I am highly offended by the "101st Fighting Keyboarders" moniker

[jmowreader]

that we have applied to the chickenhawk brigade.

From 1982 to 1984 I was a member of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the Screaming Eagles. It is a proud division and a fine one.

I recall the history of the Battle of the Bulge. Anthony McAuliffe was commanding the Division. The German commander demanded McAuliffe surrender Bastogne to him. McAuliffe supposedly screamed "aw, nuts" (some reports claim that he really screamed "fuck you") then composed a written reply: "To the German commander: Nuts. The American commander." The written reply was recaptured and hangs in the Don Pratt Memorial Museum at Fort Campbell.

I recall the General Order establishing the Division. It's in the Pratt Museum as well. The General Order states "the 101st has no history, but it has a rendezvous with history." The words "Rendezvous with History" are on the Division crest and the Division song is named that...

"We've got a rendezvous with history
Our strength and courage strike the spark
that will always make men free
Jump right out into the sky of blue
Keep your eyes on the job to be done
We are the men of the one-oh-first
We'll fight till the battle's won."

The 101st has fought bravely in, among other places, World War II, Vietnam and Iraq--both times. Thousands of men died defending the honor of that fine unit.

Let's reflag the chickenhawks as the 7th Fighting Keyboardists. This is in honor of the 7th Cavalry, the unit whose most famous action was Custer's Last Stand.

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

1. The 101

is a reference to the keyboard keys...

[mrfrapp]

7. That's what I thought

There are a 101 keys on a standard PC keyboard. Although very few people have standard keyboards now-a-days.

[AtomicKitten]

17. Thanks for the explanation

and so the moniker adds up, is clever AND amusing.

Lighten up.

[htuttle]

2. I would have thought one of the Puking Buzzards would have thicker skin

:)

BTW, you probably know this, but I surprised to learn recently that the screaming eagle on the 101st Airborne logo represented 'Old Abe', a real-life eagle that was the mascot of Wisconsin's Civil War troops. He's (or what's left of him after stuffing and a fire) still sitting in a glass case in our state capitol here.

[Bandit]

20. Puking Buzzards or Screaming Chickens

Call them whatever but they been through the shit. How many of you have?

[jmowreader]

22. Old Abe saw more combat than Bush did

I learned these things from the State of Wisconsin's website:

He belonged to the Eau Claire Company C, 8th Regiment, and was taken into battle with the company.

The man who owned the eagle originally tried to join the Army but he limped so they wouldn't take him. He traveled to Eau Claire, told the company commander that the eagle would make a great mascot for the company, and sold him to the company for $2.50. The soldiers chipped in a dime apiece to get him.

When they took him into battle, he flew over the company, screaming at the enemy. After the fight was over, he landed on the perch they had for him.

After the war, they took him on victory tours. Someone trained him to let people pet him.

Old Abe, named after President Lincoln, had a two-room apartment in the basement of the Wisconsin state capitol. In 1881, some paint and oil that were kept in a storage closet near Old Abe's apartment caught fire and he died from smoke inhalation. This was when they stuffed him and put him on display.

In 1904, the Wisconsin State Capitol burned down and took Old Abe's mounted body with it. They made a batch of replicas of him and put one out in the new capitol building.

But I still think Custer's old outfit is more appropriate for those chickenhawk fuckheads.

[Canuckistanian]

3. I never saw it as an insult to the 101st Airborne

I think it makes a great contrast between the real division and the cowards who hide behind their mommy's skirts.

It's really a compliment to you.

[IdaBriggs]

4. If I understand it correctly, it is the proud history of the 101st

that makes the withering burn so appropriate. To compare the brave folks of the 101st who DIED for their country -- who faced the nightmare of bombs, bullets and blood -- with people who do nothing more than pretend to patriotism and send others off to die while typing away at their keyboards (because other people should face danger, and certainly not THEM) is such a mind twist that no one who hears it can be anything but scornful of their cowardly hypocrisy.

At least, that is how I've always taken it.

:) Best, Ida

[shadowknows69]

6. I like the idea about the 7th cav

n/t

[Crankie Avalon]

5. I missed the branding and am only reading about it now...

...but my guess is that the number was selected precisely because it calls to mind such a famous and storied unit, whose example of true honor and bravery makes the chickenhawks look even more craven and sleazy by comparison.

In a way, it's a compliment to those who served in units like the 101st or the 82nd that you are used as the yardstick for fighting spirit and courage and as the example of just how far away from that the chickenhawks are.

[captain beyond]

8. the 7th

the 7th has also distinguished itself, (Vietnam).

[murielm99]

10. You are correct. They did.

I think we should just leave it as it is.

The keyboard warriors are called the 101st for reasons stated above.

[newyawker99]

21. Hi captain beyond!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Brewman_Jax]

9. The 101st Airborne Division

is the most illustrious unit with the number of 101, I'm sure that they aren't the only unit with that number designator.

As stated by an earlier post, 101 is the number of keys on a computer keyboard. Any relationship to an actual unit is purely coincedental.

[TheFarseer]

11. If I was a vet, I would be offended too

To think their blogging is a contribution to the war, proves how deluded they are. These people have no concept of supporting the troops or a war effort.

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. The 7th Air Cavalry (Airmobile) fought with distinction in Vietnam

Most famously, of course, in the Ia Drang campaign of November 1965, where companies of 1/7 and 2/7 engaged a reinforced regiment of PAVN regulars. See We Were Soldiers Once...and Young by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway - Mel Gibson's movie doesn't do it justice, choosing to focus on the successful fight at LZ X-Ray, while excluding the horror of the march to LZ Albany, during which the 2/7 and 3/5 were ambushed by the remaining PAVN troops and killed in large numbers in the elephant grass (His daddy died benath PAVN bayonet in the valley of the Drang, as the Michelined feet pressed down the high killer grass around him...). If we can't tag the fighting keyboarders as 101st, we shouldn't tag them 7th either.

[Brewman_Jax]

13. As a veteran

I'm more offended by the fact that these keyboard chickenhawks are not enlisting to fight for a war that they wanted AND voted for a confirmed deserter over a confirmed war veteran.

[QuettaKid]

15. sort of off topic....

but I have always wondered what Chinese typewriters look like? Aren't there like 1,000's of characters in those alphabets...? anyone ever see one?

[Brewman_Jax]

16. I've never seen one

[Mutley]

18. Here's a Chinese keyboard.

And more:
http://images.google.com/images?q=chinese+keyboard&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

[jmowreader]

23. Chinese typesetters are kinda cool

Monotype used to make a Chinese phototypesetter that just had a 16-key numeric pad and some sort of data storage device--first paper tape, then cassettes, then floppies. You first set the width of the galley it would produce and the size of the type you wanted. Then you started keying in four-digit numbers to correspond to the idiograms you wanted to use. (There are thousands upon thousands of idiograms in Traditional Chinese, but not so many in the Simplified Chinese printers use.) Once you'd set your type, you took the data to the exposing unit. A big shop would have many data entry terminals but only a handful--usually two because you really needed one but phototypesetters were not reliable so you always got a spare--of exposure units. You made sure the font you wanted was in the machine, then ran your data through it. The exposing unit would create a piece of photo paper with the text on it. You then pasted it onto a layout board.

[Maddy McCall]

14. NO! My dad was in the Seven Steps to Hell.

NO way. Name them something else, but don't call them the 7th.

[Coventina]

19. Your offense is misguided

For the reasons stated above by other posters.

No one is trying to insult true American heros.