Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans do not trust women.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

People are complicated. Love is not.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

In my day, never was longer.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

We will not go back.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Memorial Day 2019: The United States is 243 Years Old, It Has Been at War in 234 of Those Years

Memorial Day 2019: The United States is 243 Years Old, It Has Been at War in 234 of Those Years

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Memorial Day has assumed a strange place within American civic culture. It has become the Federal holiday that signals the start of summer, while at the same time, because of the changes to how Americans respond and relate to the US military, has become a de facto second Veteran’s Day. And, of course, for those that have served, or those related to them, or those who have known them as more than passing acquaintances, and those who have some civic self awareness, the holiday retains its original purpose: to commemorate America’s war dead.

All of this together is a strange civic cultural mashup. Especially because American’s think of ourselves as a peace loving, only going to war as a last resort, society. The truth, however, is that we have so many war dead to remember because the US has been at war in 234 of its 243 years*.

  • The Revolutionary War: 1775-1783
  • The Barbary Wars: 1801-1805 and 1815 (the 1815 war is also known as the Algerian War)
  • The War of 1812: 1812-1814
  • The Mexican American War: 1846-1848
  • The Great Rebellion, now doing business as the American Civil War: 1861-1865
  • The Spanish American War: 1897-1898
  • The Banana Wars: 1898-1934
  • The Philippine Insurrection: 1899-1902
  • The Moro Rebellion: 1899-Present (US Marines and/or Special Operations Forces are still assisting the Filipino military in the 120 year on again, off again dispute with the Moros)
  • The Indian Wars: 1776-1918
  • World War I: 1917-1918
  • World War II: 1941-1945
  • The Cold War: 1947-1991
  • The Korean War: 1950-Present (The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953 and produced a a warm peace on the peninsula)
  • The Vietnam War: 1955-1973
  • Operation Urgent Fury (US Invasion of Grenada): 25-29 October, 1983
  • Operation Just Cause (US Invasion of Panama): December 1989-January 1990
  • Operation Desert Storm: 1991-1992
  • Operation Provide Comfort (Iraqi No Fly Zones): 1991-2003
  • Operation United Shield (UN Operations Somalia II/UNOSOM II): January-March 1995
  • Operation Determined Falcon (Kosovo War): 1998-1999
  • Operation Enduring Freedom: 2001-2014
  • Operation Enduring Freedom-Philipines: 2002-2015 (also known as Operation Freedom Eagle)
  • Operation Iraqi Freedom: 2003-2011
  • Operation Odyssey Dawn (Intervention in Libyan Civil War): 19-31 March 2011
  • Operation Inherent Resolve: 2014-Present (ongoing successor operation to Operation Iraqi Freedom and includes US and coalition operations in Syria)
  • Operation Freedom’s Sentinel: 2015-Present (ongoing successor operation to Operation Enduring Freedom)

This tally doesn’t even include all the small localized rebellions – last time I counted there were over 90 of these – from the founding of the US (Carlisle, PA Rebellion, Shays’ Rebellion, Whiskey Rebellion, Gilbert’s Rebellion, etc) through to the Bundy standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. Nor does it include the Confederate insurgency that arose after the Union defeated the Confederacy on the battlefield. An insurgency against Reconstruction, which led to Jim Crow, and is still being waged today by their neo-Confederate political, social, religious, and economic descendants. An insurgency that has itself warped America’s civic culture, politics, society, economy, and religion. An insurgency that continues to produce casualties in the name of its retrograde ideology, theology, and doctrine.

I spent a lot of time on this Memorial Day thinking about this bizarre aspect of our civic culture, as well as remembering colleagues and/or friends who didn’t make it back. Every year the ghosts seem to be a little more demanding and linger a little bit longer than the previous one.

Rest well Mike, Nicole, Paula, Terry, Gregg, and Charles.

Open thread!

* Someone please check my math!

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  1. 1.

    Jerzy Russian

    Whose job is it to come up with the names after “Operation”?

    Also, “Operation Freedom Falcon” is missing dates, not that omission will change anything.

  2. 2.

    Librarian

    You forgot the Barbary Wars, the Quasi-War with France, and I’m sure several other small wars.

