Good morning,







Quote of the day:


“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations the possibilities are limitless.”


                           Jamie Paolinetti






I think it is time for me to remind all of you of a book that was written in three volumes. The first volume was written in 1776 by a British historian Edward Gibbon. The other two followed in about five year intervals. It was “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”. I have not read the entire volumes word for word but I have read a synopsis of them. The United States is following close to what happened in volume three. Gibbon said that the ultimate cause of the Empire was the loss of civic values by the populus and the use of slave to do the most menial of tasks. Eventually there were as many slaves as there were Romans. Do you see a simile here? The Romans also hired mercenaries to defend Rome rather than having their own army, the Praetorian Guard, as it were. Eventually, the mercenaries joined with the potential invaders and Rome was doomed to rape and pillage for years to come. In a phrase, the Romans lost their patriotism in favor of a life of ease and it proved to be the undoing of the most powerful nation on Earth. Everyone needs to read a synopsis of volume three of “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”, it will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. There is a famous quote “The key to the future is the past, all you have to do is read about it.”






A friend sent me a vignette about the US Marines and it reminded me of this story. When I was an air traffic controller in Greenville I had a supervisor named Ralph that was a Marine fighter pilot in WWII. He told me that on one occasion he was doing gunnery practice out over the Pacific Ocean and the target was a flag towed by another aircraft using a long cable. The target was stabilized by a large lead weight in the front of the flag. Ralph had not been scoring well in gunnery and he was determined to make this practice count. He said that he bored in so close to the flag that the lead weight struck the oil cooler on one of the wings and the engine froze immediately. He was flying an F4U Corsair. Ralph bailed out and was rescued by a destroyer that was on station for just that purpose. I asked him if he was scared. He said “A nineteen year old Marine is not afraid of anything.” Ralph was back in the air the next day doing gunnery practice over the Pacific Ocean. He was also aboard the aircraft carrier USS Franklin when it was hit by a bomb while on station near Okinawa. The Franklin was severely struck. Ralph said that he was in a briefing room when the bomb hit and all the lights went out. All of the people in the room held hands and felt their way to a ladder and climbed out onto the flight deck, ran across the deck and jumped over the side. He was rescued by a destroyer once again. In spite of losing 800 men, the Franklin limped back to America for repairs. It was given the title “The ship that wouldn't die”. I asked Ralph if he was scared that time. He said that he did not remember anything after they grabbed each other’s hands. But when he was picked up by the destroyer he determined that he had to have done all that maneuvering to have ended up where he was. It is amazing how the human mind protects itself when the occasion warrants it.






I guess y’all remember where Marie Osmond’s 18 year old adopted son committed suicide by jumping off a tall building. The item said that the boy had been struggling with depression most of his short life. I wonder why some people have fits of depression and others don’t. It has to be a chemical imbalance in the body. It seems that in these days of high technology that imbalance could be corrected by something other than a drug that turns a person into a zombie, Now I am depressed...






Trivia Question:


What famous actor was a distant relative of Sir Winston Churchill?






A while back five soldiers in training at Fort Jackson South Carolina had let it be known that they were thinking about poisoning the food in the mess halls. In response US Representative Joe Wilson (he is the one that called Obama a liar) launched an investigation. To no one’s surprise the five men were found to be Muslim although American citizens from northern Virginia. This past week four of the men were “administratively released”. This means they were kicked out of the Army with neither an honorable nor dishonorable stipulation. One of them was sent back to a National Guard unit in northern Virginia. We cannot assume that all people that are American citizens are Patriots. Be aware.






Here is a bio of one of my heroes.



