# Military History



## ricepaddydaddy (Jun 22, 2012)

My main hobby is the study of military history, especially WWII. I belong to several WWII history forums, a couple with international membership.
I also enjoy collecting and shooting firearms, especially military surplus ones (of course).
I gave up fishing years ago, it was just too much work; and hunting ended when a tour of duty in Vietnam gave me a different view of the hunting/killing thing.
So, what do ya'll like to do for relaxation?


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

My husband is into history and anything military. He spent 4 years in the Marines in the 90's. As for us are main hobbies are hunting , fishing, camping, gardening, and my flock  . my goal is to have a decent hobby farm within the next couple years.


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## Keith (Jun 19, 2012)

Are you a member on Alternate History? I pop in there once and while, it's gotten huge!


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## ricepaddydaddy (Jun 22, 2012)

No, not Alternate History. I had not heard of it, but will most certainly check it out, thanks.
Great War Forum 
Feldgrau.net
Axis History Forum 
WW2 Talk
WWII Forum 
US Militaria Forum
Military.com forum
Together We Served ( a forum for veterans)
Historium
And I check into a couple of re-enactor sites every now and again to marvel at all the old gear they manage to find.


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## UncleJoe (Jun 23, 2012)

While I do enjoy gardening, it turns into a lot of work at certain times of the year which makes it harder to think of it as relaxing. When I'm ready to do something to take my mind off the daily grind, I pull out one of my guitars or the telescope. They have been my regular hobbies for over 30 years. Recently I've turned to reading a bit right before bed. That seems to help me wind down as well.


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## Riverdale (Jun 23, 2012)

My garden, my chickens, medival history, SCA armored combat, coaching my son's football team and reading. Alot of reading.


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## rob (Jun 20, 2012)

i have several hobbies. i collect anything military. i collect coins, build scale model ships from wood. grow veg and the gym.


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## Jason (Jun 24, 2012)

I read a lot. A lot. We like to camp and the farm is kind of a hobby/job/lifestyle all rolled into one.


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

I watch my friends from NAM get old......I raise most all our food.....I weld......do carpentry...work on my 4x4's.....mow grass endlessly...and oh yes....collect firearms and build 1/96 and 1/125 scale ships in my free time..(not much time).


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## rob (Jun 20, 2012)

jn4 said:


> I watch my friends from NAM get old......I raise most all our food.....I weld......do carpentry...work on my 4x4's.....mow grass endlessly...and oh yes....collect firearms and build 1/96 and 1/125 scale ships in my free time..(not much time).


i love building scale model ships.


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

rob said:


> i love building scale model ships.


 Rob,..I see that you build also.....do you more so build for RC or static display my friend?


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## ricepaddydaddy (Jun 22, 2012)

jn4 said:


> I watch my friends from NAM get old......I raise most all our food.....I weld......do carpentry...work on my 4x4's.....mow grass endlessly...and oh yes....collect firearms and build 1/96 and 1/125 scale ships in my free time..(not much time).


Welcome home. Thank you for serving our country.
Who were ya with? I was Army, 5th infantry Division, Quang Tri Province, 69-70.
And about that grass mowing thing - we've got horses, they mow and fertilize at the same time.


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## rob (Jun 20, 2012)

jn4 said:


> Rob,..I see that you build also.....do you more so build for RC or static display my friend?


i build for display. ive never realy looked into R,C


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## ReTIRED (Mar 28, 2013)

My hobbies are Gardening, perusing the Internet, messing with chickens, playing with my Boxer-Dog, and also reading History.
I _particularly _*LIKE *reading about the *Bataan Campaign *on the island of Luzon, Philippines......
.....because my Father (P.O.W.) was a Sergeant in that MESS *!
*( At HIS _insistence_....I avoided *Vietnam* by attending College. A GOOD CHOICE, I have come to believe.)

BEST REGARDS !.....and *THANK YOU *for your Service to our Country *!!!
*( I gave 6 years -part-time- at NO PAY...to our Country....in a different way. So...I don't _FEEL _like a "slacker" *! *)

Bruce (ReTIRED)


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## OliviaE (Feb 16, 2013)

Both my great grandpas served....both my grandpas served.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I wonder if any of these members are still around?


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## ricepaddydaddy (Jun 22, 2012)

I'm still here.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I just watched the Indianapolis - sunk during WW11, documentary. It was heart wrenching to hear all those vets talk about it. 5 days in shark infested waters. (free on Amazon with Prime).

I watched a real classic about W. Halsey (Admiral) with a men's chorus music in the background, black and white. James Cagney. A real classic!

Now I'm back to reading "Down to the Sea" that follows 3 Destroyers and crews after Pearl Harbor bombing- for the 2nd time. This is the book that got me interested in WW11.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I like watching WWII movies.They give me some insight what my father went through as a gunner on a fighter jet.He never told me anything but he told my brothers and they told me.One of my favorites stars Steve McQueen as a gunner.iI had a box of emergency communication parts minus the contents,dated 1942.My daughter nagged me for it for years and I finally gave it to her last year.I wasn't doing anything w/ it and she probably would get it eventually anyway.It still had the original lock.Someone removed the screws on the hinge to open it.It was a neat little keepsake.I also have a tea cup and saucer marked"Made In Occupied Japan".My daughter doesn't know about that sitting in my china cabinet.She'll find it someday,like I did............


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

I like WWll movies and documentaries. I've probably seen them all, more than once lol. I also like the cold war movies gone hot, such as: Failsafe, Dr Strangelove, By Dawn's Early Light, The Day After, The Bedford Incident. I'm sure there's a couple more I've forgotten about.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Ricepaddydaddy, are you a Vietnam vet? My first summer job in the 70's was recording the feedback on F4's that flied "sorties?) every day. I would think some of them fought in Vietnam. Cute little jet fighter. 

CQ, I watched the ten episodes of "Band of Brothers" which seemed pretty realistic. The documentary "The Indianapolis" is really good and told by those who survived. Many of those men spent many years unable to talk about it. Yes I cried. "Made in occupied Japan? That's incredible. Did you ever see how those gunners in planes had to situate themselves to shoot? Like in those bubbles? Like sitting ducks.

Dawg I'll look for those movies.

I've basically watched all the John Wayne WW11 movies. Green Beret is a classic. 

If you have Amazon Prime there are lots of free movies to watch, and quite a few war movies.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

My father would fall asleep on the living room floor and toss and turn and yell and say cuss words I hadn't heard before.Now I think he was dreaming about it and swinging from side to side.My brother told me the story of his last mission.13 planes went out and his was the only 1 to make it back and then it was barely making it back because it was all shot up.I now wish I had asked questions and heard his stories from him myself.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

How awful! I just can't comprehend what many went thru.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

I watched a WW2 movie this afternoon, "The Caine Mutiny" with Humphrey Bogart. I've seen it quite a few times. Like Captain Queeg, I pull the marbles out of my pocket and roll them around in my hand every once in awhile. Hahaha.

One other I forgot to mention yesterday was the 1957 WW2 movie "The Enemy Below," with Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens, excellent movie.

They dont make movies like these any more.


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## ricepaddydaddy (Jun 22, 2012)

seminolewind said:


> Ricepaddydaddy, are you a Vietnam vet? My first summer job in the 70's was recording the feedback on F4's that flied "sorties?) every day. I would think some of them fought in Vietnam. Cute little jet fighter.
> 
> CQ, I watched the ten episodes of "Band of Brothers" which seemed pretty realistic. The documentary "The Indianapolis" is really good and told by those who survived. Many of those men spent many years unable to talk about it. Yes I cried. "Made in occupied Japan? That's incredible. Did you ever see how those gunners in planes had to situate themselves to shoot? Like in those bubbles? Like sitting ducks.
> 
> ...


Yes, with the US Army's 5th Infantry Division. 1969-1970. We were on loan to the Marine Corps.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Ricepaddydaddy, Thankyou for fighting for our country.

