Category Archives: Military

Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson

In the Web circles in which I cyber-travel, there is much discussion of Western civilization and legacy of Western culture. Also lamentations that it’s being lost.

My focus here is on one artifact of that disappearing legacy/culture.

American kids used to be exposed to Tennyson’s famous poem. You find references to it in hundreds or thousands of other creative work. It was through one such reference that I first learned of the existence of this poem.

Almost nobody in today’s government schools is introducing kids to this poem. In fact, there are certainly millions of adults in America who have never learned about it, or understand what references to it are still made.

(I in this clip, at about 0:24, the REMF* interpreter paraphrases part of “Charge of the Light Brigade.” Just as myself and probably millions of other veterans have.)

To put the narrative of this poem in context, we must know a little about the circumstances of a battle during the Crimean War:

25 October, 1854; the siege of Sevastopol. Lord Raglan is the  C.O. (commanding officer). The Russians are conducting a counterattack outside Balaclava, and capture British cannons. Raglan spots them running off with his artillery and wants to prevent this loss.

Raglan decides to send his Light Brigade after the Ruskies and get his field guns back. The Light Brigade is so-named because it is about a 600-man unit of light cavalry, which at this point in history meant the horses bore no armor (in contrast to the Heavy Brigade). The troopers carried sabers and light lances that were more like spears. Such units were quick and agile.

So far, so good. This is a sound, reasonable allocation of military resources to rebound from a setback. Raglan composes a message to his cavalry commander that says, basically, “Send the Light Brigade after those Ruskies stealing our cannons, and bring the guns back!”

Within his order was a careless neglect of specific detail that would make this a tragic day. From where  Raglan surveyed the battle space, it was obvious which Ruskies he was referring to. But the cavalry commander didn’t see what Raglan saw, from his position.

The message filtered down to Brigadier General Brudinell (the Earl of Cardigan or, simply, “Cardigan”), Commander of the Light Brigade. What Ruskies does Lord Raglan have in mind, he asks. The messenger waved toward the east. Attack, now, sez he.

Not that the cavalry knew, but the enemy was carrying off British field guns to the south, hidden by the terrain from their position. What lay to the east was something else entirely.

I’m sure Cardigan lost all color in his face.

Those cannons???” he must have wanted to ask.

In the direction the dispatch rider waved was an enormous Russian formation dug in on the high ground behind numerous artillery batteries on three sides. The valley they commanded was covered by a triangular crossfire. If any British, French, or Turkish unit was foolish enough to enter that valley, they would find themselves, in modern military parlance, inside a “kill box.”

The valley was a deathtrap. This was a suicide mission.

The Valley of Death.

The officers and men were obligated to take the orders at face value. They didn’t know the orders were based on a “blunder” of omission. I guarantee you, every cavalryman, from the C.O. down to the lowest enlisted man, was severely “dismayed” by the insane orders.

What followed was an age-old conundrum for a soldier.

A soldier has to obey the orders of the officers over him. Even when the orders make no sense. Even when the orders are crazy, idiotic, or suicidal. The officers have maps, and good vantage points, and knowledge that the common soldier doesn’t. Most of the time, orders that don’t make sense to a soldier at the time will make sense later, from a  strategic perspective, and prove necessary for accomplishing a mission. Some orders are, indeed, insane, and result in needless slaughter. But the common soldier usually doesn’t know which order is which. He must trust in his chain-of-command, and follow orders regardless.

It would be difficult-to-impossible to win wars without soldiers who will follow orders like those British cavalry troopers did.

Theirs was not to make reply. (Sir, this is suicidal! You’re sending us to our doom for no good reason!”)

Theirs was not to reason why. (“Why the bloody cack are we riding right into the mouth of hell, into the jaws of death? What purpose could this possibly serve? If we are to capture those cannons, send us in from behind, in the dark of night. And even then, with the advantage of surprise, it would be a forlorn hope!”)

