“Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius”
~ Edward Gibbon

On this day in U.S. Army history, 30 Dec. 1776:

General Washington tries to hold his worn-out Army together.
After the American success at Trenton on Christmas, General George Washington returned to Trenton, near Assunpink Creek. The victory had changed much of the General’s fortunes, but he still had a problem. Many of his troops were free to leave at the end of the year. Washington decided to make a personal appeal to his men.

He offered a bounty to any man who would stay another 6 months. After this first appeal, none stepped forward.

But one Soldier remembered what Washington said next: “My brave fellows, you have done all I asked you to do, and more than could be reasonably expected, but your country is at stake, your wives, your houses, and all that you hold dear. You have worn yourselves out with fatigues and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay one month longer, you will render that service to the cause of liberty, and to your country, which you probably never can do under any other circumstance.” Men began to step forward. Not everyone stayed, but many did. Only a few stepped out at first, then others. Finally, only those to injured fight had not stepped out, and new men also joined.

A Christmas Story:

Jerome Lester Horwitz, A.K.A. Jerome Howard, A.K.A. Curly of the Three Stooges was known by all as a dog lover. Curly's contract with Columbia Pictures included a clause that allowed him to bring his dogs on set. The studio limited him to no more than two dogs at any given time. This was due to Curly's pups making random unplanned walk-on appearances during production. Especially during some of the more raucous scenes. You can still catch those surprise canine cameos in some of the earliest Three Stooges shorts.

Typically having several dogs at any given time, Curly was known to come home often with strays he found along his travels. He would foster the strays until he was able to find new homes. It is estimated that Curly saved and re-homed more than 5000 dogs in his lifetime - making him a man before his time with his humane concern for man's best friend.

CATCHING WILD PIGS:

There was a chemistry professor at a large college that had some exchange students in the class.

One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man; an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back.
He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.

He asked: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.

The young man said that it was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn.

"When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. "They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate on the last side. "The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America.

The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, free medicine, free drugs, free health insurance, etc.; while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.
One should always remember two truths:

There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

But, God help us all when the gate slams shut!

Terrorism, too, must be excised wherever it exists, which will take years, and which can't happen without the total commitment and the everyday involvement of the American people.
- David Hackworth

Lông Trắng, aka "White Feather Sniper"

Legacy
Hathcock remains a legend in the U.S. Marine Corps. The Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock Award is presented annually to the Marine who does the most to promote marksmanship training. A sniper range named for Hathcock is at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

In 1967 Hathcock set the record for the longest sniper kill. He used a M2 .50 Cal Browning machine gun mounting a telescopic sight at a range of 2,500 yd (2,286 m), taking down a single Vietcong guerilla. This record was broken in 2002, by Canadian snipers (Rob Furlong and Arron Perry) from the 3rd Bn. PPCLI during the War in Afghanistan.

Hathcock was one of several individuals to utilize the M2 Browning machine gun in the sniping role. This success led to the adoption of the .50 BMG cartridge as a viable sniper round. Sniper rifles have since been designed around and chambered in this caliber since the 1970s. The Canadian Forces snipers from the PPCLI also used the .50 BMG round in their record-breaking shots.

Springfield Armory designed a highly accurized version of their M1A Supermatch rifle with a McMillan Stock and match grade barrel and dubbed it the "M-25 White Feather". The rifle had a likeness of Hathcock's signature and his "white feather logo" marked on the receiver.

Turner Saddlery similarly honored Hathcock by producing a line of leather rifle slings based on his design. The slings are embossed with Hathcock's signature.

On March 9, 2007 the rifle and pistol complex at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar was officially renamed the Carlos Hathcock Range Complex.