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August: 11 August Last month, we covered the Battle of Brecourt Manor and how the Allies’ secured their foothold in France to begin their push towards Germany. We also talked about the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. Battle Covered: The battle of Caen was one of the key battles during Operation Overlord, and although the British and Canadians achieved their main aims, the failure to capture Caen quickly caused a great deal of controversy. The British 3rd Infantry Division was to seize Caen on D-Day or dig in short of the city if the Germans prevented its capture, temporarily masking Caen to maintain the Allied threat against it and thwarting a potential German counter-attack from the city. Caen, Bayeux and Carentan were not captured by the Allies on D-Day and for the first week of the invasion the Allies concentrated on linking the beachheads. British and Canadian forces resumed their attacks in the vicinity of Caen and the suburbs and city centre north of the Orne were captured during Operation Charnwood from 8–9 July. The Caen suburbs south of the river were captured by the II Canadian Corps during Operation Atlantic from 18–20 July. The Germans had committed most of their panzer divisions in a determined defence of Caen, which made the fighting mutually costly and greatly deprived the Germans of the means to reinforce the west end of the invasion front. In western Normandy the US First Army cut off the Cotentin Peninsula, captured Cherbourg and then attacked southwards towards Saint-Lô, about 37 mi west of Caen, capturing the town on 19 July. On 25 July, after a weather delay, the First Army began Operation Cobra on the Saint-Lô–Périers road, coordinated with the Canadian Operation Spring at Verrières ridge to the south of Caen. Cobra was a great success and began the collapse of the German position in Normandy; the Allied break-out led to the Battle of the Falaise Pocket, from 12–21 August, which trapped most of the remnants of the 7th Army and 5th Panzer Army, opening the way to the Seine and Paris. Caen was destroyed by Allied bombing which, with the damage from ground combat, caused many French civilian casualties. The Battle of Carentan took place between 6 and 13 June 1944, on the approaches to and within the town of Carentan, France. The objective of the attacking American forces was consolidation of the U.S. beachheads (Utah Beach and Omaha Beach) and establishment of a continuous defensive line against expected German counterattacks. The defending German force attempted to hold the town long enough to allow reinforcements en route from the south to arrive, prevent or delay the merging of the lodgments, and keep the U.S. First Army from launching an attack towards Lessay-Périers that would cut off the Cotentin Peninsula. Carentan was defended by four battalions of German troops. The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, ordered to reinforce Carentan, was delayed by transport shortages and attacks by Allied aircraft. The attacking 101st Airborne Division, landed by parachute on 6 June as part of the American airborne landings in Normandy, was ordered to seize Carentan. In the ensuing battle, the 101st forced passage across the causeway into Carentan on 10 and 11 June. A lack of ammunition forced the German forces to withdraw on 12 June. The 17th SS PzG Division counter-attacked the 101st Airborne on 13 June. Initially successful, its attack was thrown back by Combat Command A of the U.S. 2nd Armored Division. Units Covered: The 2nd Canadian Corps was created in 1943 in England. It, alongside the First British Corps and 1st Canadian Corps, comprised the First Canadian Army in northwest Europe in World War II. The newly formed Corps participated in Exercise Spartan, a large scale training in Southern England in March of 1943. The Corps consisted of two Canadian Infantry Divisions, 2 Canadian Armored Divisions, 1 Polish Armored Division, 1 Scottish Infantry Division, 1 Highland Infantry Division, 1 Belgian Infantry Brigade, 1 Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade, and 1 Czechoslovakian Armored Brigade. Their symbol was a simple blue diamond worn on their uniforms and helmets but on their colors, it had a gold maple leaf on top of the diamond. The 2nd Canadian Corps only existed for the duration of World War 2 and was deactivated on June 24, 1945 after accepting the surrender of the German forces it was facing. The 2nd Corps spearheaded the advance from Caen to Falaise during the Battle of Normandy. The Corps captured Dieppe, Boulogne, Calais, Cap-Gris-Nez and Ostend. The Corps was part of Operations Atlantic, Spring, Totalize, Tractable, Wellhit, Undergo, Switchback, Vitality, Infatuate, Veritable, Blockbuster and Duck throughout World War II.

