That stands for Kick (back up to the top of the forum) and Recommend (usually reserved for posts of interest and importance for other DU readers)

Nice job, newbie!

Glad I stumbled upon this forum after wandering through cyberspace following the demise of the Major League Baseball fan forums. There were many active political discussions poorly monitored there that often got out of hand. Likely a key factor in the MLB decision to discontinue them.

he took army basis and advanced artillery at Fort Sill. He said it was like going to summer camp on their yearly training. Mostly it was a bunch of old guys hanging other drinking enough near beer to get a buzz. Putting people w/o any LE training or handgun training on the street was stupid. Its Trump fault sending people out to play cops and robbers.

before heading to Fort Sill. Spent the summer of '68 in Colorado Springs/Fort Carson. There were so many officers there awaiting the inevitable orders to SE Asia. Felt sorry for the National Guard troops. Heard later that they were basically used as replacements and fill-ins for different divisions in Vietnam and that many did not fare well.

These troops and anyone in shooting range are in harm's way.

to be sure. Will the Trumpkins ever be held accountable for this and all their other illegal decisions?

The book covers the history of the Northwest Indian War ("Little Turtle's War " ) of the 1790's.

The framers of the constitution didn't want a large standing army. They feared a despotic leader could use such an army for their own purposes. (Smart fellows, these framers.) That was the main reason the second amendment was put there - the idea was that common people, especially those on the frontier who might encounter Indigenous Americans or British units unhappy with their presence, would form a local militia with their own arms and serve the purpose of a regular army.

They wouldn't have artillery - the regular army would provide that - but the small arms used by the average citizen were basically the same as what a trained soldier would have. Maybe they had more rifled muskets, but these were far slower to load at the time, so they didn't necessarily give a rifleman an advantage.

This proved disastrous in practice. We didn't have an enormous standing army until after the Second World War, but the standing army was expanded in the years after this war.

It's an excellent book.

and the apt points about the founders' rationale for the Second Amendment. The NRA and the gun nuts always "forget" to mention the practical reasons for wanting to utilize the people's privately-owned weapons and the fact that the Congress quickly followed the adoption of the amendment with the Militia Acts, which were passed in the next sessions to provide the "well regulated" militias as the less expensive and less dangerous options to a standing army.

Thanks for the heads up. Our library has a copy which I'll be glad to read.

The National Guard units deployed to our cities are being ill-used and illegally abused.

There were a few ships attached to the Fifth Fleet to help with anti-piracy and anti smuggling operations.

I worked with the admiral in charge of them a bit. A good man who was always wrestling with the problem of too many missions, not enough ships.

Because these National Guard troops can't protect themselves, so they need to be protected by trained cops. Which of course takes DC Police away from their crime fighting duties.

All are being put in harm's way as the populace objects, sometimes violently, to the illegal and ill-advised deployments.

This…
From people who couldn’t breathe because they were so busy hollering about “Federal Over-reach” over Covid-19 masking, even though it was clearly a Nationsl Security situation.
Kraznov’s Fever Dreams have led us so far down the strafey hole we may NEVER get out.
Ignorance and Perfidy are for Jerking Off, NOT Government Policy.
It’s Wrong In Every Way!

that this country is now at a tipping point. We are on the verge of veering off into full-blown theocracy, plutocracy, autocracy and oligarchy. That way lies anarchy!

Love personal stories like this that related actual experiences and not the PR we usually hear. Thank you

my stint in the military and in Vietnam taught me more about how governments function and malfunction than anything else. I did not want to participate in a war that I felt our politicians started for the wrong reasons, and some of the corruption I saw I have kept to myself all these years for fear of retribution. Ironically, after all the time and money the army spent on my artillery training, when I got to Vietnam my unit's personnel officer noticed I had a degree in English and had taken classes in journalism. They made me a G-2 (division level) intelligence officer. Reams of sensitive communications and agent reports crossed my desk, some of which were quite shocking.

and guessed you studied English.
There is a short video where a journalist asked a soldier in Viet Nam what he would tell people 50 years from then. He said "Don't send your sons to wars started by politicians."
I hope Venezuela is not the next venture for those only after the money (oil) using our sons and daughters for the wealthy.