Oh Canada .....

[Hard_Rom]

Nobody would give a rat's ass about the Northwest Passage (Stan Rogers!) if the climate weren't warning. It was never much use before, too iced-up.

Still can get the odd US or Russian nuclear sub intruding in our waters. Arctic sovereignty can be a big issue up here. In international law it allows for 'use it or lose it'. Lots of future resources to be found. One of our largest military units are the Rangers. Which means giving the Inuit and First Nations people a Lee-Enfield, 200 rounds of ammo and some training and they operate as a sovereignty force.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Still can get the odd US or Russian nuclear sub intruding in our waters. Arctic sovereignty can be a big issue up here. In international law it allows for 'use it or lose it'. Lots of future resources to be found. One of our largest military units are the Rangers. Which means giving the Inuit and First Nations people a Lee-Enfield, 200 rounds of ammo and some training and they operate as a sovereignty force.

I wouldn't care to face a nuclear sub -- or even a freighter -- with a rifle.

 

[Hard_Rom]

I wouldn't care to face a nuclear sub -- or even a freighter -- with a rifle.

Just a trip wire and recon force.

They send regular force units north to train with all the latest high tech survival gear. And some Inuit with a bolt action .303 sitting on his snowmobile in jeans wonders what all the fuss is about.

 

[thør]

Just a trip wire and recon force.

They send regular force units north to train with all the latest high tech survival gear. And some Inuit with a bolt action .303 sitting on his snowmobile in jeans wonders what all the fuss is about.

These the same Rangers sat on their ass while a German U-boat off loaded equipment and made an encampment near Salluit during WWII? I doubt you'll find this on Wiki. Only by talking to the village elders will this come out. It'll take a trip to arctic Quebec. The Canadian gov't was so fucking embarrassed to find this out 10 or so years after, that they scoured the site clean.

 

[KingOrfeo]

These the same Rangers sat on their ass while a German U-boat off loaded equipment and made an encampment near Salluit during WWII? I doubt you'll find this on Wiki. Only by talking to the village elders will this come out. It'll take a trip to arctic Quebec. The Canadian gov't was so fucking embarrassed to find this out 10 or so years after, that they scoured the site clean.

What was the point of the Germans camping there?

 

[Hard_Rom]

These the same Rangers sat on their ass while a German U-boat off loaded equipment and made an encampment near Salluit during WWII? I doubt you'll find this on Wiki. Only by talking to the village elders will this come out. It'll take a trip to arctic Quebec. The Canadian gov't was so fucking embarrassed to find this out 10 or so years after, that they scoured the site clean.

As they were not created until 1947 and Salluit is the most northern habited village in Quebec. It is unfair to blame the Rangers and perhaps not surprising that a U-Boat could have landed men on some frozen out of the way place that nobody would have looked for them on.

According to you this happened although it may be a myth. The occupation of your homeland by Axis forces is well documented.

Considering the population of the Canadian north in WWII and the level of or lack of technology there was a real fear that the Nazis could have made a landing in Hudson's Bay. Not for the purpose of occupying Canada but to assemble and launch an air raid. Threatened with being struck by an air raid before late '41. This could have cowed the American public into not joining the war effort against totalitarian fascism.

 

[Hard_Rom]

What was the point of the Germans camping there?

To prove a point.

Maybe set up a weather station. I believe they may have landed on the east coast of Greenland to set up weather observatories.

 

[thør]

The occupation of your homeland by Axis forces is well documented.

Indeed, some POWs escaped from confinement on Admiralty Island. They came back, the next day. Too many brown bears.

 

[thør]

To prove a point.

Maybe set up a weather station. I believe they may have landed on the east coast of Greenland to set up weather observatories.

Their Laborador weather station is well documented.

 

[thør]

As they were not created until 1942......

FYP (according to your friend, Wiki)

 

[Hard_Rom]

FYP (according to your friend, Wiki)

The Pacific coast is on the west side of the continent. I figured even a Yank would know that one. Giving you to much credit I guess.

 

[Hard_Rom]

Indeed, some POWs escaped from confinement on Admiralty Island. They came back, the next day. Too many brown bears.