Theirs was but to do and die. (Their job was to carry out their orders, even when it guaranteed their death.)

Boldly they rode, and well, while under murderous fire from the front and both flanks. As they grew closer to the enemy line, Russian gunners switched out the artillery shells for “shot.” That’s short for “grapeshot.” By this time grapeshot was more sophisticated, and starting to be called “cannister.” In effect, the smoothbore cannons were firing something like shotgun blasts into both “horse and hero,” with pellets the size of musket balls.

But once the survivors had broken through the line, Cossacks rode upon them. The troopers had to fall back through the Valley of Death, with the Russian artillery shredding them from both flanks and the rear. It was a bloodbath.

There’s a lot that can be said about that engagement. Tennyson concentrated on the honor of the steadfast troopers who rode knowingly into the Mouth of Hell. It was courageous, glorious, as he saw it. A cynic might be tempted to dismiss it as a foolish catastrophe. Were they fools for following orders that day? Not for me to judge. But nobody can question  their loyalty, their commitment to their duty, or their mettle.

One more thought: to preserve the stamina of their horses, the cavalry could not maintain a charge at a full gallop over long distances. They advanced at a walk, while already under fire. After half a league (a league is about 3 1/2 miles) they adjusted the pace to a trot. Later they accelerated to a lope or canter. Finally, a sprint. When read the right way, this poem’s cadence approximates the changing pace of the brigade riding into the Jaws of Death.

I’ll let Tennyson take it from here:

I
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.
II
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
   Someone had blundered.
   Theirs not to make reply,
   Theirs not to reason why,
   Theirs but to do and die.
   Into the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.
III
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
   Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
   Rode the six hundred.
(At 0:20 is a brief-but-spectacular shot of a cavalryman breaking through the line and sabering a gunner while his horse is in mid air hurdling the barricade.)
IV
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
   All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre stroke
   Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
   Not the six hundred.
V
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
   Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
   Left of six hundred.
VI
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
   All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
   Noble six hundred!

This is my way of honoring the noble 600 and the charge they made, Alfred.

* “Rear Echelon Mo-Fo,” AKA “clerks & jerks.” The corporal is literally a clerk-typist, assigned to a squad of Rangers for the mission that this movie is about.

Napoleon – a Review

If you didn’t see this movie in the theater, you might be tempted to watch it now that it’s streaming on Prime and possibly other services. Read this first.

For fans of military history, Napoleon represents an historical force. His accomplishments should be studied with respect, if not reverence.

It is safe to assume that director Ridley Scott is not a fan of military history.

Like nearly everyone calling the shots in Homowood, government, and every other institution, Scott is a geriatric leftist. There are exceptions, but his demographic is notorious for bad relationships with their fathers. Why Scott chose to treat the subject matter as he did  might have been guaranteed by his life-long contempt for strong patriarchal authority figures–especially those widely considered to be great.

This is not a film about Napoleon the strategist, Napoleon the Emperor, or even Napoleon the ambitious overachiever. It is a pedestrian screed against “toxic masculinity” which elevates the female (especially Josephine) to the Eternal Pedestal. Even Marie Antionette is granted a more sympathetic portrayal than the eponymous character.

Since this movie is about a man obsessed with a woman, it’s relevant to warn you that he is portrayed as emotionally unstable, egomaniacal (not just egotistical, which the real Bonaparte probably was), and sexually inept.

In reality, Bonaparte’s fixation on the sexually adventurous widow pointed to his own capacity for blunder in his personal life–if not a sign of ignorance, arrested development, some sort of fetish, or a character flaw. In the movie, it is inflated to carry the all-too-typical gynocentric trope that a man’s value as a human being depends upon the approval/acceptance of a woman.  The message comes across that (with the exception of Toulon) Bonaparte’s military successes were directly linked to his social credit score with Josephine. As their relationship soured, his great victories turned into colossal defeats. And when she died, that brought about his ignominious end.

