I'd like to post this at work

(I clipped that image from page 26 of Two Faces of Communism, a comic book published in 1961 by the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade of Houston, Texas; the organization is still around today. In the first frame, dig the Commie foreman with the buggy whip.)

Let's not show this to Glenn Beck, ok?

Now that I have your attention (or Catholics' attention, at least)...

In 1947, as the Cold War dawned, the Catechetical Guild of St. Paul, Minnesota published Is this Tomorrow: America Under Communism! It's a graphic snapshot of the paranoia that marked those years.

The Roman Catholic church in the U.S. was most concerned about religious persecution, of course, but the Catechetical Guild used the comic's plot to weave a tapestry of fear -- racial strife, confiscation of guns, indoctrination in the schools, dictatorial rule and more.

Fundamentally, Is This Tomorrow collected everything that Liberty-loving post-war Americans were afraid of -- rightly so -- and ascribed it all to a bogeyman called "Communism."

If the Catholic guild's extremist strategy sounds familiar, it should.

In our own time, Liberty is under siege. Yes, the threats are real. Our challenge is to think critically about what we face, to separate facts from fears and to act in the best interest of the country we love.

[By the way, Pappy's Golden Age Blogzine has posted scans of all 52 pages of Is This Tomorrow -- click here.]

A sign for these times

(Adapted from the now-iconic "Keep Calm and Carry On" propaganda poster, produced during World War II by Great Britain's Ministry of Information. For some entertaining background on the poster, click here and here. To create your own parody, click here.)

'.22's for Survival?'

While casting about the 'Web over the last 20 years, I've noticed that finding what I'm looking for doesn't stop me -- often it only spurs me to search for something else. That's what happened last week, when I unearthed that January-February 2009 issue of Rifle magazine.

Thus encouraged, I began stalking an even older rag that's eluded me.

I posted "Back fifty-two to 'Fifty-nine" about 18 months ago, talking about the preparedness mindset and providing links to pdf versions of two issues of Guns magazine from 1959.

I also linked to a fascinating article from a 1958 issue of Guns. At the time I couldn't offer a pdf of the piece.

Now I can -- click here to download the August 1958 issue of Guns magazine. The article ".22's for Survival?" begins on pages 34 and 35, continuing on page 58. Even though 54 years have passed since its publication, I believe it's as useful now as it was provocative then.

On Decoration Day, Ingersoll

"These heroes are dead. They died for liberty. They died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solid pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or storm, each in a windowless palace of rest. Earth may run red with other wars; they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for the soldier, living and dead. Cheers for the living, and tears for the dead."

(From speaker's notes attributed to Robert Green Ingersoll, said to have been delivered in his hometown of Dresden, New York on what we know now as Memorial Day, 1866. Mrs. KintlaLake gifted me with Ingersoll's words this morning.)

Remembrance

If you are able,
save them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving

for the places they can no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say
you loved them
though you may
or may not have always.

Take what they have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.

And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.

(Written on 1 January 1970 by U.S. Army Maj. Michael D. O'Donnell, a native of Columbus, Ohio. Maj. O'Donnell was listed as MIA on 24 March 1970 at Dak To, Vietnam, declared KIA on 7 February 1978.)

First words to the new soldier

I've collected hundreds of military manuals, in pdf form, over the last several years. It often strikes me how changes in mission and culture, beyond tactics and technology, have shaped their messages.

For example, the 2003 edition of The Soldier's Guide begins:

The Soldier is the ultimate guardian of America's freedom. In over 120 countries around the world, Soldiers like you are protecting our Nation's freedom and working to provide a better life for oppressed or impoverished peoples. It is no accident our Army succeeds everywhere we are called to serve -- the loyalty and selfless service of the American Soldier guarantee it.

Today our Army is fighting directly for the American people. This global war on terrorism is about our future. It's about ensuring our children and grandchildren enjoy the same liberties we cherish. While difficult tasks remain, victory is certain. The efforts and sacrifices of the American Soldier will assure it.

Compare that to the opening paragraph of the 1941 edition of the Soldier's Handbook:

You are now a member of the Army of the United States. That Army is made up of free citizens chosen from among a free people. The American people of their own will, and through the men they have elected to represent them in Congress, have determined that the free institutions of this country will continue to exist. They have declared that, if necessary, we will defend our right to live in our own American way and continue to enjoy the benefits and privileges which are granted to the citizens of no other nation. It is upon you, and the many thousands of your comrades now in the military service, that our country has placed its confident faith that this defense will succeed should it ever be challenged.

Notice that the more current version of the basic field manual alludes to (so-called) "nation building" and carries an unmistakably political tone. Sixty years earlier, it was all about defending the homeland.

This independent citizen-patriot, for one, favors the 1941 version.

