Yet, we were not allowed to prepare in peace. When I recall the events that preceded the start, I wonder that we came off with as little lasting damage as we did. Young John Dyer, Chief Radio Engineer, plunged forty-five feet from the top of an antenna pole, with no worse hurt than a barked shin. Rawson, the Navigator, had to be operated on for a streptococcus throat infection. Then Pelter, the Aerial Photographer, came down with appendicitis; this meant another hasty operation under conditions made melodramatic by the doctor's unwitting act. Knocking over a lamp, he set fire to the cache in which all the surgical instruments were stored; all hands were wildly mustered to save the instruments and a dozen sleeping men who were in danger of being trapped in the adjoining shack. And this happened just a day or so after the Fokker had crashed in full view of the camp, and four men, stunned but otherwise unhurt, had crawled out from the wreckage. Breaking rapidly one on top of the other, these incidents, any one of which might have been fatal, rasped nerves already drawn taut by the exhausting demands of Misery Trail. We were ready to find anything under the bed. In this mood we jumped one day to the grim conclusion that Little America was on the verge of breaking loose from the Antarctic Continent and drifting into the Ross Sea as a calving iceberg.



The above is from ALONE. A book by Richard Byrd, leader of an American expedition to Antarctica.

I just read "Endurance," the story of the Shackleton Expedition to Antarctica. Brutal.

When my Dad was at Harvard Medical School in the early 1940’s, Admiral Byrd was a Guest Speaker. One of the future physicians asked him what the most difficult task he faced in Antartica? His response was “ Taking a piss through 5 inches of clothing with a 4 inch dick.”

If any of you enjoy these books, I highly recommend

Mawson's Will.

I have never read anything as horrifying as this one .

Very enjoyable.

I just sent an email to a group of my classmates that lived together for four years in college; we are trying to get a buddy home from Joberg (he was there for business). Looks like he will get out. I said, "Not the first close call Zap has had."

On Sep 11 2001 he had just entered the Pentagon for a meeting headed by LTG Maude. One of his colleagues said, "I can deal with this meeting for you," so my pal left the room. Seconds later the plane hit and killed everyone in the room; he was buried in ruble.

Remarkably, of the 19 on that email list, four were in the Pentagon that day and all survived (another was also buried in ruble).

I was also thinking today what it would have felt like to have been taken as a slave and brought to America, or being interned in a concentration camp, or having your head cut off while being videotaped. This is not fun, but it is doable.

quote:

Originally posted by Bud Meadows:
When my Dad was at Harvard Medical School in the early 1940’s, Admiral Byrd was a Guest Speaker. One of the future physicians asked him what the most difficult task he faced in Antartica? His response was “ Taking a piss through 5 inches of clothing with a 4 inch dick.”

Ha! My driver/gopher in the Army said that one night when left the tent to take a leak, except he said "It sure is hard taking a piss when you have a four inch dick and 9 inches of clothes."

On our first field problem in the winter I rolled out my sleeping bag and read the description.

"Sleeping bag, extreme cold," I read out loud.

"Yes sir, and that is exactly what you get when you use it," he said.

But my all time favorite was when we came back from an FTX and were cleaning weapons. We had on white artic pants. As we cleaned, Amos (the driver) said, "Well, you sure can tell who did all the work on this field problem."

SFC Seagal said, "How's that Amos?"

He said, "Just look at the field pants." He pointed to his black pants and said, "all" pointed to SFC Seagal's grey pants and said "some" and pointed to my white pants and said, "none." We all busted out laughing.

I wish I knew what he was doing today. Love to have a beer with him and SFC Seagal.

Just finished “Into the Silence”
Early 20’s recon and attempts on Everest.

Preamble was the participants involvement in WWI. Pretty close to the best read I ever had!


Keith

Two Years Before The Mast by Dana. Excellent read!

It ain’t easy being green.

— Kermit

Nothing but pain, start to finish.

What’s green and smells like pork? Kermit the Frog’s hand!

Saeed, thanks for the suggestion of "Mawson's Will." Just ordered it. Have to take my mind off of coffin plans.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Saeed, thanks for the suggestion of "Mawson's Will." Just ordered it. Have to take my mind off of coffin plans.

I ho-e you enjoy reading it as much as I did Bill.

Just got the book Mawsons Will for my kindle for $1.99. on amazon. let's think about the delivery folks during this time.

quote:

Originally posted by slim buttes:
Just got the book Mawsons Will for my kindle for $1.99. on amazon.

Thanks for the heads up on that. It's apparently a "Deal of the Day" - I ordered it.

Just finished: American Sniper/Chris Kyle
for about the third time.

Just about done with: Lone Survivor/Marcus Luttrell. Great read imo.

Tysue brought me out two of the biggest tote boxes
I've ever seen full of books. So far I'm
about half thru this second box in 1 1/2 yrs.
These were in addition to about 2 feet of
magazines. Another 4-6 months reading I
should be done with 'em.

Just got my late uncle Franks life time
collection of Rifleman mags (1954-2019).
Wanting to get into reading those I've
missed. Need to find or build a bookshelf
44" wide, 80" tall for just them.

Sure a good way to stay occupied when
sick and laid up for a long time.

Wish you all the best,

George

The Long Walk. Can’t remember the author. Incredible story.

I agree George, I am certainly getting caught up in my reading + like you reading some of the good ones multiple times.

I took Mawson's will and River of Doubt (?) (Roosevelt's trip to unexplored Brazil) on a brown bear hunt eight years ago. After we'd hunted two days, it rained for the next 8 and our lake rose 20". I finished both books stuck in the tent--both were excellent and emphasized how my situation wasn't really all that bad.

Dave Manson

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana1:
The Long Walk. Can’t remember the author. Incredible story.

Yes.

Very good book.

The movie is rubbish.

I am reading a very interesting book on viruses.

A PLANET OF VIRUSES!

In re: The Long Walk. Movies often are.

Dave Manson

quote:

Originally posted by DManson:
In re: The Long Walk. Movies often are.

Dave Manson

It is the modern trend Dave.

Even old classics like FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, which was a great movie, has been utterly spoiled by the new version!

It really is annoying that they forget the original script, and have to have a black, a yellow a pink and a woman in the new version.

Non were in the original!

Political correctness gone mad!