To All,
Good Thursday Morning July 25. A beautiful clear day here this morning. I hope that your day is as fine. A lot of something old and something new in the List today. I hope you enjoy it.
Warm Regards,
skip
HAGD
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director's corner for all 83 H-Grams
This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History:
July 25
1898During the Spanish-American War, a landing party from the armed yacht, USS Gloucester, single-handedly captures Guanica, Puerto Rico.
1946 The second of two nuclear weapon tests - BAKER - is detonated during Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. The first test was ABLE.
1943 The first Navy ship named for an African-American, USS Harmon (DE 678), is launched. USS Harmon is named in honor of Mess Attendant 1st Class Leonard Roy Harmon who posthumously receives the Navy Cross for heroic actions trying to save a shipmate on board USS San Francisco (CA 38) during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on Nov. 13, 1942.
1956 USS Edward H. Allen (DE 531) and USNS Private H. Thomas (AP 185) rescue more than 200 passengers from Andrea Doria and transport them to New York after the Italian liner collides with Swedish cruiser Stockholm off Nantucket on the New England coast. Forty-six people died from the collision, but 1,600 passengers and crew are saved.
1998 USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) is commissioned at Norfolk Naval Base, Va. The eighth aircraft carrier of the Nimitz-class is the first to be named after the 33rd president of the United States.
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Today in World History July 25
326 Emperor Constantine refuses to carry out traditional pagan sacrifices.
1394 Charles VI of France issues a decree for the general expulsion of Jews from France.
1564 Maximilian II becomes emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
1587 Hideyoshi bans Christianity in Japan and orders all Christians to leave.
1759 British forces defeat a French army at Fort Niagara in Canada.
1799 On his way back from Syria, Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Ottomans at Aboukir, Egypt.
1814 British and American forces fight each other to a standoff at Lundy's Lane, Canada.
1845 China grants Belgium equal trading rights with Britain, France and the United States.
1867 President Andrew Johnson signs an act creating the territory of Wyoming.
1850 Gold is discovered in the Rogue River in Oregon, extending the quest for gold up the Pacific coast.
1861 The Crittenden Resolution, calling for the American Civil War to be fought to preserve the Union and not for slavery, is passed by Congress.
1894 Japanese forces sink the British steamer Kowshing which was bringing Chinese reinforcements to Korea.
1909 French aviator Louis Bleriot becomes the first man to fly across the English Channel in an airplane.
1914 Russia declares that it will act to protect Serbian sovereignty.
1924 Greece announces the deportation of 50,000 Armenians.
1934 Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss is shot and killed by Nazis.
1941 The U.S. government freezes Japanese and Chinese assets.
1943 Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is overthrown in a coup.
1944 Allied forces begin the breakthrough of German lines in Normandy.
1978 The first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, is born in Oldham, England.
1984 Svetlana Savitskaya becomes first woman to perform a space walk.
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OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For The List for the week beginning Monday, 22 July 2024 and ending Sunday, 28 July 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 21 July 1969… The week our astronauts walked on the Moon and Ted Kennedy drove off a bridge and left Mary Jo to drown.
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)
(Please note the eye-watering ongoing revamp of the RTR website by Webmaster/Author Dan Heller, who has inherited the site from originators RADM Bear Taylor, USN, Retired, and Angie Morse, "Mighty Thunder")…
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and can read what happened each day to the aircraft and its crew. .Micro is the one also that goes into the archives and finds these inputs and sends them to me for incorporation in the List. It is a lot of work and our thanks goes out to him for his effort.
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "for 25 July
July 25: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1874
Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
(This site was sent by a friend . The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
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From the time it taxis out moving all the controls and both engines you are hooked
From the archives
Thanks to Dr.Rich
R/C Model Aircraft of The Week.......!!
Here is a video of a recent R/C event in the Czech Republic featuring a Suchoi SU-30 Vectored Thrust Fighter Airplane. Having viewed many of these events over the years, I can truly say this is one of the best you will ever see!! Not only is the aircraft superbly crafted, but the flying and camera work to bring it to life is outstanding.
Sound up, strap in, and enjoy this one. It doesn't get much better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sIeM5lBIag
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Thanks to Newell
Skip,
I watched Israeli PM Netanyahu's speech to the joint houses of Congress. Its tone and message called to mind a "Sheep, Wolves & Sheep Dogs" letter written years ago to Jill Edwards. Young Miss Edwards was a University of Washington student, who apparently didn't believe that military activity was actually a credible deterrent to the wolves of the world. In short, her position appears to question the whole "Peace through military strength!" axiom. But rather than argue either side of that question – her living in a very sheltered academic bubble or whatever flaws that might exist in the "Sheep, Wolves & Sheep Dogs" response letter – I'll let the letter, which follows for your consideration, speak for itself.
Newell
This letter was written by Charles Grennel and his comrades who are veterans of the Global War On Terror. Grennel is an Army Reservist who spent two years in Iraq, and was a principal in putting together the first Iraqi elections in January of 2005. It was written to Jill Edwards who is one of the students at the University of Washington who did not want to honor a USMC Medal of Honor awardee, because she did not think those who serve in the U.S. Armed services are good role models.
To: Edwards, Jill (student, UW)
Subject: Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
Dear Miss Edwards,
I read of your "student activity" regarding the proposed memorial to Col Greg Boyington, USMC, a Medal of Honor winner. I suspect you will receive a bellyful of angry e-mails from conservative folks like me. You may be too young to appreciate fully the sacrifices of generations of servicemen and servicewomen on whose shoulders you and your fellow students stand. I forgive you for the untutored ways of youth and your naiveté. It may be that you are, simply, a sheep. There's no dishonor in being a sheep--as long as you know and accept what you are.
William J. Bennett, in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997, said, "Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident."
We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep. Then there are the wolves, and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy. Do you believe there are wolves out there that will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.
Then there are sheepdogs and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf. If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen--a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath--a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the uncharted path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.
We know that the sheep live in denial--that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kids' school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they choose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog that intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours. Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "baa"--until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the young ones. Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.
There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself. Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When they learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd and the other passengers confronted the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers--athletes, business people and parents--from sheep to sheepdogs, and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.
"There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men." - Edmund Burke.
Here is the point I would like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision. If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep, and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust, or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip, and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Immediately after 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. Now the sheep have again begun to despise the sheepdogs as those who represent unending violence and deny the real dangers of the wolves.
It's OK to be a sheep, but do not kick the sheep dog. Indeed, the sheep dog may just run a little harder, strive to protect a little better and be fully prepared to pay an ultimate price in battle and spirit with the sheep moving from "Baa" to "thanks". We do not call for gifts or freedoms beyond our lot. We just need a small pat on the head, a smile and a thank you to fill the emotional tank that is drained protecting the sheep. And when our number is called by "The Almighty" and day retreats into night, a small prayer before the heavens just may be in order to say thanks for letting you continue to be a sheep. And be grateful for the thousands—millions--of American sheepdogs who permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas.
Sincerely,
Charles Grennel
"Out of every 100 men in battle, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one -- one is a warrior -- and he will bring the others back." - Heraclitus
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I learned every word of this song when I drove up to PG, school In the Fall of 71 to go to the Safety School. I had my little 356sc PORCHE and of course went up Hiway 1. I lost track of how many times they played it on the radio but it was a lot and that and hairpin curves kept me occupied just fine.; And yes I am listening to it as I type this.
From the archives
Thanks to Lurch
Sit back and enjoy.
Subject: The Day That Music Died........American Pie takes on a new meaning 7:00 MIN
The Day That Music Died!!!!!
Whether you are old enough or not to remember this song or not, you will be mesmerized by this video. I never knew American Pie had so many references.
"American Pie" was the name of the plane that Buddy Holly went down in.
I have listened to the words to American Pie for many years and I thought I understood everything that was being sung.
However, when the words are put together with pictures and film clips the song takes on a new meaning.
It took a lot of thought to produce this. Sure brings back lots of memories.
It makes the lyrics really come alive!!