Posted: Condemned

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana)

Using an Etch A Sketch as a national-security tool

An open mic caught Pres. Barack Obama and current Russian Pres. Dmitri Medvedev wrapping up their discussion today about Russia's demand that the U.S. abandon its plans for a missile-defense shield.

"This is my last election," Pres. Obama said. "After my election I have more flexibility."

"I understand," Pres Medvedev said. "I will transmit this information to Vladimir" (referring to incoming Russian Pres. Putin).

It's a window into classic lame-duck politics, what virtually every elected official does without the burden of another campaign.

But here, on this subject and with these stakes, it's scary as hell.

Watch the video of today's unguarded moment (below) and ask yourself: How many times has this president has offered similar assurances, abroad and at home, and to whom?

T&A in government comics, revisited

Incomparable illustrator Will Eisner created the character of "Connie Rodd" for the U.S. Army's P*S Magazine. A blonde bombshell, oozing sexuality and delivering double entendres at every opportunity, she drew young GIs into the dry subject of preventive maintenance.

P*S is still around, available online even to us civilian types. And Connie continues to grace its pages -- sort of.

Over the last few decades, political correctness has robbed the once-alluring character of her original appeal. Today's Connie Rodd (right) is patently asexual, shaped by hyper-sensitive ninnies from a tart into a token.

Once again, we've lost more than we've gained.

Today feels like a good day to annoy all those who prefer a less interesting world, a world stripped of humor, color and curves. To that end I'm pleased to offer a tribute (below) to the real Connie Rodd, in the form of P*S centerfolds from 1970 and 1972.

'Tommy this, an' Tommy that'

Since Sunday night, naturally we've been getting more information -- I hesitate to say details -- about the assault that resulted in the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

There was a firefight; um, there really wasn't a firefight. The target was unarmed; he was reaching for a weapon; well, he might've been reaching for a weapon. He didn't indicate his wish to surrender; actually, he wasn't given an opportunity to surrender.

None of that matters -- not to me. With apologies to Ghostbusters:

We came, we saw, we kicked his ass.

In the analysis that's followed, we've heard the sort of second-guessing we've come to expect from pundits and elected officials who have neither the standing nor the experience to offer intelligent comment. Ideologues from the left quote Yoda or misquote MLK, suggesting either that we shouldn't celebrate the death of the butcherous bin Laden or that he should've been captured and tried. Right-wingers misquote Samuel Clemens or George Orwell while (at best) damning the Commander-in-Chief with faint praise.

Neither extreme strays far from unfiltered ignorance. And both, ultimately, pile insult on the men and women -- from commanders to warriors to those "who only stand and wait" -- who sacrifice much and risk all to defend our freedom.

Over a century ago, Kipling gave voice to the warfighter's bitterness at ungrateful countrymen. I'll close with the classic tribute.


Tommy
by Rudyard Kipling (1892)

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:

O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

A battle won, a war on

As we know it, as I see it

I've digested a fair amount of news, analysis and commentary since Sunday night, and I've managed to collect some of my thoughts.

Osama bin Laden is dead. He died on May 2, 2011 at the barrel of a gun wielded by a member of DEVGRU (f.k.a. SEAL Team Six). Theories to the contrary have no basis beyond anti-government paranoia.

I celebrate, without apology, both the death of Osama bin Laden and the manner in which he met justice. 'Nuff said.


This was a "kill mission" from the get-go. All the soft-pedaling we've heard over the last few days is intended to soothe the squeamish. I'm not squeamish and I don't buy it.

Releasing photos of a dead Osama bin Laden won't make a bad thing worse. In other words, the fresh threat posed by his pissed-off followers isn't appreciably greater if we show the world what he looks like after taking one Black Hills round to the chest and another bullet to the head. I don't have a pressing emotional or intellectual need to see the photos myself, but I can't argue against their release.

Radical Islamist terrorism and al-Qaeda are not dead, nor are they mortally wounded. David Morris summarized it simply and well:

"As to the statements that we 'cut the head off of al-Qaeda and radical Islam'...they completely miss the point. That would almost be like saying that when Elvis died, rock-and-roll died with it. Rock-and-roll and al-Qaeda are movements. Both have the equivalent of highly public, well-funded, organized groups as well as garage bands, and solo acts anonymously practicing at home every night -- hoping to someday get to play on the big stage and get famous. Just like rock-and-roll continued after Elvis died, misguided people will continue to try to kill us, disrupt our way of life, and terrorize us after bin Laden's death."

The trail that led to Osama bin Laden began during the second term of Pres. George W. Bush. U.S. intelligence operations unraveled a network of couriers, ultimately tracing one promising thread to the compound in Abbottabad. Pres. Barack Obama missed an opportunity to be magnanimous on Sunday night, however -- he should've expressly highlighted an effort that originated in the previous administration. In my opinion, he should've explicitly thanked his predecessor, but (uncharacteristically) he didn't.

