Doobie and Phil

Kandahar with Chaplain Austin and 3/160 SOAR

It was well recognized that Martha Raye endured less comfort and more danger than any other Vietnam entertainer.
Don't let the sun go down without reading this about Martha Raye. The most unforgivable oversight of TV is that her shows were not taped. I was unaware of her credentials or where she is buried.
Somehow I just can't see Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton, or Jessica Simpson doing what this woman (and the other USO women, including Ann Margaret & Joey Heatherton) did for our troops in past wars.
Most of the old time entertainers were made of a lot sterner stuff than today's crop of activists bland whiners.
The following is from an Army Aviator who takes a trip down memory lane:
"It was just before Thanksgiving '67 and we were ferrying dead and wounded from a large GRF west of Pleiku. We had run out of body bags by noon, so the Hook (CH-47 CHINOOK) was pretty rough in the back.
All of a sudden, we heard a 'take-charge' woman's voice in the rear. There was the singer and actress, Martha Raye, with a SF (Special Forces) beret and jungle fatigues, with subdued markings, helping the wounded into the Chinook, and carrying the dead aboard. 'Maggie' had been visiting her SF 'heroes' out 'west'.
We took off, short of fuel, and headed to the USAF hospital pad at Pleiku.
As we all started unloading our sad pax's, a 'Smart Mouth' USAF Captain said to Martha: "Ms Ray, with all these dead and wounded to process, there would not be time for your show!"
To all of our surprise, she pulled on her right collar and said...
"Captain, see this eagle? I am a full 'Bird' in the US Army Reserve, and on this is a 'Caduceus' which means I am a Nurse, with a surgical specialty... now, take me to your wounded!"
He said, "Yes ma'am, follow me."
Several times at the Army Field Hospital in Pleiku, she would 'cover' a surgical shift, giving a nurse a well-deserved break.
Martha is the only woman buried in the SF (Special Forces) cemetery at Ft Bragg.
Salute to Colonel Maggie! - A Great American!

The Vespa 150 TAP was an anti-tank scooter made in the 1950s from a Vespa scooter for use with French paratroops (troupes aéroportées, TAP). Introduced in 1956 and updated in 1959. Modifications from the civilian Vespa included a reinforced frame and a 75 mm (3.0 in) recoilless rifle mounted to the scooter (obvs).

In Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bowman is seen exiting the capsule hatch and entering the ship without a helmet or pressurization. It would be possible?

Kubrick, who was an absolute perfectionist, posed this question to the top leaders of NASA and the greatest medical experts. And the answers he got were surprising, so much so that he then proceeded to shoot the scene.
When asked, “Would such a feat be possible?” the answer the experts gave was "Yes, although for a short time."

* Freezing problems: it's true, in space there are around -270°C, but we are in a vacuum, and the vacuum is a terrible conductor of heat: it would be the vacuum itself that prevents us from dissipating the heat instantly. Furthermore, some heat would remain inside the suit, so the sudden loss of it would be limited to the hands and head. A few seconds would be too few to reduce a man like in the film "Mission to Mars".

* Pressure problems: experiments have been carried out, and it has already been established that for a few seconds the skin would be able to retain the swelling of the body due to the lack of external pressure. Probably, a mistake made in the film is that there would be some small lacerations and edema, but nothing fatal.

* Lungs: Bowman is clearly seen emptying his lungs before the hatch exploded. Which is the correct thing to do, as the air in the lungs would undergo a sudden expansion, held back however by the fact that the lungs compete for as little air as possible in the diaphragm.

* Evaporation/Boiling of blood liquids: at zero pressure, blood and body fluids, being hot, would begin to approach the boiling point. But a few seconds would not be enough to reach that boiling point inside the body.

* Eyes, ears and mouth: The most significant damage would probably occur at the level of the eyes, ears and mouth, due to the internal pressure of these organs (eyes and ears) and the fact that the liquids would be in contact with the vacuum (eyes and mouth). These liquids would be immediately subjected to boiling and evaporation, unlike what happens with body fluids. However, your mouth can be kept tightly closed, and so can your eyes, as Bowman did, but the problem would be seeing where you are going to grab the locking handle of the hatch. Perhaps this can be remedied by keeping your eyes as narrow as possible, to allow the liquids to evaporate/boil slower. For the ears, such a sudden drop in pressure would probably cause the eardrums to collapse outwards, and this is perhaps the only real and gross mistake in the movie, unless Bowman had some glues in his emergency suite for quick repairs to the suit, and had created earplugs with them, which, however, are not seen in the movie.

* Embolism: in space the blood would be subjected to a sudden drop in pressure, so all the nitrogen contained in it would tend to create dangerous bubbles circulating in the arteriovenous system. Perhaps this would be the worst enemy, even if it is clear that the embolism would occur about over ten seconds after the shock, so the timing for not having embolism is correct, even if almost at the limit of the available time.

* Radiations: in space, you are not shielded against cosmic radiation: but Bowman is not in open space, but inside the spaceship, and is in any case also protected by the suit on almost the entire surface of his body. Therefore, radiation does not pose a danger for such a short and limited exposure.

So, the conclusion of the analysis is yes, such a feat would be possible, but it would really require a lot of luck, especially in being able to grab the compensation handle and it would leave serious damages to the body, even if not fatal, in the organs in contact with the vacuum, such as eyes and ears. Sure, Bowman wouldn't get off as easily as in the movie, but he'd still survive, at least for a while.

Push Ball - Sport Of Kings!

The most insane sanctioned violence short of combat; a most brutal game that separated the rock stars from the rock groupies.

Notice the guys in the scrum on the right who are so busy fighting, they're nowhere near the ball- and the poor guy on the ground catching elbow strikes.

Banned by the Army in the early 2000's, this was a staple for paratroopers for decades.

I recall leaving the barracks for a match and my 1SG telling us, "Don't come back unless you've beat somebody's ass". And he was serious.

It was not for the weak or faint hearted.

The young man that still lives in me longs to play this again. Older me knows that I was incredibly lucky to have played this as often as I did and somehow avoid serious injury.

Damn if I don't miss my tribe, though.

Commo:
You can talk about us,
But you can't talk without us.
Take Good Care of your Commo Dudes!
NSDQ!

Holiday Festivities have come to an end.
I am heading back to the salt mines, and will get back to the business of assisting Vets finding their crews and Falling In with their Tribes.
2024 is on deck, time to get crackin...
NSDQ!