So the Japanese taking of Attu is a lie? How about the 90 American serviceman that the US allowed to be captured? And what was with interning the population in camps on the mainland? Didn't prove loyal during the Japanese occupation?

 

[thør]

So the Japanese taking of Attu is a lie? How about the 90 American serviceman that the US allowed to be captured? And what was with interning the population in camps on the mainland? Didn't prove loyal during the Japanese occupation?

It was a Japanese invasion of Attu and Kiska, not a picnic to check the weather. The locals didn't just stand around and watch. The 1000 Mile War is a good read.

The locals were removed and their infrastructure burned so that it would be of no use to the invaders. My mom grew up in the islands. Not quite the Aleutians, but you could get there in a day or so in a boat. It was a tense time. Grandpa was an Alaska Scout in WW2.

 

[Greypowerful]

Speaking of WW2, a wee bit of education for my Neighbour.

I suspect Thor already is aware of this.

http://http://www.oocities.org/tempelhof.geo/rcaf.html

 

[thør]

Speaking of WW2, a wee bit of education for my Neighbour.

I suspect Thor already is aware of this.

http://http://www.oocities.org/tempelhof.geo/rcaf.html

Don't forget the Canadian infantry. I won't blame the Queen for the friendly fire incident.

My uncle was at Shemya during the war. What a shithole of a place, it was.

 

[thør]

75 years ago (and a couple of days)

 

[Greypowerful]

75 years ago (and a couple of days)

Alcan... Mile what? I've only been up as far as WonOWon, sadly.

 

[thør]

Alcan... Mile what? I've only been up as far as WonOWon, sadly.

They said Fort Nelson, so that would be right at Mile 0.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Don't forget the Canadian infantry. I won't blame the Queen for the friendly fire incident.

My uncle was at Shemya during the war. What a shithole of a place, it was.

You mean the "Black Pearl of the Aleutians"? My Dad was a USAF officer and spent a year there in the '70s, he brought back a paperweight so labeled and almost certainly in ironic intent.

 

[thør]

You mean the "Black Pearl of the Aleutians"? My Dad was a USAF officer and spent a year there in the '70s, he brought back a paperweight so labeled and almost certainly in ironic intent.

If he had any rank and was sent to Shemya, he wasn't favored much.

 

[KingOrfeo]

If he had any rank and was sent to Shemya, he wasn't favored much.

Well, his eyesight was too poor for a pilot, which apparently limits promotion prospects in the USAF. Instead he did electronic intelligence work (in Vietnam, his team's job was to monitor North Vietnamese radio communications and then tell the pilots, "Don't fly there today, they're expecting you"), and retired a Lieutenant Colonel. He was either a major or a short colonel when he went to Shemya.

 

[thør]

Well, his eyesight was too poor for a pilot, which apparently limits promotion prospects in the USAF. Instead he did electronic intelligence work (in Vietnam, his team's job was to monitor North Vietnamese radio communications and then tell the pilots, "Don't fly there today, they're expecting you"), and retired a Lieutenant Colonel. He was either a major or a short colonel when he went to Shemya.

If you're into the heavy duty electronics or "space command", you can get stuck in some crap holes, just because that's where the work is.

 

[Hard_Rom]

When I joined up my eyesight and colour vision heavily limited my trades. One available they wouldn't say much about but required further testing in Morse code. Figured with whatever trade that was would involve long stretches north of the DEW line becoming conversant in Russian military terminology.

 

[KingOrfeo]

When I joined up my eyesight and colour vision heavily limited my trades. One available they wouldn't say much about but required further testing in Morse code. Figured with whatever trade that was would involve long stretches north of the DEW line becoming conversant in Russian military terminology.

Does anybody use Morse code any more? This post belongs in the "Things from your youth" thread.

 

[Greypowerful]

When I joined up my eyesight and colour vision heavily limited my trades. One available they wouldn't say much about but required further testing in Morse code. Figured with whatever trade that was would involve long stretches north of the DEW line becoming conversant in Russian military terminology.

Fuck... you're older than DIRT, Dude.

I said "screw you" to Radioman, Sea in 1971. Green polyester in one of HM's Canadian Ships? Not fucking likely!

Washed out of POETS cuz of math marks...