Paladin_HGWT: Blog

I apologize, I thought I had posted on my blog in mid-October that I would be otherwise occupied from mid-October to Mid-November.

Veterans Day has been a nearly two week celebration for me, this year. Fund raising activities starting in late October. Auburn, Washington state has what I am told the largest Veterans Day parade, west of the Mississippi River. In 2020 it was severely cut-back. In 2021 it was held the weekend before Veterans Day, and despite considerable rain, it had good turn out of veterans and other patriots marching, historical vehicles, folks along the parade route; even a couple of helicopters and other aircraft performing fly-overs.

The VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post, of which I am a member, relocated, and we are still getting settled in, and making needed improvements.

The 246th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps, on the 10th of November. (I am not a Marine, but one of my deployments to Iraq, I was assigned to the US 1st Marine Division, and have the distinct honor to have the "Guadalcanal" patch as one of my authorized SSIDFWT. (AR-670-1: Shoulder Sleeve Insignia Denoting Former Wartime Service aka: "Combat Patch"). I have numerous comrades who served as Marines, and enjoy celebrating with them.

Activities continued into the weekend after Veterans Day. Including a board meeting of a not-for-profit I volunteer with, and other responsibilities.

Last week I read a PM that clued me in that I had not posted in my blog I was going to be very busy for several weeks.

Compounding all of this, the weekend when I thought I had posted the correct Chapter 19, and new Chapter 20 of Aztlan Portal, we had a storm that knocked out electrical power to numerous locations, including where I upload the chapters of my story. Situation permitting, I will upload Chapters 19 & 20, etc. on the weekend of Nov 20-21. (More on that in another blog post.)

Among the many veterans and other folk I had the opportunity to meet with (an odd circumstance that resulted in me feeling quite uncomfortable; I have only been around two-dozen people since February 2020); were several fellow authors. Several of those individuals post on SOL; one of them has not posted for more than a year, due to health issues. We are collaborating to provide him a laptop computer so that he may start writing again.

During this interregnum, I have acquired several hundred new books. More than a year ago a friend passed away, two weeks ago we were able to sell his collection of books and wargames with the proceeds going to charity.

Boxing up older books, to make room on my shelves, and reorganizing my bookshelves has consumed more time than I anticipated. I have been able to donate some of my books to the lending-library of my VFW Post, to several friends, and some to the Seattle VA Hospital.

People who come to SOL are readers. Some, like me may have extensive collections of printed books. If you have books you no longer read, consider donating some to a local veterans group, or VA Hospital. I don't know if all have a lending-library. The Seattle VA Hospital does. Unfortunately, Covid protocols and government regulations have complicated matters.

Veterans Day 2021 is past, however, I urge you all to remember my fellow veterans, in particular those who struggle, throughout the year. Stolen Valor, those who Claim to be veterans, but never served is an issue! Many scammers pretend to be veterans, in particular "homeless veterans" so be aware if you are charitable. The DD-Form 214 is the "Gold Standard" for establishing that a person actually served. Veterans Service Organizations will assist a person to obtain both electronic and physical copies of their DD-214 if they don't have one.

If you have any questions, or know any Veterans in need in western Washington State, PM me, and I will follow up.

I will be posting (new) Chapter 19 later today. Some errors were pointed out to me, and I have made corrections. Also, while re-reading/Editing Chapter 19, I noticed I was effectively writing some "Flashbacks" I also did this in Chapter 17. I do not like how I did this.

Timeline is an important aspect of this story. While most of the characters are not aware of what others are doing elsewhere, the Readers are.

I had already writen some 20 chapters, before I discovered the issue with Time Zones between the USA and Mexico, regarding Daylight Savings Time. Fortunately, I had not yet posted them. I was able to re-write, or in some cases, merely relocate certain elements of the story.

Chapter 19 has been bedeveling me. I am establishing several crisis in a beliveable manner. I believe I have it prepared for posting. I have relocated several paragraphs to Chapter 17, and a similar bit of chapter 17 to chapter 15. If you have already read through to the end of Chapter 18, I don't think it is neccessary to go back and re-read earlier chapters just for the minor changes I have made.

I regret that I have been Over Taken By Events. Recently, one of the former VFW Post Commanders, of which I am a member, has passed away. We are having a memorial service on Monday.

I had too many errors in Chapter 18, I have been making corrections to 17 and 18, as well as final editing on 19; but it is not ready to post.

I appreciate the feedback I have been receiving, including suggestions of corrections, and misspelled words.

I have an offer for some editing help, but I have to drive 100 miles round trip to post stories, or to send future chapters to an editor.

I will Need to have several chapters, far enough ahead, to send to an editor, so I get them back in time to post. My priority is to post 1 Chapter every week.

I am trying to have several future chapters I may get editing assistance for.

Life has a way of interfering with plans.

I may make some commitments of my time tomorrow. I will decide then if I can post 19 mid-week, and 20 next weekend (9-10 October).

I appreciate the PMs I have received inquiring about Chapter 19. I am making a Blog entry so other readers are aware too.

