Ambrose

[Bigduke6]

In RSR, the Orion pilot recognises his mistake in firing his, erm, Harpoons? Mavericks? at the trojan-horse transport ship off Iceland, rather than the, erm, hoevercraft? that were shuttling the troopies ashore, and which he could actually sink with the weapons on the a/c ... he just annoyed the trojan-horse when the captain executed a perfectly timed turn to port so that the missiles hit too far above the waterline.

Well there you go. A Soviet ship captain ( clever enough to have a crew competent enough to detect the incoming vampires and tell him in time ( a crew and ship where, at the critical moment, everything is working and all hands are sober and at their posts © practiced enough with his super-secret Trojan Horse ship - and we all know how stingy the Soviets were about putting motor hours on the clock - so he can jink said vessel so that the missiles don't hit in a critical place and (d) actually willing to depart from his orders, which had to be "drive to Iceland by the fastest most direct route possible and stop for nothing" - just so he can preserve his command.

Like Soviet commanders had the option of preserving their command rather than following attack orders. That's Capitalism! You think the Reds could have cut the guts out of the Fascist Beast in its lair, if every piddling peasant above the rank of sergeant started getting ideas about how valuable his command was relative to the mission? Sheesh! Who wants to fight Soviets like that?

*Big Roll Eyes*

Kirk would SO kick Ryan's butt. Kirk really hated paper pushers.

[Michael Emrys]

Wasn't it PT Barnum or WC Fields or some one like that that said, "No one ever went broke overestimating the general level of stupidity of the American public."?

It was H. L. Mencken, and the way I heard it was, "Nobody ever went broke from underestimating the taste of the American public." Caveat: The fact that I heard it that way does not in this case necessarily imply that that's exactly how he wrote it. My source is second hand and it's been years since I read even it. But I like that version. It sounds more like Mencken.

Michael

[Magpie_Oz]

In defense of Clancy I point out that if the characters of his books lead the boring and mundane live that we all do I can't imagine they would be a very compelling read.

My only beef with these writers is the formulaic nature of their writings, the plot is essentially the same from book to book. Of course ALL popular fiction is like this.

As for the P-3 attacking the ship. If I were the Orion pilot I too would have attacked the ship. Firstly it is the operating base, take out a hovercraft and you eliminate a company, take out the ship and the whole brigade is gone.

I was always dubious as to whether rolling "hard a'port" would have had any effect. We saw the effects of an Exocet on the Atlantic Conveyor and simple bombs on Sir Tristan and Sir Galahad.

[gunnergoz]

Is it just me or does it seem that 90% of the books "for men" out there today are all formulaic tripe...handsome rogue protagonist, sexy exotic female sidekick, chambers of doom, ancient texts, byzantine puzzles, temple booby traps, global conspiracies, hints of alien technology, Templars and pre-historic lost cultures. There, I just wrote my first one!

I used to read this stuff but it lost its charm when I figured out I was being sold the same old snake oil with a different cover.

[Magpie_Oz]

Cool Gunner, when is your next one coming out? What you just wrote sounds like the start of a Decology, the hint of Alien technology is driving me insane.

[Michael Emrys]

Is it just me or does it seem that 90% of the books "for men" out there today are all formulaic tripe...handsome rogue protagonist, sexy exotic female sidekick, chambers of doom, ancient texts, byzantine puzzles, temple booby traps, global conspiracies, hints of alien technology, Templars and pre-historic lost cultures. There, I just wrote my first one!

Same is true for most "guy" movies. Unending drivel, time after time after time.

Michael

[Affentitten]

Same is true for most "guy" movies. Unending drivel, time after time after time.

Michael

I thought Sorority Sluts #15 had a decent enough plot line.

[Magpie_Oz]

I thought Sorority Sluts #15 had a decent enough plot line.

The same one as Sorority Sluts 1 thru 14 as I recall.

[Affentitten]

No because #7 was sub-titled "Pledge Week Initiation"

[JonS]

And #12 was "Spring Break"

[-E]

Kirk would SO kick Ryan's butt. Kirk really hated paper pushers.

It was a silly question, wasn't it?

[gunnergoz]

Cool Gunner, when is your next one coming out? What you just wrote sounds like the start of a Decology, the hint of Alien technology is driving me insane.

LOL.

Doing research presently, watching South Park to learn what I can about Alien devices.

[LukeFF]

I read Ambrose's "Wild Blue" and found it alright, but nothing that great. I've had his "Pegasus Bridge" on my shelf for some time but have never read it.

Band of Brothers, sadly, does have a fair number of errors in it, which seems par for the course with Ambrose.

[Magpie_Oz]

I have a Pegasus Bridge book as well but cannot remember who the author is, don't think it is Ambrose. Would be interesting to compare the 2

[JonS]

Ambrose did write a book on PB.

[Magpie_Oz]

Ambrose did write a book on PB.

Yes I know but I don't think that is the one I have. The book is in my bookshelf, unfortunately the shelf is 5000klm away atm.

