Graydog

Single Men's Club as opposed to just a Men's Club. Hmm, do you all sing the Lumberjack song in here?

Actually the book is more in keeping with what Capt. Bo has said that reality trumps theory. As you suggested the book does say that some people do become hardened, but within that proviso is "some" not all people become hardened. That is why the book was so very interesting in the magnitude of different ways people reacted. Then it was interesting in the way the German state reacted to the people that stopped killing or would not kill. Especially in cases where the commanding officer told their higher ups to piss off "Germans don't do that to helpless civilians", and in other cases where some soldiers just drifted away from execution locations because they had had enough killing for that day, but they'd come back tomorrow (it's like their breaking point was like 6-20 people shot a day were the max the could handle doing, but with a break they’d be back at it on the morrow.) The book is a continuum of human reaction, there is no 97.654% of the people behave like this; rather it was very explicit that nobody could do well predicting an individual's reaction, but within a group of the same background and heritage there were certain norms that would be expected out of the group, not individual, as percentage results. Now, to be fair it is a bit of a dry read in the introduction but once it get's going its one of the few historical account books I have ever stopped and said to myself, wow, I had no idea that was happening. For illuminating the dark side of human behavior it’s just a fascinating book to me.

If you'd like to read a book on individuals’ reaction to killing, motivation to kill, how to react when people don't kill that are suppose to kill and general more about killing than you need to know, written by a person with a PhD in History, then I highly recommend: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, by Christopher R. Browning. I think you may find the Lithuanians called in to kill Polish Jews didn't suffer a 98% remorse rate and actually enjoyed their work. In some cases the more killing the less likely people would continue to kill. Browning points out there is not so much a norm to how people react but a continuum scale that if charted would look like a bell curve that any particular individual could be anywhere on the curve from refusing to kill to enjoying to kill, but there is very much projectable group norm of reaction from within the German Reserve Police. Understanding that reaction established how the German's staffed the camp system to avoid the performance problems they had with the German Reserve Police. This is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. It gets into mechanics of how Germans (you know people actually a lot like us) reacted in situations where they were ordered to shoot masses of people. It also addresses remorse as this is a consideration for not just the first person shot, but the second or third or maybe 200th. It talks about refusal to kill at the individual and unit level, it goes on to speak of how people followed orders and killed people before lunch, but then after lunch started spiriting people away to keep them alive, it talks about people that wouldn’t stop killing at the end of the day who had become empowered and want to kill more. A very good book with some surprising reactions noted.

Fish

rube

Newcastle Brown Ale (Fer me this is the standard that all other "brown's" must strive to emulate) or Smithwick's Irish Red Ale (A great "here I am" tasting Irish Red) or Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat (A good cleanser of the palette. The best good with crabs beer IMO.) or Bitburger (A classic German beer without the heavy after taste so many have) or as a last resort it be Original Coors. (The much maligned Coors. Perhap's the lightest of beers, but with a very clean and pure taste. Yet to give the devil it's do- many a lad hates it for this very feature and calls it drinking water. Ah, if all water was as such!) Fair winds, -Greydog

fink

Belgium's lion is a rampant lion and depiction is normally as such, but in a few cases there is the depiction of soley the lion's head. From what times I have seen just the head it follows the pattern as on the leather strap indicated. Example- The national emblem worn by Belgian troops on their helmets in World War I and thru the start of World War II was a very similair lions head. Here is a picture of that helmet: Belgian Helmet Of course that plate on the strap isn't a helmet, but look at the lions on each. Now with that said, I still only feel it appears to be Belgian, I don't have definitive proof, only assumption. As to the flaming bomb, that will drive you crazy in the specific case of France and Belgium. I will leave the French alone. But in the case of Belgium off and on through the years that symbol has been used in the insignia of, military police, infantry, mortars, gendarmines, grenadiers, light infantry, geeze and maybe border/custom inspectors. Below is a website that you can roam through and see them cropping up very often but representing different types of units. Enough flaming bombs to drive a person flaming nuts

see below (durn wrong key hitting)