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    The Google machine tells me that the “Indian wars years” was 1622 – 1924.

    I’m not sure where you got 1175. ;-)

    Nice post, as always.

    ‘night all.

    Cheers,
    Scott

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jerzy Russian: Some guy in the basement of the Pentagon. They slide pizza, sandwiches, soda, and coffee through the slot in the door for him.

    Thanks for catching that. I thought I deleted Freedom Falcon, it’s actually covered under Odyssey Dawn.

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: Fat fingered typo. I meant to make that 1776 as the start date, counting from the Declaration of Independence as, technically, before that we were just part of Britain.

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    @justawriter: Updated, thanks. I’ve also added the on again/off again ongoing More rebellion and insurgency. Which we’ve been sending Marines and Special Forces to assist with for well over 100 years.

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Haiti is covered under the Banana Wars. Syria is Operation Inherent Resolve. Please pay attention at the briefings from now on.

  11. 11.

    Ohio Mom

    So, 15 years total of not being at war. I guess that’s how a country becomes an empire.

    It’s amazing we managed to accomplish anything else but we did. Might have accomplished even more if we hadn’t spent everything we did fighting.

  13. 13.

    The Dangerman

    Was Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down edition) too short a skirmish to make the list? Seems to me that was Poppy’s gift to Clinton. Maybe I missed the name.

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    @The Dangerman: That happened during United Shield. The specific named operation that becomes known as the Battle of Mogadishu and Black Hawk Down is Operation Gothic Serpent.

  16. 16.

    Librarian

    There’s also something called the Aroostook War, which was on the Maine frontier in the 1830s between the US and Britain concerning the Maine border with Canada. Although, it was not really a “war” because there was almost no military action and nobody got killed.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroostook_War

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    Vietnam could well be backdated to beginning in 1950, when the first direct U.S. military involvement (to and in support of the French) began.

  19. 19.

    Cheryl Rofer

    It seems to me that this year people are more cognizant of the Decoration-Memorial Day theme and are moving away from the mindless militarism of past years. On my Twitter TL, anyway.

  20. 20.

    The Dangerman

    Operation Gothic Serpent.

    Did they slide Domino’s (single “topping”) and decaf under the door for the name Gothic Serpent? I don’t think I’ve ever heard the name. Thank goodness.

  21. 21.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    Balderdash, I’ve been informed by the Administration that we’re a peaceful country(and to pay no attention to Bolton in the basement planning 3 new wars).

  25. 25.

    Inventor

    The “Green Fields of France” makes me simultaneously very sad and very angry. This is what happens when humans get their politics wrong. Humans die by the thousands….and millions.

  26. 26.

    Mike in NC

    Mexican War was technically from 1846-48, but Trump just might rekindle that one, too. Alamo was 1836 if you’re counting that, though not something that involved the federal government as far as I know.

    Recommend “A Country Made By War” by Geoffrey Perret (1989). We just can’t help ourselves, it seems.

  27. 27.

    Amir Khalid

    I’m a little surprised that you haven’t listed American involvement, if there was any, in the Malayan Emergency or the Confrontation between Malaysia and Indonesia. They don’t seem to me like conflicts the US would have stayed away from.

  28. 28.

    hotshoe

    By some bizarre luck, no one in my immediate family was killed — or even seriously injured — in any of the wars. All the men served: dad, uncles, father-in-law, husband … and all came back mostly okay.
    So Memorial Day is not much an occasion for mourning, or remembrance, at my house.
    But today an occasion for fury that asshole Bolton and the Dumpster and the rest of the corrupt RePugs are trying to gin up another war to distract from problems at home.
    God damn their eyes.
    Don’t send more of our young humans across an ocean to kill other young humans.

  29. 29.

    Mary G

    Since the Civil War, almost none have been fought on American mainland soil. Most Americans except those few in the military have no firsthand experience and thus no real understanding of the horrors war brings. So presidents are allowed more and more free rein.

  30. 30.

