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The Good Old Days - A CMFI CAAR


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Ah Marseille, I read "Star of Africa" and loved it, what an interesting guy!

Its nice to see my favorite aircraft of World War 2 as well featured in an AAR!

Thanks to your mention, I just bought the book. Looks like a fun read! Once I finish Showalter's Armor and Blood I'll try to read it next, though Battle of the River Plate is calling... 

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Wow Bud, now you really got me hooked. Outstanding quality - the story and the pictures. I even saw that the rear part of a Krupp Protze is visible at its rear-view mirror. Never noticed that before.

+1 I noticed that, and was immediately curious as to whether you'd spent hours Photoshopping it in, or whether it was actually in-game already...

 

Superb work!

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Too much tea and skittles.....

You may be closer to the truth than you think, although the problem was not so much among the troopers as among the professional officer corps. The British army for years had been an Empire constabulary force, and for the officers at least that meant gin & tonic and polo. Many of them found the shift in mindset to fighting a tough, skilled Continental power like Germany just a place they were reluctant to go to. Fortunately, there were also men who had been junior officers during The Great War and were now senior officers who were mentally prepared for what they now faced, but there was also a lot of dead wood still lingering in positions where they were no good.

And this was not unique to the British army. The US armed forces also faced a difficult transition between peacetime and wartime duty. Look at the way they were caught flat-footed at Pearl Harbor and some of the naval battles around Guadalcanal. And then there was the near-catastrophe at Kasserine Pass.

Michael

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Having now followed all of Bud's previous AARs, all I can say is Bud is the "God of Awesomeness!" 

I wrote an exposition once in a "Reading for Rhetoric" class in college where I used a flashback technique. The professor handed it back with the comment "it's extremely difficult to use a flashback to relate a story, and it takes a very skilled writer to do it well. You obviously failed the technique. Please don't attempt it again."

She would be prostrating herself before Bud!

Edited by Vet 0369
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I wrote an exposition once in a "Reading for Rhetoric" class in college where I used a flashback technique. The professor handed it back with the comment "it's extremely difficult to use a flashback to relate a story, and it takes a very skilled writer to do it well. You obviously failed the technique. Please don't attempt it again."

That was rather mean! I don't like teachers who only offer discouragement. She might at least have offered a suggestion of something else that might have worked better.

Michael

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That was rather mean! I don't like teachers who only offer discouragement. She might at least have offered a suggestion of something else that might have worked better.

Michael

Or better yet some detailed comments on what needed to be changed.  Those "skilled" writers did not learn to do a good job using flashbacks in their stories by being skilled at other forms of story telling and then suddenly they are good to go to use flashbacks too.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

So, that's my in-story acknowledgement of the rather long delay in resuming this little tale. Sorry about that guys, several rounds of hospitalization for my wife left me so drained I was not going to do the story justice if I just "forced" it. I am feeling more up to resuming now, and @kohlenklau has been very patiently waiting so I owe him my heartfelt thanks. 

I will take care of some rather belated replies here as well now..

Edited by Bud Backer
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On March 16, 2016 at 11:45 AM, Heinrich505 said:

Bud,

  I really get a sense of the expanse of the desert with your screen shots.  The rise and fall of the terrain matched with the horizon shots really gives a good feel for the theatre.

  The small unit action really draws the reader in.

Heinrich505

Thanks, Heinrich. I spent some time trying to both frame the shots as well as tweak my photo processing to try to make the terrain stand out. It's not easy as there is no great tonal range, and as black and white is utterly dependent on tonal range (just as Ansel Adams) it's tricky to show to full effect. If you can see the variations in elevation I've succeeded wildly! :unsure:

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