#fighting seabees

[thepopculturearchivist]

LIBERTY, March 11, 1944

[jariv4]

[thoughtfulfoxllama]

I don't know how controversial this is, but the Selective Service shouldn't be a thing

For those not in the States, the Selective Service is the way Conscription happens in the United States. One is required to be registered with the Selective Service System in order to go to College, and to get certain jobs

Personal story, my Biological Grandfather was conscripted during Vietnam, serving with the Seabees. It traumatized him, physically and mentally. He saw his best friend die in front of him, from a shrapnel grenade that got him sent home, and nearly blinded him. His survivors guilt was so horrible that he refused to accept his Purple Heart

And, of course, he met my Grandmother. She was your typical hippie (although she was still Mormon, so not the free love or anti-religion parts). She was a regular participant in Anti-War Protests, and her meeting him further cemented this

So yeah, I'm biased. But, it feels scummy to use College or Career to force people into entering a lottery to see who gets to fight

I have nothing but respect for veterans (as a concept). Many of them are genuinely good people, who fought for what they believed in (even if they were lied to about the reasons)

But, if someone is going to fight, it should be their choice. I'm lucky, and I have issues that prevent me from enlisting, even if my name is called (Septal Defect, Depression, ADHD, and so on)

Now, I'm against War in general, but sometimes it's necessary (Revolutionary, Civil, and WWII are the only ones that comes to mind), but not everyone is meant to be a soldier, and it's unfair to force people unfit for it into that life, just because you want to expand your political cause

[nursingwriter]