July: 23 July Last month, we covered the D Day landings and the beginning of the Allies’ campaign in the European Theater as well as the history of the U.S. Army Rangers. We are going to continue right after the completion of the initial landings. Battle Covered: The Brecourt Manor assault, depicted in the hit television series Band of Brothers, witnessed fierce fighting on D-Day. The battle that took place here can be seen in the second episode, “The Day of Days”. At the time of the allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, a German battery was stationed here which comprised of four 105mm Howitzers. Once the allied landings commenced, this battery disrupted the unloading of men and supplies by shelling exit 2 leading off Utah Beach. Exit 2 runs from the beach to the village of Sainte Marie Du Mont. To ease the problems faced by the allies, 1st Lieutenant Richard Winters and his men from Easy Company were tasked with destroying this artillery position. The four Howitzers at the Brecourt Manor farm were well positioned, linked by trenches and covered by machine guns. The trenches made supplying and reinforcing the artillery positions very easy; however, during the battle, this proved to be it’s weakness. The assault on the artillery position was a complete success with limited men killed or injured. All four Howitzers were disabled, making the allied landings at Utah Beach all the more easier. For the success of the attack at Brecourt, Richard Winters was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross Medal. By the end of the war, Winters achieved the rank of Major; a true testament to his character and ability. In 2008, a monument was erected at close to the battlefield site to pay homage to the brave men of Easy Company who lost there lives during Operation Overlord. Units Covered: The 101st Airborne Division “Screaming Eagles” was constituted in November 1918 and stood down when World War 1 ended a few days later. In August of 1942, the 101st was stood up at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana as part of two airborne Divisions in the U.S. Army for World War II. The pathfinders of the 101st led the way on D-Day in the night before the invasion. Many gliders were crashed or lost that night due to low visibility. During World War II, they fought in Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and the Western Invasion of Germany. Members earned 3 Medals of Honor, 2 Distinguished Service Crosses and over 450 Silver Stars for their actions. The unit began preparing for redeployment to the Pacific Theater but Japan surrendered before they could begin movement. The Division was deactivated in 1949 and reactivated again in 1950 after the beginning of the Korean War. It was deactivated again in 1953 after serving as a training unit. In 1958 the Army created the Strategic Army Corps which consisted of 4 Divisions prepared to rapidly deploy in case of hostilities, including the 101st. The 101st saw action again in the Vietnam War where they fought in every area of South Vietnam from the DMZ all the way to the Central Highlands. They created the Tiger Force, which was a small long range surveillance unit that was meant to out guerilla the guerillas. After Vietnam, the unit was restructured with personnel and equipment to become an air mobile unit, similar to the 1st Cavalry Division (We were Soldiers). In 1974, they reorganized to an Air Assault unit and maintain that formation today. The 101st were part of the invasion of Iraq in January of 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. They provided humanitarian aide to Rwanda and Somalia and acted as peacekeepers in Haiti and Bosnia. One brigade deployed to Kosovo in 2000 as a peacekeeping formation. The 101st was the first unit to deploy in the Global War on Terror and has seen numerous deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. (FL Panthers logo). The 101st is one of the most historic and decorated units of the U.S. Army and continues to serve today.

Overwatch buddy! I'm also HeeroYuy#1876 if anyone wants to add me

-People not listening to the people in charge (realism itself or the team) -Shooting before init -People breaking rules and then arguing they didn't know (when they've been regulars for months) -Taking the game too seriously during an open

Watched this movie on the flight to TX with my wife. REALLY well done. Cumberbatch is a great actor. Very moving

Viva La Dirt League! is the SHIT!

Klutch, what level did you play basebell up to? You make it sound like you got pretty high. Which is AWESOME in my books.

Everything from this special. I've watched it 3 times and listened through the songs too many times. If you haven't checked it out you should.

Craig, sad I missed you when you were on but hoping you'll be around again soon. Great to hear from you!

About 6 months ago I baked a dozen cookies for anyone who wanted a batch and was willing to tell me what type of cookie they wanted and give me their address. I'm opening up the offer again. If you send me message (Discord, steam, forums, whatever) with your preferred cookie type and your address, I'll mail you a batch of a dozen cookies. Send me the message no later than the 25th of July and I'll bake and mail them the first week of August. You can ask Lanier and Andrade, among others, and they will vouch for my abilities.

