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Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 09/03/2013 10:31:23

Good Morning.

Today is our 42349th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,265
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,102

We find this morning's Cost of War passing through:

$ 1, 469, 372, 900, 000. 00


If you haven't visited the actual cost of war link in a while, I recommend that you do so today. They've revamped the website over Labor Day weekend, and there is far more information and some new features worth your time to check out.


I've been saving this story for a while...I found it interesting, but thought it hardly qualified for Ask a Vet. Nevertheless....since we've just had our "last weekend of summer" rite of passage, perhaps you spent some time traveling about. Maybe you even visited a Museum Ship.

It's easy for us on the coasts, or with access to a river, to overlook the importance of our maritime history. Nevertheless, if there is a ship local to you, it's usually worth it to visit. Interpretive programs are one thing, but for ships of more recent vintage, you can often find actual veterans leading tours and sharing their memories.

There is one ship none of us is ever going to visit, though. It's the USS Pueblo. Sure you know of it, since she tangled with the North Koreans and lost.

The treatment of the crew was universally bad. Several staged propaganda photographs have since become famous; perhaps you're familiar with at least one of them?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hpxaqo7FS9c/TTyDbxwyOOI/AAAAAAAADGU/tGyO3EnULWU/s400/military%2B-%2BUSS%2BPueblo%2Bcaptured%2Bcrew%2Bgiving%2Bfinger%2B2.jpg


It took some doing, but extensive negotiations were carried out at the Korean War negotiation site at Panmunjon; some eleven months after the ship was captured, the men walked across the "bridge of no return" to South Korea and went home.

Over the years, the United States has tried and failed to secure the release of the ship; which sat for decades rusting away. I'm sure that the North Koreans and their Soviet masters picked the hull clean of anything useful, but unlike some incidents were Soviet aircraft were the inadvertent casualty of a defection, they never offered to return the ship to us.

But earlier this year, the ship went on display in Pyongyang.


PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA — If there was ever any doubt about what happened to the only U.S. Navy ship that is being held by a foreign government, North Korea has cleared it up. It’s in Pyongyang. And it looks like it’s here to stay.

With a fresh coat of paint and a new home along the Pothong River, the USS Pueblo, a spy ship seized off North Korea’s east coast in the late 1960s, is expected to be unveiled this week as the centerpiece of a renovated war museum to commemorate what North Korea calls “Victory Day,” the 60th anniversary this Saturday of the signing of the armistice that ended hostilities in the Korean War.

The ship is North Korea’s greatest Cold War prize. Its government hopes the Pueblo will serve as a potent symbol of how the country has stood up to the great power of the United States, once in an all-out ground war and now with its push to develop the nuclear weapons and sophisticated missiles it needs to threaten the U.S. mainland.

Many of the crew who served on the vessel, then spent 11 months in captivity in North Korea, want to bring the Pueblo home. Throughout its history, they argue, the Navy’s motto has been “don’t give up the ship.” The Pueblo, in fact, is still listed as a commissioned Navy vessel, the only one being held by a foreign nation.

But with relations generally fluctuating in a narrow band between bad to dangerously bad, the United States has made little effort to get it back. At times, outsiders weren’t even sure where North Korea was keeping the ship or what it planned to do with it.

Requests for interviews with the captain of one of the North Korean ships involved in the attack were denied, and officials here have been tight-lipped about their plans before the formal unveiling.

The Pueblo incident is a painful reminder of miscalculation and confusion, as well as the unresolved hostilities that continue to keep the two countries in what seems to be a permanent state of distrust and preparation for another clash, despite the truce that ended the 1950-1953 war.


It would make for an interesting visit....but somehow, I don't think I'll be making the trip.
 

35 comments (Latest Comment: 09/04/2013 00:27:16 by wickedpam)
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Comments:

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Comment by trojanrabbit on 09/03/2013 12:44:27


So yeah, staycation over, back to work.

I isolated Lucky in the computer room this morning in the hopes I can get a stool sample out of him. I think he's pretty much stopped eating except for little bits and insists I sit next to him and pet him. He'll eat treats, he'll drink water. Hopefully when Mrs. Rabbit gets home today there will be something in his litter box.

Really hard to tell what's what with 3 cats around.

Comment by Scoopster on 09/03/2013 13:08:56
Mornin' all & happy back to work Tuesday..