Epidemiology Gulf War Syndrome This refers to a wide range of illnesses and symptoms, from asthma to sexual dysfunction, reported by and among U.S. allied soldiers who served in the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991 (Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine 2001). Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center investigated a sampling of these veterans with the syndrome (Nutrition Health Review 2004). The researchers found that a primitive portion of the nervous system of these veterans was damaged. This damage to the parasympathetic nervous system appeared to account for almost 50% of the typical symptoms. These symptoms included gallbladder disease, un-refreshing sleep, depression, joint pain, chronic diarrhea, and sexual dysfunction. The parasympathetic system regulates the body's primitive and automatic functions, like digestion and sleep. The sympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, controls the "flight-of-fight" instinct (Nutrition Health Review). Isolating pure parasympathetic brain function was previously difficult to perform (Nutrition Health Review 2004). Dr. Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at the University and leading author of this new study, and his team used a new mathematical technique called spectral analysis. It monitored changes in approximately 100,000 heartbeats over 24-hour and measured changes in high-frequency heart rate variability. Only the parasympathetic nervous system regulates this function. Through the method, the team found that parasympathetic brain function, which usually reaches a peak during sleep, barely changed in the veterans, even though they appeared to be sleeping. A similar investigation of a group of healthy veterans, tested for comparison, revealed normal increased brain functions. Dr. Haley explained that the parasympathetic nervous system restores the functions of the body through sleep, Hence, the refreshed feeling upon waking up. When brain functions do not increase during night sleep, illness can occur. This was the position taken by the team to explain the lack of refreshing sleep among the Gulf War veterans. The investigation involved 40 members of a naval reserve construction battalion, the Seabees, some of whom were ill and the rest, healthy (Nutrition Health Review). Dr. Haley first described the syndrome in a series of papers published in the January 1997 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (Nutrition Health Review 2004). He previously ascribed the condition to the veterans' low-level exposure to sarin gas. This was a potent nerve toxin, which was said to have reached thousands of soldiers when American forces detonated Irqi chemical stores during and after the Persian Gulf War in 1991. This occurrence was confirmed by the Government Accountability Office. Succeeding studies performed by Dr. Haley's team suggested that these veterans were also born with lower levels of a protective blood enzyme, called paraoxonase. The enzyme counteracts toxins found in sarin. The team then concluded that veterans who were in the same area and did not get sick were likely to have higher levels of this enzyme (Nutrition Health Review). Dr. Haley and his team were also the first to use the method of factor analysis in investigating the Gulf War syndrome (Kang 2002). It involved the exploratory analysis of 62 symptoms in 249 of such veterans. These 62 symptoms accounted for 71% of the total variance of the observed variables. Dr. Haley's team presented these as evidence of the syndrome. But the team's observation was derived from just one naval unit of Gulf war veterans and which was not compared with a non-deployed veterans' group. Moreover, the participation rate at 41% could not make generalizations on the syndrome. In comparison with those conducted by Dr. Haley's team and Fukuda's, this current study was population-based and included a comparison group of non-Gulf war veterans. Further differences existed. Dr. Haley's sampling was limited to a small number and from just one naval reserve unit. Fukuda's study was confined to members of a U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard unit. These members were substantially different from those who served in the Army and the Marine Corps, who accounted for 2.3 of deployed troops. In contrast, the current study included a large group of respondent-troops from all of the four branches of the service and who were then on active as well as those who were already separated from the military. The study conducted by Ismail and his team approximated this current one as regards study design but differed in statistical analyses (Kang). It first used four-factor analysis but changed to six-factor when the four-factor methods did not produce interpretable results. The current study eventually concluded that a unique factor, consisting of blurred vision, loss of balance or dizziness, speech difficulty, and tremor or shaking, was found among the veterans. A group of 299 with all the four established symptoms also claimed to have been exposed to many putative risk factors many more times higher than that of other Gulf war veterans. Many associated medical conditions were also reported to have occurred more often among these Gulf war veterans than among other Gulf war veterans. Finding of this current study suggested a possible syndrome related to Gulf War deployment. It also required a strong, objective, supporting clinical evidence. Factor analysis was viewed as a method, which was not completely objective. There were no definite rules in the selection of the appropriate number of factors or from among the many possible methods of rotation. Factor analysis is an empirical method, which provides necessary details, from which the reader can make his own conclusions and interpretation of given data (Kang et al.). Male Infertility David Dix of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, Stephen Karwetz of Wayne State University and David Miller of the University of Leeds in England surprised other biologist with their recent finding on male infertility (Travis 2002). They discovered that mature human sperms contain several thousand different strands of RNA, which are the cells' directives for protein manufacturing. The presence of RNA inside mature human sperm was unexpected, as scientists had assumed that newly formed sperm cells shed almost everything as they mature and had little need for RNA. This discovery is significant to many areas of biology and medicine. By establishing an RNA fingerprinting of sperms from fertile men, the scientists could compare them with sperms of infertile men. Further uses can be the development of male contraceptives by identifying the genes used by sperm cells for their development. And sperm RNAs may also help evaluate the safety of environmental chemicals (Travis). The previous consensus among biologists was that, as a sperm cell matures, it eliminates almost all of its cytoplasm, which is the fluid where the RNA resides (Travis 2002). Krawetz also said that reports of RNA-containing sperm in the past few decades were also disregarded or attributed to contamination by other cells. But about a decade ago, Miller and Krawetz found in joint experiments that RNA was present in spermatozoa. This led them to assume that RNA provides a history of spermatogenesis. They were joined by Dix in exploring the new discovery through a powerful method, which relied on microarrays, in order to scan cells for thousands of RNAs at one time. Microarrays are glass chips, nylon filters or other platforms, which are dotted with thousands of different strands of RNA or DNA. They used a form of DNA known as expressed sequence tag or EST. The microarrays held ESTs of roughly 30,000 different human genes. The scientists obtained semen samples from 10 healthy volunteers with normal-looking sperms and had fathered children. The scientists separated the samples from other kinds of cells and eliminated genetic material from their surface. Then they extracted RNA and converted it into a DNA form they called cDNA. When these cDNAs were applied to the microarrays, the cDNAs stuck to corresponding ESTs. This ultimately identified the genes at the sperms' RNA. The scientists later compared the RNA in the sperms of one fertile man with those of other fertile men. The 2,780 RNAs shared by the samples became representative of the spermatozoal fingerprint for a normal fertile man. Their next step was to find out what RNAs would be missing in the sperms of infertile men. But on the whole, Krawetz, Miller and Dix endeavored to convince their peers that sperms contain RNA through the results of their microarray experiments. Sperm biologist W. Steven Ward of the University of Hawaii at Manoa felt that the idea of spermatozoa having any RNA would be "counterintuitive." But he said he would be willing to give credit to the proof provided by the three scientists. Sergio Oehninger of the Jones Institute of Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk Virginia expressed agreement, but also cautioned that it would take years before microarrays could be cheap enough. The science itself would take time to mature and for the procedure to become routine clinical practice (Travis). When the role played by sperm RNA in human development becomes accepted as a scientific fact, it may explain why human females cannot reproduce parthenogenetically as frogs and other non-mammalians can (Travis 2002). In parthenogeneris, an unfertilized egg can start dividing and still be capable of reproducing a normal offspring. In some mammals with this capability, an unfertilized egg may begin developing into an embryo or the development can just stop. Investigators even suspected that the difficulties experienced by teams in mammal-cloning experiments were due to the absence of RNAs in the sperm. In cloning, scientists would take the DNA from a non-germ cell, add it to an egg denuded of its DNA and trick it into developing as though it were fertilized by a sperm. The procedure would work only a few times. Most of the time, it would develop gross defects, which often delayed further development. John Eppig, a reproductive biologist at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, suggested that the success of cloning was a strong argument against the supposed key biological role of apparently large numbers of RNAs being delivered by the sperm (Travis). It has been estimated that infertility occurs in 2 million couples in the United States (American Family Physician 1993). About a third of these are attributed to male factors, including primary testicular failure, secondary testicular failure and post-testicular obstruction. Greendale and his colleagues conducted a study on the possibility of Chlamydia trachomatis as another cause of unexplained infertility. In the study, the team utilized 52 men who were diagnosed with explicitly defined idiopathic infertility and were enrolled in two infertility practices as one group. The other group consisted of 79 men who were enrolled in prenatal classes their partners. Those couples who had unprotected intercourse were placed in a group, which was subjected to two semen analyses. These respondents were not hypogonadal or azoospermic and their partners had idiopathic primary or secondary infertility. When their serum IgG anti-Chlamydia antibodies were measured, infertile men were found to be 3.4 times more likely than fertile men to have a higher titer. About 50% of patients in both groups with anti-Chlamydia antibody titers of 1:64 or higher had no symptoms of infection. Among asymptomatic patients, 20% exhibited abnormal penile discharge, 205 with non-traumatic testicular swelling or pain, and 40% with dysuria. However, these findings by Greenpeace and his team were later found to be inconclusive (American Family Physician). Pain Syndrome Researchers at Mayo Clinic announced that those who suffer from fibromyalgia could be helped by acupuncture (Health News 2006). Their study on 50 patients who suffered from symptoms like fatigue and anxiety found that they obtained relief from the method. The added advantage was that acupuncture has few side effects. The results of its experiments led Mayo Clinic to speculate that this ancient therapy might possess benefits. Previous researches suggested that acupuncture possibly stimulates pain-killing substances in the body or alters brain chemistry. This, in turn, affects areas of the central nervous system involved in pain sensation and other involuntary functions (Health News). Data from a large German research effort offered support for the use of acupuncture in treating chronic pain conditions (Walsh 2005). The study was sponsored by the country's insurance companies. The data derived from two reports from the Acupuncture in Routine Care study, which were presented during a symposium on alternative and complementary therapies, and sponsored by the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth. The reports presented and demonstrated statistically significant and clinically relevant benefits of acupuncture when used in addition to routine care for headache and neck pain. It utilized 15,056 patients with migraine or tension-type of headaches. They were allocated up to 15 acupuncture treatments at random during a three-month period in combination with conventional treatment by analgesics. A control group was also used, which received conventional treatment only. A third group consisted of patients who did not agree to random acupuncture treatment was also used and monitored. About 75% of them were female with 44 years as the mean age. In the group, 3,182 agreed to randomization, 1,613 were in the acupuncture group, and 1,569 in the control group. After the three months of treatment, the volunteers reported that the frequency of their headache days per month had decreased. The incidence went down significantly from 8.4 days to 4.7 days in the acupuncture groups, greater than the reduced level in the control group. Headache types were also recorded. Those with migraine had an average of 7 days per month of the episodes before treatment and four days per month after treatment, which included acupuncture. Those with tension headaches also decreased from an average of 10 days per month to only 5 days per month (Health News). The tabulated improvements persisted in the succeeding three months (Health News 2006). In the control group, 70% of the patients needed complementary treatment with analgesics, as compared with 50% of those in acupuncture groups. This was the finding of the first report. The second report on the study of the effect of acupuncture on neck pain provided similar results. It utilized 13,846 patients with chronic neck pain. In this group, 68% wee women with a mean age of 53. Of this number, 1,753 were given randomized acupuncture treatment; 1,698 were in the control group; and 10,395 declined randomization but also received acupuncture. After three months of treatment, the patients reported improvements on their neck pain disability. These improvements were more pronounced in the acupuncture groups than in the control group, according to Claudia Becker-Witt. Scores went down from 56.4 to 39.6 in the acupuncture groups and from 54.5 to 51.2 in the control groups. Both reductions were considered statistically significant differences. Both studies also reported that the respondent-patients experienced significantly greater improvements in their quality of life. While the 8-9% of the patients in both studies reported experiencing side effects from acupuncture, these were not considered life-threatening (Walsh). Other published studies on the effect of acupuncture on patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis and chronic low back pain found that it improved their conditions (Health News 2006). This ancient Chinese medicine makes use of the energy, called chi, which flows along the channels of the body, called meridians. Pain and illness are believed to develop with an imbalance or disruption of the chi. Classic acupuncture involves the insertion and maneuvering of hair-thin needles at 1,000 acu-points on the 12 major meridians to restore the balance of the chi. Western practitioners say that acupuncture triggers the release of endorphins to dull the perception of the pain and stimulates the spinal cord to release pain-suppressing neurotransmitters (Health News). The practitioner first asks about the patient's medical history and pain symptoms (Health News 2006). Then he feels the patient's pain spots. A typical treatment involves 30-35 needles inserted shallowly on the skin, fascia and muscle. The usual frontal treatment requires 20 to 25 needles. These needles are kept in place for 15 to 20 minutes. A session usually lasts an hour. Most people feel relaxed during and after treatment. The common regimen consists of five weekly sessions and a follow-up a month later, if maintenance appears needed. If no improvement occurs, the patient is advised to seek out other treatment options (Health News). Review of Methods Studies on the Gulf War syndrome used the spectral analysis method and the factor analysis method. Spectral analysis focused on the changes in function of the parasympathetic nervous system, mainly sleep. The factor analysis method derived from the symptoms of the syndrome. Studies on male infertility utilized a method, which relied on microarrays, which, in turn, traced the presence of RNAs in the sperm cell. The absence of RNAs, those researchers suggested, could explain male infertility. Another study suggested that infection with Chlamydia trachomatis could be a cause of the condition. Mayo Clinic's study supported the effectiveness of acupuncture in managing headaches and chronic neck pain in a substantial number of patients. The method consisted of a three-month treatment of acupuncture with conventional analgesics on three different groups. They mostly reported experiencing reduction of their painful conditions. Acupuncture involves the insertion of very fine needles into the 12 body meridians to balance the flow of energy, called chi. The imbalance or disruption of the chi leads to illness. Acupuncture restores that balance by triggering the release of natural painkillers and stimulating the release of pain-suppressing neurotransmitters. The practitioner conducts some diagnosis before inserting the needles. These needles are kept in place for a few minutes. Treatment is often for an hour every week for a few weeks. The practitioner advises the patient to seek other treatment options if no improvement results. Conclusion The two methods used by epidemiological studies on the Gulf War syndrome on the dysfunction of the parasympathetic nervous system and the signs of physical and emotional disturbance were not contradictory. Rather, they were complementary and should be considered thus. The absence or lack of RNAs, as determined by the microarrays method, can be a breakthrough in establishing the cause of male infertility. Infection by Chlamydial trachomatis through semen analysis was regarded as inconclusive. And the value of acupuncture as an adjunct to conventional pain management has been significantly proven by the study undertaken by Mayo Clinic on a substantial group of volunteer-patients. All other studies support its effectiveness and safety. Bibliography American Family Physician. Chlamydial Infection and Male Infertility. American Academy of Family Physicians: Gale Group, November 15, 1993 Health News. Pain Relief with Acupuncture. Belvoir Media Group LLC: Gale Group, October 2006 Needling Away your Back Pain. Belvoir Media Group LLC. Gale Group, June 2006 Kang, Han K. Evidence for a Deployment-Related Gulf War Syndrome by Factor Analysis. Heldref Publications: Gale Group, 2002 Nutrition Health Review. Gulf War Vets Show Signs of Syndrome. Vegetus Publications: Gale Group, 2004 Travis, John. Read the full article

