My first backpacking trip was with Boy Scout Troop 44 out of Blacksburg, VA. It was the first backpacking trip for a lot of us, actually; Troop 44 was known not for hiking but for cooking. Under the tutelage of the great Arthur "Torchy" Walrath, who literally wrote the book on camp cooking (check out Camp Cookery for Small Groups at Amazon.com), Troop 44 became the Bobby Flay of the Blue Ridge Mountain District.
The hike was part of an attempt at the BSA's 50 Miler Award: if you travel 50 miles by foot or by float (or a combination of both), spend a certain number of nights out in the woods, and do a service project, then you too can get the BSA's 50 Miler Award and sew the patch onto your pack. Wear it with pride.
Our 50 miler was a combination float/foot attempt. We went about 25 miles down the New River in canoes, and would do the rest on first by hiking on the AT. On the second day of the trip we hopped out of our canoes near Pearisburg and hoofed it towards one of the mountains towering over the town, Angel's Rest.
The first day of walking was difficult. We had canoed 13 miles into the wind, had to wait for quite sometime for our packs to arrive, and then had to walk through Pearisburg to the base of Angel's Rest. By the time we got there it had started to rain (naturally). This filled me with fear, becuase the prevailing wisdom on Angel's Rest, as shared by the older scouts, was that it was akin to scaling the Matterhorn, the trail so steep in places that you could reach out and touch it. They were all exagerating of course, but Angel's Rest still does present a challenge. With all the rain coming down, how on earth would we ever make it to the top?
We were just about to start up when the trail was filled by a giant, towering over us in green rain gear with a HUGE pack. He was an older gentleman (50?) one his way into Pearisburg and he stopped for a spell to talk with us. We asked him where he was going and he told us.
Georgia.
He explained that he was thru-hiking the Appalachain Trail and that it ran from Maine to Georgia. It was the first I had ever heard of this. You may be surprised to know that, but remember I was 12, and when you are 12 there are a lot of things you don't know. Amazingly enough, I did meet some people during my hike who didn't realize the trail they were walking on extended for hundreds and hundreds of miles in both directions.
Anyway, the idea that one would chose to walk that far was mind blowing. I am not saying I vowed that day and there to hike the AT, but I thought that it must make for a great adventure. A seed definetly was planted.
I remember a lot about the first trip. The troop mothers had given every other person a stick of summer sausage, and it played havoc with our digestion and was a greasy burden. I am amazed that we were not attacked by bears. Everytime we stopped for a breather my Dad would go around with what remained of his summer sausage and knife and ask people if they wanted some, and cut you off a piece whether you wanted one or not.
My Dad also betrayed a skill for forecasting the weather, which I have learned in subsequent years is something he pays a fair amount of attention to, as do I. He became a kind of oracle. We would ask him if we should set up tents or if it would be okay to sleep under the stars, and he'd give us a judgement based on the clouds and the way the wind was blowing (or maybe he had spirited a radio along with him, I don't know). He was never wrong.
The hike wasn't easy. We didn't have the best equipment, we didn't have the most weight efficient food, we didn't know that we didn't need a good deal of what we had brought with us. One guy "got it". He was a cross country runner, a really good cross country runner, and obviously understood that in a game of distances lighter is better. You could pick up his pack with one finger. Even on my best days on the AT, I could never make such a boast.
In spite of the difficulties and many aches and pains, we were successful. To get the patch we had to camp out one additional night, and so we camped out at one of the Scoutmaster's houses. In an obvious lapse of judgement (a rare thing), they decided to show us "Deliverance", becuase one of the guys who we met while canoeing sort of looked like some guy playing the banjo on a bridge in the film. My glasses broke, and my Dad and I spent the entire movie trying to fix them. We couldn't find any screws so we had to track down some wire and tape; I think my Dad may have stalled on purpose so I couldn't watch the movie. For this I am grateful. It would have been too much. He's a good man.
So that was the first trip. There were more, and eventually there was a small group of scouts and leaders who had things pretty well figured out. When I started hiking the AT for keeps, I considered myself an avid hiker.
But as it turned out, I still had much to learn.
How is that for a cliffhanger! Stay tuned for more.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Some Basic Questions Answered
Before I start jibba-jabbering about the trail, its probably good to get some FAQs out of the way.
#1. Where is the trail, and how long is it?
The trail runs from Mount Kathadin, Maine, to Springer Mountain, Georgia. It runs through (let me see...) Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia (just barely), Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia.