It looks Belgian (That style lion's head) and appears to be circa 1880's to 1910 to me (black leather with lots of stamped brass items). Here's a picture of a Belgian Civil Guard (1896) wearing what appears to be that belt. However, the resolution is not clear enough on the plates nor is the box itself shown. So, its still just speculation on my part. As to the flaming bombs and use, they are still used all over the planet generally to denote ordnance related military specialties. However, the devil is in the details and depending on what country when and where there are many examples where the use has a different meaning than simply ordnance. It is still being used in the US Army as the branch insignia for ordnance soldiers. You can see current day US insignia here: US Army Ordnance Branch Page

Banana

The better pirate will be the one that pulls a pistol and shoots the other, fer if they fight fair then they ain't the best pirate!

Chico

Died- 2 May 1999

Convoy- an effective technique from almost the dawn of navies. Doesn't directly get rid of pirates, but does make it very hard for these speed boat thugs to capture containerships. Put 15-20 ships with one naval escort and your done. The snivelling will come from shipping companies about time lost based on staging, routes, and speed.

History Channel

Shiver me timbers! That not be a word we be usin fer what goes around a pirates neck! Nay, not to be said, tis bad luck doncha know? I do believe that the lad is looking for the words Cravat or Neckcloth, both of which refer to that fine piece of workmanship that can be used to demonstrate a fellow's proper place in society as it were. If I were to go into the future, I'd be discussin how necktie comes into use n the early 1800's. Mind ye, we not be havin a party, simply discribin a piece of cloth! Fair Winds, -Greydog

Beat

Aye a belated well wishes from meself as well. May ye find all the plunder ye desire in that great ocean of a valley ye live in. -Greydog

Happy day to ye! Here's hopin ye have such a happy day that ye flips yer wig, it needed changin anyway! Har, har. May the day bring all that ye wants and none of that which ye so richly deserves. A well wished day to ye and happy huntin. -Greydog

Aye tis TRUE! Thar be a certain smell in the air and that can be meanin only one thing. It be time to celebrate the annniversary of Stynky's birth. Such a grand and glorious thing it be! If fer nothing else becuse he done saved this er pub and whithout em we be flounderin about. But, he bring far more to the table than just that, a right fine fellow he be. So, happy day to a first rate fellow says I! May ye always find yer wind at yer back Stynky! -Greydog

Welcome aboard Lass: Why thar be a whole thread on the Vista event in the upcoming raid section. We be hopin to see ye thar. Till then it be the custom for the new person to be buyin the house a round of drinks as it were. Now thar be all manner of characters here so yer presence should be a very good thing with yer bringin all them thar leadership qualities. Speakin of qualities a quality rum right now would not be too much to ask would it? Now, while yer up maybe ye can be bringin a towel back with ye as thar be quite the spill about on this har table by some rather uncouth people here before as it were. I be thankin ye straight away fer all the assistance and kind offer to help. Oh, my, I almost fer got me manners! I don’t see how ye could be carrying all that and yer purse too! It would be me great honor to protect that fer ye while you be up and about. Just drop er off right here. Welcome! -Greydog

Morning

We be considering kidnapping (with a ransom to be paid of course) and a wench auction at this har event. Anybody out thar want to be kidnapped or participate in the auction? We have found that as strange as it may seem askin the victims ahead of time tends to drastically reduce both thar resistance and the involvement of actual authorities. Replica period coin or other negotiables fer payment, none of that thar modern strange paper fer ransom and auction. (Actually, our attempt to collect real money for charity through these activities was rebuffed by the event organizer as he felt the activities might be found to be offensive! Har, har, har. So, we be doin them anyway, just off the official schedule and sans real money. (Welcome to friggin touchy feely California.)) Fair Winds, -Greydog

Loaded