[liberty1776]

Watching the US Navy build a temporary pier in Gaza was a pathetic display of ineptitude and helplessness.  It was a crass attempt by the Biden administration to deflect the storm of worldwide criticism over its encouragement of Israel’s far right government to crush Gaza to rubble.  The pier fell apart due to poor construction and rough seas. I was reminded of America’s gallant fighting Seabees who build harbors and airports almost overnight during World War II. To date, some 400,000 Gaza Palestinians have been killed by Israel using many US-supplied arms.  Over half were women and children.  A proud … Continue reading →

[johnpodlaski]

A Seabee and a Submarine Sailor

By Bob Houf Two brothers joined the Navy in 1967/68, and each had different experiences during the Vietnam War. Read what happened. I was on board the 617 as a Missile Technician and diver (E-6) during refit and listening to the cassette tape my older brother Jim had sent from Vietnam. When I dropped out of school in 1967 and joined the Navy, Jim waited until January 1968 to drop out of Ohio…

[ace-in-a-shopping-cart]

Remember, remember, the 7th of December

[gatutor]

Susan Hayward-John Wayne "Batallón de construcción" (The fighting seabees) 1944, de Edward Ludwig.

[ambienchronicles]

Over the weekend, watching as the Taliban retook city after city, has filled me with a myriad of emotions I don’t think I can accurately describe.

Rage.

Sadness.

Anger.

Helplessness.

Futility.

After 9/11, American children were indoctrinated into believing in the American military war machine. Those of us who came of age post-9/11 thought that when we sold our souls to Uncle Sam, we would have an opportunity to do good, not only within our own communities, but on the world stage as well.

I, myself, enlisted when I was eighteen. I was sent to Kandahar in 2010, and I saw firsthand the plight of the Afghan people in that city. The children would run up to our convoys, hands held out for food we could not give them, for water we could not give them. The wrappers to the candy we had in our pockets could be used to create IEDs, the water bottles could house said IEDs.

The rational side of your brain thinks, “these are fucking children! They just want some candy! What the fuck?”

But we had been trained, from the word ‘go,’ that this is a country that had been at war for far longer than half the battalion had been alive. And these people wanted us gone. If that meant they would Macguyver an IED out of the random shit in your pockets, they would do it. They had the capability to do it.

We were told that we were wanted there, that we were improving the lives of people who had been oppressed by the Taliban for years. And, in some cases, that were true. But the staggering amount of white flags with words written in a language I could neither speak nor read told me so much more.

The Taliban hadn’t been beaten. They had just gone underground. They had centuries of invading forces coming in and trying to impose their way of living on the people of Afghanistan, only to pull out when everything got to be too much, as their example.

The British tried in the 1800s. The Afghan people outlasted them.

The Russians tried between 1977-1988. The Afghan people outlasted them.

We came in, screaming “America, Fuck Yeah” at the top of our lungs in 2001, intending on Freedom and Democracy-ing the Afghan people. The Afghan people outlasted us; the Taliban outlasted us.

We have essentially shot ourselves in the foot by leaving all what we did behind, like Afghanistan was just some big dumpster. Vehicles, tools, weapons. The Russians left behind approximately 30 MILLION land mines.

Every time I see that another city was taken, the government has fallen, or that the Taliban has taken Afghanistan, I have to ask myself, “why the fuck were we there?” All of the ‘good’ we supposedly did has gone the way of the dodo. Twenty years of change were undone in the span of a few weeks.

I try to keep politics out of my social media posts, as I had very much (and still) disliked Donald Trump. But I am very disappointed in Joe Biden this morning, for believing that the Taliban wouldn’t immediately be back on their bullshit the minute they reclaimed power. One must always assume that, when making a deal with the Taliban as a Westerner, it is always Opposite Day.

Seeing these people fleeing their country, the country we were supposed to have helped, kills me on the inside, and I wish there was something I could do. The Afghan people I met during my time in country were the kindest people I had ever met.

“But what about other first world nations? Why can’t they send in the cavalry?”

That’s because they did. ISAF was a joint coalition force, and some of the finest people I had ever had the pleasure of serving with. But ISAF disbanded when they thought the job was done, leaving us to hold the bag (not that I blame them—we got ourselves into this mess, we gotta get ourselves out of it).

Wars are expensive, and the money set aside in our government’s budget doesn’t go to paying our proud folks in blue (or green, or tan), or even to funding decent equipment so we don’t get dead (half of my 782 gear smelled like it had been manufactured long before my dad met my mom at a bar outside Homestead AFB). I don’t know where it goes, but it doesn’t go to helping the people we have forcibly Freedom and Democracied, nor does it go into helping our vets deal with the trauma we’ve dealt with in fighting another man’s war.