Total distance actually varies from year to year based on measuring equipment and changes to the trail, but when I hiked it was about 2,170 miles.
#2. How long did it take?
About five and a half months. Started July 1, 2005, finished December 10, 2005.
#3. How many miles a day did you go?
I think if you actually take the length of the trail and divide it by the number of days I was out, it comes out to like 13 miles a day, but that includes a lot of zero days in towns and a lot of "nero" days (days where you don't go very far; for me, a nero became anything less than 7 miles. Why 7? I don't really know). I usually shot for 16 miles a day once I was in shape, and I could easily do over 20. My longest day was reckoned at 27.
#4. North or South?
Most people hike going North, starting in Georgia and heading up to Maine. Because I started the hike well after college graduation, in July, I started in Maine and went South. If you do start that late, the weather is much more favorable going south than north; Mount Kathadin usually closes in October due to snowfall.
#5. How much did your pack weigh?
I started out with probably 70 lbs fully loaded (includes food and water), which was way too much. By the time I was in Vermont I had it down to 45 fully loaded. At that point I no longer kept track. I think it inched up a bit when it got cold, but I changed out some of my gear for some lighter options and got it back down again some.
#6. Where did you poop?
In the woods with the bears.
Actually, on the trail there are shelters on the way. They are not much; typically a three sided structure with a roof. It will keep the rain off of you, as long as it isn't windy. Most of these shelters are fairly close to water sources AND they usually also have privies or outhouses.
They come in many different types. You got your classic outhouses, your octagons, your mouldering privies, your two-seaters. My favorite is the mouldering types, because they are typically open air and as long as people "flush" by tossing some duff into the privies when they are down they are less smelly. I will let you puzzle over what duff is. It may or may not be Homer Simpson's favorite beer.
#7. What did you eat?
For the most part, I ate anything that could be cooked by adding hot water. Freeze dried meals, Ramen noodles, some pastas, things like that. In addition, I usually had trail mix, a jar of peanut butter, grape kool-aid, cocoa, and many, many many energy bars. Snickers bars, actually, provide the most energy on the dollar.
In town I ate what ever I could get my hands on.
#8. Down or synthetic?
I started off using a synthetic sleeping bag, but I am definitely a fan of goose down now. I met people on the trail who ended up going in the other direction.
#9. Nude Hiking Day?
I think nude hiking day is in June, and it is usually something the northbounders (i.e. people hiking from Georgia to Maine) do to break up the monotony of hiking. So I missed it. Didn't stop me from trying one day anyway. Didn't catch on for me.
#10. Wow, really? Did you run into anyone, that would be embarrassing
No shit. I've actually read that if you are going to hike nude, its best to do it in a small group of people, mixed gender if possible. Otherwise you just look like someone who really, really loves nature. Thankfully, I picked a day and a place where I didn't expect to meet anyone, and I was right.
I did, however, definetly got caught once skinny dipping...not really skinny dipping, but rather just having a wash in a stream. That is a story in and of itself.
#11. Did you hike alone?
Sort of. I didn't have a dedicated hiking partner. In the beginning, there was plenty of northbounders coming up the trail so I usually had company at night. Sometimes I would hike with some southbounders for a few days, and finally towards the end I hiked with a couple whose hiking style matched mine fairly well (Bad Cheese, Stalecrackers, if you are out there give me a shout!)
There was a large portion of the trail where I did hike very much alone, from Pennsylvania well into Virginia. It was not fun.
#12. Dude, I got more questions, but the idea of you hiking nude...it's like burned this image into my brain. Somethings are better left unsaid, you know?
Hey, I didn't ask the question.
#13. You should have lied.
Fair enough. We'll pick this up at a later time. It's late anyway, and I have to be getting to bed.
#14. I'll bet you are going to tell me you sleep in the nude too.
Har har.
#1. Where is the trail, and how long is it?
The trail runs from Mount Kathadin, Maine, to Springer Mountain, Georgia. It runs through (let me see...) Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia (just barely), Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia.
Total distance actually varies from year to year based on measuring equipment and changes to the trail, but when I hiked it was about 2,170 miles.
#2. How long did it take?
About five and a half months. Started July 1, 2005, finished December 10, 2005.
#3. How many miles a day did you go?