The holiday weekend was relaxing - spent it with my family up in New York. But the most memorable part was on the way home. While sitting at the Port Authority waiting for my bus back to RI, I met a woman who had been riding the bus all the way from Miami, but she was traveling very light. We struck up quick, deep conversation and I learned she had just been released from a 15-month stay in a Florida prison (drugs), and the overstuffed string sack was the extent of her possessions. Her descriptions of how the prison system works down there was horrifying - step out of line in any minor way and you'd get sent to solitary.

She's gonna be living with her family in MA for a while and doesn't plan to go back south (for obvious reasons) so we traded phone numbers in case she needs someone to talk to, and to help her start rebuilding her connections here.

Comment by wickedpam on 09/03/2013 13:11:34
Morning



Comment by Raine on 09/03/2013 13:36:54
Good Morning! We are going to be hitting the road in a few... See y'all tonite!

<--- especially for Scoop. That is a wonderful story.

Comment by wickedpam on 09/03/2013 13:54:09
Back to work myself today - I already miss the peace and quiet...

Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 14:08:16
:grunt: That is all. I am not awake yet. Shitty, restless night's sleep that was punctuated by strange and slightly disturbing dreams.

Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 14:09:05
Oh Raine & Bobber! Stop in Easton and visit the Chesapeake Bay Museum.

Comment by Scoopster on 09/03/2013 15:42:29
Ugh great.. outlook exchange server's down @ work, no time frame on when it'll be back up.

Comment by livingonli on 09/03/2013 15:44:36
Good morning, folks. Another day, another doughnut.

Comment by wickedpam on 09/03/2013 15:46:35
lord knows! having a hard time staying awake!

Comment by trojanrabbit on 09/03/2013 16:12:47
WTF

NSFW (if you don't turn the sound down, the announcers' language is a little rough)



Comment by TriSec on 09/03/2013 16:21:01


TriSec has already bought a Christmas Present. (Prepare for Hell to immediately freeze over.)

A lady at work makes handcrafted jewerly and things, but she's going in for hand surgery at the end of this month and won't be able to make anything during peak. She's frantically filling orders now.


Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 16:40:49
Quote by TriSec:


TriSec has already bought a Christmas Present. (Prepare for Hell to immediately freeze over.)

A lady at work makes handcrafted jewerly and things, but she's going in for hand surgery at the end of this month and won't be able to make anything during peak. She's frantically filling orders now.



You will not be flensed for this since the nice lady having hand surgery.

Comment by TriSec on 09/03/2013 16:48:53
Hmm. I actually know what flensing is, and I am grateful.

In a side note, we went to the movies this weekend. In the usual annoying prattle of pre-show minutae was a commercial for the latest Simon Cowell vehicle to find the least talented American.

PREMIERING SEPTEMBER 11TH ON FOX!!!!!

I let out an audible snort at that. I thought that was disrespectful?


Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 18:03:57
Quote by TriSec:
Hmm. I actually know what flensing is, and I am grateful.

In a side note, we went to the movies this weekend. In the usual annoying prattle of pre-show minutae was a commercial for the latest Simon Cowell vehicle to find the least talented American.

PREMIERING SEPTEMBER 11TH ON FOX!!!!!

I let out an audible snort at that. I thought that was disrespectful?



Why do you hate Murica, Tri? We need to remember the terror attacks with crap tv.

Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 18:29:19
http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2005/09/28/1127926375_8021.jpg



A flensing knife.

Comment by livingonli on 09/03/2013 19:04:41
It's quiet when mom and dad aren't in the house.

Comment by TriSec on 09/03/2013 19:17:22
Oh, dear.

I've just run across something called "K-S Personnel Transport".

A fair word of warning, if you're not familiar with "K-S stories", I caution you not to search. It changes you. You will never be the same after learning what it is.



Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 19:23:46
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, dear.

I've just run across something called "K-S Personnel Transport".

A fair word of warning, if you're not familiar with "K-S stories", I caution you not to search. It changes you. You will never be the same after learning what it is.




You are thinking of what is called slash fanfic, Tri as in K/S. K-S is something entirely different, but I see where you are going with that. Yes is it fetid swamp of the icky.

Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 19:25:40
It isn't limited to Kirk and Spock. There is Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy as well. Double ick.

Comment by wickedpam on 09/03/2013 19:35:07
Quote by Mondobubba:
It isn't limited to Kirk and Spock. There is Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy as well. Double ick.


yeah, try some of the Supernatural slashfic, its a bit much


Comment by wickedpam on 09/03/2013 19:35:40
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, dear.