Revisiting trauma when you thought you were okay honestly feels like you’re Sisyphus, climbing that mountain every day, pushing that big ass boulder up, up, up to the tippy-top, only to have the ground give way beneath you and your boulder comes tumbling down to rest at the base of the mountain.

My proudest accomplishment in life has been a lie, and that pride was nothing more than a puff of smoke that was blown away in the slightest breeze. The humanitarian work I did while a Seabee has gone to benefit the enemy—100%.

All that’s left is a bitter, angry husk of a woman whose heart aches with fear for the women and children of Afghanistan who had hope within their grasp, and had it snatched it away.

What was it all for?

[mercurygray]

have you ever written anything for the pacific? if not, or just if you want to, how did the marine corps react to the news of women paratroopers? and did they ever meet joan warren and the rest of the girl gang?

First question: Yes, a tiny bit! I have The One That Hits You, which is an Andy Haldane/OFC, and one very small Thirsty Thursday bit with Joan, which you can read here. John Basilone does also have a bit part/running joke offscreen in Darkening Sky, and there is another Thirsty Thursday crossover where Eileen joins his warbond tour.

But the second part of your question, Nonnie, is a huge question, and a critical one, and I'll be honest - I really haven't done that part of my worldbuilding homework on it yet!  So thanks for putting me on notice, and we're going to do it now.

In The Darkening Sky, in Chapter 2, Annie Sutton walks through some of the altered history that gets us to this point:

The Army had long since realized that women for the Quartermaster corps and Services of Supply was no great sacrifice of its ideals, especially after the long years of the Depression reminded them that unmarried women are far cheaper than men.

It should be noted, though, that while the Army was slow off the block to accept women for wartime service during The Great War, the Navy, and the Marines, were not.

{extensive notes beneath the cut!}

Josephus Daniels, then the Secretary of the Navy, re-interpreted a line in the 1916 Navy Act and allowed women to serve as non-commissioned officers - with the appropriate (F) appended on their title so they wouldn't be assigned to a ship.  The National World War One Museum reminds me that "While many female recruits performed clerical duties, some worked as truck drivers, mechanics, radio operators, telephone operators, translators, camouflage artists and munition workers. They had the same responsibilities as their male counterparts and received the same pay of $28.75 per month." (GO NAVY!) @tortoisesshells has taken this one step further in the DS universe with  her fic the vessels run to their labors and her OFC Alma Sullivan, who is an LST driver. (Landing Ship, Tank.) I'm also thinking...maybe some Lady Seabees?

The Marines, too, were slightly quicker to accept women for service - in 1918, a study found that 40% of jobs being done by officers could, in fact, be done by women. Called, variously, Skirt Marines, Marinettes, 100% Girls, and Lady Hell Cats (which ...I'm going to have to do something with) we see the fruits of this service in The Pacific with Lena Riggi-Basilone. Historically, the Marines suspended this program at the Armistice, but in the alternate history, it seems pretty likely that, like the Army in Annie's sketch above, they could and would have retained the clerical workers while they gradually moved closer to combat adjacent roles - which is actually what they did post-WWII. The first female Gunnery Sergeant was promoted in 1960, and there's no reason why we couldn't bump that forward a few years.

I'm of two minds on this next bit - are there women in combat in the Pacific? In TDS, when John meets Joan at a dinner in Washington, it's insinuated but never said that he doesn't really see her as a soldier, just another pretty face - but he's been in combat for the last year, whereas she's been at boot camp. On the one hand, the Marines, at least as they're portrayed on TP, does seem to have a slightly more egalitarian feel to it - John addresses Lena as Sergeant and has no problem doing this. These women are an accepted part of the Corps.  This would not be a huge stretch.

On the other hand...this is the Pacific Theater - the theater where one combatant signed but never ratified the Geneva Convention, and thus never really held itself bound by its rules. I can't help wondering if the Marine planners drew that line on their tables of organization and said they couldn't handle that much pearl-clutching from the (very, very racist) mothers and fathers of America worrying about 'the yellow menace.'  Drawing such a line, though, would certainly create some MORE resentment from men who were sent to fight because a woman could do a safe stateside job. And we have a historical precedent for women in the PTO as POWs - Army and Navy Nurses on Corregidor, as well as civilian internees in the Philippines and elsewhere.

So - to return to the original question - what does H Company, sitting in their tents fending off crabs and reading old newspapers, think of the Paragals? I'm going to go with - not impressed. The Marines already have women and have done so for a while, they're nothing special, and furthermore some poor schmuck like them is on one of these godforsaken atolls 'cause a pretty someone in a skirt can type faster than he can. There are some Airborne troops in the Pacific, but the Marines as a service have their own myths and standards of service, and hearing that a couple of girls are jumping out of airplanes while they're literally blasting through coral is ...not going to sound impressive.

(But someone's definitely got an Eileen Hammond pinup in his tent.)

And, last question - do they ever meet the Paragals? Well, we’ve already talked about John, Joan, and Eileen - and I actually have a headcanon that one of The Pacific characters marries a paragal when the war is over, and the only thing I’ll tell you about that is that the woman in question is ... Doris. (Speculate away!)

[nursingwriter]