P.S. I may be taking a hiatus until mid November. The VFW conducts fundraising in the weeks before Veterans Day, and regionally we have the largest Veterans Day Parade west of the Mississippi River.

Unfortunately, the Governor of Washington is issuing new edicts October 28th. Tomorrow we will be discussing how this is likely to effect our commitments to assist fellow veterans.

I will post chapters 19 and 20. After that I will be playing it by ear.

If you see some older guys and gals soliciting donations, and handling out little red artificial Poppies, ask if they have Documentation they are from an Actual Veterans Charity, we all should. VFW Veterans of Foreign Wars, DAV Disabled American Veterans, American Legion, Help for Heroes in the United Kingdom, I cannot recall who it is in Canada. In Canada 🇨🇦 and the UK 🇬🇧 it is Rememberence Day

If you have ever read about "Task Force Smith" the 1st significant battle between the US Army and the North Koreans on July 5th 1950; you probably have some idea how this battle will turn out.

Although this is a fictional story, with sci-fi/fantasy elements; I am portraying the Mexican Army, police, the US Armed Forces, and other entities and characters in what I believe is a realistic manner.

Just like any other military, (or other organization) the Mexican Army has courages soldiers, competent officers, dedicated NCOs, patriots, poltroons, careerists, and cowards.

Similar to Task Force Smith in 1950, my fictional Mexican Army "Task Force Toro" has faulty military intelligence, and is overconfident about facing a less technologically advanced foe. They have not fully considered that their enemy has faced advanced firepower, and may have come up with tactics and techniques to counter the advantages of the Mexican Army.

Fortunately for the Mexicans, TF Toro, primarilly the 25th Infantry Battalion (a real unit based in the city of Chihuahua in 2018) is commanded by an excellent (if fictional officer) Lieutenat Colonel de Ribera; he may depend upon several competent officers and NCOs; some of whom will not survive the battle.

I believe I am accurately depicting what might happen if a modern military unit were to fight monsters. Shock at the (un)nature of their foe would have an impact. So too would training and discipline. Many younger soldiers who have seen sci-fi movies all their lives, and played video games might be a mitigating factor.

Trolls and a horde of monsters would not be any more terrifying than a T-34/85 Soviet Tank. Especially when although the USA had the Atom Bomb; senior US Army officials decided to Not send any Anti-Tank Guns, nor a lot of other modern equipment; because they expected to be fighting 5' tall "peasant" "consripts" armed with bolt-action rifles.

This chapter is not based upon the experiences of TF Smith. I took as inspiration several small battles during the conflicts in Vietnam in the 1950's and 60's; as well as several battles between the Mujahadeen and the Soviets in Afghanistan.

I hope people enjoy this chapter.

WARNING: some of the violence depicted in the chapter is graphic and realistic!

I have several works in progress, Aztlán Portal, Darkness Falls, and American Soldier, and a few other less developed projects, that I fiddle with when I have writer's block with my other stories.

I really appreciate the Feedback and Constructive Criticisms I have received for what I have posted here. While I had a significant amount of the first parts of the story written, and had some assistance from an editor; my corrections were self edited.

I was quite confident, however, Sharp-Eyed Readers quickly disabused me of That! Through the Feedback and Constructive Criticism, I believe I have improved as a Writer. My stories certainly have.

One of the consequences of that is that I have spent less time writing new chapters, and more time re-writing what I have posted already, and chapter I had thought were ready to be posted. I had expected to be posting new chapters of Darkness Falls by last week. Then I got some emails listing errors in previous chapters, combined with things I have learned from Aztlán Portal.

American Soldier: From Utah to Bavaria has suffered most with a second significant re-write. Upon reflection, it was necessary to make a better story.

I was a History Major at the University, and read extensively. I also have an interest in languages, and like to incorporate foreign languages, dialects, and regional inflections into my stories. (I have been told by some, Too Much). While I still likely do it more than some would like, I have tried to tone it down, to provide some "flavor" without overwhelming the stories.

Most of my stories are primarily about War, and other conflicts. I also try to provide some context to the stories by including other events that occurred historically, and events and situations that influence the characters.

One reason I went back and re-edited all of my previously posted chapters is I had a computer crash a couple of months ago. I had (mostly) current backups of what I was writing. However, I lost the plethora of foreign languages I had loaded on my previous laptop. I now have French, German, Latin, and Spanish loaded, and have gone back to replace accent marks/inflections (several emails questioned why some chapters had them, and others did not).

I have also been busy assisting some friends. Two who also post on here. One of them is currently in an "Assisted Living" Facility, and going Nuts without his laptop, and lack of internet access. I dropped off a box of books several months ago, and provide a smaller number of books every few weeks. I am not allowed to see him, or even enter the facility. I drop off the books, and some other care packages where some other deliveries are made. He has to call using a landline!

Another friend had an accident on the 4th of July, Not fireworks related, and that also effected my schedule and writing time.

Aztlán Portal will remain my Priority; with a new chapter each week. Darkness Falls has had significant editing, and I should be posting a new chapter soon (trying for one every other week). American Soldier is on the back burner, until I am comfortable with my 2 main stories.

Thank you again for the Feedback and Constructive Criticisms.