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The 21st Century Charge of the Light Brigade: 600 men on horseback galloping into gunfire
Daily Mail ^ | 3 February 2018 | Doug Stanton

Posted on 02/03/2018 6:33:45 PM PST by mairdie

Captain Mark Nutsch rode past dead and dying men, the air filled with the iron scent of blood and the acrid stench of gunpowder. Smoke hovered above the field. The horsemen charging alongside him raised their rocket-propelled grenades and fired at the enemy ahead, the resulting explosions rocking them in their saddles.

Would the plan work, or was it a death sentence? Either way, this was not how modern warfare was supposed to be fought. A cavalry charge, headlong into enemy gunfire – it was the sort of reckless risk of human life that belonged in the pages of a history book. Yet here was an elite band of US Green Berets, at the dawn of the 21st Century, in a mission so extraordinary that it has inspired a new movie, 12 Strong, starring Chris Hemsworth.

And what brought them to this desolate mountain wasteland was an act of war on America itself…

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: 911; afghanistan
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1 posted on 02/03/2018 6:33:45 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie
'We are close to the Confederate enemy only 100 yards from our entrenchment': Mother finds emotional letters written by her great-great-grandfather from the front lines of the Civil War in her attic






2 posted on 02/03/2018 6:37:13 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie
Can you solve the code in the sword? British Library appeals for help in cracking enigmatic 'NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI' inscription on mysterious medieval blade






3 posted on 02/03/2018 6:40:22 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie
King Arthur? No, the legendary leader was just a Scottish general who lived most of his life in Strathclyde








4 posted on 02/03/2018 6:43:55 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie
It really IS a numbers game: Incredible footage shows 1,600 students performing a rapid countdown by forming the digits with their bodies






5 posted on 02/03/2018 6:46:58 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie

“Forsooth, and Tarrie Not to drinke ye thine Ovaltine”


6 posted on 02/03/2018 6:47:31 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

Hahahahahahahaha!


7 posted on 02/03/2018 6:49:33 PM PST by rlmorel (Leftists: American Liberty is the egg that requires breaking to make their Utopian omelette.)
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To: mairdie
Massive underground complex in Greece WASN'T Alexander the Great's tomb: Huge monument was tribute to his closest friend and trusted general








8 posted on 02/03/2018 6:50:24 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie
Massive underground complex in Greece WASN'T Alexander the Great's tomb: Huge monument was tribute to his closest friend and trusted general








9 posted on 02/03/2018 6:50:25 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie
Thought we had reached Peak Beard? Meet the weird and wonderful contestants in the World Moustache Championships who sport foot long whiskers and hectagonal handlebars

I can't show ONE of these Getty Images, but they are WELL worth clicking to!
10 posted on 02/03/2018 6:52:54 PM PST by mairdie
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To: ADemocratNoMore

PING


11 posted on 02/03/2018 6:59:40 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie

Bookmark


12 posted on 02/03/2018 7:34:04 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: mairdie
...Charge of the Light Brigade...

FWIW, I read an analysis of the what happened with the Light Brigade, and it boiled down to a misunderstanding of vague orders, with the green, relatively untrained commander ignoring the nearer, first enemy unit, and going head long into canon fire, with the first enemy unit raking a crossfire into the cavalry going in, and then more raking crossfire into the retreating survivors on the way out.

Not quite apples to apples with what the US Army unit did.

13 posted on 02/03/2018 8:11:22 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke

Can’t imagine battles often went quite the way people planned them. And in those days you didn’t know what was going on at any point except for riders bringing reports. Amazing things worked out as well as they did before they could use balloons for observation.


14 posted on 02/03/2018 8:18:04 PM PST by mairdie
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To: mairdie

I saw ‘12 Strong’ today. A good, straightforward war movie. All the politics in the movie are centered around the Afghan warlords. Helmsworth is good. As is the actor playing the allied warlord. The team’s accomplishments wrre a marvel.


15 posted on 02/03/2018 9:24:26 PM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: BradyLS

Oh, that’s EXCELLENT to know. Thanks so much for the review. Sounds like a movie worth going to.


16 posted on 02/03/2018 9:29:08 PM PST by mairdie
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To: kalee

For later


17 posted on 02/03/2018 9:32:23 PM PST by kalee
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To: BradyLS

I saw the movie as well. I did wonder if the horse charge was real or a Hollywood artifact. Amazing men and story.


18 posted on 02/04/2018 2:05:25 AM PST by Nateman (Who cares what the left says, it's usually a lie.)
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To: Calvin Locke
an analysis of the what happened with the Light Brigade

The charge is an excellent example of How Things Go Wrong. Raglan and the British staff were up on a ridge and enjoyed a panoramic view. Cardigan and the Light Brigade were in the valley with a very limited view. What was self-evident to Raglan was invisible to Cardigan, who was ordered to charge a captured battery to prevent the guns from being hauled off by the Russians. But Cardigan couldn't see that part of the field. He charged the only guns he could see. The staff officer who carried the message, Captain Nolan, apparently notice the mistake and was galloping to overtake Cardigan, presumably to redirect the charge, when he was killed by a Russian cannonball.

19 posted on 02/04/2018 3:57:20 AM PST by sphinx
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To: mairdie
He told MailOnline: ‘Arthur really existed – he’s as historical as Queen Victoria. He really did fight battles. As soon as we recognise this, all sorts of things about British history start to make sense.

‘We can say straight away he wasn’t anything to do with stopping the Anglo-Saxons - he was fighting other Britons in the North.’

Gildas, a near-contemporary, names Aurelius Ambrosius as the leader of the Britons' resistance to the Saxon invasion. The name "Arthur" doesn't appear until Nennius, who wrote several hundred years later. Legend, however, conflates Arthur with the leader of the resistance to the Saxons. The big conundrum in the King Arthur debate is to somehow connect Ambrosius and the later Arthur.

Was there an historical Arthur? Well ... since the Britons didn't just roll over and surrender to the invading Germanic tribes, someone (or several someones) led the resistance, which enjoyed a temporary success before eventually collapsing. The later Arthur legends coalesced around this heroic figure. It's the name change from Ambrosius to Arthur that causes the difficulty.

20 posted on 02/04/2018 4:19:13 AM PST by sphinx
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