See video here: http://youtu.be/VhX3b1h7GQw
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Thanks to Dr.Rich
Every time I think that I have seen just about everything related to WWII something like this comes in my mailbox
How THIS Stupid Intelligence Mistake Tipped the Scales of WW2
As the Second World War loomed in 1939, a little know mission was launched by the Third Reich. Targeting Britain's newly built Chain Home network, the Germans wanted to know what it was designed to do. After several costly blunders, the Germans were none the wiser, or were they? This is the story of the German spy balloon that cost them the war and the amazing discoveries modern historians have uncovered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaF4yFILMi4
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THANKS TO BRETT
The following essay is adapted from a speech delivered to the Military Moms of Greenwich in 2024.
Perhaps nowhere is the break between the past and the present more manifest than in today's military. For three thousand years the place of honor around the campfire or counsel table was the warrior's. For most of human history, male military service was widespread, if not universal. In most Native American languages, the word for "man" and "warrior" are identical.
The honor of warfare drew all of society. At Harvard University during World War I, President Lowell nearly shut the school down so it could train soldiers. Eleven thousand, three hundred and nineteen Harvard alumni or students served from sixty different classes. Three hundred seventy-three were killed, forty-three of whom were students who enlisted before they graduated. At that time, members of elite society perceived a duty to fight for one's country, but they were also attracted to the honor of this calling.
A change in this foundational element of human experience has gradually occurred. A tiny ROTC presence was only recently permitted back at Harvard. In a 2023 poll, 72 percent of Americans replied that in the event of a major conflict involving the U.S. they would not be willing to join the military. Almost half of young people age 18–29 said they would not be willing to risk their lives in the event of a military invasion of America, and 30 percent said they would rather surrender than risk death. Willingness is only part of the problem. A 2022 Pentagon study shows 77 percent of target military-age male recruits were unqualified to serve based on fitness, drug use, or other reasons.
Half of one percent of Americans serve in the military and only a small fraction of those in combat roles. On the coasts, among our so-called elites, many don't know anyone in the military, not among their family, extended family, or friends. I have a son in the Marines and two more who will enter soon. When my wife and I mention our children's service to others, we often sense incredulity. They express admiration, but don't want their children serving. Recall the comment of an Afghanistan veteran: "We were fighting a war and everyone else was going to the mall." Our society no longer understands how to think about those who would offer their lives for their country and whose primordial profession it is to take the lives of others.
Language is a mirror of society. Words that used to be commonplace even seventy years ago are gone. You hear "courage" and "hero" all the time but their meaning has been deformed by misuse. Properly understood, these positive virtues demand something from you. They have been replaced by tolerance, inclusion, empathy—qualities that, more than anything, demand you do nothing, judge nothing.
The eloquence of two soldier intellectuals stands out on this conflict between modernity and the warrior. What is extraordinary about Oliver Wendell Holmes and Ernst Junger is their similarities despite their differences. Holmes was a Union officer in the U.S. Civil War, Junger a German in the trenches of WWI. Both saw extensive combat in conflicts of legendary brutality. No arm chair jingoes, both were severely wounded multiple times and fought with exceptional courage. Both warned of a rational, technocratic, materialist individualism and the eclipse of tradition. They were prescient men.
In his 1895 Soldier's Faith Speech at Harvard, Holmes addressed growing "individualist negations."
We have learned the doctrine that evil means pain, and the revolt against pain in all its forms has grown more and more marked. . . . we express in numberless ways the notion that suffering is a wrong which can be and ought to be prevented . . . how hard it is to be wounded in the battle of life, how terrible, how unjust it is that any one should fail. There are many, poor and rich, who think that love of country is an old wife's tale, to be replaced . . . by a rootless self-seeking search for a place where the most enjoyment may be had at the least cost.
And Junger, in his World War I memoir Storm of Steel, writes:
When once it is no longer possible to understand how a man gives his life for his country—and the time will come—then . . . the idea of the Fatherland is dead. . . . For all these great and solemn ideas bloom from a feeling that dwells in the blood and cannot be forced. In the cold light of reason everything alike is a matter of expedience and sinks to the paltry and mean.