I think if you actually take the length of the trail and divide it by the number of days I was out, it comes out to like 13 miles a day, but that includes a lot of zero days in towns and a lot of "nero" days (days where you don't go very far; for me, a nero became anything less than 7 miles. Why 7? I don't really know). I usually shot for 16 miles a day once I was in shape, and I could easily do over 20. My longest day was reckoned at 27.
#4. North or South?
Most people hike going North, starting in Georgia and heading up to Maine. Because I started the hike well after college graduation, in July, I started in Maine and went South. If you do start that late, the weather is much more favorable going south than north; Mount Kathadin usually closes in October due to snowfall.
#5. How much did your pack weigh?
I started out with probably 70 lbs fully loaded (includes food and water), which was way too much. By the time I was in Vermont I had it down to 45 fully loaded. At that point I no longer kept track. I think it inched up a bit when it got cold, but I changed out some of my gear for some lighter options and got it back down again some.
#6. Where did you poop?
In the woods with the bears.
Actually, on the trail there are shelters on the way. They are not much; typically a three sided structure with a roof. It will keep the rain off of you, as long as it isn't windy. Most of these shelters are fairly close to water sources AND they usually also have privies or outhouses.
They come in many different types. You got your classic outhouses, your octagons, your mouldering privies, your two-seaters. My favorite is the mouldering types, because they are typically open air and as long as people "flush" by tossing some duff into the privies when they are down they are less smelly. I will let you puzzle over what duff is. It may or may not be Homer Simpson's favorite beer.
#7. What did you eat?
For the most part, I ate anything that could be cooked by adding hot water. Freeze dried meals, Ramen noodles, some pastas, things like that. In addition, I usually had trail mix, a jar of peanut butter, grape kool-aid, cocoa, and many, many many energy bars. Snickers bars, actually, provide the most energy on the dollar.
In town I ate what ever I could get my hands on.
#8. Down or synthetic?
I started off using a synthetic sleeping bag, but I am definitely a fan of goose down now. I met people on the trail who ended up going in the other direction.
#9. Nude Hiking Day?
I think nude hiking day is in June, and it is usually something the northbounders (i.e. people hiking from Georgia to Maine) do to break up the monotony of hiking. So I missed it. Didn't stop me from trying one day anyway. Didn't catch on for me.
#10. Wow, really? Did you run into anyone, that would be embarrassing
No shit. I've actually read that if you are going to hike nude, its best to do it in a small group of people, mixed gender if possible. Otherwise you just look like someone who really, really loves nature. Thankfully, I picked a day and a place where I didn't expect to meet anyone, and I was right.
I did, however, definetly got caught once skinny dipping...not really skinny dipping, but rather just having a wash in a stream. That is a story in and of itself.
#11. Did you hike alone?
Sort of. I didn't have a dedicated hiking partner. In the beginning, there was plenty of northbounders coming up the trail so I usually had company at night. Sometimes I would hike with some southbounders for a few days, and finally towards the end I hiked with a couple whose hiking style matched mine fairly well (Bad Cheese, Stalecrackers, if you are out there give me a shout!)
There was a large portion of the trail where I did hike very much alone, from Pennsylvania well into Virginia. It was not fun.
#12. Dude, I got more questions, but the idea of you hiking nude...it's like burned this image into my brain. Somethings are better left unsaid, you know?
Hey, I didn't ask the question.
#13. You should have lied.
Fair enough. We'll pick this up at a later time. It's late anyway, and I have to be getting to bed.
#14. I'll bet you are going to tell me you sleep in the nude too.
Har har.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
New Years Resolution
Woah woah woah. I know what you are thinking. I mean, here I am, I've got this holiday blog series going and I haven't updated it since around thanksgiving, and I skipped Christmas entirely and now its time for New Year's Day? What gives?
I guess "what gives" is that the holiday posts turned out to be, for me at least, a bit of a disappointment. I mean, I got to talk about Neil Diamond and gripe about Christmas, but it seems that for about a month that is all that everyone DOES. Christmas is either too long or too short, its too secular, its too religious, its too commercial, its not turning out to be the boon our economy expected, etc. etc. All my series did was add to that, and in the end I didn't really want to.
For what its worth, I did have a good Christmas. For me, the really festive part of Christmas runs from Festivus Day (23rd) to Boxing Day (the 26th -- usually a downer, but saved because in Britain they play lots of soccer on Boxing Day and its fun to watch). Chruch on Christmas Eve was great (maybe the best Christmas Eve service I have ever seen), my family managed to come over in spite of the snow and I got to see my Brother for the first time in probably a year, I got to watch my daughter discover the joy that is ripping into holiday wrapping paper, and my wife made the best turkey I have ever had. Ever.
But now that the 27th is looming, its time to think about wrapping up the year. That means its time for New Years Resolutions! I have three:
1. Get more sleep. Right now on a typical night I am getting about 5 to 5.5 hours. Not enough. While everyone recommends 7-8 I unfortunately don't think I have enough time, so I am aiming for 6-6.5 hours everynight.
2. Turn it off. I am going to try to get by this year without CNN or any other 24 hour news network. That also means no more CNN.com. It's a protest against the 24 hour news cycle. I'm going to try to read the paper more and the economist, and I will still listen to NPR. Caveat: if North Korea invades South Korea, CNN is coming on.
3. Lose some weight. Yeah, I hear you laughing. But I really do need to get serious about getting to a healthy weight. I hope to lose a stone this year (that'd be 12 pounds (I think)), and if that goes well maybe another stone next year. I even plan to get a gym membership. Still laughing? Yeah, I thought so.
And that's it, but that's plenty. I don't intend to keep you guys up to date on how any of these resolutions is going (unless something awesome happens in relation to them), but I felt like sharing. It seems like a fitting way to end the holiday series, the first (and last?) that I have ever attempted.
Happy New Year!
I guess "what gives" is that the holiday posts turned out to be, for me at least, a bit of a disappointment. I mean, I got to talk about Neil Diamond and gripe about Christmas, but it seems that for about a month that is all that everyone DOES. Christmas is either too long or too short, its too secular, its too religious, its too commercial, its not turning out to be the boon our economy expected, etc. etc. All my series did was add to that, and in the end I didn't really want to.
For what its worth, I did have a good Christmas. For me, the really festive part of Christmas runs from Festivus Day (23rd) to Boxing Day (the 26th -- usually a downer, but saved because in Britain they play lots of soccer on Boxing Day and its fun to watch). Chruch on Christmas Eve was great (maybe the best Christmas Eve service I have ever seen), my family managed to come over in spite of the snow and I got to see my Brother for the first time in probably a year, I got to watch my daughter discover the joy that is ripping into holiday wrapping paper, and my wife made the best turkey I have ever had. Ever.
But now that the 27th is looming, its time to think about wrapping up the year. That means its time for New Years Resolutions! I have three:
1. Get more sleep. Right now on a typical night I am getting about 5 to 5.5 hours. Not enough. While everyone recommends 7-8 I unfortunately don't think I have enough time, so I am aiming for 6-6.5 hours everynight.
2. Turn it off. I am going to try to get by this year without CNN or any other 24 hour news network. That also means no more CNN.com. It's a protest against the 24 hour news cycle. I'm going to try to read the paper more and the economist, and I will still listen to NPR. Caveat: if North Korea invades South Korea, CNN is coming on.
3. Lose some weight. Yeah, I hear you laughing. But I really do need to get serious about getting to a healthy weight. I hope to lose a stone this year (that'd be 12 pounds (I think)), and if that goes well maybe another stone next year. I even plan to get a gym membership. Still laughing? Yeah, I thought so.
And that's it, but that's plenty. I don't intend to keep you guys up to date on how any of these resolutions is going (unless something awesome happens in relation to them), but I felt like sharing. It seems like a fitting way to end the holiday series, the first (and last?) that I have ever attempted.
Happy New Year!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Trail Day!
I regret that I was unable to make a post on December 10. I am in the middle of preparing for a final exam for school (Masters Degree program in Naval Arch. from VT, if you are curious), and with a job and a family and Christmas looming in the distance and all the preperations THAT entails, there just wasn't enough time to sit down and write.
I regret it though, becuase December 10th is a day that I hold close to the heart, right up there with my anniversary, my wife's birhtday (which I better not forget) and my daughter's birthday (which I could never forget).
It is an important day for me becuase December 10, 2005, was the day that I finished the Appalachian Trail. It was the end of of a 2,170 mile journey that began at Mount Kathadin, Maine, on July 1 of that same year. It is a journey that I can sum up in one word: Incredible.
And of course, one word is not enough to describe it. Before I left my Grandmother asked me if I was going to write a book about my upcoming hike during a farewell lunch at Red Lobster (her choice, not mine...though cheddar biscuits can also be described with one word: scrumdidillyumptious). And I told her no, becuase it is something that has been done many times. I used the example of Bill Bryson's "Walk in the Woods", though I am not sure Bryson spent enough time out in the woods to really capture the essance of making a thru-hike.