Part of what was necessary to pull off this message (in a biopic about an historical figure defined by his military exploits, no less) was to simply ignore Bonaparte’s multiple campaigns and shove 95% of his military career off-screen. Only three battles are depicted–and only in part: Toulon, Austerlitz, and Borodino. The last was reduced to an half-assed montage of cavalry galloping through snow, in a half-assed  Russian Campaign sequence that amounts to an ambiguous afterthought.

Also painfully lacking is sufficient insight into why the battles (much less the respective wars) were fought.

C’mon, guys: the director has better things to do than spend that multimillion dollar budget showing you yucky military stuff in a biopic ostensibly about a military man.  The director’s primary role is an apologist for female behavior–in this case, a haughty royal blinded by her own privilege, and an unfaithful slut who married up about as high as she could go, but still drunk with entitlement to the point she delighted in making her husband miserable.

Creative license was used to the opposite effect  for the men, of course. There is not one single male character in the film that is likeable.

This is a cinematic hit piece, at most–a depressing one that leaves you wondering what the point was (other than “patriarchy bad”–gee, what a groundbreaking message).

Although there is an actor who wears funny hats who you see throughout the film, he he bears little resemblance to the Napoleon Bonaparte of history. I suspect he’s really a stand-in for a filmmaker’s father.

 

The Alchemy for Art Indie Library

The deck is really stacked against indie (independent) authors. It’s even worse for non-woke indie authors. You get no help with marketing from a publisher. Chances are slim your titles will ever be discovered in a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Your name isn’t associated with the prestige of the legacy publishing houses (dwindling, though it may be). Alternative media doesn’t care that you exist  and in most cases won’t plug your work to their audience. (Some of the alternate media outlets are controlled opposition and only promote ticket-takers, if they promote anyone at all.) The goose-stepping cultural Marxists who control the MSM and social media will get you censored/deplatformed/demonetized if they can, but if you succeed anyway, they will assassinate your character in the typical ways (“racist!” “conspiracy theorist!” etc.).

Thankfully, there are some folks who understand that indies should be taken seriously,* and through selfless effort, are trying to make their books more visible. Virtual Pulp (and the Two-Fisted Blog, before it) has always been a site that gave indies exposure, and now gets contributions from THE INFAMOUS REVIEWER GIO to amplify that effort. Writer Katie Roome also specializes in reviewing indie fiction at Periapsis Press. And then there is author Mark Bradford, who has built an attractive online aggregation of indie books.

Alchemy for Art (https://alchemyfor.art/books/) is growing, and I assume it will continue to grow. As of this moment, it boasts 12 authors and 33 books. The books are grouped by author, and by genre. Fantasy is the most represented genre so far, with sci-fi coming in second. But other genres are represented, including some that I write in.

My theory is that as more books are added to the list, the more readers will want to peruse it. So it looks like a win-win endeavor.

In other words, both readers and writers should visit the library. Authors should get their books added, and readers should check back regularly to see what books have been added.

 

* Indie books are much like tradpub books, in that quality varies. There are plenty from both sources that are terrible. The advantage of the indie end of the spectrum is that is where you’ll find the non-ticket-taking, non-woke authors. And because the gatekeepers have no direct control, that is where you’ll find  most of the superb storytelling in the book biz today, IMO.

TZ Paperback on Sale, Too!

Curious about Amazon discounting my debut novel, I surfed over to the Retreads Series page and found that Tier Zero is also discounted. Right now it is $5.09–cheaper than the current discount on the Kindle version and less than a third of the normal price.

Notice the paperback version has the Mack Bolan-esque retro cover painted by Derrick Early. This is yet another good gift idea for somebody who likes to read about kickass operators bringing smoke on bad guys. In this case, the bad guys are modern pirates, human traffickers, a murderous black ops team, and a turncoat mercenary.

Just as with Hell and Gone, I don’t know how long this discount will last…but I do know that Christmas is coming up fast.