One hundred years ago, they saw a cresting wave that is now breaking. The most honest commentary about war must always account for its central paradox. It is the venue for man's greatest depravity. But war is also man's most grand endeavor, inspiring incomparable energy, excitement and awe, the stage for soaring acts. All the Christmas Eves of my life blend together but one, kneeling in the sand, holding a candle and singing at midnight with my fellow Marines in the Saudi Desert in 1990. Holmes again: "We have shared the incommunicable experience of war; we have felt, we still feel, the passion of life to its top."
Our children are part of an ancient tradition, but the tradition of the military mom is precisely as old. The first warrior created the first worrying mother. Heroism is trumpeted but the grief inextricable from it is borne in anonymity. Perhaps this is the most unfair thing about war.
This special bond is also the military mom's burden. Thucydides's account of Pericles's funeral oration for those fallen in the Peloponnesian War tells us as much about the present as the past. To the parents of the dead, he says there is no pretending that his words will eliminate their grief. "Comfort, therefore, not condolence," he says, "is what I have to offer to the parents of the dead." He delivers not sympathy and pity, but, while acknowledging their grief, affirmation of "a death so glorious as that which has caused your mourning." "For it is only the love of honor that never grows old; and honor it is, not gain as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness." An odd amalgamation for us today, suffering and triumph hand in hand.
Though America may not fully understand your position as military moms, take solace in the knowledge that you are far from alone. You join the company of the greatest drama in human history: the warrior's mother. Your companions are millions of ghosts at peace, the mothers of Pericles's Hoplites, medieval bowmen, and privates at Gettysburg.
I think about the two Navy SEALs lost recently in the Red Sea, and about their parents. I was surprised how little coverage they received, and how fleeting. I disdain the manifest fecklessness of the policy they died executing. The parents of the fallen often animate their grief by lashing out at a cause of the loss. The equipment should not have failed, the plan was foolish, the aim unrealistic, my son died for nothing. But war could be defined as a colossal endeavor in mismanagement, waste, and overreach. An American mother's son will never be worth a ball bearing plant in Schweinfurt or the borders of Ukraine. The soldier has never chosen his equipment, his leaders, or his war aims, only his duty.
What did those SEALs die for? For us this seems an important question. Holmes speaks of a soldier's faith.
In the midst of doubt, in the collapse of creeds, there is one thing I do not doubt, that no man who lives in the same world with most of us can doubt, and that is that the faith is true and adorable which leads a soldier to throw away his life in obedience to a blindly accepted duty . . . you know that man has in him that unspeakable somewhat which makes him capable of miracle, able to lift himself by the might of his own soul, unaided, able to face annihilation for a blind belief.
Junger perceived the exact same faith:
And so, strange as it may sound, I learned from this very four years schooling in force and in all the fantastic extravagance of material warfare that life has no depth of meaning except when it is pledged for an ideal, and that there are ideals in comparison with which the life of an individual and even of a people has no weight.
I believe those SEALs died for this. As Edith Hamilton wrote, "It is by the power to suffer, above all, that we are of more value than the sparrows. . . . Tragedy's one essential is a soul that can feel greatly. The great soul in pain and in death transforms pain and death." Perhaps it is another paradox that only potential for loss, or loss itself, allows us to fully appreciate what we lost.
G. David Bednar, a former infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps who fought in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, writes from Greenwich, Connecticut.
FIRST THINGS
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A few years ago I watched a show on TV that followed some folks that hunted these things and it was pretty entertaining. They did it at night because they could use flashlights to light up their eyes and that helped to find them. Then another group used a drone with IR capability and that found a bunch.. The flashlight they used would light up the night and I finally got a good look at it and it was made by DeWalt. I already had a lot of DeWalt tools so the batteries were not a problem. That thing can light up my whole back yard and beyond the bridle path on the other side. I have seen a few red eyes light up out there. Great tool and it is always by the sliding glass door into the back yard and goes with me to lock up the chickens at night along with another tool for such things.
Not me …skip
Immigrant-invader Burmese Pythons Destroy Everglades Wildlife
More here: See pic below!
