IrishGunner

Is that really too much for an 1870? And, yes, you are crazy. But that has nothing to do with this EK.

Thanks for the details, Glenn. Always something to learn...

Prussian infantry, correct?

Jock, I can clearly see the "exploding bomb" and with the Swedish cuffs, he has to be Feld-Artillerie. The number is difficult to read, but it appears to be two digits. There was only one Feld-Artillerie unit in Stettin... FAR 38 FAR 38's Dunkelblau shoulder straps were "white with a red exploding bomb and number 38"; black Swedish cuffs... With that info, the straps and cuffs appear to match. Process of elimination, he should be FAR 38 - 99% certain IMHO.

Glenn, you are correct about Wachtmeister. I keep forgetting that Feldwebels in the mounted troops - artillery and cavalry - were called Wachtmeister. But how can you tell "Vize"? I thought you could only tell a Wachtmeister/Feldwebel from a Vizewachtmeister/Vizefeldwebel from the patches on the overcoat collar. Tunics, I thought, were the same braid with the one lace stripe on cuff/collar and the button. With the sword knot taking the rank up from Sergeant to Wachtmeister/Feldwebel. (NCO ranks still take me a couple minutes to mentally process. I would have been a terrible private in the Imperial Army.)

A great photo of a Feldwebel of the Vorpommersches Feld-Artillerie-Regt. Nr.38! Artillerie Schützenschnur, Dienstauszeichnung schnalle... Maybe Zentenarmedaille.

I have the link to Barsukov’s “"Artillery of the Russian Army, 1900-1917” and have used Google Translate to read it's in-depth information about Russian artillery of the First World War. I think I'm missing something in the translation though... The article discusses "field or light" and "heavy" artillery - the translated terms. Easy to understand. (Google Translate actually does a decent job here.) It also divides "heavy" into "land - fortress", "coast", and "siege". I'm looking to simplify this a bit... similar to British and German usage. For example: British artillery = Field Artillery (field) and Garrison Artillery (heavy) German artillery = Feld-Artillerie (field) and Fuss-Artillerie (heavy) Can someone help dig out the two equivalent terms in Russian (but not Cyrillic)?

The Air Force has released nomination criteria for the new Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal. Service members may be awarded the new medal if they were assigned, deployed or mobilized to a wing, center or below in support of the nuclear enterprise for 120 consecutive days or 179 nonconsecutive days. Eligibility for the medal is retroactive to Dec. 27, 1991. Nominations for currently serving Airmen will be processed through their respective chain of command. Retired or separated Airmen and family members of deceased Airmen can submit a request submitted to the Air Force Personnel Center recognition section for validation. Let the discussion begin....

Just found this article about the last hours of Fort Loncin and its legacy. Well worth a read... Liege’s Fort Loncin tells tale of 1914 Belgian resistance

Very nice to see some Italian "wound" badges...

I've not seen before a Sterbebild with such a detailed biography of the deceased.

1940 ... in Spa. To be expected. It's quite early in the war... Things will change...

Indeed, a Hufschmied (or farrier) badge. Here's one of mine...

Very, very nice Pass. Surprising that he has campaign credit for 1866, but not the medal.

How "scarce" is the Campaign Medal with bars? Looks like something I'd like to add to the collection...

Thanks for the replies. I suspected that was the case.

I notice that one Royal Artillery cap has the "Ubique" bomb badge and the other has the "RA Gun" badge... What is the reason?

Interesting. I was waiting to see why he was awarded this during the Russo-Japanese War... Just happen to be reading about that conflict now

Mark, interesting observation. Remember though...these are only a sampling found in the public domain on the internet. The Regiment's total casualties surely were much higher.

Damn, now I see Brian Wolfe used Poe and The Raven in his blog of February 2014. Will I always be a step behind Obi Wan Wolfe? Obi-Wan: You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.

I seriously doubt they will do a new campaign medal for this one... Just because an operation has a name, doesn't mean it gets a unique campaign medal. The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was the only medal for URGENT FURY (Grenada), JUST CAUSE (Panama), RESTORE HOPE (Somalia) and several others. I suspect they will circle back around to the GWOT Expeditionary Medal. While the executive order was issued with the beginning of OEF, the order does not limit service to Afghanistan (and there is a specific campaign medal for Afghanistan). The wording of the GWOT Expeditionary Medal executive order already includes Syria with no end date; Iraq was authorized through 2011 - they just would need to add new eligibility dates. The list of countries is actually fairly long. This is actually important and has more significance than just another ribbon on the row...since some benefits from the Veterans Administration (such as disability for military service connected injuries/illness) can be tied to campaign participation recognized by a campaign medal. Of course, regardless of campaign medal credit, serving in "combat" qualifies for benefits as well.

Damn, and I thought I was going to be original with my most recent blog post citing physics and the end of summer gardening, but I see now you beat me by over two weeks! I still say Nick should start issuing diplomas. My 22 year old son is a huge Star Wars fan. His son was born in June this year. He named him Lucas. His wife is already tired of hearing: "Luke, I am your father." Oh, and I have a similar umbrella; it's quite large and stands almost 10 feet tall. Exactly like these (yes, including the Żywiec logo): However, I usually have no problem with getting it into it's mesh bag. I just recall my youth and putting similar bag-like covers over lengthy tubular items.

It's been raining all day, hindering my efforts to get some last standing chores completed in the garden before the onset of winter makes all horticulture efforts moot. Now in the evening, the rain continues to fall, and there is nothing more fruitful to do on a dreary day and evening than to get to some of that long neglected research. Edgar Allan Poe, one of America's great poets, is buried in Baltimore, not far up the Chesapeake Bay from my current abode. And the opening of his poem, The Raven, is an apt sub-title for my labor. “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore..." But unlike Poe, I have the internet rather than some "curious volume of forgotten lore." Google really is a wonderful tool. Just when you think you've found everything there is to find on a particular topic, a random search using some old familiar terms yields something you've not seen before. Finding these nuggets is exactly why I've started to write articles (and begin work on a website); there is so much information out there and I hope to smelt many of the nuggets into valuable ingots. So, what did I find this time you ask... Before you cry "nevermore..." On the History channel's website, I found a show called "Museum's Secrets." The premise is this: "Recent productions include three seasons of the international hit TV series Museum Secrets, filmed at the great museums of the world and now broadcast in 50 countries." And like Poe could not ignore the Raven, I could not ignore a video focusing on the Imperial War Museum entitled: "Neutralizing the Kaiser's Guns" I won't steal all of its thunder (did you like how I slipped in another dreary rainy metaphor in there?); but it's about British sound-ranging efforts to locate German artillery. It's inventor even won a Nobel Prize for physics. So, literature, history, and science all here on GMIC. Nick should be awarding diplomas. PS: Just in case you want to read the entire poem: The Raven

Well, there you go...

Yea, I had to Google - "tank biathlon"