Much of the "heavy lifting" -- developing intelligence that made possible the assassination of Osama bin Laden -- was done by career and long-serving federal employees. Many were around before 9/11 and will be there after Pres. Obama leaves office. That's the nature of (our) government. Though it's great sport to disparage bureaucracy and bureaucrats, these folks deserve our respect.

Pres. Obama made a command decision -- deal with it. Just as Sunday's address was missing a particular expression of gratitude so, too, are statements from the President's political opponents. They thank "the troops" and Pres. Bush but fail to give Pres. Obama his due for making a correct and yes, a gutsy call. Typically, right-wingers don't seem able to distinguish national unity from policy agreement, so they can't bring themselves to say a heartfelt American thank-you. It's a symptom of the grade-school mentality infecting our politics.

The death of Osama bin Laden doesn't put a lock on Pres. Obama's re-election. Far from it, I'm glad to say. Truth is, the expected post-assassination "bump" probably won't help that much or last very long -- and November 2012 is a long way off. (See also Operation Desert Storm and Pres. George H.W. Bush.) In a week or two we'll turn our full attention back to the floundering U.S. economy, this president's weakness and the biggest roadblock to a second term.


The kind of scene captured in the White House photo of the national-security team gathered in the "Situation Room" isn't as rare as most people think it is. I'll leave it at that.

Pakistan is an unreliable ally. We were right to leave Pakistani officials in the dark about the assault on the Abbottabad compound until our DEVGRU team was airborne and outbound -- we couldn't risk jeopardizing OPSEC by informing a regime that's untrustworthy (to put it kindly). That said, maintaining good relations with Pakistan -- without continuing to throw away billions in aid -- will prove useful in the future, as it has in the past. Only simple-minded zero-summers are proposing that we sever ties completely with this (unreliable) ally.


I've lost count of the heroes. Our culture invokes "hero" so often that the word has lost much of its impact. When it truly fills the bill -- ordinary Americans who resisted terrorists on United Flight 93, NYFD firefighters who ran toward near-certain death on 9/11 -- we should use it. And anyone who wants to apply the same label to the real-deal team that assaulted Osama bin Laden's compound on Sunday, well, that's fine by me.

I choose to call them warriors.

'The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden'

"Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body." (Pres. Barack Obama, May 1, 2011)

Mrs. KintlaLake and I had just settled in for the night when CNN reported that Pres. Obama would be addressing the American People at 10:30pm. We sat up, switched on the bedside light and traded theories until we learned that the subject of the President's remarks would be "national security."

"Bin Laden," I whispered, scarcely able to believe what I was saying. "Killed or captured, it's gotta be bin Laden."

CNN confirmed my speculation a few minutes later. We got out of bed and woke our 16-year-old, and the three of us gathered around the TV in the kitchen to await the President's remarks.

I pulled a fresh bottle of Jack Daniels from the cabinet, broke the seal and poured two shots. My wife and I raised our glasses to bin Laden's demise -- accompanied by the toast, "Vengeance is mine, dammit!" -- as Pres. Obama began to speak around 11:35pm.

The spawn returned to bed when it was over. Mrs. KintlaLake and I adjourned to the front porch, lit cigarettes and sat quietly, listening to the rain. A pair of whitetail deer grazed nearby.

This morning, of course, Americans are swelling with patriotic pride and celebrating the long-awaited assassination of an infamous Islamist butcher. Beyond that, for practical purposes, little has changed.

(Well, actually, I do need to find a new rifle target.)

The so-called "War on Terror," at least as we've known it, may be over, but the threat of terrorist attacks remains. In fact, the threat is greater now than it was yesterday -- we can expect bin Laden's disciples to see him as a martyr and seek retribution.

Perhaps that danger will ease over time, but it'll never, ever go away. Terrorism is not a specter -- it real and it's here to stay.

We will be attacked again.

The American populace soon will resume its trademark complacency, retreating into the arrogant illusion of safety. Our nation again will become an easy target.

Some of us, on the other hand, will never forget. We know that vigilance is Liberty's guardian, and we will never forget.

Wallpaper for a Centennial

[Adapted from the 1914 edition of U.S. War Department Pamphlet No. 1866: Description of the Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, Model of 1911, with Rules for Management, Memoranda of Trajectory, and Description of Ammunition, 1917 printing. It's available as a pdf and in other formats at The Internet Archive. The U.S. Army adopted the John Browning-designed Colt M1911 a century ago last month.]

T&A in government comics

I know it's hard to imagine, but political correctness hasn't always been with us. Witness these examples, clipped from military "pamphlets" -- informational comic books, really -- that were issued to Vietnam-era U.S. Army soldiers.