In the early morning hours on July 10, a group of passionate python hunters caught a female Burmese python. Interested to learn the full scope of the size of their catch, the team contacted the Conservancy of Southwest Florida's python team to collect measurements. The results: 19 feet or 579cm. and 125 pounds, officially the longest ever documented. The longest Burmese python previously recorded in Florida was 18 feet 9 inches.
Immigrant-invader Burmese Pythons Destroy Everglades Wildlife
July 25, 2023
This Article
It is amazing how utterly and totally stupid government officials are in the United States. The fools brought in pythons, fire ants, malaria mosquitos, daytime mosquitos, and millions of third world immigrant-invaders. All American government is capable of is producing problems, and the liberals want more government.
ALSO SEE: https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/florida-invasive-burmese-pythons-bring-lung-parasite-11660885
https://www.history.com/news/burmese-python-invasion-florida-everglades
How Burmese Pythons Took Over the Florida Everglades
They've eaten practically every mammal in sight—and have no natural predators.
By: Adam Janos
February 20, 2020
Starting in the 1980s, the swamps of the South Florida Everglades have been overrun by one of the most damaging invasive species the region has ever seen: the Burmese python. These massive snakes, which can grow to 20 feet long or more, with telephone-pole-sized girths, have all but decimated the region's small- and medium-sized mammal population, wreaking havoc with the area's ecosystem.
That ecosystem, the Florida Everglades, commands some 1.5 million acres—or about one-and-a-half times the size of Rhode Island. Save for a few bisecting roadways (US 41 and I-75), these desolate subtropical swamps are detached from the grid of American civilization. It's hard to fathom that downtown Miami sits just 30 miles away from the vast wetlands that have become an adopted home for (at least) tens of thousands of huge snakes.
Because female pythons can lay 50-100 eggs per year—and the creatures have no natural predator in the region—their threat continues to escalate.
How the Burmese python took over Florida
Native to Southeast Asia, pythons were first brought to the United States as exotic pets. When the exotic pet trade boomed in the 1980s, Miami became host to thousands of such snakes.
Because pythons can grow to such unmanageable sizes, it was inevitable that some irresponsible owners would release the snakes into the wild. But most experts believe the pythons established a reproducing population in the Everglades sometime after Hurricane Andrew—a category 5 storm that devastated the state in August 1992. It was during that storm that a python breeding facility was destroyed, releasing countless snakes into the nearby swamps.
Today, authorities have no idea how many pythons occupy the area, in large part because the Everglades—in their vast inaccessibility—are so hard to conduct surveys in. And the mottled brown snakes blend well into the scrubby environment.
"It could be tens of thousands, or it could be hundreds of thousands," says Rory Feeney, the bureau chief of land resources at the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)—a federal agency that helps spearhead Everglades conservation efforts. The agency, Feeney adds, has been actively "dealing with invasive pythons for over a decade."
OPEN SEASON ON PYTHONS: Because the Burmese python is such a recognized nuisance to the Everglades ecosystem, the state of Florida has removed barriers to hunting them, and even set up incentive programs. Hunters can kill Burmese pythons and other invasive reptiles on private lands all year, without a permit or hunting license. As of 2018, hunting regulations have eased up on some public lands as well: Hunters can work without a permit or license, although there are some restrictions and guidance around the humane methods. For more information on how hunters become approved for official python eradication efforts, go to the South Florida Water Management District's Python Elimination Program.
Greatest ecological threat to the region
While only in South Florida for an ecological blink of an eye, the Burmese python has already devastated the mammal population of the Everglades, severely threatening its biodiversity. According to one study, between 1997 and 2012 the Everglades' raccoon, opossum and bobcat populations dropped 99.3, 98.9, and 87.5 percent respectively. Meanwhile "marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits and foxes effectively disappeared," the study said.
Another study, which fitted rabbits with radio transmitters and released them into the Everglades, found that 77 percent of those who died within the year met their fate at the deathly squeeze of the invasive serpent.
"We've found wading birds in the bellies of these pythons. We've found deer," says Feeney.