Epidemiology Gulf War Syndrome This refers to a wide range of illnesses and symptoms, from asthma to sexual dysfunction, reported by and among U.S. allied soldiers who served in the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991 (Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine 2001). Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center investigated a sampling of these veterans with the syndrome (Nutrition Health Review 2004). The researchers found that a primitive portion of the nervous system of these veterans was damaged. This damage to the parasympathetic nervous system appeared to account for almost 50% of the typical symptoms. These symptoms included gallbladder disease, un-refreshing sleep, depression, joint pain, chronic diarrhea, and sexual dysfunction. The parasympathetic system regulates the body's primitive and automatic functions, like digestion and sleep. The sympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, controls the "flight-of-fight" instinct (Nutrition Health Review). Isolating pure parasympathetic brain function was previously difficult to perform (Nutrition Health Review 2004). Dr. Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at the University and leading author of this new study, and his team used a new mathematical technique called spectral analysis. It monitored changes in approximately 100,000 heartbeats over 24-hour and measured changes in high-frequency heart rate variability. Only the parasympathetic nervous system regulates this function. Through the method, the team found that parasympathetic brain function, which usually reaches a peak during sleep, barely changed in the veterans, even though they appeared to be sleeping. A similar investigation of a group of healthy veterans, tested for comparison, revealed normal increased brain functions. Dr. Haley explained that the parasympathetic nervous system restores the functions of the body through sleep, Hence, the refreshed feeling upon waking up. When brain functions do not increase during night sleep, illness can occur. This was the position taken by the team to explain the lack of refreshing sleep among the Gulf War veterans. The investigation involved 40 members of a naval reserve construction battalion, the Seabees, some of whom were ill and the rest, healthy (Nutrition Health Review). Dr. Haley first described the syndrome in a series of papers published in the January 1997 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (Nutrition Health Review 2004). He previously ascribed the condition to the veterans' low-level exposure to sarin gas. This was a potent nerve toxin, which was said to have reached thousands of soldiers when American forces detonated Irqi chemical stores during and after the Persian Gulf War in 1991. This occurrence was confirmed by the Government Accountability Office. Succeeding studies performed by Dr. Haley's team suggested that these veterans were also born with lower levels of a protective blood enzyme, called paraoxonase. The enzyme counteracts toxins found in sarin. The team then concluded that veterans who were in the same area and did not get sick were likely to have higher levels of this enzyme (Nutrition Health Review). Dr. Haley and his team were also the first to use the method of factor analysis in investigating the Gulf War syndrome (Kang 2002). It involved the exploratory analysis of 62 symptoms in 249 of such veterans. These 62 symptoms accounted for 71% of the total variance of the observed variables. Dr. Haley's team presented these as evidence of the syndrome. But the team's observation was derived from just one naval unit of Gulf war veterans and which was not compared with a non-deployed veterans' group. Moreover, the participation rate at 41% could not make generalizations on the syndrome. In comparison with those conducted by Dr. Haley's team and Fukuda's, this current study was population-based and included a comparison group of non-Gulf war veterans. Further differences existed. Dr. Haley's sampling was limited to a small number and from just one naval reserve unit. Fukuda's study was confined to members of a U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard unit. These members were substantially different from those who served in the Army and the Marine Corps, who accounted for 2.3 of deployed troops. In contrast, the current study included a large group of respondent-troops from all of the four branches of the service and who were then on active as well as those who were already separated from the military. The study conducted by Ismail and his team approximated this current one as regards study design but differed in statistical analyses (Kang). It first used four-factor analysis but changed to six-factor when the four-factor methods did not produce interpretable results. The current study eventually concluded that a unique factor, consisting of blurred vision, loss of balance or dizziness, speech difficulty, and tremor or shaking, was found among the veterans. A group of 299 with all the four established symptoms also claimed to have been exposed to many putative risk factors many more times higher than that of other Gulf war veterans. Many associated medical conditions were also reported to have occurred more often among these Gulf war veterans than among other Gulf war veterans. Finding of this current study suggested a possible syndrome related to Gulf War deployment. It also required a strong, objective, supporting clinical evidence. Factor analysis was viewed as a method, which was not completely objective. There were no definite rules in the selection of the appropriate number of factors or from among the many possible methods of rotation. Factor analysis is an empirical method, which provides necessary details, from which the reader can make his own conclusions and interpretation of given data (Kang et al.). Male Infertility David Dix of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, Stephen Karwetz of Wayne State University and David Miller of the University of Leeds in England surprised other biologist with their recent finding on male infertility (Travis 2002). They discovered that mature human sperms contain several thousand different strands of RNA, which are the cells' directives for protein manufacturing. The presence of RNA inside mature human sperm was unexpected, as scientists had assumed that newly formed sperm cells shed almost everything as they mature and had little need for RNA. This discovery is significant to many areas of biology and medicine. By establishing an RNA fingerprinting of sperms from fertile men, the scientists could compare them with sperms of infertile men. Further uses can be the development of male contraceptives by identifying the genes used by sperm cells for their development. And sperm RNAs may also help evaluate the safety of environmental chemicals (Travis). The previous consensus among biologists was that, as a sperm cell matures, it eliminates almost all of its cytoplasm, which is the fluid where the RNA resides (Travis 2002). Krawetz also said that reports of RNA-containing sperm in the past few decades were also disregarded or attributed to contamination by other cells. But about a decade ago, Miller and Krawetz found in joint experiments that RNA was present in spermatozoa. This led them to assume that RNA provides a history of spermatogenesis. They were joined by Dix in exploring the new discovery through a powerful method, which relied on microarrays, in order to scan cells for thousands of RNAs at one time. Microarrays are glass chips, nylon filters or other platforms, which are dotted with thousands of different strands of RNA or DNA. They used a form of DNA known as expressed sequence tag or EST. The microarrays held ESTs of roughly 30,000 different human genes. The scientists obtained semen samples from 10 healthy volunteers with normal-looking sperms and had fathered children. The scientists separated the samples from other kinds of cells and eliminated genetic material from their surface. Then they extracted RNA and converted it into a DNA form they called cDNA. When these cDNAs were applied to the microarrays, the cDNAs stuck to corresponding ESTs. This ultimately identified the genes at the sperms' RNA. The scientists later compared the RNA in the sperms of one fertile man with those of other fertile men. The 2,780 RNAs shared by the samples became representative of the spermatozoal fingerprint for a normal fertile man. Their next step was to find out what RNAs would be missing in the sperms of infertile men. But on the whole, Krawetz, Miller and Dix endeavored to convince their peers that sperms contain RNA through the results of their microarray experiments. Sperm biologist W. Steven Ward of the University of Hawaii at Manoa felt that the idea of spermatozoa having any RNA would be "counterintuitive." But he said he would be willing to give credit to the proof provided by the three scientists. Sergio Oehninger of the Jones Institute of Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk Virginia expressed agreement, but also cautioned that it would take years before microarrays could be cheap enough. The science itself would take time to mature and for the procedure to become routine clinical practice (Travis). When the role played by sperm RNA in human development becomes accepted as a scientific fact, it may explain why human females cannot reproduce parthenogenetically as frogs and other non-mammalians can (Travis 2002). In parthenogeneris, an unfertilized egg can start dividing and still be capable of reproducing a normal offspring. In some mammals with this capability, an unfertilized egg may begin developing into an embryo or the development can just stop. Investigators even suspected that the difficulties experienced by teams in mammal-cloning experiments were due to the absence of RNAs in the sperm. In cloning, scientists would take the DNA from a non-germ cell, add it to an egg denuded of its DNA and