03A3 Service grades.

[Vern Humphrey]

You're welcome, Vern. I always enjoy your posts.

At the start of the video there is a bit on Brit riflemen buying time to evacuate some artillery pieces. Coggins, writing about the British Army said you can always find paintings about "saving the guns," or "The Last Stand of the Mudfordshires." These works usually neglect to say what piece of noodledom got "the guns" or the unfortunate "Mudforshires" in that position in the first place .

Two of the greatest problems of the British Army are, 1) Deliberate amateurism. A friend of mine was pulling a night shift in a NATO exercise and a British major of Engineers said, "Andy would you post this for me? I don't read coordinates." !!!!

The second is failure to communicate. At Singapore, the first Japanese troops crossing the Straits of Johore were badly shot up -- but Lieutenant General Perceval assumed from the shooting that he had been defeated again -- and didn't get any reports telling him differently. He ordered a withdrawal to the Jurong line, and most unit commanders had no idea where the Jurong line was, or what their position in that line was supposed to be. And his staff failed to point out that all of his ammo and supply dumps were NORTH of the Jurong line, so he effectively gave it all to the Japanese.

Disasters like Gandamak, Isandlwana and Spion Kop all trace back to those two problems.

[Art]

You are absolutely correct, Vern, especially on "Deliberate Amateurism." In the early days of the Royal Navy officers who bought their commissions and couldn't sail a skiff were so common that the Royal Navy resorted to large numbers of Warrant Officers to handle the nuts and bolts of seamanship. To this day RN personnel who are the equivalent of senior chief Petty Officers are Warrant Officers.

Deliberate amateurism is a great way of putting it. Unlike the aristocracies of other European the Brit Nobility. at its best, tended to have a paternalistic attitude toward commoners and dealt with them on a more casual basis in day to day encounters. This did not prevent them from retaining a strict separation between officers and enlisted personnel. This balance could be a good thing. On the other hand there was a very strong attitude that a gentleman was never a tradesman. This aversion to any trade craft (including military trade craft) by the aristocracy, who still make up a good bit (but today certainly not all) of the modern Brit officer corps is shown by the attitude of the Major of Engineers you spoke of. It wasn't until the second decade of the 20th Century that the purchasing of commissions in the British military was finally abolished.

[Vern Humphrey]

You are absolutely correct, Vern, especially on "Deliberate Amateurism." In the early days of the Royal Navy officers who bought their commissions and couldn't sail a skiff were so common that the Royal Navy resorted to large numbers of Warrant Officers to handle the nuts and bolts of seamanship. To this day RN personnel who are the equivalent of senior chief Petty Officers are Warrant Officers.

Lord St. Vincent, the First Sea Lord during the Napoleonic wars wrote, "Promotion to the flag has happily removed from the command of ships men who never in their lives were fit to command so much as a rowing boat."

Deliberate amateurism is a great way of putting it. Unlike the aristocracies of other European the Brit Nobility. at its best, tended to have a paternalistic attitude toward commoners and dealt with them on a more casual basis in day to day encounters. This did not prevent them from retaining a strict separation between officers and enlisted personnel. This balance could be a good thing. On the other hand there was a very strong attitude that a gentleman was never a tradesman. This aversion to any trade craft (including military trade craft) by the aristocracy, who still make up a good bit (but today certainly not all) of the modern Brit officer corps is shown by the attitude of the Major of Engineers you spoke of. It wasn't until the second decade of the 20th Century that the purchasing of commissions in the British military was finally abolished.

When I was working on the British Attack Helicopter program, a friend told me Army Aviation had determined to have a CGIS (Chief of the Imperial General Staff) and so were energetically recruiting "the right sort." These were graduates of the upper crust of British public schools -- which are basically rich boys' high schools. Because they lacked the background for a technical profession, when they took exams in flight schools, they had an experienced pilot sit with them and "help" them.

[Johnny P]

This is an old NRA/DCM Sales rifle. They were all the same price regardless of condition. This one appears to have never been issued. Barrel, receiver, and safety were phosphate/Parkerize finished with all other parts being blued.

[Vern Humphrey]

Beautiful rifle!

I have two 03A3s -- one Remington and one Smith-Corona. The Smith Corona has a scant stock and is zeroed with hunting ammo. It's a loaner for people who want to hunt on my place.

The Remington has a straight stock and is zeroed with cast bullets (160 grain Lee roundnoses ahead of 27 grains of AA 5547.) That's my squirrel rifle. The local Game Warden had a fit, until I showed him the regulations -- for squirrels, "Nothing larger than .22 rimfire EXCEPT when there is a modern gun or muzzle loading season for deer, bear or coyote." Coyote season runs from 1 January to 31 December.

[JimF]

. . . . .The local Game Warden had a fit, until I showed him the regulations -- for squirrels, "Nothing larger than .22 rimfire EXCEPT when there is a modern gun or muzzle loading season for deer, bear or coyote." Coyote season runs from 1 January to 31 December.

yup . . .typical . . . .
Ranks right up there with many other “rules and regulations” . . . .like . . . .

Remember when the wizards down in D.C. wished to eliminate machine guns?

Ban all guns that would “fire multiple projectiles with just one pull of the trigger.” (There goes ALL shotguns!)

One would think these politicians would THINK THINGS THROUGH when they write these laws!

[Vern Humphrey]

yup . . .typical . . . .
Ranks right up there with many other “rules and regulations” . . . .like . . . .

Remember when the wizards down in D.C. wished to eliminate machine guns?

Ban all guns that would “fire multiple projectiles with just one pull of the trigger.” (There goes ALL shotguns!)

One would think these politicians would THINK THINGS THROUGH when they write these laws!

There's a basic rule of English that says you can't use "politician" and "think" in the same sentence.

Our politicians all have the Union Syndrome. In 1836 the steamboat "Union" pulled away from the docks in Alexandria, VA and blew up in the middle of the river. There was an investigation, and the results were printed in the Alexandria Gazette. The Union was a new boat and there were leaks in the steam system. This was a problem that would cure itself, as scale and sediment built up in the system and blocked the leaks.

But someone got impatient and shoveled "a large quantity of horse manure" into the boiler -- which plugged the lines and blew up the boat.

The Union Syndrome is the belief that you can solve problems by adding horse chit.