Daniel Simberloff, a biologist and ecologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the editor-in-chief of Biological Invasions, succinctly described the Burmese python's brutal efficiency in South Florida:
"The habitat of the Everglades—it's perfect. It's warm; they do really well in muddy, marshy habitats…and of course, there's this huge food base that was totally unadapted to deal with them. There was nothing to keep them from doing very well."
Efforts to eradicate the pythons
As evidence of the python's damaging spread became clearer, state and federal authorities began working together in an attempt to eradicate the python population. In 2010, the state made python pet ownership illegal.
Then in 2017, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the SFWMD introduced the Python Elimination Program, which hires people to hunt the swamps for snakes. These "python removal agents" are generally paid minimum wage, plus additional fees per foot—sometimes up to hundreds of dollars per snake. State and federal agencies are also upping the ante by hosting occasional competitive "python challenges," complete with cash prizes.
Feeney says the elimination program has removed almost 4,000 pythons from the wild, likely a small fraction of the estimated number of pythons still lurking the Everglades. But he has some cause for optimism since half those snakes have been females—which are capable of laying 50-100 eggs per year. Every female snake removed from the wild, he says, "is a step in the right direction."
The agency is also exploring more aggressive tactics, from canine detection to genetic warfare, which involves editing the genomes of snakes that are then released into the wild.
Simberloff says that scientists could theoretically "put a gene in there that causes all the offspring of a male that carries the gene to be male. Or causes all the female offspring to die. And these driven genes could really knock back the population."
But until such technology is developed, the Burmese python will likely continue to squeeze life out of the great Florida wild.
Note: Actually fire ants are a predator because they eat the python eggs. It is the anacondas that are the worst threat as they give live birth in the water and often reach 30 feet in length.
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F-11 Thanks to YP
Great fun airplane! Kind of a pig hog in basic engine, though, which led this kid to lots of burner tapping and lying about my fuel state and praying for open runways back at Chase. Some of the Instructors would pop the refueling probe on short final, giving the LSO/whatever the Finger. This after calling tower for landing with call sign and "Ace of the Base!" That got some chiding for example setting, but YP filed it away….
Going Supersonic on the first hop to get that out of the way was no big wup watching the clock, as was Mach Two later in the Fantoom. Now, the Crusader had Mach tuck going supersonic and pitch up coming out of mach that had to be considered for overstress reasons,
I do remember being out of the ejection seat envelope past the 180.
There was a Jarboon Cougar instructor (I beat him in a chugalug contest for champeen of Chase Field) that specialized in jumping and whooping F-11's.
So, yes, YP was another F-11 jock that went on to fly A-4's and other stuff.
YP
On Jul 25, 2024, at 7:29 AM, <vigihawk> wrote
You really made me feel bad with the cover of the Summer 2024 issue of A4Ever. In 1965 the Tiger was still flying in the Advanced Training Command. When I reported to Corpus Christi for further assignment I was sent to NAS Kingsville. The reason being there were no quarters in Beeville for married couples. Even worse, VT-23 had been a Tiger squadron, but was then in the process of changing from Tigers back to Cougars. I started in VT- 21, but once VT-23 was ready to start training, several of us in various phases were transferred to VT-23 to give them an even student load. Although I never did get to fly the Tiger, being with the former F-11 guys was a kick. On many an instrument training flights you'd suddenly hear, "I've got the airplane! Pop the hood." And we would engage in impromptu dogfights with any airplanes in the area.
I'm including a TINS about the Tiger. Yes, it was a 3H 3xx from VT-23 as pictured on the cover. I did not use Captain "Ace's" name but did have him as one of my instructors. He, of course, did not tell me the story but his contemporaries gleefully did.
Yours Aye, Boom
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This Day in US Military History
25 July
1864 – Boats from U.S.S. Hartford, Monongahela, and Sebago, commanded by Rear Admiral Farragut's flag lieutenant, J. C. Watson, reconnoitered the Mobile Bay area in an attempt to discover the type and number of water mines laid by Confederates off Fort Morgan. Watson and his men located and cut loose many of the torpedoes; they were aided by the fact that a number were inoperative. This hazardous work was indispensable to the success of the Navy's coming operations against Mobile. Several similar night operations were conducted.