trick it into developing as though it were fertilized by a sperm. The procedure would work only a few times. Most of the time, it would develop gross defects, which often delayed further development. John Eppig, a reproductive biologist at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, suggested that the success of cloning was a strong argument against the supposed key biological role of apparently large numbers of RNAs being delivered by the sperm (Travis). It has been estimated that infertility occurs in 2 million couples in the United States (American Family Physician 1993). About a third of these are attributed to male factors, including primary testicular failure, secondary testicular failure and post-testicular obstruction. Greendale and his colleagues conducted a study on the possibility of Chlamydia trachomatis as another cause of unexplained infertility. In the study, the team utilized 52 men who were diagnosed with explicitly defined idiopathic infertility and were enrolled in two infertility practices as one group. The other group consisted of 79 men who were enrolled in prenatal classes their partners. Those couples who had unprotected intercourse were placed in a group, which was subjected to two semen analyses. These respondents were not hypogonadal or azoospermic and their partners had idiopathic primary or secondary infertility. When their serum IgG anti-Chlamydia antibodies were measured, infertile men were found to be 3.4 times more likely than fertile men to have a higher titer. About 50% of patients in both groups with anti-Chlamydia antibody titers of 1:64 or higher had no symptoms of infection. Among asymptomatic patients, 20% exhibited abnormal penile discharge, 205 with non-traumatic testicular swelling or pain, and 40% with dysuria. However, these findings by Greenpeace and his team were later found to be inconclusive (American Family Physician). Pain Syndrome Researchers at Mayo Clinic announced that those who suffer from fibromyalgia could be helped by acupuncture (Health News 2006). Their study on 50 patients who suffered from symptoms like fatigue and anxiety found that they obtained relief from the method. The added advantage was that acupuncture has few side effects. The results of its experiments led Mayo Clinic to speculate that this ancient therapy might possess benefits. Previous researches suggested that acupuncture possibly stimulates pain-killing substances in the body or alters brain chemistry. This, in turn, affects areas of the central nervous system involved in pain sensation and other involuntary functions (Health News). Data from a large German research effort offered support for the use of acupuncture in treating chronic pain conditions (Walsh 2005). The study was sponsored by the country's insurance companies. The data derived from two reports from the Acupuncture in Routine Care study, which were presented during a symposium on alternative and complementary therapies, and sponsored by the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth. The reports presented and demonstrated statistically significant and clinically relevant benefits of acupuncture when used in addition to routine care for headache and neck pain. It utilized 15,056 patients with migraine or tension-type of headaches. They were allocated up to 15 acupuncture treatments at random during a three-month period in combination with conventional treatment by analgesics. A control group was also used, which received conventional treatment only. A third group consisted of patients who did not agree to random acupuncture treatment was also used and monitored. About 75% of them were female with 44 years as the mean age. In the group, 3,182 agreed to randomization, 1,613 were in the acupuncture group, and 1,569 in the control group. After the three months of treatment, the volunteers reported that the frequency of their headache days per month had decreased. The incidence went down significantly from 8.4 days to 4.7 days in the acupuncture groups, greater than the reduced level in the control group. Headache types were also recorded. Those with migraine had an average of 7 days per month of the episodes before treatment and four days per month after treatment, which included acupuncture. Those with tension headaches also decreased from an average of 10 days per month to only 5 days per month (Health News). The tabulated improvements persisted in the succeeding three months (Health News 2006). In the control group, 70% of the patients needed complementary treatment with analgesics, as compared with 50% of those in acupuncture groups. This was the finding of the first report. The second report on the study of the effect of acupuncture on neck pain provided similar results. It utilized 13,846 patients with chronic neck pain. In this group, 68% wee women with a mean age of 53. Of this number, 1,753 were given randomized acupuncture treatment; 1,698 were in the control group; and 10,395 declined randomization but also received acupuncture. After three months of treatment, the patients reported improvements on their neck pain disability. These improvements were more pronounced in the acupuncture groups than in the control group, according to Claudia Becker-Witt. Scores went down from 56.4 to 39.6 in the acupuncture groups and from 54.5 to 51.2 in the control groups. Both reductions were considered statistically significant differences. Both studies also reported that the respondent-patients experienced significantly greater improvements in their quality of life. While the 8-9% of the patients in both studies reported experiencing side effects from acupuncture, these were not considered life-threatening (Walsh). Other published studies on the effect of acupuncture on patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis and chronic low back pain found that it improved their conditions (Health News 2006). This ancient Chinese medicine makes use of the energy, called chi, which flows along the channels of the body, called meridians. Pain and illness are believed to develop with an imbalance or disruption of the chi. Classic acupuncture involves the insertion and maneuvering of hair-thin needles at 1,000 acu-points on the 12 major meridians to restore the balance of the chi. Western practitioners say that acupuncture triggers the release of endorphins to dull the perception of the pain and stimulates the spinal cord to release pain-suppressing neurotransmitters (Health News). The practitioner first asks about the patient's medical history and pain symptoms (Health News 2006). Then he feels the patient's pain spots. A typical treatment involves 30-35 needles inserted shallowly on the skin, fascia and muscle. The usual frontal treatment requires 20 to 25 needles. These needles are kept in place for 15 to 20 minutes. A session usually lasts an hour. Most people feel relaxed during and after treatment. The common regimen consists of five weekly sessions and a follow-up a month later, if maintenance appears needed. If no improvement occurs, the patient is advised to seek out other treatment options (Health News). Review of Methods Studies on the Gulf War syndrome used the spectral analysis method and the factor analysis method. Spectral analysis focused on the changes in function of the parasympathetic nervous system, mainly sleep. The factor analysis method derived from the symptoms of the syndrome. Studies on male infertility utilized a method, which relied on microarrays, which, in turn, traced the presence of RNAs in the sperm cell. The absence of RNAs, those researchers suggested, could explain male infertility. Another study suggested that infection with Chlamydia trachomatis could be a cause of the condition. Mayo Clinic's study supported the effectiveness of acupuncture in managing headaches and chronic neck pain in a substantial number of patients. The method consisted of a three-month treatment of acupuncture with conventional analgesics on three different groups. They mostly reported experiencing reduction of their painful conditions. Acupuncture involves the insertion of very fine needles into the 12 body meridians to balance the flow of energy, called chi. The imbalance or disruption of the chi leads to illness. Acupuncture restores that balance by triggering the release of natural painkillers and stimulating the release of pain-suppressing neurotransmitters. The practitioner conducts some diagnosis before inserting the needles. These needles are kept in place for a few minutes. Treatment is often for an hour every week for a few weeks. The practitioner advises the patient to seek other treatment options if no improvement results. Conclusion The two methods used by epidemiological studies on the Gulf War syndrome on the dysfunction of the parasympathetic nervous system and the signs of physical and emotional disturbance were not contradictory. Rather, they were complementary and should be considered thus. The absence or lack of RNAs, as determined by the microarrays method, can be a breakthrough in establishing the cause of male infertility. Infection by Chlamydial trachomatis through semen analysis was regarded as inconclusive. And the value of acupuncture as an adjunct to conventional pain management has been significantly proven by the study undertaken by Mayo Clinic on a substantial group of volunteer-patients. All other studies support its effectiveness and safety. Bibliography American Family Physician. Chlamydial Infection and Male Infertility. American Academy of Family Physicians: Gale Group, November 15, 1993 Health News. Pain Relief with Acupuncture. Belvoir Media Group LLC: Gale Group, October 2006 Needling Away your Back Pain. Belvoir Media Group LLC. Gale Group, June 2006 Kang, Han K. Evidence for a Deployment-Related Gulf War Syndrome by Factor Analysis. Heldref Publications: Gale Group, 2002 Nutrition Health Review. Gulf War Vets Show Signs of Syndrome. Vegetus Publications: Gale Group, 2004 Travis, John. Read the full article

