Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: toonces3 on May 18, 2007, 01:59:44 PM
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Thought you all might enjoy this.
"But tired or not, none of the young pilots on the flightline this morning is thinking much about sleeping. Anticipation and nerves keep eyes open and mouths firmly shut, the electiricity of the moment paralleled in the metallic razz of sap-fattened bugs and the green whisper of light rain on foliage. There are occasional clinks and snaps of cigarette lighter lids, always followed by sighed exhalations of smoke. One pilot is leaning back against the trunk of a palm tree, looking at photos he has pulled from his pocket. The pilot next to him chews the stem of a long blade of grass as he gazes off to the east toward the twin volcanoes of Mandalagan and Silay, misty blue in the rain, beyond which lie American ships and destiny. The others just stare at their hands, down at the ground, or off into space, figures muted in earth-tone tableau of young men quietly saying goodbye to the world.
Under the meditative weight of this somber lull, each lung-filling yawn or scratched cowlick is someone's small celebration and savored affirmation of a life that will cease to be in an hour or two. Socialized from boyhood to respect silence, these middle-class sons of rice farmers, schoolteachers, and small business owners share an unspoken understanding that this flightline downtime is probably the last chance in their mortal lives to be alone with their thoughts- to daydream, ruminate, fantisize, or just dwell on the white noise of rain-sizzle through palm fronds, the smell of wet grass, and the feel of warm sea air on their cheeks. There is no nervous banter. No pretentious blather or maudlin yammering. There has already been a send-off speech this morning, and there have been countless others in the past few weeks. No need for any more. "Dulce et decorum" lectures and pointifications on the meaning of it all are best left to the crickets in the grass.
Once in the cockpit, it will be all grim reality; the flight will be forty or fifty minutes of edgy boredom followed by a few seconds of screaming adrenaline rush through the American CAP and antiaircraft barrage to go over- then into- the targets. But Yositake should be able to handle the challenges he will face this morning. He is a graduate- as are the other four pilots in his flight- of the elite Imperial Military Academy, Japan's West Point. He has been superbly trained over the last three and a half years to build up an impressive repertoire of combat flier's skills. A qualified recon/assault pilot, he can skip bomb moving ships and strafe targets with impressive accuracy, fly by instruments, alone at night or in pea soup fog, spot for devastating artillery barrages, and coordinate the movement of ground forces from the air. But today, very few of those skills will be called upon, and all of the years of sweat and effort expended on acquiring them will have very little bearing on the outcome of today's mission. Weather willing, he and the other pilots on the flight line this morning will turn over the engines of their bomb-laden, obsolete KI-51 recon/assault planes and fly off into the sunrise to attack a supply convoy spotted heading for the main American landing area at Ormoc on the west coast of Leyte Island. And if all goes well, the fast-closing deck of one of these ships will be the last thing Toshio Yositake ever sees."
Blossoms in the Wind, pp. 78-79
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(http://www.mirandala.org/images/toonces.jpg)
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Meanie! :furious
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What sort of idiot would enjoy a poem about a bunch of suicide bombers?
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Ozzy fans?
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lolz
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Thats pretty harsh Hub. He posted something that hasn't been reposted thousands of times that is actually relevent to this sim and all you can do is cry "idiot"?
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Come across me and youre going under and pushin' up flowers NEWB :cool:
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Originally posted by Shaky
Thats pretty harsh Hub. He posted something that hasn't been reposted thousands of times that is actually relevent to this sim and all you can do is cry "idiot"?
lol relevent how? Suicidebombing or dive boming and and bailing Lancs? :lol
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At least relevent to WWII. What, am I not allowed to comment in a big BK pile on?
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no :)
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YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BK THREAD WOOOOOOOOOOWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO!##@!@!
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Originally posted by Shaky
Thats pretty harsh Hub. He posted something that hasn't been reposted thousands of times that is actually relevent to this sim and all you can do is cry "idiot"?
Shall I try to compare nazi death camps to giant marshmellow roasts, or would that be considered inappropriate?
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Originally posted by Shaky
At least relevent to WWII. What, am I not allowed to comment in a big BK pile on?
You've been here almost 2 years and you're just now coming to this revelation?
:aok
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With all the BK's that still post but don't play, seems like the AH retirement squad! :aok
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I thought it was the Jeff Gordon Fan club?
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Originally posted by REP0MAN
You've been here almost 2 years and you're just now coming to this revelation?
:aok
hehe......nah, just the first time commenting on it. Compared to AW, this place is juvenille and tame.
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Originally posted by hubsonfire
Shall I try to compare nazi death camps to giant marshmellow roasts, or would that be considered inappropriate?
And what do marshmellow roast's have to do with WWII or planes?
Geez, what gave yu guys such a hard on for Toonces anyways? He date your sister or something?
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<--- offers a heartfelt apology to Jaxxo for calling him a meany :rofl
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Originally posted by Max
<--- offers a heartfelt apology to Jaxxo for calling him a meany :rofl
Yer so full of it, even Jaxx can see thru that one. :)
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I enjoy reading about history, in particular about the Pacific theater of WW2, and I'm assuming that a bunch of folks that play WW2 fighter pilot for fun have at least a passing interest in the subject as well.
Every once in a while I come across a piece of writing that is particularly well-done. In this case, I think the author brilliantly conveyed the feeling of what it must be like for a young boy really, having graduated the equivalent of our Annapolis, having spent his entire life striving to excel at his schoolwork to become a pilot, and then, having been trained to be an expert pilot in his nation's military, is told,
"Welcome to the war. You're first mission is going to be to strap a 500kg bomb to this plane and crash it into the biggest ship you see."
One has to wonder what it must be like to be sitting on the flight line, seeing the clouds and weather clearing out, knowing that at any moment the orders that will send you to commit voluntary suicide will be coming over the loudspeaker.
This passage, in particular, really hit me in the gut.
I thought maybe others, with an interest in the period, might find it interesting as well.
I don't see the analogy to nazi death camps and marshmellow roasts, but whatever.
Adios,
Toonces
Oh, I didn't just bang their girlfriend...I drank their beer too. It was good.
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NOSE MUCK........ again....:noid
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Originally posted by Nilsen
Come across me and youre going under and pushin' up flowers NEWB :cool:
hell Nilsen youll just run for the ack like you always do
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Originally posted by BiPoLaR
hell Nilsen youll just run for the ack like you always do
lol mr EW milkrunner :rofl
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max you left your earings....
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Remember, the Japanese boys assigned to those units didn't want to die. All that crap about them being happy to die for the emperor is just that, crap. Read interviews with the survivors and you'll get a much more realistic view of what the boys in the "Special Attack Squadrons" thought about it. They thought very much the same things our boys would have, they just had cultural traditions and preasures built into them that allowed people above them in the chain of command to convince them they had to do it whereas I doubt our boys would have barring extreme circumstances.
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That's an interesting thought Karnak.
My thoughts on reading the book are that, in many (or even most) cases, these kids felt such pressure from their culture that they HAD to volunteer. It wasn't so much that the leadership convinced them that they should volunteer. Rather, it was a cultural feeling that, when the chance to 'strike back at the enemy' was offered, it wasn't acceptable to NOT step forward, not realizing that what they were really volunteering for was suicide duty. And, of course, once they volunteered, and subsequently found out that what they had volunteered for, there was no way they could then back out and maintain their honor. And, so, for honor they commited themselves to suicide, even though they knew (even if the leadership didn't) that their death would be futile in ultimately stemming the tide of American victory.
It really was a tragic time. I dunno. In many ways I find myself predjudiced against flying German planes in this game emotionally, but, despite the Japanese being our enemies in WW2, I do think their warrior spirit is...the word escapes me...interesting doesn't seem right exactly.
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I though the Japs kept the experienced pilots for defence of the homeland and used the inexperince onces as kamikazes.
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That's an interesting thought Karnak.
My thoughts on reading the book are that, in many (or even most) cases, these kids felt such pressure from their culture that they HAD to volunteer. It wasn't so much that the leadership convinced them that they should volunteer. Rather, it was a cultural feeling that, when the chance to 'strike back at the enemy' was offered, it wasn't acceptable to NOT step forward, not realizing that what they were really volunteering for was suicide duty. And, of course, once they volunteered, and subsequently found out that what they had volunteered for, there was no way they could then back out and maintain their honor. And, so, for honor they commited themselves to suicide, even though they knew (even if the leadership didn't) that their death would be futile in ultimately stemming the tide of American victory.
It really was a tragic time. I dunno. In many ways I find myself predjudiced against flying German planes in this game emotionally, but, despite the Japanese being our enemies in WW2, I do think their warrior spirit is...the word escapes me...interesting doesn't seem right exactly.
1 year bump, huh?
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I thought it was a good read and very well written. Thanks Toonces.
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Shall I try to compare nazi death camps to giant marshmellow roasts, or would that be considered inappropriate?
:rofl This may present a problem.
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What sort of idiot would enjoy a poem about a bunch of suicide bombers?
The term "suicide bomber" should be reserved for those who are not in uniform.
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I don't care what they say toonce, I liked it. I also had to scroll back and see who posted this, like 3 times. All the while thinking" this guy missed his calling as a author." Then, ya tell us you didnt write it. I'm :eek: heart broken.