Currahee!

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	History
Author:	Donald R. Burgett

I’m going to do a quick review of “Currahee!” but it is actually a review of the series. The books were written by Donald R. Burgett. The series also includes “The Road to Arnhem”, “Seven Roads to Hell”, and “Beyond the Rhine”. The unit that Mr. Burgett was a member of was the 101st Airborn which is the same unit as Band of Brothers’ fame and mirrors the experiences in that book.
First, my impressions of the books themselves was that this could have easily been made into one book instead of 4 separate books. I think that was a market decision to obtain more money from the customers.
Mr. Burgett didn’t hold any punches. He was very matter of fact in his narrative. If he liked something, he stated and if he didn’t, likewise. Some of the circumstances were harrowing, and I guess when you have people trying to kill you while you are trying to kill them, it can lead to those kind of experiences. Some of the items that I found interesting are as follows.
In Market Garden, they were stationed at a house that was 1 foot underwater and for 24 hours, standing in that water looking for the Germans on the other side of the river. Also, what was pronounced was that he had to live on English rations, which were far from enjoyable.
The Bastogne book demonstrated how desperate the fighting was. Taking station in cold frozen foxholes with dense fog, fighting Tiger tanks to marching through snow covered fields and being ambushed by a German squad and shooting them at very, very close range. The most profound was probably when they were withdrawing and taking station in the trees and realizing that they were dug in right in the middle of germans doing the exact same thing.
The drive through southern Germany and liberating the concentration camp so near Landsberg Prison as well as rolling through Berchtesgarden on through Austria. The most jawdropping was their assault on a surrendered german officer for his racial rants and subsequent discovery of a train loaded with gold bars.
It was a very good book, very simply written by a man who didn’t have anything to hide. You can’t read American World War Two history without reading these books.

Double Date

On a recent “double-date” with good friends, I noticed a woman seated in the back corner. She had a black blouse with tattered sleeves. She had make up but not overtly so. She was texting away on her phone, no idea to whom. It made me think of my dating days, and how I would handle things differently if I did it today.  I was a nothing more than a dumb guy dating. I was miserly in my compliments and awkward in my demeanor.  I never have overcome the awkwardness, unfortunately. While I was watching, her date, I assume, returned to her table, she looked up with a smile that wasn’t faked or forced. I wondered if the man realized how she appeared to be happy at his return. Did he appreciate the time she took to look nice for him? From his dress, he didn’t seem to have taken much time in his appearance, being dressed in jeans and T-shirt. 

I looked at my wife and rejoined the conversation with our friends and once again had that surge of emotion that this woman has given up her life to be with me, and wondered if I am vocal enough with her, telling her how much she means to me? The evening, early as it was (I’m hoping it isn’t the onset of geriatric time) was soon over and we all entered the car for our trip home to our children. I leaned over to Tracy and told her how beautiful she was, that I enjoyed being with her. We have had few opportunities in the past decade for any kind of dating with each other, and I truly enjoy my time with her. I hope that now our children are getting older, with our careers firmly established, we can restart our courtship… Hopefully, she’ll still like me after all these hectic years.

Ten Items or Less

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Comedy

This movie starred Morgan Freeman, which is the sole reason I rented it. It tracks the day of an actor researching a role and how he connects with a supermarket clerk. Now, if you're going to connect with a supermarket clerk, make sure she is a good looking one. It really isn't all that insightful, at least I didn't feel that it was, but it did make me think about what it means to just fall into someone's life and have a really good time. I know that might be the essence of friendship, but this was done in the span of a day. I sometimes wish I was that spontaneous, and perhaps one day I will be.

This is a good flick. It wasn't a long movie, but it made its point. It still isn't "500 Days of Summer", but it is a good "relationship" movie.