Big Art has been gone for several years now, and oh how I miss him. 

I’m working on a real post, but in the meantime…

There’s a major forest fire burning to the west of here, near Big Bear Lake. Last I heard it was about 13,000 acres in two days. The smoke from the fire is pushing up against the mountains, but generally flowing around the valley, instead of into it. That’s made for some pretty nice sunsets.

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Seems like a pretty sweet gig to get picked for that weekend duty.

It’s virtually impossible to live in S0uthern California and not be a member of an HOA, with all the associated headaches and expenses that involves. On the other hand, the HOA takes care of virtually all the landscaping. Except the front courtyard. That’s my responsibility. And it has to be kept trim and tidy.

So in spite of this:

I had to tackle this:

And end up with this.

David McClure reached out about some of our previous posts on Guadalcanal, and since the comments close on old posts, left this in the contact tab:

With just 3 effective carriers available in the theater Fletcher was tasked with protecting the fleet first. His reduced flight line, dwindling fuel supply and the effects of IJN attacks were also in consideration. Finally, his mental state must have been crucial as he watched the IJN become immediately hamstrung with the damage and loss of their carriers at Midway and Coral Sea. Still, the withdrawal and subsequent lack of support for weeks and months makes the Marine effort there all the more remarkable. In the end, after Ghormley was replaced and FDR made it a priority, the USN came through in their aggressive persuit of the naval battles in and around the island. There were enough mistakes to go around on Guadalcanal including Patch’s lack of aggression allowing 12,000 Japanese troops to escape in the most successful retreat of the Pacific War.

My father fought in the Pacific as a Marine Intelligence Officer and like every other vet I knew growing up, never, ever talked about it.

While researching Guadalcanal for a larger project, I found their story so compelling that it turned into “Nightmare Island”, a novel that follows two fictional Marines as they try to stay alive through the conflict. The historical details are as accurate as I could make them – they needed no embellishment.

You can find Nightmare Island on Amazon, and read the first six chapters for free. And if you do buy it, please remember that BTHBTS is an Amazon affilate, and if you go to Amazon via the link in the right sidebar, you’re supporting the blog through referral fees at no added expense to you.

Our friend Mudkow flies the MH-65D Dolphin helicopter for the Coast Guard. Not only do we get some cool flying footage (and you should see his photography as well!) we get to see some of lovely Puerto Rico.

God Bless the Coasties.

As the war in Afghanistan escalated several years ago, counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen, a member of the team that designed the Iraq surge for Gen. David Petraeus, began to notice a new tattoo on some insurgent Afghan fighters. It wasn’t a Taliban tattoo. It wasn’t even Afghan. It was a Canadian maple leaf.

When a perplexed Kilcullen began to investigate, he says, he discovered that the incongruous flags were linked to what he says is one of the most important, and unnoticed, weapons of guerrilla war in Afghanistan and across the world: the lightweight, virtually indestructible Toyota Hilux truck.

“In Afghanistan in particular,” he says, “[the trucks are] incredibly well respected.” So well respected, in fact, that some enterprising fraudsters thought them worthy of ripping off. The imitations, Kilcullen says, had flooded the market, leaving disappointed fighters in their wake. But then “a shipment of high-quality [real] Hiluxes arrived, courtesy of the Canadian government,” he explains. “They had little Canadian flags on the back. Because they were the real deal, and because of how the Hilux is seen, over time, strangely, the Canadian flag has become a symbol of high quality across the country. Hence the tattoos.”

via Why Rebel Groups Love the Toyota Hilux.

Most of my experience was seeing nomadic herders riding around in Saudi Arabia, where apparently the purchase of a Hilux is subsidized by the government. Mind you, this was in the innocent days before 9/11 or even Mogadishu, where VBIEDs and even technicals were outside the lexicon.

But the point is, virtually anywhere you go in the third world, you’ll find the simple, rugged Toyota pick up truck trucking along.