June: 11 June Last month, we covered the events of Battle of Tarawa and the beginning of the United States’ campaign in the Pacific Theater. Previously, we talked about the events of Operation Avalanche which took us to the fall of Rome and the removal of Italy from the Axis forces. The Allied forces were now poised to conduct operations into mainland Europe and begin their march to Germany. Battle Covered: In May 1944, the Western Allies were finally prepared to deliver their greatest blow of the war, the long-delayed, cross-channel invasion of northern France, code-named Overlord. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was supreme commander of the operation that ultimately involved the coordinated efforts of 12 nations. After much deliberation, it was decided that the landings would take place on the long, sloping beaches of Normandy. There, the Allies would have the element of surprise. The German high command expected the attack to come in the Pas de Calais region, north of the river Seine where the English Channel is narrowest. It was here that Adolf Hitler had put the bulk of his panzer divisions after being tipped off by Allied undercover agents posing as German sympathizers that the invasion would take place in the Pas de Calais. Surprise was an essential element of the Allied invasion plan. If the Germans had known where and when the Allies were coming they would have hurled them back into the sea with the 55 divisions they had in France. The invaders would have been on the offensive with a 10-to-1 manpower ratio against them. The English Channel was notorious for its rough seas and unpredictable weather, and the enemy had spent months constructing the Atlantic Wall, a 2,400-mile line of obstacles. This defensive wall comprised 6.5 million mines, thousands of concrete bunkers and pillboxes containing heavy and fast-firing artillery, tens of thousands of tank ditches, and other formidable beach obstacles. And the German army would be dug in on the cliffs overlooking the American landing beaches. Allied leaders set June 5, 1944, as the invasion’s D-Day. But on the morning of June 4, foul weather over the English Channel forced Eisenhower to postpone the attack for 24 hours. The delay was unnerving for soldiers, sailors, and airmen, but when meteorologists forecast a brief window of clearer weather over the channel on June 6, Eisenhower made the decision to go. Just after midnight on June 6, Allied airborne troops began dropping behind enemy lines. Their job was to blow up bridges, sabotage railroad lines, and take other measures to prevent the enemy from rushing reinforcements to the invasion beaches. Hours later, the largest amphibious landing force ever assembled began moving through the storm-tossed waters toward the beaches. Planners had divided the landing zone into five separate beaches. The British and Canadians landed at Juno, Gold, and Sword beaches. The Americans landed at Omaha and Utah beaches. The fiercest fighting was on Omaha Beach where the enemy was positioned on steep cliffs that commanded the long, flat shoreline. Troops leapt from their landing boats and were pinned down for hours by murderous machine-gun fire that turned the beach into a vast killing field. By midday, the Americans had surmounted the cliffs and taken Omaha Beach at a heavy cost: over 4,700 killed, wounded, or missing out of the total of approximately 35,000 who came ashore that day, a loss rate of more than 13 percent. By nightfall, about 175,000 Allied troops and 50,000 vehicles were ashore with nearly a million more men on the way that summer. The Allied forces included the US 1st and 4th Infantry Divisions, 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, British 6th Airborne Division, and Canadian 3rd Infantry Division with 156,000 Soldiers and 196,000 Sailors. The Germans had 4 Divisions and 51,000 Soldiers plus artillery and anti-aircraft guns. Units Covered: The U.S. Army Rangers trace their lineage back to the Colonial period in the 17th and 18th centuries. During the wars between the colonies and Native Americans, the English regulars were unaccustomed to frontier warfare and so Ranger companies were formed. Rangers were full-time soldiers employed by colonial governments to patrol between fixed frontier fortifications in reconnaissance providing early warning of raids. In offensive operations, they were scouts and guides, locating villages and other targets for taskforces drawn from the militia or other colonial troops. Rogers' Rangers was established in 1751 by Major Robert Rogers, who organized nine Ranger companies in the American colonies. These early American light infantry units, organized during the French and Indian War, bore the name "Rangers" and were the forerunners of the modern Army Rangers. Major Rogers drafted the first currently-known set of standard orders for rangers. These rules are still listed on the first page of the Ranger Handbook and referenced by all Rangers, past and present. In January 1812 the United States authorized six companies of United States Rangers who were mounted infantry with the function of protecting the Western frontier. Five of these companies were raised in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. A sixth was in Middle Tennessee. The next year, 10 new companies were raised. By December 1813 the Army Register listed officers of 12 companies of Rangers. The Ranger companies were discharged in June 1815. Several units that were named and functioned similarly to Rangers fought in the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865, such as the Loudoun Rangers that consisted of Quaker and German farmers from northern Loudoun County. Aside from conducting similar irregular warfare on Confederate forces in Richmond, Mississippi