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  #1  
Old 03-25-2006, 04:02 AM
Bipa
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Soldier Blogs

I'll be posting urls for interesting soldier blogs that I've found. Here's the first one that gives a unique perspective from a woman medic's point of view:

"I am a 35 year old wife, mother, and U.S. Soldier with the 101st Airborne Division. I am a Combat Medic with Charlie Company (1st Brigade) deployed at FOB Warrior, Iraq. This website is about my thoughts, my feelings, and my life with Charlie Company during our deployment."
http://www.afemalesoldier2.com/
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  #2  
Old 03-25-2006, 05:46 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bipa
I'll be posting urls for interesting soldier blogs that I've found. Here's the first one that gives a unique perspective from a woman medic's point of view:

"I am a 35 year old wife, mother, and U.S. Soldier with the 101st Airborne Division. I am a Combat Medic with Charlie Company (1st Brigade) deployed at FOB Warrior, Iraq. This website is about my thoughts, my feelings, and my life with Charlie Company during our deployment."
http://www.afemalesoldier2.com/

Thanks for posting.
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  #3  
Old 03-25-2006, 10:06 AM
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ensteele ensteele is offline
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Thanks for that link.
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Last edited by ensteele; 03-25-2006 at 10:20 AM.
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  #4  
Old 03-25-2006, 03:04 PM
Bipa
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This blog is especially for Robert - Electrophil
It is called: "Confessions of a Military Recruiter"
http://recruiterconfession.blogspot.com/

Robert - let us know how his experience compares with yours, eh?

taken directly from the site:
Quote:
With Recruiters in the media every day now, along with "Counter-Recruiting" groups, I've decided to create this blog. The objective of this blog is to show the public what REALLY happens in the recruiting world. This is not meant to try and recruit people into the military; just simply provide a point of view. **DISCLAIMER** This blog is in NO WAY officaly endorsed by the Department of Defense or any government organization. This blog is done of my own free will and posts MY OPINIONS ONLY

I'm a Military Recruiter somewhere in the United States. To avoid possible UCMJ actions against me I cannot reveal my true identity. I'm a pretty easy going guy who loves to have some fun. Oh, yeah - I'm also a successful recruiter. I joined the Military to serve my country and VOLUNTEERED for Recruiting duty so I can help young people find opportunities that they didn't have before, pay their way through college, gain invaluable life skills, and serve their country.

EDIT: found another one!

Adventures of a Detailed Recruiter
"Yet another tree in the forest of recruiter-blogdom. This one from a detailed Army Reserve recruiter. This blog represents my opinion and my opinion alone. In no way, shape, or form do my innane ramblings represent any sort of official statement from the Army. This is my insanity and mine alone."

http://detailedrecruiter.blogspot.com/

Last edited by Bipa; 03-25-2006 at 03:26 PM.
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  #5  
Old 03-25-2006, 03:19 PM
Bipa
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Fun With Hand Grenades
"The mindless ramblings and exploits of a US Army infantryman deployed to Iraq"

http://funwithhandgrenades.blogspot.com/

This blog is written by a young infantryman who is currently in Iraq. He describes himself as a "23 year old half-college-educated ex-bartender turned soldier.

His latest blog is about Propaganda. The Comments are also interesting to read.
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  #6  
Old 03-25-2006, 03:32 PM
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Thank Bipa. Interesting stuff.
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  #7  
Old 03-25-2006, 09:42 PM
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I missed this thread when I checked in earlier.

Thanks Bipa!

Why do people want to make web pages in black using white lettering. Extremely hard to read unless I jump to a lower resolution.
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Is Bush in jail yet? (Looks frantically at watch, then back up) How about now? Now? Come onnnnnn...... Someone freeze me until January, this wait is killing me.
Update: 09 January, and still not in jail! Wassup??

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  #8  
Old 03-26-2006, 04:33 PM
Bipa
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Here's my next installment in ongoing blogs. I've been concentrating on sites that are fairly up to date and active, but at times I've gotten sidetracked into older, inactive blogs. There are lots of interesting blogs out there that are no longer being updated for a variety of reasons, including being stopped by censors or just out of a concern for security where the writer himself has stopped voluntarily.

An example of the latter is actually a very good read. Even though nothing new has been posted since Tuesday, November 08, 2005 the blogger had been writing fairly consistently since the first entry on Wednesday, July 09, 2003. At that time, he was being sent to the DMZ in Korea for a year. His last entry was written from Iraq. What made the journey even more interesting is the writer's occupation: Captain Brad P. Lewis is an Army Chaplain.