H&G Paperback on Sale!

Apparently Amazon does this sometimes: they have been discounting my bestsellers. I thought it was a mistake, but no.

What this means right now is that you can get the Hell and Gone paperback for less than a third of it’s normal retail price. In fact, it’s the same exact price they have discounted the Kindle version to: $4.17.

No idea how long this will last so you might as well strike while the iron is cheap hot! BTW, with Christmas around the corner this is a good gift idea for anyone you know who likes military thrillers, men’s adventure, action novels, or all the above.

With what’s happening in and around Israel right now, this book might be as relevant as ever.

Happy reading!

Time Running Out on the Big Based Book Sale!

The Big Based Book Sale ends tomorrow. You still have time to save money on some good reads by non-woke authors.

And despite it being mostly a sci-fi/fantasy deal, my Retreads trilogy made the Top Ten in sales. If you haven’t picked up my paramilitary adventures, now’s a good time to get those for cheap, too. (Not just on Amazon, BTW. There are universal book links on the “Books” page right here at Virtual Pulp.)

My thanks to Hans Schantz for putting this sale together. Hopefully the first novel in my new series will be ready by the time of his next sale. Or the one after that…

Benghazi, Revisited

Can’t vouch for the authenticity of this, but it’s far more believable than any iteration of the Official Narrative from the Swamp Media:

Ambassador Stevens was sent to Benghazi to secretly retrieve US made Stinger Missiles that the State Dept had supplied to Ansar al Sharia in Libya WITHOUT Congressional oversight or permission.

Sec State Hillary Clinton had brokered the Libya deal through Ambassador Stevens and a Private Arms Dealer named Marc Turi, but some of the shoulder fired Stinger Missiles ended up in Afghanistan where they were used against our own military. On July 25th, 2012, a US Chinook helicopter was downed by one of them. Not destroyed only because the idiot Taliban didn’t arm the missile. The helicopter didn’t explode, but it had to land and an ordnance team recovered the missile’s serial number which led back to a cache of Stinger Missiles kept in
Qatar by the CIA.

Obama and Hillary were in full panic mode, so Ambassador Stevens was sent to Benghazi to retrieve the rest of the Stinger Missiles. This was a “do-or-die” mission, which explains the Stand Down Orders given to multiple rescue teams during the siege of the US Embassy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…(This was why Hillary) had a Private Server, (in order to delete the digital evidence), and WHY Obama, two weeks after the attack, told the UN that the attack was the result of the YouTube video, even though everyone KNEW it was not.

Furthermore, the Taliban knew Bowe Bergdahl was just a useful pawn used to cover the release of the Taliban generals. Everyone knew Bergdahl was a traitor but Obama used Bergdahl’s exchange for the five Taliban generals to cover that Obama was being coerced by the Taliban about the unauthorized Stinger Missile deal…that the administration had aided and abetted the enemy WITHOUT Congressional oversight or permission, so they began pressuring (blackmailing) the Obama Administration to release five Taliban generals being held at Guantanamo.

In case you still don’t get it: you are paying taxes so that traitors, criminals, and evil perverts can bankrupt your country (starting with YOU); sell you out to foreign and domestic enemies who hate you; corrupt and/or molest your children; enslave forthcoming generations in perpetuity; blame people like you for all the suffering they cause; and make themselves rich in the process.

Which Side Wants to Win Wars?

Hint: it’s not the side that has been fighting most of them, and wants to keep fighting them in perpetuity.

Those limprichard political officers on the US side make you proud to be, don’t they?

The America I once volunteered to fight for is gone; the uniform I once wore is now a perverse badge of shame; and the “leadership” of the Armed Forces is a sick joke.

The USA has not fought a full-scale war since WWII. That’s also the last time we fought a near-peer enemy.

