VBOB upcoming

The next VBOB meeting is this coming Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it, as always, with a sense of anticipation. The subject of the meeting is always a mystery until I get in the car with my buddy Doug. We spend the trip down speculating on how good the speaker will be, which of our old friends (both literally and figuratively) will be there, what we'll have for lunch, and how many books we'd buy at the excellent Borders book store if we could afford it. We also talk at length about work and about our mutual passion for history. Sound mundane? Well sure, maybe to you. But for me it's a highlight. What could be better on a two hour car trip than to spend it talking about the things you care most about?

One question I want to ask at the meeting arises from the book I'm currently reading: "Brothers in Battle - Best of Friends" by William "Wild Bill"Guarnere and and Edward "Babe" Heffron. They both fought in the Battle of the Bulge and the legendary defense of Bastogne. I'm only about half way through the book, but what I'm taking from it so far is this. These two guys, who were the very definition of "grunts", didn't really care about the grand strategy of Eisenhower, Montgomery, or the other Generals. They cared about tactics as laid out by their company commanders and carried out by them in the field because it was tactics that kept them and their buddies alive. I am eagerly awaiting their answers and will post them after I return from the meeting.

I am fascinated by these sorts of historical questions. Another time, I'll tell you how it all started.

For now, although it's early evening here, good night.