In his last entry he wrote:
"We are a nation at war. Our enemy is both tenacious and intelligent. He will do whatever he can to defeat us and will exploit every possible bit of information to inflict damage on the US and our allies. Even the most seemingly innocuous comments can be used by the enemy to harm us or our interests. Operational Security continues to be an issue for our Armed Forces. Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that I must back away from the blogging community for an indefinite period, perhaps permanently. It would be easy to point a finger and blame someone or something but I won’t do that. It would also be easy to kick and scream about my rights or my desires, but that would be inappropriate. I love my soldiers and want to do what is best for them; even if it means not doing something that I love, like writing."

http://chaplain.blogspot.com/


Though Chaplain Lewis stopped his military blog, he has several other blogs out there that are also worth a look.

Occasional Poetry, written throughout 2004
http://armypoet.blogspot.com/

In Words, Finding God in the Everyday!
written in August and September 2003
http://inwords.blogspot.com/

The most current endeavour has written contributions from the whole Lewis family. It's like a window into a typical US family.

Grandkids Gazette
News and Stories About the Next Generation of Lewis'
http://gkgazette.blogspot.com/

At least from this blog we can see that he is safely back home in the USA.
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  #9  
Old 03-27-2006, 12:36 PM
Bipa
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And now, for something completely different!
http://www.xanga.com/nrb2233

This blog is written by a 20-year old gal currently stationed in Mannheim Germany. She's got a quirky point of view about life and the military and just stuff in general.

The blog was started back in February 2003 when she was 17 and still in her last year of High School. In June 2003, she graduated from High School and passed her PT on June 14, 2003. June 30th was her going away party and there's a gap in the blog while she's in Basic Training. It picks up again September 20th 2003 when she writes:
Quote:
Yes, my first time writing in forever! I finally completed basic training. I'm at AIT right now. So much to say! But not a whole lot of time since I'm paying to use this right now. So anyways, yes, Basic Training. It wasn't super easy, but I managed! Well, it wasn't really that hard either, not physically, it was hard waking up really early though and having virtually no freedom. I did realy good on PT though, I got a 292 out of 300 on my PT test. I got stronger, yah! Oh yeah, and today is my b-day, eighteen finally, woohooo!!!!
Did I mention that this gal has some major aspirations? West Point is her goal.

Quote:
About Me

I'm 20, and have been in the Army a little over 2 years. I'm from Corvallis, Oregon, but before that Lake Tahoe, CA. I'm stationed in Mannheim Germany right now as a self-proclaimed computer nerd. I was recently accepted into the West Point prep school and am not really looking forward to a greater loss of freedom than I all ready have, but it will be worth it! Here you will find happiness, silliness, sarcasm, complaining, and any other range of emotions I'm feeling at the moment (Mostly toward the Army!)
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  #10  
Old 03-28-2006, 03:21 PM
Bipa
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The US and Canada both have professional armies and no compulsory service. In many European countries, kids must complete some sort of military duty for a set length of time, or else substitute when allowed with civil service.

This blog is written by a young Finnish man who is currently doing one year of compulsory military service.

Excerpts from his first post:

Friday, July 8th, 2005
You're in the Army now

Next monday, around 1100 (GMT -2), I will be leaving to join the army. I don't want to, but I really don't have a choice- every man in Finland has to serve for 6-12 months at some point, and I chose to do it now, before carrying on with my studies. It's not that bad really, as I don't have ANY life whatsoever that could suffer from my service, and I do get weekends off every now and then.....

Here's what I know about what I'm about to go through:
I'm joining the Karelian Brigade at Vekaranjärvi, Kouvola, Finland. I have no idea what my job description is going to be- the military originally gave me the job of a truck driver, but I have also applied for armored vehicle training. Both assignments are 12 month long, which is okay as long as I enjoy it at least a bit, but I'm also looking into the option of becoming a regular rifleman and getting away with 6 months. I have also heard of people who served their 12 months in a military research facility, and as a chemistry student I'd LOVE that option, but somehow I think they won't give me that assignment if I don't have at least a Master's degree. Which I don't.

Nothing is certain before the 2-month basic training period is over. Until then everyone is considered a rifleman and is given the same training. After the first two months there will be a evaluation and an interview with the training officer, and based on these, some rookies will be chosen to be trained as officers. This is also when everyone's line of duty is decided for good, so basically I still have two months to figure out what I want to do.

That's it for now. Wish me luck. Oh, and if you have Google Earth, you can check the coordinates 61°06'50"N 26°59'00"E to see the military base. It's not extremely accurate, but you can tell it's there.