    Amir Khalid

    I don’t pretend to be a historian, but it seems to me that there is wiggle room in defining the start and end of a war: when the underlying political conflict began, if/when it was resolved, which hostile actions to count as the start of a war, if/how it was decisively ended as a shooting match, and so on. And of course, no war is ever just a shooting match.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    Would suggest adding the overthrow of the Hawaiian government and subsequent deployment of U.S. Marines thereto.

  33. 33.

    justawriter

    @Adam L Silverman:You’re welcome. I only know about it because it was the first major action for what is now the North Dakota National Guard and it is kind of a founding myth. Like we need more myths. (OT, sort of, I have an uncle buried in the Philippines who was killed in WWII 15 years before I was born)

  34. 34.

    M. Bouffant

    @Adam L Silverman: Seems fair to include the French & Indian War; wasn’t it mostly for American expansion? And G. Washington participated.

    I note that the Veterans Day poppy has been appropriated for Decoration Day, at least by M.L.B.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    @NotMax
    Following up a bit, from President Cleveland’s 1893 SOTU (emphasis added):

    …After a thorough and exhaustive examination Mr. Blount submitted to me his report, showing beyond all question that the constitutional Government of Hawaii had been subverted with the active aid of our representative to that Government and through the intimidation caused by the presence of an armed naval force of the United States, which was landed for that purpose at the instance of our minister. Upon the facts developed it seemed to me the only honorable course for our Government to pursue was to undo the wrong that had been done by those representing us and to restore as far as practicable the status existing at the time of our forcible intervention. With a view of accomplishing this result within the constitutional limits of executive power, and recognizing all our obligations and responsibilities growing out of any changed conditions brought about by our unjustifiable interference, our present minister at Honolulu has received appropriate instructions to that end. Thus far no information of the accomplishment of any definite results has been received from him.

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Miss Bianca: Not really. The Operation in the title is the overall name for the ongoing theater strategic level operation. Each tactical engagement within it has its own name.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    That was the advisory mission to the government in Saigon*. Advisory and supply missions to the French in Viet Nam began under Truman in 1950.

    *A government which we promptly changed with the installation of Diem toward the end of 1955.

  41. 41.

    Amir Khalid

    Is the Constitutional provision that Congress must declare war a dead letter now? Has anyone proposed simply repealing it?

  44. 44.

    M31

    don’t forget the vicious Ohio-Michigan war 1835-6, for some reason they both wanted Toledo?

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks, updated.

    And I’m not even sure those years count as we probably had Marines fighting in the Philippines against the Moros during those years.

  46. 46.

    PeakVT

    @NotMax: @Adam L Silverman: It’s been a while since I read it, but America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 supports the 1950 date.

    It’s very good book that I recommend to anyone looking for an introduction to the Vietnam War.

  48. 48.

    Mnemosyne

    No one ever mentions in school that the Mexican American War was largely driven by slavery — they were anti, we were pro, and we willing to kill to allow Americans to keep their slaves even if those Americans happened to technically be living in Mexico.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: It’s considered an internal coup by white Hawaiians against the monarchy of Queen Liliuokalani. Yes, 162 Marines and Sailors were ordered by the US Minister to Hawaii to protect the members of the Committee of Safety that had undertaken the coup, but that was about it. It isn’t considered a war or an invasion.

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: The official entry date for the US into the conflict is 1955. I am aware that there was earlier involvement.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: A good chunk of Congress’s Article I powers are functionally defunct at this point because they’ve either ceded them to the President or allowed them to be taken without push back. It is a significant problem.

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    @PeakVT: Military assistance begins in 1950, but this would be like including the years the US was doing lend-lease to Britain as the US fighting in WW II.

  60. 60.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @NotMax: There might be some politics going on there, the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy was during the last days of the Harrison administration, so President Cleveland’s motives might have been less than pure.

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: @PeakVT: The official date of entry according to the Department of Defense is 1955:
    https://web.archive.org/web/20131020044326/http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=1902

    NAME OF TECHNICAL SERGEANT RICHARD B. FITZGIBBON TO BE ADDED TO THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL

    The Department of Defense has informed family members of U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Richard Bernard Fitzgibbon Jr. that his name will be added to the Department of Defense (DoD) Southeast Asia Casualty Database. Fitzgibbon died in the line of duty in Vietnam on June 8, 1956, while serving as a member of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam. His name will also be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, known to all as “The Wall.”
    Earlier this year, the Air Force formally requested that the director, Information Operations and Reports add Fitzgibbon’s name to the database. In the past he had not been included because the DoD Instruction established Jan. 1, 1961, as the start date for the database. After an extensive high-level review of the qualifying criteria and the circumstances of loss for pre-1961 casualties, the Department decided to add his name to the database. Eight other pre-1961 casualties have been added in years past. As a result of the review, the establishment of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam, on Nov. 1, 1955, is now formally recognized as the earliest qualifying date for addition to the database and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

    Fitzgibbon’s casualty date of June 8, 1956, is now the earliest in the database. Fitzgibbon’s son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard Fitzgibbon III was killed in action in Vietnam on Sept. 7, 1965. An extensive search of the records indicates they were the only American father and son Service members to die in Vietnam.

    Department of Defense and Air Force officials will present to the Fitzgibbon family a letter formally conveying the decision in a ceremony Monday, Nov. 9, at 10 a.m. (EDT) in Stoneham, Mass.

  65. 65.

    Mike in NC

    Wikipedia reminded me of the Yangtze River Patrol, subject of the excellent 1966 film “The Sand Pebbles” starring Steve McQueen, set in 1926. The actual timeframe of the patrol was 1854-1949. Totally minding our own business!

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    It may be the official line but it is built on bullsh*t. The first military mission to the fledgling government in Saigon was January 1955, and the U.S. had a direct and overt hand in manipulating the plebiscite in October ’55 which installed Diem. Placing a date after that as the start is whitewashing for convenience.

  67. 67.

    Aleta

    @Adam L Silverman: You say ‘white Hawaiians’ but they were Americans, and they overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom to help the US take territory, the islands belonging to the Kingdom. In history books it’s considered US intervention for the purpose of territorial expansion, similar to Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines in the Spanish-American War.

  68. 68.

    Jay

    “Technical Sergeant Richard Bernard Fitzgibbon Jr., USAF (June 21, 1920 – June 8, 1956) was the first American to lose his life in the conflict that would later be known as the Vietnam War. He was murdered by another American airman and died of his wounds later on June 8, 1956. ”

    “James B. McGovern Jr. (February 4, 1922 – May 6, 1954)[1] was a World War II fighter pilot and later an aviator with the Central Intelligence Agency. He and co-pilot Wallace Buford were the only Americans to die in combat in the First Indochina War. At the time, they were officially employees of Civil Air Transport.”

  72. 72.

    Haggis

    Question: The logic behind how you’ve dated WWI & WWII is inconsistent. Why not just use the actual dates of US involvement, 1917-18 and 1941-45 respectively?

    Which brings us to the Korean war – an armistice was signed in 1953, and therefore as you correctly state the war is still technically ongoing. Hostilities in WWI were also ended by an armistice and the war wasn’t formally over until 2010. After WWII, troops remained in Europe for decades after even though that war definitely ended in 1945. For the sake of consistency, shouldn’t you either include armistice/occupation periods, or, confine the dates solely to those bracketing the hostilities preceding the armistices/occupation?

    And the Cold War is a bit of an unusual situation. Not actually a declared war and probably more akin to the rivalries of the great European colonial powers in the 19th century.

    Thanks for a very interesting article!

  73. 73.

    The Dangerman

    @Mike in NC:

    Yangtze River Patrol

    I had a Great Uncle that was part of that operation (while in the Navy, so that means he was there after 1922, I believe); I only knew him as an older, frail Gentleman, but, after his Death, I looked through his stuff and I saw pictures of him that looked like I would have wanted him on my side in a bar fight. One tough looking Dude.

    His nickname was Tommy in those years; since Tommy wasn’t close to part of his name, I’ve wondered if that was the gun he would have preferred at the time (no idea if the Navy used such a machine gun in China).

  74. 74.

    Duane

    Regarding the continued neo-confederate insurgency against reconstruction, why hasn’t the KKK been outlawed, banned, curb-stomped into oblivion? They’re nothing but terroists.

  75. 75.

    Jay

    @NotMax:

    “Albert Peter Dewey (October 8, 1916 – September 26, 1945), was an American Office of Strategic Services operative shot to death in a case of mistaken identity by Communist aligned Viet Minh troops on September 26, 1945.[1][2][3] Dewey was the first American fatality in French Indochina, killed during the 1945 Vietnamese uprising.”

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    @Haggis

    Also, although I could be wrong (it has been known to happen), I’m highly skeptical that “The Banana Wars” is an official DoD designation.

  79. 79.

    Ruckus

    Adam
    Have been thinking about this since the thread downstairs and my comments about being thanked for my service. I didn’t do the math you’ve so thoughtfully provided, which was even more than I’d figured roughly off the top of my head. I had at least 200 yrs though so not that far behind. I was born just under 4 yrs after the end of WWII and we’ve been at war almost my entire life. Hell we’ve been at war during most of the lives of every resident and citizen. Looking at TaMara’s thread with President Obama’s tweet I was looking at the picture of Arlington and it looks like the crosses go on to infinity beyond them. We are a waring nation. Founded after/from a war, mostly continuous war ever since. We have the largest military in history and on the planet and it seems like presidents have been looking for a place to use them every day of our history. 14 wars or major military operations since I was born.
    That’s a lot of dead bodies.
    A whole lot of dead bodies.
    And a whole lot more maimed and broken bodies. I’ve talked about this before, too many times I’m sure, but I see a lot of this destruction every time I go to the VA hospital. Missing limbs, missing minds, I’ve often wondered how much of this was necessary in any way. I already know that a lot of it wasn’t necessary at all. We’ve spent trillions and hundreds of thousands of our own countries lives towards what in the long run? Could we have been a far better nation, is it even possible? The best president of my lifetime is even responsible for some of this – although a lot of that was trying to patch up was the mess of the prior president. It’s like every generation has to have it’s big war to prove something.

  80. 80.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Haggis: I’ve adjusted the WWI dates. However, while a lot of WW I historians have been revising the history of the ending of the war, as in it never ended, just turned into dozens of low intensity conflicts that smoldered until they reignited into WW II, if not 1918, would you prefer the signing of the Treaty of Versailles?

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: These are questions that are hard to ask, unpleasant to think about, and likely don’t have satisfactory answers, even if they could be answered.

  85. 85.

    Robert Sneddon

    No mention of the US invasion of the Soviet Union in 1918-19 in support of the monarchist White Russian forces? A number of British regiments have “Archangel” on their battle honours over that little pro-capitalist endeavour.

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    Oh goody!

  89. 89.

    Jay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    “Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions in 1918. The stated goals were to help the Czechoslovak Legion, to secure supplies of munitions and armaments in Russian ports, and to re-establish the Eastern Front. Overthrow of the new Bolshevik regime was an additional, covert motivation.[6][7]”

    Just one of many continuations of WWI,

    Just like Dubya Dubya Me Too never ended,

    Or Somalia,

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    @The Dangerman:
    The tommy gun came into service in 1920 so it is possible but the military only started using it in 1938. We had them on board and I’ve seen one fired up close and it’s not an easy gun to operate properly, has a nasty kick up and to the left if fired in long bursts.

  92. 92.

    Origuy

    There’s also the involvement of the American Army in the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1920.

    The AEF in Siberia was commanded by Major General William S. Graves and eventually totaled 7,950 officers and enlisted men. The force included the U.S. Army’s 27th and 31st Infantry Regiments, plus large numbers of volunteers from the 12th, 13th, and 62nd Infantry Regiments of the 8th Division, Graves’ former division command.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Expeditionary_Force,_Siberia

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    Time to liberate those French colonies on islands just off the eastern coast of Canada! //

  97. 97.

    Jay

    @NotMax:

    Nope, the Newf’s will defend their source of untaxed grain alcohol and cheap smokes to the death.

    Pipple have learned the hard way, not to piss them off.