Ever since then, we’ve had a huge technological advantage, plus overwhelming air and naval superiority. All three of those are dwindling, by design, as I type.  Meanwhile, domestic enemies are purging patriots from the ranks and replacing them with freaks, faggots and feminists who hate the country they will supposedly defend in the next foreign war.

Now when our Navy’s ships aren’t being rammed into each other by hysterical diversity hire captains, our carrier groups are sitting ducks for relatively cheap anti-ship missiles. Our combat arms want to abandon physical standards because too many badass womyn warriors can’t pass a PT test. The Rapid Deployment Forces now have to schedule around menstrual cycles and gender reassignment surgery. The shitbox F-35 is flown by pilots who need maternity flight suits. All while the Pedophile Princes and Cocaine Queens in Washington are trying to provoke a conflict with an actual war-fighting force…apparently modeled after the Wermacht–only bigger, and with nukes.

What could possibly go wrong?

The US Armed Forces’ Mission Is Not to Fight Wars

Congress has forbid the Army from imposing physical fitness standards on its soldiers because it “discriminates based on gender.”

Single standards are sexist. (Probably racist, too–I’m sure somebody has already said so.) In our altruistic pursuit of equality, only heterosexual males should be held to standards.

Our moral/intellectual superiors have made the Armed Forces a hostile environment for white heterosexual males (especially if they love their country), so go figure: the very demographic that won the war that freed the slaves, and won two world wars, knows it is not welcome there, and is finding other ways to make a living that don’t suck as much. (And trust me–life in the combat arms sucks plenty, even without adding all the cultural Marxist idiocy.)

But now the favored demographic is leaving in droves because badass womyn warriors don’t want to take the Combat Fitness test. 84% of them can’t pass it. And that is a problem. (Not failure to be combat ready–the problem is not enough womyn, of course.)

But the answer is not to enforce standards and make sure slots are filled according to who is capable of fulfilling the mission. Oh no. Only some sexist science-denier who believes there are only two sexes (and that those sexes are biologically different) would propose such discriminatory policy. It’s not like combat could be physically strenuous or anything. Besides, every action movie for the last 30 years has taught us that womyn are stronger than men, anyway.

Actions speak louder than words. Whatever word salad the uniformed Yes Men (and womyn) regurgitate to justify this absurdity, what they are saying is: “Diversity and inclusivity are more important than combat effectiveness.”

Diversity and inclusivity, of course, mean anti-white heterosexual male.

The Globohomo Cabal wants to destroy America, and they’ve just about done it. Economic collapse is one method in their tool box. Pushing us into a pointless war with Russia (over Ukraine or whatever) is another way. And they want to guarantee we lose. But it might prove to be a double-edged sword for them–because they’re also provoking a civil war with the very white heterosexual males who are willing to uphold and defend the US Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

On a tactical level, I rather like our odds in a 3/4GW scenario going head-to-head against a bunch of fat dikes, entitled karens and gender-confused freaks who can be convinced to quit by the prospect of taking a PT test.

 

Tell the Truth; Go to Jail

Violent mobs burn, loot, and murder with impunity. Even  on the rare occasions that they’re arrested, traitors in the court system release them right back on the street.  But they’ll find any excuse to lock up law abiding citizens who share the wrong opinions or make arguments that can’t be credibly “debunked.” Or defend themselves against the violent mobs. This documentarian had to be silenced, one way or the other. To the powers-that-be, she’s a much more serious threat than communist revolutionaries burning our cities down.

Just so you know where the priorities of the “justice” system lie.

If you expose the work of the shadow government, they’ll find an excuse to take you down.  This woman’s viral video was over the target. It’s as simple as that.

Conspiracies can’t survive sunlight. They must keep normal people in the dark. Their deception and programming has been incredibly successful at keeping sheeple ignorant of what’s actually going on.

Millennial Millie was blasting too much sunlight, and naming names. It will be depressing to watch how many bovine idiots justify Facebook/Youtube’s  suppression of this “dangerous information” with whatever narrative is spoon-fed them.

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