Dec. 31, 2003 In 1969 the Navy spent $375,000 on an "aerodynamic analysis of the self-suspended flare." The study's conclusion was that the Frisbee was not feasible as military hardware.
Dec. 30, 2003 When she was a young woman, sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer once lived in Israel. There, she joined the Haganah and was trained as a sniper. She was so adept at handling a Sten gun, a British submachine gun, that she could quickly assemble one while blindfolded.
Dec. 29, 2003 Confederate soldiers were often illiterate farm boys who didn't know left from right, but they did know hay from straw. To teach them to march, officers put a stalk of hay in one shoe and a stalk of straw in the other and gave the marching orders as "HAY FOOT! STRAW FOOT!" instead of "LEFT, RIGHT!"
Dec. 26, 2003 The shortest war on record was fought between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.
Dec. 25, 2003 A long time ago women were allowed to live on Navy ships to keep company for sailor husbands and friends who had to stay for several months at sea without being in battle. On occasion, a woman delivered a baby whose paternity could not be established with certainty. In the birth certificate, authorities just noted "Son of a gun," referring to the artillery found on the ships. This has evolved into the common expression we use today.
Dec. 24, 2003 The USA spends an average of $28,000 on research and development for each member of its armed forces compared to the European average of $7,000.
Dec. 23, 2003 The US operates a fleet of more than 15,000 aircraft, including 20 stealth bombers in service. The navy operates more than 1,000 ocean going vessels.
Dec. 22, 2003 The US has 247,000 troops and civilians posted overseas, with a presence in more than 130 countries, covering every time zone. The US has 13 military bases in countries around Afghanistan. It has military presence in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan and Georgia, all former Soviet countries.
Dec. 19, 2003 The most costly war on record in terms of human life was World War II (1939 -1945). The total number of fatalities of all countries is estimated to have been 54,800,000. Poland was the country that suffered most with 6,028,000 of her population of 35,100,000 killed.
Dec. 18, 2003 Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate Army, remains the only person, to date, to have graduated from the West Point military academy without a single demerit.
Dec. 17, 2003 Armored knights in medieval times raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
FACTOID: Dec. 16, 2003
Japan did not have an organized chess federation until 1968.
Dec. 16, 2003 The Japanese confiscated chess books during World War II thinking they were military codes. Japan did not have an organized chess federation until 1968.
Dec. 15, 2003 Since World War II, American soldiers have been issued gum with their K rations and survival kits. During World War II, gum, considered an emergency ration, was also given to soldiers to relieve tension and dry throats on long marches. G.I.s used chewed gum to patch jeep tires, gas tanks, life rafts, and parts of airplanes. Wrigley advertisements recommended five sticks of gum per day for every war worker, insisting that "Factory tests show how chewing gum helps men feel better, work better."
Dec. 12, 2003 During World War II, a German U-boat was sunk by a truck. The U-boat in question attacked a convoy in the Atlantic and then rose to see the effect. The merchant ship it sank had material strapped to its deck including a fleet of trucks, one of which was thrown in the air by the explosion, landing on the U-boat and breaking its back.
Dec. 11, 2003 In 1839, the Canadian province of New Brunswick fought a bloodless border war with Maine.
FACTOID: Dec. 10, 2003
The most decorated unit in US military history was formed primarily by enlistees from the U.S. internment camps for Japanese Americans.
Dec. 10, 2003 The most decorated unit in US military history was formed primarily by enlistees from the U.S. internment camps for Japanese Americans.
Dec. 09, 2003 During the Vietnam War, soldiers used Slinkies as radio antennas by stretching the coiled-up toys between two trees.
Dec. 08, 2003 A colonel in the Ivory Coast army was fatally wounded by gunfire as he tested a "magic" belt supposedly with powers to protect him from bullets. Colonel Pascal Gbah, 49, died after being hit by a bullet fired from his own service pistol by a 20-year-old son of the magic belt's maker. Gbah's cousin Andre Gondo made the belt as insisting that its protective powers were real, provided one abstained from sex while wearing it.
Dec. 04, 2003
A former marine spent several weeks on board the aircraft carrier USS Constellation before being discovered using an old ID card, and a uniform he found in a rubbish bin.
Dec. 05, 2003 British Royal Navy recruits at the gunnery school in Plymouth are being ordered not to fire live shells. Instead they have been instructed to check co-ordinates, line up a target, and then shout "Bang". This is allegedly part of a drive by the Ministry of Defence drive to save money.
Dec. 04, 2003 The Americans keep their weapons of mass destruction much more secure. So secure that one Bryan Hopkins, a former marine, was able to board the aircraft carrier USS Constellation using an old ID card, and a uniform he found in a rubbish bin. And spent several weeks on board without being discovered. He didn't bother hiding (in the way that, say, an illicit stowaway on a passenger liner might need to), he just ate, used the gym and bunked down with the regular crew. The deception was only discovered after someone phoned the Navy office to tip them off.
