Subject: Fierce battles in Najab, Helicopter lost. Heavy casualties.
From: Howard Berkowitz
Date: 8/13/2004 11:08 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

In article ,
(ArtKramr) wrote:

Subject: Fierce battles in Najab, Helicopter lost. Heavy casualties.
From: (B2431)
Date: 8/13/2004 5:19 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

More importantly a true professional LEARNS from history and knows how
to
apply
those lessons.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

That may be true on the strategic level. But sitting in the nose of a
bomb I
learned from my training and my experience what I had to do and how fast
I had
to do it. I can't think of a history book that would have helped me in
that
situation. Can you?

Probably not, although some historic fiction seriously might. Today, of
course, simulator training and large exercises would have helped.

My concern, Art, is recognizing that the strategic and the tactical both
are necessary. If your group took massive casualties attacking
unimportant bridges, how would that have contributed to victory? Think
of the Battle of Britain -- what if the Luftwaffe had spent another week
or two on air defense suppression rather than city bombing?



These are not concerns for the man doing the fighting. Let me tell you what my
war was like. We have just reached the I.P. and turned on the bomb run. I have
sent power to the bomb panel, intervelometer and bombays. I have opened the
bomb bay doors an lined up and locked in the Norden head and uncaged my gyro.
A sudden burst of flack rocks Willie and tumbles my gyro. My sight is blacked
out and I am only 30 seconds away from bombs away and helpless. I fight with
the gimble rings to erect the gyro, 25 seconds to go, No luck yet, I keep
workimg the gimble rings. Damned gyro won't stand up and get caged. What do I
do now Howard? How about I read the fine 6 volime set on the Punic wars? Think
that wil help me? Or I can call Kevin or Swartz. They read a lot of books so
they can surely help me now. I don't htink so. We go to war with our training,
our experience and our natural instincts and abilities like hand-eye
co-oridanation, depth percption and reaction time. Books are objects of
intersts for after the war been done , fought and won or lost. Or books are
really great for wannabees to quote to each other.Or for historians to study
long after the fact.. But when it comes to fighting, they aren't much help in
the heat if battle. But books are the only excuse the wanabees have for living.
A wannabee can always say that an experienced combat veteran wll know nothing
because he hasn't read a particular book. And the wannabee knows it all because
has read that book. I have never seen a book that would help me get that gyro
up and cage in the remaining ten seconds..And from where I sat, that is what
the war was all about. Maybe you can read about it in a book.




Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer