Marine Week

Lurker said:
From a safety standpoint, it's a bad idea to let any children develop the idea that any type of firearms is inherently safe or an object to be played with.
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Which was my concern. The marines should have walked over and gently pointed the barrel down and explain why they did.
 
This was a great exposition. If you're interested in military technology this is a must see. I do agree that there should be more "safety" involved with the firearms display.

I spoke with a Marine from a howitzer unit who said the week will culminate with an exercise (landing demonstration) at Joe Moakley Park on Saturday.


M777 155 mm howitzer


CH-53E Super Stallion
 
I thought that was called 'Columbus Park'. Maybe they changed the name after Christopher Columbus Park opened in the North End?
 
Being put off by the presence of our armed forces is ahistorical. This is a taste of Boston of the days before Dick Nixon closed the Navy Yard. This was a military port town for a couple of hundred years before that. Moreover, Boston has been on the front line of several wars from the 1670's through 1815. (Ever wonder why there aren't many really old buildings in Charlestown?) Though no Stalingrad, Boston was front line in 1941 through 1945 too, if you throw in the U Boat menace just outside the harbor.

The Boston area is probably still near the top when it comes to military spending. I'll bet MIT doesn't turn away much Pentagon money.

The folks who disdain the military remind me of those who complain of animal cruelty while picking out their choice cut of meat at Whole Foods. Its all so clean if you don't think about where it really comes from. So I agree with Lurker. In a knife fight, I want to be the guy with the full auto shotgun. And the world is a knife fight.
 
Again, there is a difference between understanding the need for a military and celebrating it.

Much like there is a difference between enjoying a steak and throwing a dog out the window of a moving car.

One involves violence in exchange for survival the other is violence for the sheer enjoyment of it.
 
1815? I thought Boston's direct involvement in wars ended with Evacuation Day of 1776.
 
Agreed that, for those who are intelligent enough to comprehend the need, there is a difference. But there no need for the acknowledgement to be grudging or, not that you are, fearful. This is hardly a Nurenburg or May Day in Red Square.

Why not celebrate a bit? This country was created by force of arms, not by some Greenpeace debate in Cambridge. And that force has always deferred to elected civilian authority. Worth a parade in my book!
 
Ron Newman said:
1815? I thought Boston's direct involvement in wars ended with Evacuation Day of 1776.
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The English Navy maintained a fleet blockade in the War of 1812 about 2 miles east of where I sit. It was an active front. For example, the frigate USS Chesepeake fell to the superior gunnery of the HMS Shannon outside of the harbor. English raiding parties had great fun seizing shipping and raiding local towns. Perhaps TMac can regail us with the improbably defeated raid on Scituate. Almost one third of northern Massachusetts (now known as Maine) was occupied by English troops until April 1815. America barely was able to retain this territory in the negotiations that led up to the Treaty of Ghent.

The economic chaos created by this blockade and the sense of physical danger brought about by British military presence led to the Hartford Convention of 1814, which could have resulted in the secession of New England from the Union had the war dragged out much longer. As it was, and as noted above, British troops continued to occupy large portions of the Commonwealth well after the treaty.

Boston has always been involved directly in the naval aspect of war, both as a fleet base and as a staging area for convoys. Its importance was recognized in the Kaiser's 1900 war plan Amerika, which planned to capture Boston by landing troops on the Cape and South Shore as a prelude to encircling the city. Though that plan (fortunately) was never put into action, Boston was very much directly involved with Germany in the Battle of the North Atlantic. Should you speak to any Merchant Mariner of that era, he will tell you that the front line began right outside the submarine net at the mouth of the harbor. Those of you of a certain age may remember the net piled up in Braintree in the 60's and 70's across from what is now a "Babies R' Us". (Apt somehow.) My relations alive in that era speak of the detritus that washed up on the beach daily from the sinkings.

(In June 1941 one of my cousins visited when he came ashore from the HMS Rodney. The Rodney had steamed directly from sinking the Bismarck to the Boston Naval Yard to repair battle damage. Apparently my grandfather was somewhat bemused by my kin's question: "George, have you got a fag?")

Boston isn't much involved in the wet work these days, but the fellows in the lab coats certainly have their hands in the muck of war.
 
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Thanks. Truly my pleasure.

You sailors in the readership will have seen the various submarine towers and artillery emplacements along the coastline. The Army Bureau of Ordinance has some very interesting documents on local coastal fortifications from the Civil War through the end of WW 2.

And so as not to leave the Cold War out in the cold, there are still the remains of Nike missile bases on Hog Island in Hull and Turkey Hill in Cohasset. What an interesting idea that was: fire nuclear tipped anti-aircraft missiles into Soviet Bear bomber formations 20 miles out as they approached Boston. The atomic bunkers are still there. With luck, the wind would be blowing out on launch day!
 
tobyjug said:
Agreed that, for those who are intelligent enough to comprehend the need, there is a difference. But there no need for the acknowledgement to be grudging or, not that you are, fearful. This is hardly a Nurenburg or May Day in Red Square.

Why not celebrate a bit? This country was created by force of arms, not by some Greenpeace debate in Cambridge. And that force has always deferred to elected civilian authority. Worth a parade in my book!
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This isn't a celebration, it's a recruiting drive to pick up young students getting ready to graduate high school. It's great that they do so much volunteering in during this week, but in the end they have their bottom line of recruiting to think about, and they're showing off those fancy gadgets for a reason...
 
Absolutely for recruiting!

(If you are interested in military history, visit the Air Force museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton Ohio. It has the finest aviation museum I've ever seen.)
 
thursday,they were gone yesterday
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