continue to operate for the time being. Which for my self is a good thing.
I found a little hole in the wall place that serves amazing Clam Chowder...amazingly enough called the Chowder Bowl. It is in a place that claims to have the smallest harbor in the world. Depot Bay.
I added the Otis Cafe to my keeper list...It serves Omelets with real vegetables and that was enough to place it on the short list of keepers, but I had their mushroom burger on this trip and while not up to their Omelets or Bread it is better than the average. To bad the place is so small, thirty people in there and the place is packed. Well worth waiting and the German Potatoes are awesome.
And having aged enough, I don't do tent camping any more, Yurts are the best. LOL.
And the trip reminded me I need to make a book run to Bob's sometime soon. He has far to many books that I want.

[happy]

Sounds like you enjoyed yourself - great news on the museum.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Dj wrote: "So a little more on the trip. I did in fact add a WWII twist to it, the Tillamook Air Museum, which was due to close this last year has been taken over by the Port of Tillamook and will continue to..."

Tech Support is back in the building...sounds like a good time Dj.

[Dj]

Geevee wrote: "Dj wrote: "So a little more on the trip. I did in fact add a WWII twist to it, the Tillamook Air Museum, which was due to close this last year has been taken over by the Port of Tillamook and will ..."

It did, it was quite a nice trip. I think later in the year I am going to go east and do some 'camping' in that direction.

[Alan]

Not WW2, so I will put it here. Next monday is 100 years since the first ever air raid took place on Britain, or England to be more precise.
Three Zeppelins were launched L3, 4 & 6. L6 had mechanical issues & turned back but L3 & 4 made it to England & bombed Norfolk.
More details can be found at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/your/a-z...

[Mike, Assisting Moderator US Forces]

Thanks Alan, a key date for all military aviators for sure!

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Thanks for that information Alan, still of interest to this group :)

We do have a Great War thread as well:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Nice link Alan thanks.

[Manray9]

Now it seems President Hollande will send the French CVN Charles de Gaulle to the Middle East to support anti-ISIS ops. I wonder if the ship will operate independently or join up to create an allied battle group? I worked a good bit with the French navy in the late eighties. They were well-trained and professional. They operate using the same NATO procedures as we do.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

I hadn't heard that, a good bit of news!

[Manray9]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I hadn't heard that, a good bit of news!"

Sad state of affairs when the French can send a strike carrier on deployed operations and the heirs of Nelson, Hawke, Saumarez and Cochrane can't. :-(

[Gerald]

Manray9 wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I hadn't heard that, a good bit of news!"

Sad state of affairs when the French can send a strike carrier on deployed operations and the heirs of Nelson, Hawke, Saumarez and C..."

Manray9, I agree with you.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Aaah but we can...we just need you all to wait a couple of years. If I may for once be so angry and crude as to say that our recent governments have f***ed our military over and reduced capability that we have to unduly and insensibly rely on our allies. Some of the best capability and areas that our allies valued (naval strike capability, maritime surveillance, armoured divisions) have been so degraded that we have little to offer. We also remove capability such as air craft carriers and Harriers (sea and RAF) with nothing in place to replace it.

Never mind though at Westminster and the MOD all is well as they back slap on managing ever reduced budgets, new equipment programmes that are smaller in scale for fewer roles and heaps of redundancies that reservists are going to cover whilst our Tornadoes are falling to bits, our carriers are still being built (plus we await the J-35) and we have the smallest Army since before Wellington's time.

[Manray9]

Geevee wrote: "Aaah but we can...we just need you all to wait a couple of years. If I may for once be so angry and crude as to say that our recent governments have f***ed our military over and reduced capability..."

Geevee: I intended to tweek you a bit and you came back with vigor. What would your politicians do now if the Argentinians re-invaded the Falklands? Tell the locals to learn Spanish? See the picture I added to my photos collection.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

At least you guys have aircraft carriers :)

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Manray9 wrote: "Geevee wrote: "Aaah but we can...we just need you all to wait a couple of years. If I may for once be so angry and crude as to say that our recent governments have f***ed our military over and red..."

Thanks Manray9 you know me well! We have reasonable defences there and are making plans exploring new air-def missiles to replace our Rapiers. That said even with the capability we have there it makes it very difficult for an invasion like 1982 to happen again - not impossible mind - but the undertaking would be huge on Argentina's part in terms of keeping secrecy and scale of deployment especially as they have national and defence spending issues and like us lack a air craft carrier now.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "At least you guys have aircraft carriers :)"

I don't understand why the RAN does not have one given your geographic place for trade and politics AR. Also as a nation that is proactive in disaster relief it would offer much there too.

[Manray9]

Geevee wrote: "Manray9 wrote: "Geevee wrote: "Aaah but we can...we just need you all to wait a couple of years. If I may for once be so angry and crude as to say that our recent governments have f***ed our milit..."

I doubt the Argentinians have the capabilities and wonder if the political climate there would permit it.

[Manray9]

Geevee wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "At least you guys have aircraft carriers :)"

I don't understand why the RAN does not have one given your geographic place for trade and politics AR. Also as a nation that is..."

They're expensive to build and maintain.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

We have this new ship Geevee which fulfils those roles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Can...

[Manray9]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "We have this new ship Geevee which fulfils those roles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Can..."

