Long Armour Infantry School

 No, that is not a misspelling of armour. It's the way the English spell it. And I am writing today about the course I was sent to in 1971 after the Armor Advanced Course at Fort Knox. 

It was an interesting course in that it was much different from the normal courses we had in the US Army at the time. This one was very technical. It was a 13-month course, from January 1971 to February 1972. I found some old documents about it as I was cleaning old files. The first was a packet containing copies of all the examinations we had to take during the first eight weeks of school. We had to pass them all or we would not be able to continue on. There were 30 officers in the program: 24 British, 3 Australian, 2 American, and 1 Canadian. We lost only Brit from the exams.

     

As you can see by the titles of the exams that it was a highly technical course. I was selected because of my mathematics background from college - I was a math major for my first two years before switching to history. At least that is what my branch told me.

More about this assignment in a future post. 

Mid-Month Update

 Well, obviously I have not been checking on my blog entries. I really thought I had written in June. I've been very busy reading and cleaning out books from the garage, but I really thought I had taken some time to write. Guess not.

Current reading: 1. Moby-Dick  2. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher  3. Die Before Sundown  4. When We Were Young and Brave

I also have two other books I go to occasionally and can read less often because of the writing style; more of a diary style. 1. Lincoln on Democracy  2. Reporting WW2

I will add another book to the current reading by mid-week for the book club in the last week of the month: The Girl with a Clock for a Heart.  It's actually a re-read, but I need to refresh my mind.

In the meantime, I am struggling with my writing (you only have to look at this blog). I have put neither thought nor writing into my novel or my memoir.  Sad, I know. What can I tell you?

A couple of positives this month - with the cleaning of books in the garage and relocating some books on some shelves, I have found a couple from my "Find Books" file. But I still am looking for several more. I can only hope they are shelved behind others. I will get to them.

Enough for now; on to some reading.

NOTE: I did buy Doris Kearns Godwin's latest, a memoir about her and her husband, Richard Goodwin.

It's Been Awhile

I was surprised when I came to my blog this afternoon. I last came here in ten days ago! I knew it had been a while since I had visited it, but I thought it was only a few days. But in my defense, I have been busy. 

I have been reading quite a bit and posting my Olympic torch story on Facebook.

I've also been busy finding books to read next. It may be that I will have to venture out into the garage.

Weekend Sports

 Writing yesterday about my reading caused me to overlook all of the sports that took up most of my television viewing this past weekend.

Sunday was the final day of the English Premier League football (soccer for us Americans) season. Manchester City won it again on the last day to claim its fourth straight championship. This is a record in itself. And six in the past seven years. Arsenal was second. My Tottenham was fifth. I hoped for fourth place, but my Aston Villa took that spot. Newcastle was 7th and West Ham 9th. All in all, a good showing for my favorite teams.

The golf PGA championship was this past weekend with Xander Schlaffle (a favorite) beating Brian DeChamboux (a LIV golfer) by one stroke to win at 20 under par. It was his first major championship win.

And finally, the Men's NCAA Lacrosse Quarterfinals were this weekend as well. The semis will be this Saturday with Notre Dame(1) vs. Denver(5), and Virginia(6) vs. Maryland(7). The final match will be Monday, the 27th.

I don't know if there is any golf, but I suspect so.

Reading Update

I've made some changes to my reading. A few days ago I began reading a spy novel by Anthony Price, a favorite of mine. He wrote during the 1970s and '80s. The stories usually involved Cold War intrigue between Britain and the Russians, sometimes a mid-East nation. The central character was almost always a British agent named David Audley, a civilian with serious credentials of historical expertise in British history. 

The current book I'm reading is "War Game" and involves recently recovered gold from about the 1640s and Oliver Cromwell and the King. It has rekindled my interest in English History which I majored in at college.

I have decided to add another book to my current reading. It is one of three by the author C.V. Wedgwood. It's called The King's Peace 1637-41.

Reading the history book will be somewhat tricky because I am also reading Peter Ackroyd's first volume of his history of England, titled "Foundation". 

The 300-year difference between the two books requires me to adjust my concentration, but it's interesting to jump between the two time periods. Add to these books the spy story about lost gold round during the present day - 1970's - and I feel a lot like Michael J. Fox in the "Back to the Future" series!

PA Trip and Miscellany

 We got back this morning from our quick trip to Pennsylvania for our youngest daughter's wedding. It was a very small private affair with just the parents of the bride and groom. The mayor officiated. Josh's stepfather built a very nice altarpiece and had it in the front yard. Josh's mom decorated it.

We went out for dinner afterward to a very nice restaurant near the Hagerstown, Maryland airfield. The inside was very impressive with all of the aviation decor. The food was impressive as well.

We came home this morning with a stop at our favorite bagel store in Stephens City, Virginia. The Everything bagels are huge and taste like the ones from NYC and New Jersey. It rained most of the way back.

I spent this afternoon napping, watching golf (the PGA Championship), and reading. Tomorrow is the final day of Premier League Soccer matches at 1100 am. Then none until August. 

Tomorrow is the final round of the PGA and also the quarter-finals of NCAA lacrosse.

Writing and a Book Review

 I reviewed a few pages of the book I'm writing and made some corrections. I will probably make some more as I begin to write more seriously. At this point, they were only ink changes on the printout. I did not make them on the saved copy on the laptop. 

I finished the library book I've been reading for the past few days. The title is The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.

It was an interesting read. It's essentially about a young woman, Nora, who is very depressed with her life so she visits her old high school librarian who is working in this special library that contains books on alternative choices to one's life, allowing that person to go live that alternative life to see if they would like it better. But this all must be done just a few minutes before midnight, otherwise the person will die.

Getting past this strange premise, Nora tries several of her past alternatives but finds none that she likes. Getting ever closer to midnight - the seconds are ticking down and we are now under a minute - she finally finds one she likes. But because of things she can't control and I'm not clear about, Nora almost dies. In the end, she is saved by (secret) and comes to realize that maybe life is okay as is.

I like the book but I'd read it again if I wanted to really understand it. I would look into the philosophy behind it in more detail. But I am going to see if I can apply a few things to my life.

Probably no blog tomorrow - traveling to PA for Sabrina's wedding. I will attempt to write when we return on Saturday.