evolution

There, I said it. I know you didn’t ask (and Lord knows I didn’t either), but CNN tells you anyway.

UPDATE: Goddammit. The one time my adopted hometown gets featured in the national media, and it’s about this. Fuckin’ worthless media.

Sgt. Aaron Stanley was sentenced today to life in prison after having been found guilty in a court-martial held at Fort Riley of murdering two fellow soldiers at his Clay Center (about 30 miles west of the post, which adjoins Junction City) farmhouse. Stanley and a friend of his were manufacturing meth and growing marijuana at the farmhouse, and the military prosecutors said that he shot the two men because he believed they were informants to the Fort Riley MPs.

From the radio reports, it seems that the fact that he produced the drugs and pulled the trigger was not in doubt; rather, it was his motives for pulling the trigger that were in question.

I can think of no better tribute to those who fought and died for American ideals than to use those liberties each and every day. I availed myself of my Second Amendment rights yesterday, and I avail myself of my First Amendment rights each and every day here.

So, here’s a warm-hearted story for Memorial Day — about an old soldier’s appearance in a Washington Memorial Day parade.

Seems par for the course, right? Well, this fellow is one of only thirty living veterans of his engagement — World War I. His name is Leroy Brown, he’s from Maryland, and he’s 103 years old, born October 7, 1901. He lied about his age to join the U.S. Navy and served in the North Atlantic aboard a sub-hunting destroyer.

CHARLOTTE HALL, Md. - Memorial Day parade organizers were considering using actors to represent veterans of World War I when they learned about 103-year-old Lloyd Brown — one of the last living veterans of the war.

Brown plans to ride in the parade Monday in Washington to represent the rest of the 4.7 million U.S. servicemen who took part in the Great War. He is one of the 30 who are still alive, according to an unofficial estimate by the
Department of Veterans Affairs.

“World War I people are getting scarce,” Brown said. “Nothing can be done about that.”

Brown was 16 when he lied about his age so he could join the Allied cause in 1918. His Maryland driver’s license still lists his birth date as October 7, 1899, instead of the correct 1901.

“Everybody was patriotic; everybody wanted to join,” Brown told The Washington Post. “Those who joined were local heroes, well received on the public streets.”

Brown still remembers patrolling the North Atlantic for enemy submarines aboard the USS New Hampshire.

He reenlisted after the war as a Navy musician, and played cello in Australia as a member of an admiral’s orchestra. He later served as a firefighter in the District of Columbia, and sold antiques in Charlotte Hall, in southern Maryland.

Brown retains enough white hair to comb. He still has a driver’s license but favors a golf cart to drive to the end of his driveway to pick up the mail.

He lives alone but his daughter, Nancy Espina, checks on him every day. Son-in-law Thomas Espina said Brown doesn’t allow anything to bother him too much, including aging.

“I don’t consider it a long life,” Brown said. “I feel as though there are a lot of people around my age.”

God bless you, Mr. Brown, and thank you. Thanks also to all American soldiers, past and present.

Local radio station KMAN-AM is reporting that several other military units are being moved to Fort Riley in addition to the “Big Red One.” As many as 8,000 soliders will be coming to Fort Riley in the coming months.

Let’s play a little numbers game. Assume conservatively that half of these soldiers are married; that makes 12,000 people. Assume also that these couples each have two children, the average number of children per family in Kansas. That’s a total of 8,000 children, which makes 20,000 people. Assume, again conservatively, that half of these children are school age. That’s 4,000 school-age children.

Local schools, which are overstretched already, are going to have to get creative to be able to take them all in.

» Here’s a correction to my earlier post on base closings. The Kansas Army Ammunition Plant in Parsons will lose 22 military and 56 civilian employees when it closes, and the 1st ID’s return to Fort Riley will bring 2400 military and 400 civilian personnel. The numbers reported in the earlier post were erroneous.

» Gov. Sebelius has signed a repeal of the state’s ban on Sunday liquor sales. Sales of liquor on Sunday in any establishment except for restaurants and bars had been banned entirely.

Local radio (KMAN-AM) is reporting that most Kansas military installations will avoid the chopping block. The Wichita Army Reserve stations will be consolidated, meaning that the ones left vacant will be closed, affecting 22 military and civilian employees, and the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant in Parsons will be closed, which will be a blow to that town (in the southeast corner of the state). Fort Riley, Fort Leavenworth, Forbes Field, and McConnell AFB will remain open for business.

In five minutes, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will give a press conference, which will probably be about this. The local media are behind on this, so I’ll have an online version of the story for you when I get it.

In addition, Fort Riley will see the return of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, a.k.a. the “Big Red One” — about 3000 soldiers and their families, along with about 450 civilian employees. Fort Riley was the traditional home of the 1st ID, but the division moved to Germany in the mid 1990s. As part of the Pentagon’s plan to station less troops in Europe, the 1st ID is coming home. This is good news economically for the area, but it will put a strain on local school systems, which are busting at the seams.

Missouri was also largely unaffected by the base closings.

FOX News has a complete list (PDF) of the base closings.

… than give this man a Medal of Honor.

and this, we’ll make a natural selection.

I learned of Brigadier General John B. Turchin of the Union Army while listening to Voice of Russia (during an English-language broadcast) the other night. I was intrigued by the fact that a Russian radio station was talking about Civil War-era Union generals, and then I learned why they were talking about this particular general.

Turchin was born Ivan Vasilovitch Turchinoff in 1822 in Russia. He graduated from the St. Petersburg Imperial Military School, and rose to the rank of colonel during campaigns in Hungary and during the Crimean War. He also gained renown designing the defenses for the rocky coast of Finland.

He married the daughter of his commanding officer after graduating, and in 1856 he and his wife moved to Illinois, where he worked as a railroad engineer. By this time he had Americanized his name to John Basil Turchin. When the Civil War began, he joined the Union Army and became a colonel of the 19th Illinois Volunteers. He quickly distinguished himself by whipping them into shape, and was later given command of an entire brigade. His wife travelled with him everywhere, even into the field with Turchin and his troops. Once, when Turchin fell ill for a few days, his wife reputedly led troops in the field in his place.

The event which gave Turchin notoriety is an attack upon Athens, Georgia during William T. Sherman’s “march to the sea”. When Turchin’s brigade took the city, Turchin said, “I close mine eyes for an hour”, and his troops got the hint: they sacked and burned Athens, looting stores, and even raped a slave girl. Turchin’s commanding general was furious, and ordered Turchin court-martialed. Turchin was kicked out of the Army, but his indomitable wife interceded with President Lincoln on his behalf, and he was not only reinstated but promoted to brigadier general.

Turchin resigned his commission in 1864 due to his deteriorating health. He worked as an engineer and writer of scientific and military works until he developed dementia, and he died in an insane asylum in 1901 at the age of 79.

For more facts about General John B. Turchin, see here, here, and here. You should feel free to discuss issues or add to these items in the comments section.

A Miami man whose grandfather served in WWII decided to take his grandfather’s war journals and letters home and publish them in a weblog. What a great read.

Please - go meet LT Theodore “Ted” Elman, 376th Heavy Bombardment Group, US Army Air Force.