Re-training the Vets

It wasn't just the spit and polish, those guys didn't know how to act in a field training exercise.  We were really fussy about radio procedure in Berlin because the Russians were listening in, and our own people were also listening in to make sure we didn't say anything on the radio that the Russians weren't supposed to hear.  I'm not just talking about secret stuff, they didn't want the Russians to get the impression that we were like unprofessional or something.  One thing was that you never said anybody's real name on the radio.  We all had code names like "Lucky Delta Six", and these were changed from time to time.  We were told that, in a real war, it was important that the enemy didn't know any of our people's names.  I think that traced to "Tokyo Rose" back in World War II.  She would broadcast stuff like: "Private John Smith, your mother is really sick and she wants to see you before she dies, but that's not going to happen since you're stuck here in the trenches with all your Yankee Imperialist friends.  Also, I have it on good authority that your girlfriend has found somebody new.  You should be getting a 'Dear John' letter any day now."  Her intent being to demoralize our troops.

So one day this new guy from Vietnam was assigned to our outfit and joined us in the field before he was given the customary orientation.  He was told to call in a pretend fire mission to our mortar section.  (No actual rounds were fired.)   I was manning the FDC station with my mentor Specialist Baker when this call came in: "Hey Baker, gimme some mortar fire on that fucking hill over there."  Did I mention that we weren't supposed to use profanity on the radio either?  Also, there was a formal procedure for calling a fire mission, and that certainly wasn't it.

I'm pretty sure that the numbers they gave in that article were facts.  The opinions about why the numbers had spiked came from Police chiefs.  Next time they should interview Uncle Ken if they want a more informed opinion.

Speaking of numbers, Arizona, Texas, and Florida each still have fewer corona related deaths than Michigan.  Of the three, Arizona is the only one with a smaller population.  Florida has twice as many people and Texas has four times as many.