Stodghill Says So

An opinionated posting on a variety of subjects by a former newspaper reporter and columnist whose daily column was named best in Indiana by UPI. The Blog title is that used in his high school sports predictions for the Muncie Evening Press.

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Location: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, United States

At the age of 18 I was a 4th Infantry Division rifleman in the invasion of Normandy, then later was called back for the Korean War. Put in a couple of years as a Pinkerton detective. Much of my life was spent as a newspaper reporter, sports writer and daily columnist. Published three books on high school sports in Ohio and Indiana. I write mystery fiction for Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and others. Three books, Normandy 1944 - A Young Rifleman's War, The Hoosier Hot Shots, and From Devout Catholic to Communist Agitator are now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. So are four collections of short mysteries: Jack Eddy Stories Volumes 1 and 2, Midland Murders, and The Rough Old Stuff From Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Some things to think about


In Canton, Ohio, twenty miles south of where I'm sitting, the fire department has put in a request for bullet-proof vests. In Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton they already are standard equipment for paramedics.
Says something about our society, doesn't it?
There was a time when the arrival of firefighters or an EMS ambulance was greeted with sighs of relief and gratitude. Today in certain places the sighs have been replaced by gunshots. Contrary to what some people believe, it has nothing to do with race. White neighborhoods, black neighborhoods, Hispanic neighborhoods, it can happen anywhere.
Close to home, a major league outfielder could throw a baseball from Goodyear's world headquarters to the neighborhood where I spent my formative years. It's a white neighborhood, a place where today it would be unwise to walk alone down one of its streets. Things have changed, it's not 1939 any more. That's unfortunate.
***
Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, Britain's highest ranking officer in Afghanistan, says the war there cannot be won. To end the mess, he says, a deal may have to be struck with the Taliban. That group of insurgents, according to Carleton-Smith, will still be there after all foreign troops have left.
***
Having carried a rifle in some of the biggest infantry battles in history and survived, I don't like the things I see in film of actual combat today. There was a new film this week raising the issue of so-called "friendly fire," a misnomer if ever there was one. The striking thing to me is the level of talking and yelling. Platoon sergeants, squad leaders or an officer, if one is present, should be the only ones sounding off unless a private is calling attention to a new threat. Close combat should not include a gabfest. When it does, the chance of survival diminishes. It is to be hoped that what is shown on TV news exaggerates reality.

1 Comments:

Blogger STAG said...

When I was creeping around in the dark, we kept our mouths shut. Its all hand signals and night vision equipment now. No "Montie's Moonlight".


I still deplore pockets which are held closed with velcro. There is nothing stealthy about it. And the pepsi generation is, well, empty from the neck up.

But its often not like that anyway...its more about flagging down passing cars, emptying it of people, sniffing for explosives and testing for gsr.

The bad guys rarely use uniforms and you never know.

11:23 PM  

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