Tanhald's army blog
http://tanhald.livejournal.com/
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  #11  
Old 03-29-2006, 10:04 AM
Bipa
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Every once in a while, I come across a passage that really get me. Tears form in my eyes and I simply have to look away from the screen and blink until my sight clears.

This is one such entry:

9/27/2005
Asgard awaits…


“The Department of Defense regrets to inform you…”
——- the harshest word ever written

They were here just yesterday. John just got off his cell phone trying to run his business back in Reno. Adrian just picked up a sandwich for me from Subway the other day. Patrick was just asking me when he could pick up his parts from the shop. They’re gone now.

John Flynn
Adrian Stump
Patrick Stewart
Tane Baum
Kenneth Ross

We first got wind of it yesterday. We were told to get a DART mission ready to go because aircraft 200 just went down. About an hour later, the rumor began to circulate that the aircraft was destroyed… that the crew didn’t survive. As the day wore on the rumors persisted and by nightfall a pall hung over our entire company. No medevac aircraft dispatched, no news of any sort at our level. These are telltale signs that something had gone horribly wrong.

Since we can’t leave a combat zone in order to attend a fallen comrade’s funeral, we have what’s known as a “ramp ceremony”. When the caskets are loaded onboard the transport aircraft that will bear them home, we take the opportunity to assemble and pay our last respects. Late that evening we received word that there would be a ramp ceremony the next afternoon.

Our unit marched to the rear of the Idaho Air National Guard C-130. Since Ken Ross belonged to A company, 7-159 AVN, that company marched with us. The two units faced each other flanking the cargo ramp of the aircraft, leaving a path up the middle for the pall bearers.

From where I stood I could see the onlookers back at the TLS building. When we marched away there were probably 200 of them. Now there were closer to a thousand and in a spectacular show of solidarity, they began to march towards us. Hundreds of Marines and Air Force fell in behind us. The British RAF came next with their pronounced swinging of arms as they marched. Then, the Canadian Army, and the Romanian Army. It was a truly impressive display.

We stood there for about twenty minutes in silence, the hot breeze at our backs. Finally, the vehicles could be seen rolling slowly along the ramp from Charlie Med towards the formation. Our piper, Mr. DePartee, brought his bagpipes to life with a tune I wasn’t familiar with. He told me later that he couldn’t remember the name of it, but its meter and rhyme were certainly appropriate to the occasion.

Off to my right I could hear the sounds of the casket detail (mostly flight platoon) carrying out their heartrending mission. As they approached, the command was issued, “Company… attention!” followed by the sound of hundreds of leather heels locking together. “Present arms!” came the next command, and I smartly rendered the most profound salute of my military career. Each coffin was adorned with the Stars and Stripes and born by eight men. I saw the faces of my friends in the flight platoon as they filed past, anguished and strained at the tremendous emotional weight they carried. One by one they made their way past us and up the ramp of the C-130.

Once the precious cargo was secured, we were directed to file up the ramp and find a space inside the aircraft for a short ceremony. Well over a hundred soldiers crowded inside the Air Force bird. Everyone’s head bowed as the Chaplain spoke. “Let us pray. Oh Lord, we ask your blessing upon these warriors as they make their final journey home; John Flynn, Adrian Stump, Patrick Stewart, Tane Baum, and Kenneth Ross. Join me now in reciting the Lord’s Prayer…” I knew the words… but I couldn’t make myself say them.

“We will now perform the commission.” Said the Chaplain. We placed one hand on a friend’s shoulder and the other on one of the flag draped caskets. The Chaplain began again, “Lord, we commit the souls of our dear departed…” I became distracted. His voice faded and I became focused on my hand, fingers splayed across the red and white stripes. “What the **** are we doing here?” I thought. “… Oh Lord, from whence they came, ashes to ashes… dust to dust.”

We filed out the back of the great aircraft. The onlookers and the most of the other company departed the flightline. Most of our company congregated at the vehicles that had served as hearses earlier, parked just off the taxiway behind the C-130. We just stood there in silence, broken only by the sound of the wind waiting for the aircraft to depart.

It was close to an hour before the engines began to spool up. As the large bird taxied down the ramp away from us, we followed it forward to the edge of the taxiway and as close to the runway as we could get. It was amazing; we all knew what needed to be done to honor our fallen friends. No one spoke, no orders were given, but each person brought their toes to the edge of the taxiway, standing side-by-side, hands behind our backs, “at ease”. When the C-130 began to charge the runway for take-off we all came to the position of attention, and as it approached us we rendered our final salute to our honored dead.


