A Question About Rank

[ALPHA]

OK............back to the subject of Rank....all settled with the top being Field Marshal....though on another board that rank is somewhere in the middle ....Let's talk about the little guys....or the Recruits
Don't you think somewhere in between there and the top....should have the inclusion of BAG PIPERS .... You know ...those guys who would announce the coming of a brigade with melodious tune....and get slaughtered by the dozen...to which I would also like to know what idiot thought that was a great thing to do


ALPHA

[ausf]

A Bagpiper once told me the reason why they always walk when the play is even they try to get away from the sound.

[ALPHA]

A Bagpiper once told me the reason why they always walk when the play is even they try to get away from the sound.

ALPHA

[Max-U52]

I guess you're right, Shaun, rank can be confusing no matter what nation. I still can't get US naval rank figured out!

As for Field Marshall, didn't Montgomery end his career as a Field Marshall? I'd say Monty was the least German guy that ever lived! I swear I've heard him referred to as Field Marshall Montgomery, or is the hippie brain playing tricks on me again?

[ALPHA]

AND NOW...............

Spoiler: show

BAGPIPES ............

ALPHA

[Max-U52]

Damn, Alpha, what a noise! Sounded like someone was raping a donkey. I guess beauty truly is in the eye or ear of the beholder, but you're gonna have to work hard to make up for subjecting me to that, my Dear General.


Just in case anybody doesn't get it, all the above is offered in a friendly, joking manner, so don't get your knickers in a twist.

[jarndice]

Yes Gary.
Bernard Law Montgomery was promoted to the then active rank of Field Marshal retiring as Viscount Montgomery of Alamein in the early 1950s,
There were other serving soldiers at the time and immediately post war with that active rank, William (Bill) Slim of the 3rd Army who with massive help from the American armed forces defeated the Japanese in Burma was promoted to that rank and a number of others but with a massive reduction in the British Army at the conclusion of the conflict there just was no longer any justification for so many people holding the rank and so now while there is at this time two active Field Marshals in service the majority of the holders are appointed to the rank on retirement'.
That nice General Patton did not seem to get on with "Monty" allegedly,
If it's any consolation he managed to get up the nose of a lot of his British contemporary's as well.
Shaun.
There is an interesting sideline to Field Marshal Slims story, He was in his 70s and walking through Kensington Gardens in Central London when he was set upon by a mugger in his late teens,
This elderly ex soldier flattened the boy and pinned him down until the arrival of the constabulary,
NOW that's what I call a hero.

[ALPHA]

Damn, Alpha, what a noise! Sounded like someone was raping a donkey. I guess beauty truly is in the eye or ear of the beholder, but you're gonna have to work hard to make up for subjecting me to that, my Dear General.


Just in case anybody doesn't get it, all the above is offered in a friendly, joking manner, so don't get your knickers in a twist.

LOL....Interestingly enough...I find myself immune to the effects of bagpipes...so would probably be able to function well if they were to march upon my position
I guess that might have been one of the strategies behind the use of the instrument ...as it probably did annoy the heck out of the enemy

Though with that said....if the sound annoys the enemy....better incentive to shoot the guy responsible for the irritation


ALPHA

[43rdRecceReg]

Hmmmm., allegedly the Pipes are played to rouse the fighting spirit of the troops..and scare the cr*p out of the opposition or, at the very least, confuse them...and since time immemorial, humans have announced their aggressive tendencies this way: with trumpets, beating drums, fifes,whooping insanely (as in TV and Movie 'Indian'..oops First Nation, and Native American 'war dances'), and with shields beaten by swords..saxon/viking style. These days, a prelude to a spot violence could be preceded by the
ritual chanting a of a Football team's name, sectarian songs..., bouncing cars, oversized motorcycle exhausts,or militants carrying banners or others wanting to scalp Justin Bieber..
A question though, if the drone of the Pipes drives some to distraction, madness or even war ...why are they played so often at the Funerals of Police and Fire department mean and women in the US? ...thus we in the Highlands are not solely responsible for this phenomenon!! They're also played (slightly different format ) in Brittany, Ireland, Cumbria, and..wait for it...Romania!!
As for the ranks we use, Napoleon mostly invented those used by the British and German armies..
Now here's a piper to avoid :

[ALPHA]

Inspire the troops alright.............

Spoiler: show

INSPIRE TO PUT SOME BULLETS IN THEIR EARS

ALPHA