                        Robert the Bruce


                             Hero of Scotland






Robert du Bruis (The anglicized version is Robert the Bruce) was born in July 1274 probably in Turnberry castle in Ayrshire, Scotland. The exact location is not known. He was fostered out to a family to be raised as was the custom in those days. His father was also Robert du Bruis, the 6th Earl of Annandale that would make the younger Robert the 7th Earl. His mother was Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, making the elder Robert the Earl of Carrick. Robert the younger’s father was Scot-Norman meaning that there was a Viking somewhere in his ancestry. Marjorie was pure Gaelic. She proved to be a formidable woman for legend has it that she imprisoned the elder Robert until he agreed to marry her. The first appearance of Robert the younger in a historical document is on a witness list to a charter issued by Alasdair MacDomhnaill, the Lord of Islay. His name is mentioned with the Bishop of Argyll, the Vicar of Arran and his father along with a host of nobles from Carrick. Robert was a descendant of a long line of nobility going all the way back to Scotland’s first king, David the 1st. Because of this he felt that he was next in line for the crown of Scotland but the powerful John Balliol had taken the crown by force. Therefore Robert and his father aligned themselves with the ruthless king of England, Edward I, also known as “Longshanks”, I guess because of his height, in the hopes the he could unseat Balliol. Robert the younger married Isabella of Mar in June of 1295. They only had one daughter which they named Marjorie Bruce. Isabella died in 1302 of unknown causes. Little Marjorie married Walter Stewart, the 6th high Stewart of Scotland. In 1316 Marjorie was killed when she fell from her horse while heavily pregnant. They were able to save the baby, a son that became Robert II, King of the Scots. In August of 1296 Robert and his father swore fealty to King Edward I but evidently a year later Robert had changed his mind and sided with Scotland in their fight for independence from England. After finding this out, the enraged Edward sent several letters to Robert saying that he had better get his young ass back on the other side and start obeying the orders given by the Royal commander, John de Warenne, the 7th Earl of Surrey. But instead of Robert complying, he laid waste to the lands of those loyal to Edward. Even then Edward forgave Robert if he would swear loyalty to England but Edward would hold three of his friends hostage, the Bishop of Glasgow, James the Steward and Sir Alexander Lindsay, until Robert delivered a permanent hostage in his daughter, little Marjorie which Longshanks felt would ensure Robert’s loyalty. It did not work because soon after Robert was with William Wallace at his stunning victory over the English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Longshanks brought yet another army into Scotland to try and subdue those irascible Scots. He was successful in this campaign with victories at Falkirk, Annandale and Carrick. After the defeat at Falkirk, William Wallace resigned as the Guardian of Scotland and he was replaced by Robert and a man named John Cromyn as joint guardians. These two could not get past their personal dislike for each other. Cromyn was a nephew of John Balliol that Robert felt was usurping the crown of Scotland so very little was accomplished. In 1299 the Bishop of St. Andrews was appointed as the third member hoping to neutralize the hostility. In 1301 Robert and the others had resigned as Guardian and Sir John de Soulis took over. He was neither a supporter of Robert nor Comyn and was a patriot. In the spring of 1301, Longshanks launched his sixth expedition into Scotland and did indeed capture Bothwell and Turnberry Castle but did little to destroy the Scots ability and spirit to fight for independence. Again poor Robert aligned himself with Longshanks mainly because there was a move afoot among the Scottish nobles to restore John Balliol to the throne of Scotland. If this happened, Robert and his progeny would never be in line for the throne. In 1303 Longshanks again invaded Scotland with John Comyn as guardian. This time Longshanks was staying until all of Scotland was vanquished and all of the Scottish leaders, except William Wallace, declared their loyalty to England and Longshanks. In this year Robert married his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Ulster. They had four children, David II, John (died in childbirth), Matilda and Margaret. Along with this, Robert had sired a whole bevy of illegitimate children. As you might suspect with the submission of the Scottish leader making Scotland defenseless, Longshanks instituted laws that were very controlling and repressive. Almost anything the Scot wanted to do had to be approved by either Longshanks or English Parliament. Robert’s father died in 1304 leaving Robert with the lands and title to the Earldom of Annandale and the Earldom of Carrick making him a very wealthy man and the owner of vast stretches of land in Scotland and England. Robert’s real concern was who was going to be the king of Scotland should Scotland gain independence. With the guardianship of Scotland in the hands of John Comyn, a relative and supporter of John Balliol, Robert was between a rock and a hard place. If Scotland somehow gained independence right then, Balliol would be king. But they could not leave Scotland under heel of Longshanks either. Robert did the next best thing. He asked John Cromyn to meet him for a conference at Dumfries in 1306. The meeting was held in a church whereupon Robert attacked Cromyn and thinking he