1940 – The United States prohibits the export of oil and metal products in certain categories, unless under license, to countries outside the Americas generally and to Britain. This move is seen as an anti-Japanese measure, particularly because of Japan's needs for foreign oil. From this time Japanese fuel stocks begin to decline. There are similar problems with other raw materials. Japanese attention is, therefore, drawn south from China to the resources of the Netherlands East Indies and Malaysia.
1944 – The US 1st Army begins "Operation Cobra". The main attack is made west of St. Lo by the US 7th Corps with 8th Corps on the right flank and 13th Corps on the left flank. A massive bombardment precedes the assault. More than 3000 planes are involved, including 1500 heavy bombers of the US 8th Air Force. Some American casualties result from the bombers releasing their loads short of their target. Regardless, the American forces make good progress.
1944 – On Guam the American marine forces are still unable to link up the two beachheads. On the southern landing, there is also fighting on the Orote Peninsula. On Tinian, the forces of US 5th Amphibious Corps advance cautiously southward after repulsing Japanese counterattacks.
1944 – Two carrier groups from Task Force 58 (Admiral Mitscher) attack Palau while a third attacks Yap, Ulithi, Ngulu, Tais and Sorol.
1945 – The Potsdam conference recesses for the British delegation to leave for the announcement of the election results. Churchill, Eden and Atlee fly home. Meanwhile, Truman orders the atomic bomb to be dropped on Japan as soon as possible after August 3rd.
1945 – American cruisers Pasadena, Springfield, Wilkes-Barre and Astoria bombard Japanese air bases in southern Honshu. Meanwhile, aircraft from the US 3rd Fleet attack Kure naval base and the airfields at Nagoya, Osaka and Miho for a second day. The battleships Hyuga, Ise, and Haruna, the escort carrier Kaiyo and the heavy cruisers Aoba and Iwate are all sunk. There is not noticeable Japanese resistance to the strikes.
1945 – On Mindanao, all organized Japanese resistance comes to an end in the Sarangani Bay area. American mopping up operations begin.
1946 – The United States detonated a 2nd atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device.
1964 – Following a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the deteriorating situation in Saigon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff draw up a memo proposing air strikes against North Vietnam. These missions were to be conducted in unmarked planes flown by South Vietnamese and Thai crews. There was no action taken on this recommendation. However, the situation changed in August 1964 when North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked U.S. destroyers off the coast of North Vietnam. What became known as the Tonkin Gulf incident led to the passage of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which passed 416 to 0 in the House and 88 to 2 in the Senate. The resolution gave the president approval to "take all necessary measures to repel an armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." Using the resolution, Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnam by U.S. aircraft in retaliation for the Tonkin Gulf incident. In 1965, as the situation continued to deteriorate in South Vietnam, Johnson initiated a major commitment of U.S. troops to South Vietnam, which ultimately totaled more than 540,000 by 1968.
.Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
LUCAS, GEORGE W.
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 3d Missouri Cavalry. Place and date: At Benton, Ark., 25 July 1864. Entered service at: Mt. Sterling, Brown County, Ill. Birth: Adams County, Ill. Date of issue: December 1864. Citation: Pursued and killed Confederate Brig. Gen. George M. Holt, Arkansas Militia, capturing his arms and horse.
PARKER, ALEXANDER
Rank and organization: Boatswain's Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 1832, Kensington, N.J. Accredited to: New Jersey. G.O. No.: 215, 9 August 1876. Citation: For gallant conduct in attempting to save a shipmate from drowning at the Navy Yard, Mare Island, Calif., on 25 July 1876.