[greatworldwar2]

• Battle of Iwo Jima

The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps and Navy landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II.

After the American capture of the Marshall Islands, and the devastating air attacks against the Japanese fortress island of Truk Atoll in the Carolines in January 1944, the Japanese military leaders reevaluated their situation. All indications pointed to an American drive toward the Mariana Islands and the Carolines. To counter such an offensive, the IJA and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) established an inner line of defenses extending generally northward from the Carolines to the Marianas, and thence to Japan via the Volcano Islands, and westward from the Marianas via the Carolines. In March 1944, the Japanese 31st Army, commanded by General Hideyoshi Obata, was activated to garrison this inner line. The commander of the Japanese garrison on Chichi Jima was placed nominally in command of Army and Navy units in the Volcano Islands. After the American conquest of the Marianas, daily bomber raids from the Marianas hit the mainland as part of Operation Scavenger. Iwo Jima served as an early warning station that radioed reports of incoming bombers back to mainland Japan. This allowed Japanese air defenses to prepare for the arrival of American bombers.

After the U.S. seized bases in the Marshall Islands in the battles of Kwajalein and Eniwetok in February 1944, Japanese Army and Navy reinforcements were sent to Iwo Jima: 500 men from the naval base at Yokosuka and 500 from Chichi Jima reached Iwo Jima during March and April 1944. At the same time, with reinforcements arriving from Chichi Jima and the home islands, the Army garrison on Iwo Jima reached a strength of more than 5,000 men. American intelligence sources were confident that Iwo Jima would fall in one week. In light of the optimistic intelligence reports, the decision was made to invade Iwo Jima and the operation was given the code name Operation Detachment. American forces failed to anticipate that the Japanese would prepare a complex and deep defense, much like on Peleliu in the fall of 1944. So successful was the Japanese preparation that it was discovered after the battle that the hundreds of tons of Allied bombs and thousands of rounds of heavy naval gunfire had left the Japanese defenders almost undamaged and ready to inflict losses on the U.S. Marines.

By February 19th, 1945, the day the Americans invaded, 18 kilometres (11 mi) of a planned 27 kilometres (17 mi) of tunnel network had been dug. There were numerous command centers and barracks that were 75 feet deep. Tunnels allowed for troop movement to go undetected to various defense positions. Hundreds of hidden artillery and mortar positions along with land mines were placed all over the island. Among the Japanese weapons were 320 mm spigot mortars and a variety of explosive rockets. Numerous Japanese snipers and camouflaged machine gun positions were also set up.

Starting on June 15th, 1944, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Air Forces began naval bombardments and air raids against Iwo Jima, which would become the longest and most intense in the Pacific theater. These would contain a combination of naval artillery shellings and aerial bombings that went on for nine months. Maj. Gen. Harry Schmidt, commander of the Marine landing force, requested a 10-day heavy shelling of the island immediately preceding the mid-February amphibious assault.The limited bombardment had questionable impact on the enemy due to the Japanese being heavily dug-in and fortified. However, many bunkers and caves were destroyed during the bombing, giving it some limited success. The Japanese had been preparing for this battle since March 1944, which gave them a significant head start. By the time of the landing, about 450 American ships were located off Iwo Jima. The entire battle involved about 60,000 U.S. Marines and several thousand U.S. Navy Seabees.

Unlike the days of the pre-landing bombardment, the day of invasion dawned clear and bright. At 08:59, the first wave of Marines landed on the beaches of the southeastern coast of Iwo Jima. Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, had six Navajo code talkers working around the clock during the first two days of the battle. These six sent and received over 800 messages, all without error. Unfortunately for the landing force, the planners at Pearl Harbor had completely misjudged the situation that would face Gen. Schmidt's Marines. The beaches had been described as "excellent" and the thrust inland was expected to be "easy." In reality, after crossing the beach, the Marines were faced with 15-foot-high slopes of soft black volcanic ash. This ash allowed for neither a secure footing nor the construction of foxholes to protect the Marines from hostile fire. The lack of a vigorous response led the Navy to conclude that their bombardment had suppressed the Japanese defenses and in good order the Marines began deployment to the Iwo Jima beach.

In the deathly silence, landed US Marines began to slowly inch their way forward inland, oblivious to the danger. After allowing the Americans to pile up men and machinery on the beach for just over an hour, Japanese Gen. Kuribayashi unleashed the undiminished force of his countermeasures. Shortly after 10:00, everything from machine guns and mortars to heavy artillery began to rain down on the crowded beach, which was quickly transformed into a nightmarish bloodbath. To make matters worse for the Americans, the artillery bunkers firing on them were connected to the elaborate tunnel system so that bunkers that were cleared with flamethrowers and grenades were reoccupied shortly afterwards by Japanese troops moving through the tunnels. This tactic caused many casualties among the Marines, as they walked past the reoccupied bunkers without expecting to suddenly take fresh fire. Amtracs, unable to do more than uselessly churn the black ash, made no progress up the slopes; their Marine passengers had to dismount and slog forward on foot. By 11:30, some Marines had managed to reach the southern tip of Airfield No. 1, whose possession had been one of the (highly unrealistic) original American objectives for the first day. The Marines endured a fanatical 100-man charge by the Japanese, but were able to keep their toehold on Airfield No. 1 as night fell.

In the left-most sector, the Americans did manage to achieve one of their objectives for the battle that day. Led by Col. Harry B. "Harry the Horse" Liversedge, the 28th Marines drove across the island at its narrowest width, around 0.8 kilometres (0.50 mi), thereby isolating the Japanese dug in on Mount Suribachi. The right-most landing area was dominated by Japanese positions at the Quarry. The 25th Marine Regiment undertook a two-pronged attack to silence these guns. The 25th Marines' 3rd Battalion had landed approximately 900 men in the morning. Japanese resistance at the Quarry was so fierce that by nightfall only 150 Marines were left in fighting condition. By the evening, 30,000 Marines had landed. About 40,000 more would follow. In the days after the landings, the Marines expected the usual Japanese banzai charge during the night. This had been the standard Japanese final defense strategy in previous battles against enemy ground forces. However, General Kuribayashi had strictly forbidden these "human wave" attacks by the Japanese infantrymen because he considered them to be futile. The fighting on the beachhead at Iwo Jima was very fierce. The advance of the Marines was stalled by numerous defensive positions augmented by artillery pieces. There, the Marines were ambushed by Japanese troops who occasionally sprang out of tunnels. At night, the Japanese left their defenses under cover of darkness to attack American foxholes, but U.S. Navy ships fired star shells to deny them the cover of darkness.

Close air support was initially provided by fighters from escort carriers off the coast. This shifted over to the 15th Fighter Group, flying P-51 Mustangs, after they arrived on the island on March 6th. Similarly, illumination rounds (flares) which were used to light up the battlefield at night were initially provided by ships, shifting over later to landing force artillery. Navajo code talkers were part of the American ground communications. After running out of water, food and most supplies, the Japanese troops became desperate toward the end of the battle. Kuribayashi, who had argued against banzai attacks at the start of the battle, realized that defeat was imminent. Marines began to face increasing numbers of nighttime attacks; these were only repelled by a combination of machine-gun defensive positions and artillery support. At times, the Marines engaged in hand-to-hand fighting to repel the Japanese attacks. With the landing area secure, more troops and heavy equipment came ashore, and the invasion proceeded north to capture the airfields and the remainder of the island. Most Japanese soldiers fought to the death.

By the morning of 23 February, Mount Suribachi was effectively cut off above ground from the rest of the island. The Marines knew that the Japanese defenders had an extensive network of below-ground defenses, and that in spite of its isolation above ground, the volcano was still connected to Japanese defenders via the tunnel network. They expected a fierce fight for the summit. Two small patrols from two rifle companies from the 2/28 Marines were sent up the volcano to reconnoiter routes on the mountain's north face. The recon patrols made it to the summit and scrambled down again, reporting any contact to the 2/28 Marines commander, Colonel Chandler Johnson. Although the Marine riflemen expected an ambush, the larger patrol going up afterwards encountered a few Japanese defenders once on top and after the flag was raised. The majority of the Japanese troops stayed in the tunnel network due to U.S. shelling, only occasionally attacking in small groups, and were generally all killed. Johnson called for a reinforced platoon size patrol from E Company to climb Suribachi and seize and occupy the crest. The patrol commander, 1st Lt. Harold Schrier, was handed the battalion's American flag to be raised on top to signal Suribachi's capture, if they reached the summit. Johnson and the Marines anticipated heavy fighting, but the patrol encountered only a small amount of sniper fire on the way up the mountain. Once the top was secured by Schrier and his men, a length of Japanese water pipe was found there among the wreckage, and the American flag was attached to the pipe and then raised and planted on top of Mount Suribachi which became the first foreign flag to fly on Japanese soil.