CQ, I know what you mean about having an interest-only too late to realize it. I lived in Turkey for 4 years and it took years to regret that I was only 16 yrs. old and missed touring some awesome historic places that I could shoot myself for missing. I saw places that had little significance to me. It was a real loss. My dad was stationed at Incirlik Turkey not real far from the Syrian border.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

seminolewind said:


> Ricepaddydaddy, Thankyou for fighting for our country.
> 
> CQ, I know what you mean about having an interest-only too late to realize it. I lived in Turkey for 4 years and it took years to regret that I was only 16 yrs. old and missed touring some awesome historic places that I could shoot myself for missing. I saw places that had little significance to me. It was a real loss. My dad was stationed at Incirlik Turkey not real far from the Syrian border.


I've been to Turkey. Golcuk near Izmit. It was during the winter and it was very cold. We had a great time though, everything was cheap and I liked it alot. The locals were friendly too.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I guess you were up north? We were down way south in Adana with the air base a few miles away. The weather was similar to here except rainy season was during the winter/spring. There were large runoff ditches all over the base. We were let out of school some days due to flooding in the school. The people were great and I spent lots of time off base and had a great time. And the food was delicious too. This was in the late 60's the first time and mid 70's the 2nd time. Each time was 2 years.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I have been watching pacific WW11/pow movies sort of addictively. Amazon really pi$$es me off charging $3.99 for a movie from the 40's, 50's and 60's. I have to find a better way.

Last night I saw an oldie but goodie (Stalag 17)The other night I saw a movie with Dirk Bogart, a POW escape movie that was very humorous. Reminded me of a cross between Dirty Dozen and Hogan's Heros. In one part, the pow's set up their guard . He throws his match from smoking into a pile of wood every day at the same time. Bogart douses the pile with gas. And fills every emergency fire bucket with gas instead of water. So the guard throws his match in the pile of wood and it burst into flames. They throw the buckets of "water" on it to put out the fire. Only it gets bigger and eventually burns buildings, etc. Now they've black mailed the guard with starting the fire, but keeping the secret , of course. Bogart is so good in this. 

I've never known that the Caine Mutiny was a WW11 or 1 film. I loved the end.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I love Bogart.I even named my dog after him.I love all those old black and white movies-westerns,war or horror.Especially the horror with the really bad special effects,the "B" movies.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Last night my hubs pointed out a war movie with a romance. I said "nope" . I don't want the romance in it! 

I had to watch Shindler's list the other night for like the 4th time. 5 star movie and worth every star. And get the tissues out.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

Dale has been doing some work at a Civil War Museum at a fort near the Miami river called Camp Dennison..I took a pic of the back because the sun was in the way to take one of the front but they were basically the same.They had a circa 1750 wagon brought to the Milford,Ohio area in 1798 by a preacher and his family.There are only 2 left in existence. The surrey belonged to Pres.James Garfield and the last wagon was a covered wagon,sans the cover.I tried to sit up there but when I hoisted my self up it moved a lot so I stopped because I didn't want to break it.It was a really neat place.There were walls covered in tools,weapons and even toys you could buy for $3-4,like a ball in a cup and a set of jacks.There was a garden full of plants with plaques describing what they were and what they were used for.There are even descendants of Johnny Appleseed apple trees.It was a really neat place.I could just imagine soldiers running around,Indians sneaking up the river to attack or the rebels hiding in the woods.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Nice! In the 70's we lived on the east side of salt lake city Utah and as a kid we would ride our bicycles to this place called "Pioneer Village" where they had like a small made up village of all this old stuff from the old days. Like a "dentist" chair with the tools they used.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I'm almost finished with this book about this man named Fertig who was an engineer in the Phillipines when the war broke out and he became the leader of all these guerilla groups and escaped POW's and formed this disciplined military of thousands . It ends with MacArthur returning with forces to retake the Philipines. On the island, Fertig named himself "General" so he appeared high ranking and under MacArthur's orders. 

It's like the more I read , the more I find out about interesting people on the island whether they formed Guerilla groups to fight the Japanese, or escapees from POW camps.


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