Nice ships, similar to our WASP-class LHD.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Looks good and nice to see the names using the Capital but also its history from WWII.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Geevee wrote: "Looks good and nice to see the names using the Capital but also its history from WWII."

Quite correct Geevee!

[Gerald]

Doesn't have a thing to do with World War II, but I found a copy of Eagles Over Bangladesh: The Indian Air Force in the 1971 Liberation War.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

A bit different, nice find!

[Gerald]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "A bit different, nice find!"

Rick, I discovered that one of the book's authors wrote a book on the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War in the air. I will scarf it up!

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Let us know the details when you find a copy, its bound to interest a few folks here as well :)

[Manray9]

On the subject of: Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder.

Bill Browder has been all over U.S. TV and other media touting his new book about his years as an investment manager in post-Soviet Russia. I'm on the library's wait list for a copy. What's the WW II tie in? Bill is the grandson of Earl Browder, who was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USA during WW II. Earl was a devout Stalinist until purged, at Soviet behest, after WW II. Judging from reviews, Bill learned that Putin-era Russian leaders are no more reliable or trustworthy than the Soviets.

Here's The Washington Post review of Bill's book:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinion...

[Dj]

Catching up on my overdue reviews. Here is the one for Building the Columbia River Highway.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Dj]

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This is my review on The Maze Runner. It is a bit on the light side, but it is end of the world fantasy, didn't want to spoil to much.

[Bob]

The Columbia River gorge book sounds interesting to me as my ancestors lived up that way . My great, great grandfather was the doctor in Cascade locks, so we have an interesting connection to the gorge. I can see where the road building was a challenge there, but they did it!

[Dj]

Bob wrote: "The Columbia River gorge book sounds interesting to me as my ancestors lived up that way . My great, great grandfather was the doctor in Cascade locks, so we have an interesting connection to the..."

They sure did and the parts of the highway that still exist show that they treated it as much as art as roadwork. It would have been easier, by far to do it on the Washington side, but they passed on the opportunity until much later.

[Dj]

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here is my review for Howl's Moving Castle.
For those wondering, yes I did like the movie, but I do think that the book is a tad better.

[Doubledf99.99]

Just finished reading an interesting article on ESPN, Grantland, about the Yamato class battleship Musashi, I think a book is in order on the ship, the search and the discovery.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/pau...

[Dj]

Doubledf99.99 wrote: "Just finished reading an interesting article on ESPN, Grantland, about the Yamato class battleship Musashi, I think a book is in order on the ship, the search and the discovery.

http://grantland.c..."

Might take some time, Paul Allen isn't exactly the limelight seeking individual that the gent who found the Bismark is. I was surprised that he was the one behind the finding of it.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Interesting article, thanks for posting the link. If your interested there is this book on the Battleship Musashi:

by Akira Yoshimura

[Doubledf99.99]

Drats foiled again! Not available in for a ereader, hopefully the library can track it down..

[Dj]

Doubledf99.99 wrote: "Drats foiled again! Not available in for a ereader, hopefully the library can track it down.."

That will teach you to make cleaver and cunning plans.

[Jonathan]

I'm curious, I actually looked at my goodreads recommendations today - I'm a little bored at work - and I realized their recommendations are... interesting.

Do most of you even bother to look at the goodreads recommendations, and if so, do they seem to actually be good for you?

I've bought a few books from amazon not military history related that got automatically added to my book shelves, but today they tried to recommend me the memoir of some reality show idiot.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

I usually check out GR's recommendations and mostly they are pretty decent although I already have most they seem to pick but I like the effort that GR's puts in :)

[Robert]

Jonathan wrote: "I'm curious, I actually looked at my goodreads recommendations today - I'm a little bored at work - and I realized their recommendations are... interesting.

Do most of you even bother to look at t..."

I do look most of the time. Usually a quick peek will tell me whether I want to dig deeper. And most often the recommendations fit well with my interests. And, hey, let us know how you like the reality show idiot's memoir!

[Manray9]

Jonathan wrote: "I'm curious, I actually looked at my goodreads recommendations today - I'm a little bored at work - and I realized their recommendations are... interesting.

Do most of you even bother to look at t..."

I look at them now and then, but haven't been impressed. I prefer recs from GR friends and members of groups in which I participate.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Jonathan wrote: "I'm curious, I actually looked at my goodreads recommendations today - I'm a little bored at work - and I realized their recommendations are... interesting.

Do most of you even bother to look at t..."


I check them but find the mixed and mostly work on recommendations via GR friends and tips from groups.

[A.L.]

Jonathan wrote: "I'm curious, I actually looked at my goodreads recommendations today - I'm a little bored at work - and I realized their recommendations are... interesting.

Do most of you even bother to look at t..."

I glance at them. Some of the recommendations look like a good fit. Some seem pretty far off. I notice similar things in Amazon's suggestions.

[Dj]

Jonathan wrote: "I'm curious, I actually looked at my goodreads recommendations today - I'm a little bored at work - and I realized their recommendations are... interesting.

Do most of you even bother to look at t..."

I look at the recommendations. Sometimes they have things in there that I look forward to reading, but I am really confused by what they consider to be Classic books.

[Manray9]

Dj wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "I'm curious, I actually looked at my goodreads recommendations today - I'm a little bored at work - and I realized their recommendations are... interesting.

Do most of you even bo..."

I've noticed that fact too. They have a significantly different definition of classic than I.