Then when I was done with the trail I thought that maybe I could write a book about it, but the words simply would never come.
For the longest time, it seemed there was nothing really to talk about. The trail is generally thought of as a life changing experience - and for many it is. There are books (see, it has been done before) about people who have gone on the trail and have their entire perspective altered. They go out and see God in the nature around them and they go home and become ministers. Or they become so in love with the journey that the only way for them to deal with it is to keep going, and they end up hiking the trail 3, 4, 5 times, to the point where they understand every rock and stream as one undesrstands an old and intimate friend.
Me? Not so much. If any changes happened, they were small; the trajectory of my life remained essentially unaletered. And that is an aspect of my hike that I found frustrating at times. God never decscended to meet me on the mountain top so that he and I could play chess (though I hear he much prefers Battleship) - though I will toss a bone to my spiritually inclined friends and say that I did feel often a profound sense of grace and thankfulness (though not in a mushy "I love you Jesus baby" kind of way...more on this in a later post).
I also thought maybe I would "find myself" or achieve oneness with nature. As far as being one with nature is concerned, nothing could be farther from the truth. I often felt very much ill at ease with Mother Nature, like I was a guest in her home who had overstayed his welcome. Her house is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I found myself tiptoeing quietly through it trying very hard not to break anything. My relationship to nature was reverent and intensely respectful, but I felt we were always at odds.
As far as finding myself, I don't know who I was supposed to find. I realized late on that the entire hike had been a reflection of who I was. It was meticulously planned, tenaciously (if somewhat patiently) pursued, tightly organized. But I was also incredibly flexible in changing plans and shifting intermediate goals, and I did take time to enjoy my surroundings. People told me that I should be a little more free spirited. That I should fold up the map and linger a little longer in town or on the trail. And sometimes I think I should have, sometimes I wonder if I should have had more fun. But it's something I simply couldn't do; something I have never been able to do. I hiked with every fiber of being of my being, giving it everything I had until the end, just hanging on -- becuase believe me, as awesome as it was, it was very difficult many, many times.
I threw myself back into the business of living life when I returned - got a job, got married to my at that time girlfriend (who was finishing her junior year of college while I was away), had a family. All of these are great things, but by doing so I am not so sure I got the chance to process the hike.
Well, after 5 years of thinking about it, I think I have something to say at last, and this Blog seems like a good platform to do it in. I don't know if what I have is worthy of a book -- but maybe if this goes well I can gather my thoughts into some sort of body of work.
But that really isn't the point. Since I have gotten off the trail one thing has changed - there is this incredible desire to talk about the trip to anyone who will listen. Maybe its a way of reliving a wonderful 5 and half months; maybe its a way to keep those memories alive. My friends and my wife are tired of hearing about it, so guess what?
You're next.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Books You May Not Like -- Two Military Histories
In this nation over the past few years, history has become much like the Bible; many know of it, few read it, even fewer let it influence their lives. The Evangelists on Fox News talk about history's message has been corrputed by forward thinkers and use it to point out our nation's many sins.
Now, I am not a historical literalist. Just because the Founding Fathers didn't envision an EPA or things like women voting doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.
So if that is the case, what meaning does history have? Well, just some people feel that Bible is not a literal rule book but rather a medium for the Holy Spirit to speak to us, so I do I feel that a study of history can throw our current times into relief. It's not going to give you any answers, but it does provide a prism through which our times - and even ourselves - can be viewed.
As a case in point, take a couple books that I have recently read that you may not like (if you don't like history...especially straight military history...you may not like these books).
For the first: "The Bitter Woods", by John D. Eisenhower, which is about the German offensive in the Ardennes in December 1944, commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge. For those of you who don't rememer, Hitler made a great last gamble, going on the offensive after the Allied armies had stalled in front of the Rhine. His thinking was that Allied command would be split and slow to react to a major offensive, and he underestimated the fighting qualities of American soldiers (the attack is a section of front held by Americans). Though the attack did cause some friction in command, US forces reacted quickly and fought with incredible alacrity. By December 26th the Germans had been halted, and by the middle of January The Bulge had been closed and reduced.
It is a very detailed account, with Eisenhower discussiong operations down to a batallion and occasionally even company level, and very much a military history in that there are lots of "X's and O's". The stories of the defenses of St. Vith and Bastogne are incredible stories of tenacity, of how crisis was turned into an astounding success, is really rather inspiring.
It comes at a cost, of course. Too much of a cost. Sometimes its not easy to see the human element behind the X's and O's, but occasionally Eisenhower describes an action with great vividness, particulary around Bastogne, in a way that captures the brutality of the fighting in horrible conditions.
For the other book, "Valley of Death" by Ted Morgan, misery is writ large. The book is about the French-Indochina war, fought in Vietnam in the early 1950's, but it focuses on the battle of Dien Ben Phu. At Dien Ben Phu, a French force made up of mostly Moroccans, Southern Vietnamese, and German Legionaires found itself surrounded by Northern Vietnamese in a "hedgehog" base that was supposed to be resupplied by air. The Vietnamese held the high ground and were able to haul heavy artillery up the heights piece by piece, much to the surprise of the French. It was a fairly hopeless situation, and about half the book detials the diplomancy conducted by France to try to get extra help from Britain and the US in the form of air strikes and support which seemed to be the garrison's only hope.
The French War aims were a little odious; they were concerned mostly with the restoration of French prestige. And yes, they probably should have never been at Dien Ben Phu at the first place, as the goals were to defned Camboida (or was it Thailand?) and conduct offensive operations; the first goal was merely political and not realistic, and the second was proven impossible.
The conditions under which the battle were fought stagger the mind. One of the things about the Ardennes was that the basic rules of war seemed, for the most part, to be followed. One manifestation of this is that during an action occasionally there was a truce to clear wounded from the filed and evacuate them to the rear. The French were given no such luxury at Dien Ben Phu. Aside from a few pauses there was no let up in the bombardment and planes were for the large part not allowed to land by Vietnamese anti-air batteries. As such there was no way to evacuate the wounded. The dead were left unburried. There was no relief and few reinforcements (though it is amazing that even once the situation was beyond hope there were Frenchmen -- yes, Frenchmen -- still willing to volunteer to be dropped in to the fight). When one legionarre was wounded during an attack towards the end of the battle and saw his comrades coming to assist him, he drew out his revolver and shot himself so that they might not risk their lives in saving him.
It was one of the saddest books I have ever read.
Now, the US is fighting, still, dual wars in far off lands. You can't make a comparison between Dien Ben Phu and Iraq or Afghanistan, but that is not the point. Sometimes, even in a 24 hr news cycle (maybe espeially in a 24 hour news cycle), it is possible to forget how tragic war is and how much we ask of our military. And that's why reading books like this from time to time is a good thing to do: it throws a relief on our times and helps me remember.
So, what's next for me? Fiction. Wonderful, wonderful, mindless fiction. It is Christmas, afterall.
Now, I am not a historical literalist. Just because the Founding Fathers didn't envision an EPA or things like women voting doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.
So if that is the case, what meaning does history have? Well, just some people feel that Bible is not a literal rule book but rather a medium for the Holy Spirit to speak to us, so I do I feel that a study of history can throw our current times into relief. It's not going to give you any answers, but it does provide a prism through which our times - and even ourselves - can be viewed.
As a case in point, take a couple books that I have recently read that you may not like (if you don't like history...especially straight military history...you may not like these books).
For the first: "The Bitter Woods", by John D. Eisenhower, which is about the German offensive in the Ardennes in December 1944, commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge. For those of you who don't rememer, Hitler made a great last gamble, going on the offensive after the Allied armies had stalled in front of the Rhine. His thinking was that Allied command would be split and slow to react to a major offensive, and he underestimated the fighting qualities of American soldiers (the attack is a section of front held by Americans). Though the attack did cause some friction in command, US forces reacted quickly and fought with incredible alacrity. By December 26th the Germans had been halted, and by the middle of January The Bulge had been closed and reduced.
It is a very detailed account, with Eisenhower discussiong operations down to a batallion and occasionally even company level, and very much a military history in that there are lots of "X's and O's". The stories of the defenses of St. Vith and Bastogne are incredible stories of tenacity, of how crisis was turned into an astounding success, is really rather inspiring.
It comes at a cost, of course. Too much of a cost. Sometimes its not easy to see the human element behind the X's and O's, but occasionally Eisenhower describes an action with great vividness, particulary around Bastogne, in a way that captures the brutality of the fighting in horrible conditions.