From the tip of the spear…


http://www.aircraftmx.com/index.php

From the first entry, dated 12/1/2004 (as of March 10, 2006 he was still in Afghanistan)

My name is Greg Mellema. I am currently assigned to D Company 113th AVN in the Nevada National Guard…the Mustangs. Rumors have run rampant in our unit for over a year, rumors that we may be deployed overseas. Those rumors seemed well founded when on April 20th of this year (my birthday) we were placed on alert status. On October 14th the word was given, D Company would mobilize in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on January 2nd. Two months at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and then one year in Afghanistan.

I started this blog for a couple of reasons. First, it will serve as a touchstone, a point from which friends and family can stay in touch with me during this odyssey. Second, it will serve as my journal. Later in life I hope to look back on what I’ll write here over the next year with a great surge of pride. Also, in ten years or so I hope this journal will help my daughter to understand all this. She’s only eight years old now and can’t understand why Daddy has to be gone for so long.



From the tip of the spear…
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  #13  
Old 03-29-2006, 01:53 PM
Bipa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by andrew.anderson
I hope you do not mind if I post a link to a Blog.

If you do it is too late anyways since it is posted below.

This blog has particular interst to me because the Infantry Battalion (1-24th Infantry) that it is about is part of the Infantry Brigade (1/25th Infantry) I served in.

Here are two excerpts. I don't want to ruin the entire thing so you will have to read the rest.

"...the pilot radioed that the Opel was outrunning his helicopter. Captain Jeff VanAntwerp came on the radio net saying he was moving his section into position to intercept the Opel.

“Watch out for that kid!” yelled Kurilla over the intercom to our driver as we made a hard turn, managing to avoid hitting the child.

Opels may be faster than Kiowas on straight-a-ways, but when the car made turns, the helicopter quickly caught up. Kurilla ordered the Kiowa to fire a warning shot, then quickly authorized the Kiowa to disable the vehicle...."

LATER

"...Not knowing how many men they were fighting, they wanted backup. LTC Kurilla began running in the direction of the shooting. He passed by me and I chased, Kurilla leading the way.

There was a quick and heavy volume of fire. And then LTC Kurilla was shot...."

Wow..... usually I'm good at writing, but I just finished reading that and ... well ... wow.... the photos really add to the impact. I'm speechless....

Thanks for posting that link! Feel free to post any others you wish....
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Old 03-30-2006, 07:08 AM
Bipa
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Today is "Doc" Day Both writers are old buddies who went out on their first deployment together in the mid nineties. Their current situations, however, are very different.

Doc in the Box
http://docinthebox.blogspot.com/

This blog is written by a Navy Corpsman out of San Diego who is with a Marine Helo Squadron. He's back in the Middle East for the third time!

Wed, March 29, 2006
Kuwaiting for a bit (excerp)
For the fifth time, I’m Kuwaiting till we make our move up north, not sure where I’m going to post this yet, for I am still sitting on the bus. Flew over here in an old 767, I’m used to flying Southwest and these were smaller seats then that. I had the distinct luck to find myself sitting between two large Marines and at each stop, I had to unpeel my self from the seat and stumble about without feeling in my legs for half an hour.

I’m with the same squadron as my last trip but an entirely new medical crew. Not flying CASEVAC this trip, letting the other two corpsman take the lead will I man the Leading Petty Officer position (flying the desk), I’ve flown enough my last two trips over.

This trip has been much more subdued then the prior ones, no crowds to see us off and we didn’t stop to see the huge support crowd in Maine. More then 2/3’s of the guys in my squadron have been over here before and there are 20 or so like me on their third trip. It’s odd to think that the business of war has become routine to many of us. It’s just another deployment with occasional bits of hostile fire and having to wear heavy body armor. Not to mention the lack of time off, alcohol, color or sex....

__________________________________________________ _______________


Totum dependeat (Let it all hang out!)
http://petegutz.blogspot.com/

This is a fairly lighthearted blog by a Hospital Corpsman named Peter Gutierrez who is currently stationed at Camp Lemonier, Horn of Africa. It's a fairly new blog, just started this month:

I really enjoy his approach to writing. Perhaps part of the reason for his fun and quirky outlook is the fact that he's not on the front lines. But he regales his readers with stories about life with a bunch of Marines.


An example:

A break from the mundane routine often leads to raised eyebrows and a flurry of suspicious and cautious looks from the Marines. With tails tucked and ears pinned to their heads like a pack of confused coyotes, they tend to avoid a smiling Corpsman because they have an ingrained response to happy “docs” – a smiling Doc is one that is probably all too happy to be “bearing gifts” to spread amongst them either in the form of an immunization or medication – either way, it spells certain pain and doom for the ever wary Marines and an unexpected gift for the always sadistic Corpsman.

