The Goat Pen

watch until about the 1:15 mark

[youtube]e1yeDW3dHdw[/youtube]

[youtube]dOKcEl1hCo0[/youtube]

Wow

That was cool...

I guess I am not much of a student of history because I never knew Nagasaki was not the intended target when the planes left the runway.

http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/tw ... age1.shtml

military channel ba bie

The bombing runs had multiple targets in case it was cloudy over the primary. They were only to drop on visually verified targets and I think they still missed where they really intended to drop the bomb on Nagasaki also.

Almost all bombing raids had multiple target options because of weather, visibility etc. Kind of funny how some fog or clouds meant that these 50k people got incinerated instead of those 50k people.

I read the other day that guys that were color blind were assigned to be the guy that looks thru the peephole to determine when to drop the bombs.

I'm not sure I could have done that job.

If you had been on a ship that some of your buddies had been killed on by kamakazi dive bombers, you might feel differently...

I know it was civilians and I know that's different, but still, you might feel differently about the whole thing if you'd been over there for 3 years watching your buddies get killed (when I say "you", I mean anybody). I guess in hindsight, they could've dropped the first one on some less populated area and hoped that the Jap overlords would see what we had and surrender, but that didn't even work when they dropped it on Hiroshima (or whichever one was first). Still, it would've saved all those people in Hiroshima (or whichever one was first) and I suspect after we dropped the second one they would've figured out we weren't fucking around anymore...

hedge wrote:I know it was civilians and I know that's different, but still, you might feel differently about the whole thing if you'd been over there for 3 years watching your buddies get killed (when I say "you", I mean anybody). I guess in hindsight, they could've dropped the first one on some less populated area and hoped that the Jap overlords would see what we had and surrender, but that didn't even work when they dropped it on Hiroshima (or whichever one was first). Still, it would've saved all those people in Hiroshima (or whichever one was first) and I suspect after we dropped the second one they would've figured out we weren't fucking around anymore...

I dunno...When I was 20 and thought of war meant about as much to me as watching an NFL game (war as sport analogy) I could have. The danger of having an Army the average age of 19.

But now I'm not sure I could be the guy pressing a button that is responsible for killing civilians. Of course if I personally lost someone to a Japanese fighter, yea, that would probably push me over the edge.

I saw first hand what that did to my old man. Dude carried a bottle of "nerve medicine" with him wherever he went. The moment stress entered his life, he pulled that bottle out and took a swig. What was in it I don't know - but he usually mellowed afterwards. Fucker did some shit that haunted him from WWII

Thats one reason I respect Snowden so much. Guy is only 28 years old, and was probably 26 or 27 when this was going on and made his decision.

At 27, you'd like to think you have your shit together but the reality is you're still figuring out life, your values, your priorities, and this guy makes a decision to basically roll on his government, his 100K+ job a year and knows he'd have to seek asylum in some 3rd world shithole.

Maybe at 27 you don't have as much to lose which makes it easier, but on the other hand I think you're more likely to buy into the whole God and Country thing of undermining the constitution under the guise your saving American lives.

On the other hand, I don't think Bradley Manning knew his ass from a hole in the ground. His intentions were honorable but his methods were questionable.

The war department was projecting a million casualties if we had to invade japan. Frying 80-100k in Hiroshima and nakasaki was a small price in exchange for tons of American dead and wounded.

the night the emperor surrendered, there was an attempted coup to prevent it from being played on the radio (so the military would continue fighting; even after the 2nd bomb.

Only a blackout because of a bombing raid when planes to went over Tokyo (it was a mistake I believe) foiled the coup. A brave civilian at the radio station lied under gunpoint and hid the tapes allowed the Emperor to surrender (it was the first time the Japanese people had heard his voice)

AugustWest wrote:The war department was projecting a million casualties if we had to invade japan. Frying 80-100k in Hiroshima and nakasaki was a small price in exchange for tons of American dead and wounded.

Well that was the rationale we were told anyways. You a big believer in government providing you with accurate statistics?

Hiroshima blast killed an estimated 140,000 people, and another 70,000 died in Nagasaki.

what really starts fucking with you is how many Americans were dead because the government allowed Pearl Harbor to happen forcing our entry into the war.

"I saw first hand what that did to my old man. Dude carried a bottle of "nerve medicine" with him wherever he went. The moment stress entered his life, he pulled that bottle out and took a swig. What was in it I don't know - but he usually mellowed afterwards."

Damn, I'd like to get me some of that...

Owlman wrote:Hiroshima blast killed an estimated 140,000 people, and another 70,000 died in Nagasaki.

Better than one American soldier..

Snowden is scum.

Afa Arabia, nukes are cheaper than troops.

Rickart is my favorite UVA poster.

Where are the Snowden's of yesteryear?