Schlockumeatries , Iove them!

Schlockumentaries
My son-in-law is introducing me to the joys of craft beers and ales. Unlike with diet drinks and water, with beer and ale there is an undesirable side effect for a rigid calorie counter like me. To counteract it, I have been spending a lot of time pedaling to nowhere on my exercise bike. That is boring unless someone watches something on the TV or listens to something on the iPhone. This leads me to a discussion on sclockumentaries…

Schlockumentaries are shows that take an incident in military history and try to turn it into a mystery or cover-up of some kind. For example, the confederates lost the battle of Shiloh because t hat ate too few calories for all the hard work they had to do in winning the battle and those Yankees that held out for hours at the “hornets’ nest” didn’t really help win the battle. The History Channel is great at this, although to be fair, they produce so good shows too.

USS Murphy (DD-603)

The low in the schlockumentary department so far is the mercifully now canceled “Deep Sea Detectives” who “discovered” the sunken forward third of the USS Murphy (DD-603). The implication was that the wreck of a US Navy destroyer was lying on the bottom of the Atlantic while the navy maintained the ship had been sold for scrap in the 1972! Is this yet another government cover up! Hello 1984???

The only minor problems here where that the Murphy was in a collision and only the forward third sank although 36 crewmen went with it; many people it seems know where the wreck is, especially the fisherman whose nets get snagged on it; oh, and the navy repaired the Murphy. There was no cover up. Drat!

The intellectual schlockumentary is epitomized by Bob Ballard (okay, his résumé is somewhat impressive). Since finding the RMS Titanic (in too badly damaged a condition to be repaired) he has “found” among others the USS Yorktown, the USS Atlanta.

I saw the results of a destroyer meets aircraft carrier up close and personnel in 1969 in Subic Bay, PI. In this case it was the back (aft for us navy vets) half of the USS Frank E. Evans. While I was flying somewhere but time dims the memory, I talked with the aft lookout on the Evans. He was headed off to be questioned and perhaps court-martialed. I hope he wasn’t, since he was only an E-2 and certainly not “driving” at the time. They have to blame somebody!

I must say, I thank God for the opportunity to have served as a member of the armed forces of the United States! I am so grateful in fact I ordered a vintage 1980s genuine “like new” USN issue pea coat from a vintage (!!) clothing company in California. The US Navy it seems doesn’t wear them anymore.

“… any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.”

John F. Kennedy

New Navy on the Block

Since this has turned into a navy themed blog I leave you with this; Rocky and Mayur and their own schlockumentary on the INS Virant (ex-HMS Hermes) an aging aircraft carrier that guarantees Indian control of the sea. The video is also your source for toe-tapping Hindu music!

Schlockumentary Update

As I pedaled to nowhere last night I watched a National Geographic show on Arlington National Cemetery. Death is the great leveler since America treats all its veterans the same in death. The show focused on the Honor Guard that guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Far from being a schlockumentary, this show was moving to the extreme. There is good stuff on the History Channel after all! Wow.

Vaya con Dios!