For the other book, "Valley of Death" by Ted Morgan, misery is writ large. The book is about the French-Indochina war, fought in Vietnam in the early 1950's, but it focuses on the battle of Dien Ben Phu. At Dien Ben Phu, a French force made up of mostly Moroccans, Southern Vietnamese, and German Legionaires found itself surrounded by Northern Vietnamese in a "hedgehog" base that was supposed to be resupplied by air. The Vietnamese held the high ground and were able to haul heavy artillery up the heights piece by piece, much to the surprise of the French. It was a fairly hopeless situation, and about half the book detials the diplomancy conducted by France to try to get extra help from Britain and the US in the form of air strikes and support which seemed to be the garrison's only hope.
The French War aims were a little odious; they were concerned mostly with the restoration of French prestige. And yes, they probably should have never been at Dien Ben Phu at the first place, as the goals were to defned Camboida (or was it Thailand?) and conduct offensive operations; the first goal was merely political and not realistic, and the second was proven impossible.
The conditions under which the battle were fought stagger the mind. One of the things about the Ardennes was that the basic rules of war seemed, for the most part, to be followed. One manifestation of this is that during an action occasionally there was a truce to clear wounded from the filed and evacuate them to the rear. The French were given no such luxury at Dien Ben Phu. Aside from a few pauses there was no let up in the bombardment and planes were for the large part not allowed to land by Vietnamese anti-air batteries. As such there was no way to evacuate the wounded. The dead were left unburried. There was no relief and few reinforcements (though it is amazing that even once the situation was beyond hope there were Frenchmen -- yes, Frenchmen -- still willing to volunteer to be dropped in to the fight). When one legionarre was wounded during an attack towards the end of the battle and saw his comrades coming to assist him, he drew out his revolver and shot himself so that they might not risk their lives in saving him.
It was one of the saddest books I have ever read.
Now, the US is fighting, still, dual wars in far off lands. You can't make a comparison between Dien Ben Phu and Iraq or Afghanistan, but that is not the point. Sometimes, even in a 24 hr news cycle (maybe espeially in a 24 hour news cycle), it is possible to forget how tragic war is and how much we ask of our military. And that's why reading books like this from time to time is a good thing to do: it throws a relief on our times and helps me remember.
So, what's next for me? Fiction. Wonderful, wonderful, mindless fiction. It is Christmas, afterall.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Advent is here! Hooray??
Don't have too much to say about Thanksgiving, honestly, which may seem odd seeing as how I have spent a good deal of the previous holiday posts griping about how early Christmas comes. You'd think I would be more about giving Thanksgiving its due.
But I'm not much of a Thanksgiving guy. It is a day I tend to look forward to with some level of dread, only becuase there is usually some major hassle associated with the day, be it cooking or cleaning or traveling. Now, it is nothing compared to the hassle of Christmas itself, with the gift buying and the house decorating layered on top of cooking and traveling, but for some reason at Christmas it seems justified. Thanksgiving...well, it just doesn't seem worth the trouble.
And yet it always turns out that it is worth it one way or another, and I always end up actually enjoying the day when it arrives.
So, that's Thanksgiving. This year we went to Stanton to see my wife's family and we were treated to a dinner that was huge and seeming effortless...but that's probably becuase we arrived one hour before dinner was served.
After Thanksgiving I went to my 10th year high school reunion, which was a blast. I was a little skeptical about it becuase it was held in a bar in Blacksburg, but that turned out to be a fantastic idea. $15 got you in with two drinks and some hoursderves, there were no planned activities or speeches, just people drinking the beverage of their choice and catching up. If anyone out there is planning a reunion, I would highly recommend having a casual event at a good bar. Thank you to everyone who planned the reunion and put it on, it was great.
So, after that comes the Christmas season in earnest, and while it would be easy to focus on the melee that is Black Friday, I find I would rather step insdie the Church.
It is, of course, the first week of Advent. We don't do it so much in the Lutheran Chruch, but I remember in the Episcopal Church I went to growing up we would sing some of the versus of O Come O Come Emmanuel every week, which is a wonderful but sort of dreary hymn that aches with the longing for a Messiah.
I say it's dreary, and Advent is a bit of a dreary time in the mainstream Christian Church. It stands in stark contrast to the commercialized month-long spending orgy going on outside the Church doors, and I reckon it even stands in contrast to the more Christian carols dripping with honey over a perfect newborn babe that you can buy in plastic format for your Fontanini nativity sets.