[dieseltaylor]

Pegasus Bridge - Benouville D-Day 1944 (Raid) by Will Fowler (Paperback - 10 Jun 2010)

John Howard in The Pegasus Diaries

The Pegasus and Orne Bridges

http://www.pegasus-bridge.co.uk/

And then apart from the books we can do the questions

This test consists of 15 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

Directions: Circle the correct answer.

1. How many divisions constituted the British airborne in 1943, according to Chapter 3?

a) Two.

Six.

c) Four.

d) One.

2. What did Howard insist all the men in his company do?

a) Participate in some kind of sport.

Watch war movies.

c) Train at hand to hand combat every day.

d) Speak German.

3. What was issued to the men of Company D on May 29, 1944?

a) Their cyanide capsule.

The escape aid kits.

c) The rifles.

d) Their map of the Pegasus bridge area.

4. How far were most of the paratroopers from the bridges after.....

[Magpie_Oz]

Yes I know but I don't think that is the one I have. The book is in my bookshelf, unfortunately the shelf is 5000klm away atm.

Ok, home now and it is the Ambrose book.

[Michael Emrys]

Ok, home now and it is the Ambrose book.

You do realize, don't you, that you have now forever discredited yourself as an authority on any subject whatsoever?

Michael

[Magpie_Oz]

You do realize, don't you, that you have now forever discredited yourself as an authority on any subject whatsoever?

"I have a Pegasus Bridge book as well but cannot remember who the author is, don't think it is Ambrose."

"Ambrose did write a book on PB.

Yes I know but I don't think that is the one I have. The book is in my bookshelf, unfortunately the shelf is 5000klm away atm."

See all I said was I had to check my facts, my rep is clear !

[MengJiaoRedux]

The thing I love about Clancy, is the perfection. It's just hilarious.

I actually read some Clancy about 20 years ago. It was about Armored Cavalry in Desert Storm. The US Army was quoted as having been handicapped by its use of 1-dimensional maps.

I bought extracopies of the book since I could not stop puzzling over 1-dimensional maps. They sure would be a problem. Would they even be considered maps in any sense?

[Dave H]

I actually read some Clancy about 20 years ago. It was about Armored Cavalry in Desert Storm. The US Army was quoted as having been handicapped by its use of 1-dimensional maps.

I bought extracopies of the book since I could not stop puzzling over 1-dimensional maps. They sure would be a problem. Would they even be considered maps in any sense?

I was a DOD cartographer at the time of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. I'm curious what this business about 1-dimensional maps was supposed to mean. If it was meant literally it sounds like it came from someone lacking knowledge of some very basic geometry. :eek: If not meant literally I wonder what features in the middle of the desert were supposedly left off. The camels?

[Michael Emrys]

I was a DOD cartographer at the time of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. I'm curious what this business about 1-dimensional maps was supposed to mean. If it was meant literally it sounds like it came from someone lacking knowledge of some very basic geometry. :eek:

Obviously his reference is to the top secret maps printed on thread. This had the Super Ultra Gold classification and that's probably why you never saw or heard of it. Even now, over twenty years later, I put myself at risk of arrest and prosecution by mentioning it here, but I feel the American people have a right to know, and anyway Clancy got away with it.

Michael

[MengJiaoRedux]

I was a DOD cartographer at the time of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. I'm curious what this business about 1-dimensional maps was supposed to mean. If it was meant literally it sounds like it came from someone lacking knowledge of some very basic geometry. :eek: If not meant literally I wonder what features in the middle of the desert were supposedly left off. The camels?

Obviously his reference is to the top secret maps printed on thread. This had the Super Ultra Gold classification and that's probably why you never saw or heard of it. Even now, over twenty years later, I put myself at risk of arrest and prosecution by mentioning it here, but I feel the American people have a right to know, and anyway Clancy got away with it.

Michael

To give Clancy the benefit of the doubt, I think by that time he was something of a minor industry and the books were probably more or less produced and edited by committees that may not have included Clancy very often.

Good sources are always hard to find. These days I console myself by reading official histories and staying away from anything more recent than the early 1980s if I expect not to suffer from puzzling over plausibility.

[JonS]

To give Clancy the benefit of the doubt, I think by that time he was something of a minor industry and the books were probably more or less produced and edited by committees that may not have included Clancy very often.

What ... Clancy couldn't find anyone to go on his committee that knew what a map was?

Good sources are always hard to find. These days I console myself by reading official histories and staying away from anything more recent than the early 1980s if I expect not to suffer from puzzling over plausibility.

Wow. That's a rather extreme reaction. I've moved in the opposite direction, and now seldom read anything not written in the last 10-20 years. There's been some wonderful analysis and synthesis written in that time, able to use recently opened archives and leverage off some questionable earlier works.

I find books written before the 1980s* tend to be quite superficial, lacking in resources, and tend to have a very narrow perspective.

Jon

* I'm specifically thinking about WWII books here.