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I’ve been dealing with this for what 60 years so really these aren’t new questions or thoughts for me. WWII was obviously before my time but not all that much and it was in a lot of ways still on the minds of most people as I became old enough to realize the size of the world, and we were at war in Korea then. We were in Vietnam when I started high school and we were at war there when I left. I don’t know how many of my school mates served but I know a few did and 8 from my small town died and are on the wall when it first went up. I don’t know how many more are gone from the stress and wounds. That’s a town of about 35,000 total.
    I know the questions, I’ve never heard any answers other than it’s necessary. Fuck it is.

    Is there any other country in the history that has been at war so much of it’s history? Germany seems to have had a similar problem, at least for a couple centuries. Russia has but mostly internally. Japan and China have had their moments. I still don’t think that any of them have been at war for what 80% of their histories?

  105. 105.

    Jay

    “
    Caroline Orr
    @RVAwonk
    ·
    2h
    I had to check to make sure this was real. Verdict: Yes, these airmen really are wearing patches that say “Make Aircrew Great Again” with an image depicting Trump in the center.

    (DoD tweeted a pic of the same patch in Sept 2017; Stars & Stripes posted a pic of it in July 2018).”

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    Look no further than what is now Europe and Britain during the Middle Ages. As has been remarked about the kings, princelings and assorted highest nobility of those times, “Waging war was their job.”

  107. 107.

    Adam L Silverman

    I cannot imagine that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, nor the Commandant of the Marine Corps is going to be amused.

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    The drum mags also rattled when carried, were bulky to carry extras and difficult to load. Looked cool though. And it’s a tough weapon to actually hit anything you might be aiming at, unless you are too damn close. The military pretty much never used the round mags after introduction, sticking with the 20 and then 30 round mags. Taping two 30s together worked better and gave you 60 rounds. The drum was also more involved to change. Looked cool in gangster movies though.

  114. 114.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: There are things that are cool that also work. And there are things that work that are also cool. And then there are drum magazines.

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:
    @Jay:
    Yes they had periods of their histories in which they are constantly at war. But as a percentage of their total history, 80% or better? I’m no historian but I don’t remember there being that much continuous war. Although considering humans it is entirely possible. The world was effectively smaller 200 yrs ago though and the weapons much cruder and much less powerful and that may have slowed down the global, what’s that world genocide…….

  119. 119.

    Jay

    @NotMax:

    Little known fact,

    Newfie Drunk Tanks have a cover charge,

    St Pierre and Miquelon were the first Free French anti-nazi territories, which given your Nazi problem, is a bit of a problem.

  121. 121.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Either those guys are already paying or they had unofficial permission. Who made that many patches? Who sewed them on? That many people decided to break regs all at the same time and place without permission? Doesn’t smell quite like a ground swell, but more like a ship wide project. And standing in formation laughing about it? I smell a rat. Or actually a turd.

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    @JaySinWA

    Which raises the further questions of who is paying for these and what office, under what authority, let out the contract to manufacture them?

  123. 123.

    Jay

    @Ruckus:

    Britian was building a global empire,

    Not pretending to be the “Leader of the Free World” and a democracy.

  127. 127.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    Last night some aholes were setting off firecrackers. It’s not a damn celebration! It’s to honor our dead, not get drunk and set the desert on fire. Can you tell I’m irked?

  128. 128.

    JaySinWA

    @Jay: So we can count on you as our resource in Canada providing intel for the inevitable glorious victory?

  129. 129.

    smike

    What was the operational name for the action that resulted in the Bowling
    Green Massacre?

  131. 131.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Ruckus:

    Germany seems to have had a similar problem, at least for a couple centuries.

    Germany hasn’t existed as such for a couple of centuries. Only since 1871. Damn parvenus.

  132. 132.

    Steve in the ATL

    @smike: Operation Republicans Are Morons And Liars. Has been ongoing at least since the late sixties with no end in sight.

  133. 133.

    Jay

    @JaySinWA:

    Yup, the Come by Chance cover is $15,

    Push on Through, $20

    Dildo, don’t know, but for enough $$$$, I’ll do recon.

  135. 135.

    Betty

    Not sure what to call the mini-invasion of the Dominican Republic circa 1965, but my cousin was permanently disabled as a result. There was at least one fatality if I remember right.

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