I didn't notice this when I was a child becuase I was too busy looking at the advent wreath and contemplating the weeks left until Christmas, but Advent is the one time of year that the mainline Church really talks about the end of days; a scary prospect for us becuase we're not sure really what that means, and our faiths are perhaps allow for too much moral and metaphysical relativity to assure ourselves of our own salvation.
It all serves to remind us that the world is still a dark place. It may not be as dark as when Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem under the prejudiced eyes of Roman Centurians, but it's still a pretty dreary place when you stop and reflect.
When I look at the Advent wreath these days, I don't find myself counting the Sundays left until Christmas, but rather I end up focusing on the small flame that flickers in defiance symbolizing the hope we as Christians - as any people of faith, really - place in God.
And if this season has a "reason" beyond getting gifts and seeing friends and family, to me that is it. I don't know if I beleive in the virgin birth or even in the whole thing with the manger. But I do believe that Christ is the light of the World, the light which no darkness can overcome, and on Christmas Day, in the midst of the darkness of winter, that is what we who believe gather together to celebrate.
And the dark season of Advent makes that hope burn all the brighter. Reflect, prepare, meditate, and on Christmas Day light a candle against the darkness, give thanks to God, and go and eat some Figgy Pudding.
But I'm not much of a Thanksgiving guy. It is a day I tend to look forward to with some level of dread, only becuase there is usually some major hassle associated with the day, be it cooking or cleaning or traveling. Now, it is nothing compared to the hassle of Christmas itself, with the gift buying and the house decorating layered on top of cooking and traveling, but for some reason at Christmas it seems justified. Thanksgiving...well, it just doesn't seem worth the trouble.
And yet it always turns out that it is worth it one way or another, and I always end up actually enjoying the day when it arrives.
So, that's Thanksgiving. This year we went to Stanton to see my wife's family and we were treated to a dinner that was huge and seeming effortless...but that's probably becuase we arrived one hour before dinner was served.
After Thanksgiving I went to my 10th year high school reunion, which was a blast. I was a little skeptical about it becuase it was held in a bar in Blacksburg, but that turned out to be a fantastic idea. $15 got you in with two drinks and some hoursderves, there were no planned activities or speeches, just people drinking the beverage of their choice and catching up. If anyone out there is planning a reunion, I would highly recommend having a casual event at a good bar. Thank you to everyone who planned the reunion and put it on, it was great.
So, after that comes the Christmas season in earnest, and while it would be easy to focus on the melee that is Black Friday, I find I would rather step insdie the Church.
It is, of course, the first week of Advent. We don't do it so much in the Lutheran Chruch, but I remember in the Episcopal Church I went to growing up we would sing some of the versus of O Come O Come Emmanuel every week, which is a wonderful but sort of dreary hymn that aches with the longing for a Messiah.
I say it's dreary, and Advent is a bit of a dreary time in the mainstream Christian Church. It stands in stark contrast to the commercialized month-long spending orgy going on outside the Church doors, and I reckon it even stands in contrast to the more Christian carols dripping with honey over a perfect newborn babe that you can buy in plastic format for your Fontanini nativity sets.
I didn't notice this when I was a child becuase I was too busy looking at the advent wreath and contemplating the weeks left until Christmas, but Advent is the one time of year that the mainline Church really talks about the end of days; a scary prospect for us becuase we're not sure really what that means, and our faiths are perhaps allow for too much moral and metaphysical relativity to assure ourselves of our own salvation.
It all serves to remind us that the world is still a dark place. It may not be as dark as when Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem under the prejudiced eyes of Roman Centurians, but it's still a pretty dreary place when you stop and reflect.
When I look at the Advent wreath these days, I don't find myself counting the Sundays left until Christmas, but rather I end up focusing on the small flame that flickers in defiance symbolizing the hope we as Christians - as any people of faith, really - place in God.
And if this season has a "reason" beyond getting gifts and seeing friends and family, to me that is it. I don't know if I beleive in the virgin birth or even in the whole thing with the manger. But I do believe that Christ is the light of the World, the light which no darkness can overcome, and on Christmas Day, in the midst of the darkness of winter, that is what we who believe gather together to celebrate.
And the dark season of Advent makes that hope burn all the brighter. Reflect, prepare, meditate, and on Christmas Day light a candle against the darkness, give thanks to God, and go and eat some Figgy Pudding.
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