. *GUILLEN, AMBROSIO
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company F, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Near Songuch-on, Korea, 25 July 1953. Entered service at: El Paso, Tex. Born: 7 December 1929, La Junta, Colo. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a platoon sergeant of Company F in action against enemy aggressor forces. Participating in the defense of an outpost forward of the main line of resistance, S/Sgt. Guillen maneuvered his platoon over unfamiliar terrain in the face of hostile fire and placed his men in fighting positions. With his unit pinned down when the outpost was attacked under cover of darkness by an estimated force of 2 enemy battalions supported by mortar and artillery fire, he deliberately exposed himself to the heavy barrage and attacks to direct his men in defending their positions and personally supervise the treatment and evacuation of the wounded. Inspired by his leadership, the platoon quickly rallied and engaged the enemy in fierce hand-to-hand combat. Although critically wounded during the course of the battle, S/Sgt. Guillen refused medical aid and continued to direct his men throughout the remainder of the engagement until the enemy was defeated and thrown into disorderly retreat. Succumbing to his wounds within a few hours, S/Sgt. Guillen, by his outstanding courage and indomitable fighting spirit, was directly responsible for the success of his platoon in repelling a numerically superior enemy force. His personal valor reflects the highest credit upon himself and enhances the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 25, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
25 July
1912: The Secretary of the Navy published the first general specifications for naval aircraft. (24)
1918: The Secretary of War approved a Joint Army and Navy Airship Board suggestion to assign rigid airship development to the Navy.
1927: Lt C. C Champion (USN) set a FAI altitude record of 38,419 feet in a Wright Apache, equipped with a Pratt & Whitney 425 HP engine. (9) (24)
1944: Operation COBRA. An effort to breakout US forces at Normandy began with 3,000 planes, including 1,500 Eighth Air Force bombers, attacking German posts at St. Lo near American lines for 3 hours. Although the operation succeeded, a few bombers hit the wrong target area and killed almost 500 US troops, including Lt Gen Lesley J. McNair, the US Ground Forces Commander. (4) (21)
1946: Operation CROSSROADS. Task Group 1.5, a 2,200-man US AAF element, conducted the second phase of this test to burst an A-bomb underwater off Bikini Island. This group provided aircraft and personnel to photograph and collect data on the explosion. (1)
1961: A Titan I completed its first full-range flight test with an all-inertial guidance system. It launched from Cape Canaveral and flew down the Atlantic Missile Range. (6)
1969: Mariner 7 shot its first pictures of Mars.
1981: A B-52 with an offensive avionics system (OAS) fired an ALCM for the first time. (6) (12)
1983: Through 15 September, MAC operated 29 C-141 missions to move 397 tons of equipment from the US and Europe to Chad as part of a security assistance program. (18)
2000: Through 23 September, in the worst fire season in decades fire consumed over 6.5 million acres in the American West, more than twice the annual average. For the fire suppression effort, AMC, the ANG, and the AFRC, and commercial carriers flew 48 missions between 1 August and 23 September to move 339 short tons of cargo and 5,967 Army and Marine troops to augment civilian firefighters in Montana and Idaho. Guard and Reserve C-130s equipped with modular airborne fire-fighting systems flew 774 sorties from 25 July to 6 September to drop 970,500 gallons of fire retardant on wildfires in California, Idaho, and Montana. (22) (32) The F-22 Raptor No. 02 successfully launched an AIM-9 missile at the China Lake test range to confirm its ability to launch an air-to-air missile from an internal weapons bay. (3)
2001: USTRANSCOM CINC and AMC Commander, Gen Charles T. Robertson, Jr., flew the first of three C-37A special airlift support aircraft, a military version of the Gulfstream V business jet, from the Gulfstream plant in Savannah to MacDill AFB for duty with the 6 AMW. The USAF purchased the C-37A to replace older EC-135 and CT-43 aircraft. Two other C-37As would be based at Andrews AFB, one at Chievres, Belgium, and a seventh at Hickam AFB. (22)
2005: The 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron from Dyess AFB, Tex., established a B-1B Lancer "first" at the White Sands Missile Range by having two B-1Bs auto-release a JASSM, a single warhead self-propelled missile, and three dissimilar weapons from the same launcher. The JASSMs struck their targets after traveling more than 170 nautical miles. (AFNEWS Article, "Dyess AFB Demonstrates B-1B's Upgrades, Combat Capabilities," 19 August 2005)
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