Though ultimately victorious, the American victory at Iwo Jima had come at a terrible price. According to the official Navy Department Library website, The 36-day (Iwo Jima) assault resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead. Because all civilians had been evacuated, there were no civilian casualties at Iwo Jima, unlike at Saipan and Okinawa.

[glassbxttless]

Do the boys watch anything? Movies, TV, Netflix originals?

Plays? Livestream of Concerts? Etc.

Randy: Haunted, I Survived, Nailed It!, America’s Next Top Model, etc.

Ben: 60 Days In, KUWTK, The Fighting Seabees, etc.

Matt: Pokémon, Naruto, HunterxHunter, One Piece, Demon Slayer, etc.

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

Lee Powell as The Lone Ranger and Chief Thundrcloud as Tonto in Hi Yo Silver (1940).  The chief was born Victor Daniels in Oklahoma, and had 82 acting credits from 1935 to an uncredited bit in The Searchers (1956).  Most often he was seen as an uncredited Indian.  His other notable credits include The Farmer Takes a Wife, Union Pacific, The Cat and the Canary (1939), North West Mounted Police, Western Union, My Gal Sal, The FIghting Seabees, Nob Hill, The Senator was Indiscreet, and an episode of My Little Margie. 

[pynkhues]

For the movie thing- Sidney Poitier, Arlene Dahl, John Wayne

Oh, gosh, anon, okay, so my sister is a huge John Wayne fan, and at the height of her depression, we used to turn our fold-out couch into a bed, and she and I would lie on it and watch John Wayne movies on TCM. As a result, I have seen a lot of John Wayne movies, even though I errrrr don’t think he’s a good actor, and a lot of his movies are Not Good, haha, so please keep that in mind. 

Also Sidney Poitier! One of my absolute faves! Thank you for sending!

Sidney Poitier

- No Way Out (1950) - Blackboard Jungle (1955) - The Mark of the Hawk (1957) - The Defiant Ones (1958) - Porgy and Bess - All the Young Men (1960) - Paris Blues (1961) - Lillies of the Field (1963) - The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) - The Slender Thread (1965) - A Patch of Blue (1965) - To Sir, With Love (1967) - In the Heat of the Night (1967) - Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) - For the Love of Ivy (1968)

Arlene Dahl

- My Wild Irish Rose (1947) - Life with Father (1947) - Three Little Words (1950) - She Played with Fire (1957) - Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

John Wayne

- Stagecoach (1939) - Dark Command (1940) - The Long Voyage Home (1940) - Lady for a Night (1942) - Reap the Wild Wind (1942) - The Spoilers (1942)  - Flying Tigers (1942) - In Old Oklahoma (1943) - The Fighting Seabees (1943) - Flame of Barbary Coast (1945) - They were Expendable (1945) - Red River (1948) - She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) - Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) - The Quiet Man (1952) - Hondo (1953) - The Searchers (1956) - The Alamo (1960) - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) - Hatari! (1962) - The Longest Day (1962) - How the West Was Won (1962) - The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) - In Harm’s Way (1965) - True Grit (1969)

Send me an actor/actress, and I’ll tell you what movies I’ve seen them in!

[blissfulalchemist]

Hey!! Headcannons please! Angry for Cat, cooking for Chance and quirks for Lance. ♥️

Thank you so much for asking!!! ✧༺♥༻∞ (◕˽ ◕ ✿) This is gonna be fun! 

Angry Headcannons:

😡 When she was a preteen she was easily angered and was more outward with her anger. She never got into fights but would beat on a boy or two. Especially if they messed with her friends. She never got in trouble cause how could tiny itty bitty Cat ever hurt a boy that was bigger than her.

😡 Cat will find any excuse to justify not getting angry at a person. And if she can’t find one she just stuffs it down. 

😡 Along those lines she does feel anger, she just never likes to show it. To her being angry at a person is unfair and cruel to them, even if it’s well deserved.

😡 Cat is an angry cry kind of person. She tries not too but it still happens even if in private afterwards. If she’s not crying though and still yelling at you...well you fucked up big time.

😡 Nothing angers her more than injustice and someone pressing her to solve the problem right that minute instead of giving each other the space needed to cool down so they can talk out problems to solve them. 

Cooking Headcannons:

👨‍🍳 Chance never not learned how to cook but he is very bad at keeping up with cooking. He will opt for takeout more than cooking.

👨‍🍳 Chance’s father and grandfather were never ones to make a variety of meals, it basically came down to Monday they had this meal, Tuesday was this meal, etc with the only variety being if they were too tired to cook then they ordered food.

👨‍🍳 There was one time Chance tried to impress a girl back in college and tried to make a nice meal all by himself. He didn’t set the house on fire but there was a flaming oven mitt and he just ordered take out from a decent restaurant.

👨‍🍳 Chance can’t bake worth a shit. He even manages to screw up box cakes and the ones you put in the microwave. He will follow instructions to the T, even the high altitude instructions, and still the backed goods never come out right. It is a dance with the prepared cookie dough on if he can mange to make it right.

👨‍🍳 When Chance was doing nothing but drinking he didn’t ever really eat unless someone put food in front of him or offered. Thankfully he always managed to have a stoner as a friend no matter where he was in Montana that would have food placed around the house.  

Quirks and Hobbies:

🧠 Lance always had a thing for wood whittling. He used to focus on projects so much when he was younger but now he has about five figurines he can make without looking at what he’s doing now. It’s a great stress reliever and make for some nice gifts. When he was in the Middle East he would give them to the kids for toys, when he was stationed in one place for months some of the kids there would bring him wood pieces and would make requests.

🧠 Lance had to walk the same routes when he visited Sage in big cities. He wasn’t someone that would get lost easily but he gets overwhelmed by the crowded expansive space of big cities. 

🧠 Lance loves working with his hands and was saddened to find out he could have been a Seabee in the military, everyone only ever saw how good he was at shooting, following orders, and leading teams to ever think about giving him a chance to just work on mechanical issues and building things.

🧠 Lance enjoys the show Merlin and would watch it with Sage often when she was very much into it.

🧠 Lance was that embarrassing dad to Sage well into her adult years. When she first met her current boyfriend Lance was helping her move into her first apartment Lance purposefully said all the dad jokes he could and exaggerated his feelings of being proud, sad, and happy for Sage, even going so far as the stereotypical threat to the boyfriend when they were alone. Though there was truth to it, he just didn’t have to make himself so mean and intimidating. She still claims that her boyfriend almost left her because of Lance, but knows that it was all in good fun.