and Tennessee, its members were also descendants of the first ranger groups, organized by Robert Rogers in the French and Indian War. In 1942, a proposal was submitted to General George Marshall that an American unit be set up "along the lines of the British Commandos". Five Ranger Battalions would be organized in the European Theater including the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th; the 6th would be organized in the Pacific Theatre. On June 19, 1942 the 1st Ranger Battalion was sanctioned, recruited, and began training in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. A select fifty or so of the first U.S. Rangers were dispersed through the British Commandos for the Dieppe Raid in August 1942; these were the first American soldiers to see ground combat in the European theater. Together with the ensuing 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions they fought in North Africa and Italy until the Battle of Cisterna when most of the Rangers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions were captured. Of the 767 men in the battalions 761 were killed or captured. Before the 5th Ranger Battalion landing on Dog White sector on Omaha Beach, during the Invasion of Normandy, the 2nd Ranger Battalion scaled the 90-foot cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, a few miles to the west, to destroy a five-gun battery of captured French Canon de 155 mm GPF guns. The gun positions were empty on the day and the weapons had been removed some time before to allow the construction of casements in their place. Under constant fire during their climb, they encountered only a small company of Germans on the cliffs and subsequently discovered a group of field artillery weapons in trees some 1,000 yards to the rear. The guns were disabled and destroyed and the Rangers then cut and held the main road for two days before being relieved. Two separate Ranger units fought the war in the Pacific Theater. The 98th Field Artillery Battalion was formed on 16 December 1940 and activated at Fort Lewis in January 1941. On 26 September 1944, they were converted from field artillery to light infantry and became 6th Ranger Battalion. 6th Ranger Battalion led the invasion of the Philippines and executed the raid on the Cabanatuan POW camp. (Great Raid/James Franco) They continued fighting in the Philippines until they were deactivated on 30 December 1945, in Japan. At the outbreak of the Korean War, a unique Ranger unit was formed. Led by Second Lieutenant Ralph Puckett, the Eighth Army Ranger Company was created in August 1950. It served as the role model for the rest of the soon to be formed Ranger units. Instead of being organized into self-contained battalions, the Ranger units of the Korean and Vietnam eras were organized into companies and then attached to larger units, to serve as organic special operations units. Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) and Long Range Patrol companies were formed by the U.S. Army in the early 1960s in West Germany to provide small, heavily armed reconnaissance teams to patrol deep in enemy-held territory in case of war with the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. In Vietnam LRRP platoons and companies were attached to every brigade and division where they perfected the art of long-range patrolling.[26] Since satellite communications were a thing of the future, one of the most daring long-range penetration operations of the Vietnam War was launched on April 19, 1968, by members of the 1st Air Cavalry Division's, Company E, 52nd Infantry (LRP), (redesignated Co. H, Ranger), against the NVA when they seized "Signal Hill" the name attributed to the peak of Dong Re Lao Mountain, a densely forested 4,879-foot (1,487 m) mountain, midway in A Shau Valley, so the 1st and 3rd Brigades, slugging it out hidden deep behind the towering wall of mountains, could communicate with Camp Evans near the coast or with approaching aircraft. On 1 January 1969, under the new U.S. Army Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), these units were redesignated "Ranger" in South Vietnam within the 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger) and all replacement personnel were mandatory airborne qualified. Fifteen companies of Rangers were raised from "Lurp" units—which had been performing missions in Europe since the early 1960s and in Vietnam since 1966. The genealogy of this new Regiment was linked to Merrill's Marauders. The Rangers were organized as independent companies: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O and P. In 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq, the Rangers were among those sent in. During the beginning of the war, they faced some of Iraq's elite Republican Guard units. Rangers were also involved in the rescue of American prisoner of war POW Private First Class Jessica Lynch. The 75th Ranger Regiment has been one of the few units to have members continuously deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 6th Ranger Battalion still exists today and serves as the training Battalion for the last phase of the U.S. Army’s Ranger School, located at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Notable Rangers you may know are Pat Tillman, David Goggins, Alejandro Villanueva, Randy Shughart, Gary Gordon, Colin Powell, David Petraeus, and Stanley McChrystal. On 6 June 1944, during the assault landing on Dog White sector of Omaha Beach as part of the invasion of Normandy, then-Brigadier General Cota approached Major Schneider, CO of the 5th Ranger Battalion and asked "What outfit is this?", Schneider answered "5th Rangers, Sir!" To this, Cota replied "Well, goddamnit, if you're Rangers, lead the way!" From this, the Ranger motto—"Rangers lead the way!"—was born.