The illustration above appears in Troubleshooting Equipment in Combat Units (DA Pam 750-22), published in 1973. "How to Strip Your Baby," below, comes from the 1969 edition of The M16A1 Rifle: Operation & Preventive Maintenance (DA Pam 750-30), which I highlighted in yesterday's post.

The latter, especially, is just priceless.

There's a lot more where those two came from. If you're interested, the best repositories of government comics I've found are the University of Nebraska Libraries' Image & Multimedia Collections and the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries Digital Collections.

But alas, Will Eisner is dead and political correctness is alive and well, so we'll not see the like again. You can take my word for that.

M16A1 comic book (1969)

[Click here to download a .pdf version from the University of Nebraska Libraries' Image & Multimedia Collections. For more government comics, click here.]

Another gem from Kephart

"Good for Dad, Too"

"Among the millions who are over-age, or for other reasons are exempt from call to the colors, there are potential armies for home defence. The emergencies that demand such service come suddenly like floods or fires. A mob laughs at a posse of city men who never fired a gun. It quails before a band of cowboys or mountaineers who are known to be crack shots. The rangers and hill-billies may never have learned 'fours right,' but it is sure death to buck against them, just the same, and a mob knows it."

(From "The OUTING Legion: The Only Road to Skill With the Rifle Is Through Practice" by Horace Kephart, Outing, November 1917. The advertisement appeared in the July 1917 issue of Forest & Stream.)

Mid-week road trip

The KintlaLake family traveled to West Virginia yesterday, an all-day excursion that began with a 3:30am wake-up call. We didn't get back home 'til nearly 10pm.

While my wife attended the morning funeral of a family friend, the younger spawn and I camped out for a while at our favorite gun shop. We chewed the fat with the manager, as usual, talking guns and politics and weather and whatever else crossed our minds.

I'd brought my range bag along, fully intending to log some trigger time at the shop's indoor setup, but I was enjoying the conversation so thoroughly that I never got 'round to it.

Mrs. KintlaLake joined us there after lunch. We spent a few more hours in the cozy confines, long enough for the independent garage next door to silence an undercarriage rattle on our Yukon XL. My wife, who practically grew up at the gun shop, even pitched-in to help with sales, advising a female customer about concealed-carry options.

I, of course, commemorated our visit by buying a knife.

The Benchmade #10115 Salmon Creek Folding Fillet is part of the maker's "Red Class," a line of inexpensive (and mostly imported) knives discontinued after 2009. Its "Sliding Tail-Lock with Blade Guard" is one of the oddest mechanisms I know of.

I don't even fish, but I got to thinking that it might make a good light-duty knife around an outdoor kitchen. When the gun-shop manager offered it to me at half-price, I made it mine.

On our way out of town, we made our traditional stop for Morgantown comfort food before heading north and west toward home. The setting sun was blinding, the mood was peaceful and our day, all told, was damned near perfect.

Ravelings
There's a handful of subjects that I'd like to raise on KintlaLake Blog but I probably won't have the time, at least not enough time to cover them in any depth. Take the tug-of-war between public-employee unions and state government, a struggle that's become especially bitter here in Ohio.

For now, a bottle of Labor's Choice Whiskey -- the image clipped from an ad in a 1903 issue of The American Federationist, edited at the time by American Federation of Labor founder Samuel Gompers -- will have to do. Infer from that what you will.

And then there's Libya. In principle, the U.S. has no good strategic reason to be involved with the popular uprising -- we have no compelling national-security interest whatsoever -- but we can't seem to quit our role as the world's cop.

We're defending a mob, an anti-government mob. It's a brave rabble, certainly, but beyond that we don't know who they are or what the they might want when the smoke clears.

The Obama administration, after weeks of dithering and delaying and chatting it up with everyone across the globe except the People, now has us firing missiles and risking American lives -- all without being able to say just what we plan to accomplish.

Screw the U.N. and screw NATO; screw War Powers and screw Dennis Kucinich. We have no military, economic or moral dog in this fight. It is, without a doubt, one of the biggest foreign-policy Charlie Foxtrots I've ever seen.

The President of the United States will address the nation on Monday -- nine days after our missiles started flying.

Behind in my reading
The December 2010 issue of American Rifleman included an article that preceded a couple of my posts (here and here) about teaching marksmanship in Scouting. As its title suggests, "NRA & BSA: 100 Years of Partnership" marks the centennial of the National Rifle Association's involvement in Boy Scout shooting programs. It's typically self-congratulatory but worth reading anyway.

Better move that 'marker'

"You're the state where the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord! And you put a marker in the ground and paid with the blood of your ancestors!"

(Tea Party mascot and duly elected congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, demonstrating her mastery of Revolutionary War geography during a speech yesterday in New Hampshire. Rumor has it that she's canceled an upcoming appearance at Grant's Tomb.)