I've just run across something called "K-S Personnel Transport".

A fair word of warning, if you're not familiar with "K-S stories", I caution you not to search. It changes you. You will never be the same after learning what it is.




You are thinking of what is called slash fanfic, Tri as in K/S. K-S is something entirely different, but I see where you are going with that. Yes is it fetid swamp of the icky.


I'm now afraid to google - what is it?


Comment by wickedpam on 09/03/2013 19:37:29
Quote by livingonli:
It's quiet when mom and dad aren't in the house.



very



Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 19:55:23
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, dear.

I've just run across something called "K-S Personnel Transport".

A fair word of warning, if you're not familiar with "K-S stories", I caution you not to search. It changes you. You will never be the same after learning what it is.




You are thinking of what is called slash fanfic, Tri as in K/S. K-S is something entirely different, but I see where you are going with that. Yes is it fetid swamp of the icky.


I'm now afraid to google - what is it?


Erotic fanfic with a gay theme, Mala.


Comment by wickedpam on 09/03/2013 20:15:30
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, dear.

I've just run across something called "K-S Personnel Transport".

A fair word of warning, if you're not familiar with "K-S stories", I caution you not to search. It changes you. You will never be the same after learning what it is.




You are thinking of what is called slash fanfic, Tri as in K/S. K-S is something entirely different, but I see where you are going with that. Yes is it fetid swamp of the icky.


I'm now afraid to google - what is it?


Erotic fanfic with a gay theme, Mala.



I know what slashfic is, I was talking about K-S thing

Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 20:24:20
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, dear.

I've just run across something called "K-S Personnel Transport".

A fair word of warning, if you're not familiar with "K-S stories", I caution you not to search. It changes you. You will never be the same after learning what it is.




You are thinking of what is called slash fanfic, Tri as in K/S. K-S is something entirely different, but I see where you are going with that. Yes is it fetid swamp of the icky.


I'm now afraid to google - what is it?


Erotic fanfic with a gay theme, Mala.



I know what slashfic is, I was talking about K-S thing


Kirk/Spock! Only the oldest / fanfic there is.



Comment by wickedpam on 09/03/2013 20:37:41
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, dear.

I've just run across something called "K-S Personnel Transport".

A fair word of warning, if you're not familiar with "K-S stories", I caution you not to search. It changes you. You will never be the same after learning what it is.




You are thinking of what is called slash fanfic, Tri as in K/S. K-S is something entirely different, but I see where you are going with that. Yes is it fetid swamp of the icky.


I'm now afraid to google - what is it?


Erotic fanfic with a gay theme, Mala.



I know what slashfic is, I was talking about K-S thing


Kirk/Spock! Only the oldest / fanfic there is.



is that was Tri was talking about or what you were? I'm confused


Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 20:47:35
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, dear.

I've just run across something called "K-S Personnel Transport".

A fair word of warning, if you're not familiar with "K-S stories", I caution you not to search. It changes you. You will never be the same after learning what it is.




You are thinking of what is called slash fanfic, Tri as in K/S. K-S is something entirely different, but I see where you are going with that. Yes is it fetid swamp of the icky.


I'm now afraid to google - what is it?


Erotic fanfic with a gay theme, Mala.



I know what slashfic is, I was talking about K-S thing


Kirk/Spock! Only the oldest / fanfic there is.



is that was Tri was talking about or what you were? I'm confused


Tri started it. But I felt compelled to splain further. K/S is most definitely Kirk/Spock.

Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 21:06:36
Sorry Mala, I was being obtuse.

Comment by wickedpam on 09/03/2013 21:08:47
Quote by Mondobubba:
Sorry Mala, I was being obtuse.


I probably wasn't being too clear myself


Comment by Mondobubba on 09/03/2013 21:32:52
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Sorry Mala, I was being obtuse.


I probably wasn't being too clear myself



We were being very Abbot and Costello

Comment by livingonli on 09/03/2013 22:08:04
And another day off when all I feel like doing is taking a nap.

Comment by wickedpam on 09/04/2013 00:23:38
Quote by Mondobubba:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Sorry Mala, I was being obtuse.


I probably wasn't being too clear myself



We were being very Abbot and Costello



Who was?

Comment by Raine on 09/04/2013 00:23:49
Hey all! We are home.



Comment by wickedpam on 09/04/2013 00:27:16
Quote by Raine:
Hey all! We are home.




Yay