Today was one of those “out of the ordinary” days – today was “Malaria Pill” day!
....
Having dealt with Marines for a number of years, I have come to find that in order to discourage suspicious behavior you must entice the Marines in some way, shape or form by either appealing to their curiosity or politely and insistently tapping upon their often sick and slightly askew view of the world and things in general. Climbing upon the pulpit and performing a stirring and rousing “wrath of God” like sermon of the dangers of not taking a pill or getting an injection would be just as fruitful as trying to teach Quantum Theory to yard slugs! It just doesn’t make any sense.

No, you have to be a little bit more creative, demented and devious to seduce a candidate willingly.

Since the appeal here is “sick and twisted” that is just how you have to merchandise the product! In this case,Lariam or Mefloquine; our “drug of choice” for Malaria chemoprophylaxsis (a big word for medically induced prevention) during our brief stay here in the Horn of Africa.

Having read the drug information sheet, I had noticed that the “side-effects” of the drug were many: Dizziness, headache, sleep disorders, nightmares, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, abnormal coordination, confusion, hallucinations, forgetfulness, emotional problems including anxiety, aggression, agitation, depression, mood changes, panic attacks, psychotic or paranoid reactions, restlessness, and suicidal ideation.

But, two of the symptoms stand-out “head-and-shoulder” above all the others; those two symptoms would become the cornerstones of my marketing strategy and morph into the main “selling” points I would use when pandering the drug off on the hapless Marines. A sample conversation would often sound like this:

“Hey Doc, what is this crap?”

“It’s Mefloquine; it will help prevent you from getting Malaria when we get into Africa”

“Cool – does it work on snake bites also?”

“No. Just mosquito bites”

“So, what will happen if I don’t take it?”

“You’ll be at an increased risk of getting Malaria. Lot’s of mosquito’s over in Africa and plenty of crazy diseases”

“What are the side effects?”

“Hallucinations and nightmares”

“Cool!…Can I have two of them?”

“Not today – maybe when you’re feeling better you can have a couple.”

“Thanks, Doc!”

The sell is an easy one – appeal to the “sick and twisted” and you’ll get a guaranteed purchase every time! I guess having been with the FMF for 8 of my 10 years in the Navy, knowing how and when to make the sell sort of makes me a bit sick and twisted as well.

Guilty as charged (and happily so!).
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  #15  
Old 03-30-2006, 02:01 PM
Bipa
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This isn't exactly a blog, but I felt it would fit in well here. A soldier's experience isn't dependent on the date or the country, but is fairly universal in its make up of 90% boring routine and 10% deadly excitement.

The following link will take you to a page where Brigadier James Hill recounts some of his military experiences.

James Hill died recently on March 16th, at the age of 95. His first-person account is of his parachuting into France on D-Day. The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was part of Hill's 3rd British parachute brigade.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2523016 (scroll down just a bit)


(excerp)
I was born in 1911 and went to Sandhurst in 1929. After a spell as an army officer I went into the family business, but I was called up for duty when war broke out in 1939.

In the run-up to D-Day I was commanding the 3rd Parachute Brigade in the 6th Airborne Division. The brigade had been formed in the beginning of 1943 with the sole purpose of taking part in the Normandy landings. The brigade was made up of three county battalions. These battalions were invited to join the parachute brigade, and being good chaps they volunteered to a man.

These chaps were the salt of the earth, prepared to give their lives without arguing the toss. They hadn't joined the army to parachute, but we said, 'Please parachute,' and they said, 'We'll try.'

...
After about 45 minutes marching along a narrow path with bog on both sides, I suddenly heard a horrid noise. I had seen a lot of fighting and knew it was an attack by low-flying aircraft dropping anti-personnel bombs, so I shouted to the chaps to get down. I threw myself down on top of a chap called Lieutenant Peters.

The aircraft passed over and there was the horrible smell of cordite and death hanging in the air. I knew I'd been hit. I saw a leg lying in the middle of the path and I thought, by God that's mine. Then I noticed it had a brown boot on. I didn't allow brown boots in my brigade, and the only person who broke that rule was my friend Lieutenant Peters. I was lying on top of him. He was dead, I wasn't - but I'd been hit and a large chunk of my left backside was gone. (hear him recount this event - RealPlayer)
....

more
-------------------------------------------------------------------

If you're interested, here are some more interesting links about Brigadier James Hill:

Voices of Dunkirk: info and short audio bits of him recounting brief moments (you'll probably need to also open the transcript to understand him better)

Voices of D-Day: info and audio

Obituary from The Times
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