Never saw this original post! What do I do: I'm an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army What do I LIKE doing: Playing this game with you all, movies/TV with my wife, playing with my two kids (3 and 6), SPORTS 24/7 (watching, playing, reading about, talking about, etc.), building and painting models, reading books, and golfing. My sports teams are the Reds (MLB), Bengals (NFL), and Stars (NHL). I like various college teams for different sports.

manche Omaha_b2 rouen For WWII/D-Day this month!

May: 26 May Last month, we covered the events of Operation Avalanche which took us to the fall of Rome and the removal of Italy from the Axis forces. The Allied forces were now poised to conduct operations into mainland Europe and begin their march to Germany. Battle Covered The Battle of Tarawa, which took place from November 20-23, 1943 marked the beginning of the U.S.’s Central Pacific Campaign against Japan by seizing the heavily fortified, Japanese-held island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. After the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. won important battles at Midway Island in June 1942 and Guadalcanal from August 1942 to February 1943. American commanders next set their sights on an island-hopping campaign across the central Pacific. They intended to take the Marshall Islands followed by the Mariana Islands, then advance on Japan. The Gilbert Islands, a group of 16 atolls near the equator, were viewed by the U.S. as a stepping stone to the Marshalls and became the first target of the Central Pacific Campaign. In November 1943, the U.S. launched an offensive code-named Operation Galvanic, in which the prime target was the tiny island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. By November 19, 1943, American warships had arrived near Tarawa. Naval and air bombardments were planned for the next morning with the goal of weakening Japan’s defenses and clearing the way for 18,000 U.S. Marines to seize the island. The 18,000 U.S. Marines sent to tiny Betio were expected to easily secure it; however, problems quickly arose. Low tides prevented some U.S. landing crafts from clearing the coral reefs that ringed the island. Japanese coastal guns pounded the snagged vessels and desperate Marines gave up on freeing the boats and instead waded toward shore–hundreds of yards away– through chest-deep water amidst enemy fire. Making matters worse, the assault path through the lagoon to the shore became congested with disabled landing crafts and bloodied bodies, which hindered the dispatching of reinforcements. Marines on the beach crawled forward, inch by inch, knowing that to stand or even rise slightly made them easy targets. By the end of the first day, 5,000 Marines had landed at Betio while at least another 1,500 had perished in the process. Reserve combat teams and support craft transporting tanks and weapons raced to shore, and the ground assault finally took orderly form. The Marines moved inland, blasting surviving enemy emplacements with grenades, demolition packs and flamethrowers. On day three of the battle, November 22, the Marines fought on, destroying several Japanese pillboxes and fortifications. That night, the last Japanese defenders of Betio launched a furious but futile banzai charge, or all-out, suicidal attack. Most Japanese soldiers fought to their death rather than surrender. At morning light on November 23, the defenders lay in tangled heaps: All but 17 Japanese soldiers had died defending Betio. Seventy-six hours after the invasion began, Betio was finally declared secure. More than 1,000 U.S. troops were killed in action and some 2,000 were wounded in only three days of fighting at Tarawa. Word of the heavy casualties soon reached the U.S. and the public was stunned by the number of American lives lost in taking the tiny island. Units Covered: The Marine Raiders were originally formed as provisional rubber boat companies within the 7th Marines in 1941. This was to fill a deficiency identified within the Marine Corps for a fast attack transport unit. Once World War II began, President Roosevelt became interested in forming a unit similar to the British Commandos and saw the Marines as the place to build that. Eventually, two battalions of Marine Raiders were created and specialized in raid operations. The Raiders saw immediate action in the Central Pacific and the Solomons. They fought at Tulagi, the Battle of Edson’s Ridge, Makin Island, Savo Island, Bougainville and Guadalcanal. The Raiders expanded to 4 battalions at their height. However, in 1944 with the Marine Corps expanding to fill needs for the War, the Raiders were deactivated and their Marines sent to the main forces. In 2014, the Raiders were reactivated in the form of Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC), keeping much of the lineage and heraldry of the former units as they forged a new path in the special operations community of today. In the few years that the Raiders existed in World War II they saw combat continuously and earned numerous awards for heroism, including 8 Medals of Honor.

First and only pick up line I ever used and it was on my wife on our first date (it worked obviously :P) "If I told you you had a nice body, would you hold it against me?"