was dead, fled the scene. Robert was excommunicated for this act of violence in “the house of God”. The only problem was that Cromyn though seriously injured, was not dead. Robert sent two of his soldiers to finish the job and finish it they did with cudgels (clubs). It was during this time frame that William Wallace was captured in Glasgow. He was executed by the “rack” and was “drawn and quartered”. The four sections of his body were sent to the farthest corners of the English Empire as a warning. His head was staked on London Bridge for all to see. At this point Robert determined that he had to do something. Either he was going to be king or a fugitive. He asserted his right to be king and was crowned King of the Scots as Robert I on March 13, 1306. Though he was king, Robert had no Kingdom; all of Scotland essentially belonged to Longshanks. Robert began a series of military expeditions to take back some of Scotland from the English with disastrous results. Robert was almost alone and was very near capture and he and his brother, also named Edward, fled to the islands in the southwest of Scotland. There they waited until they found out the Longshanks had died and left his weakling son Edward II as king. After this Robert and his brother came back to Scotland and formed two small armies one led by Robert and his brother Edward and the other led by his other two brothers Thomas and Alexander. Thomas and Alexander were caught and executed soon after their arrival back in Scotland. Robert combined the two armies into one and began a guerilla war against the English army in Scotland that is and was one of the most notable guerrilla wars ever fought. In March of 1309 he had gained enough lands back to hold his first Parliament at St. Andrews. Robert controlled Scotland north of the river Tay and the next year he was acknowledged the King of Scotland by the clergy in spite of his ex-communication which was a giant leap politically. After this followed eight years of grinding guerilla warfare with Robert never meeting the English on even ground, the deciding battle came at Bannockburn in 1314. Robert’s army was essentially without armor and without a standing cavalry making them very mobile as you would think a guerilla army to be. Edward II decided that he had better do something to get back the lands lost in Scotland and gathered an army of 20,000 including a cavalry of 3,000 to 4,000. The English infantry was in armor and the cavalry was also with the cavalry aboard monstrous shire (Clydesdale-like) horses. It was felt that the big horses could take a lot of punishment and still stay on their feet. Robert knew they were coming and selected his battle site carefully. He chose to put his 6,000-7,000 man army in a patch of woods hidden from view and would attack when the English army reached point on a road that had marshes on both sides which would neutralize the cavalry. In the vanguard of the English army was the son the English commander. He saw Robert himself watching from horseback on a hilltop and pulled down his lance and spurred his horse into a gallop. Robert had no lance but just a battleaxe and stood his ground. At the last moment Robert deflected the lance and rising up in his stirrups delivered a crashing blow to the top of the head of his opponent with the axe splitting his helmet and his skull. A Chronicler said it this way “Robert the Bruce, waving his battle axe over head, hit the horseman on the head splitting it twain.” meaning two pieces. Upon seeing this Robert’s army stormed out of the woods and engaged the English army and drove it back into a nearby wood. They wanted to pursue but were stopped by Robert and thus ended day one. Robert’s soldiers gave him a large ration of sh-t about risking his life like that when he could have just came back into the woods. Robert said that his only regret was that he broke the handle to his axe. The next day after the elevated road was jammed with English infantry and cavalry with no way to spread out, Robert ordered an attack. The English soldiers were so close together that even the archers could not raise their bows to shoot. Robert’s soldiers advanced and just before reaching the English they stopped and knelt in prayer. Edward II upon seeing this said to his commander “Are they praying for mercy from me?” The commander said “No sire, they are praying to God for guidance. It will be a victory or death for them on this day”. After this the Scots waded into the English troops and delivered a bloodbath of biblical proportions. The English infantry found out that they were trapped behind the archers could not retreat because of the narrowness of the road and any that fell were trampled to death in the rout that followed. It was the worst defeat and the most loss of life in English history up to that point. Edward II was able to escape back to England. With the English threat eliminated peace prevailed in Scotland…for a while. Robert the Bruce died on June 7, 1349 in Cardross Manor in Dumbarton. For several years he had suffered from what was labeled the “unclean disease”. It was originally thought that this was leprosy but this was eliminated and most believe it was syphilis. He left his infant son, David II as heir to the throne. His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey. However, someone removed his heart and took it with them on one of the Crusades. It was returned and is buried at Melrose Abbey. This treatise in no way encompasses all that Robert did militarily at Bannockburn and diplomatically later. I just hope that I have piqued enough interest that each of you will look into it for yourselves.






 Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow