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February 25, 1942: The ‘Real’ Battle of Los Angeles a.k.a. UFOs ‘Attack’ L.A.

  • February 23, 2011 12:01 am

Next month brings the release of the Aaron-Eckhart-starring film Battle: Los Angeles about an alien invasion force that attacks Los Angeles. Of course such a story couldn’t be anything but pure science-fiction…right? Well, flashback to February 25, 1942 when a real event dubbed “The Battle of Los Angeles” involving a UFO and the military took place.

Sixty-nine years ago this week, early on the morning of Feb. 25, a UFO (an unidentified flying object) appeared over the Los Angeles sky. Keep in mind that the nation was at war and this was just months after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and less than 24 hours after a Japanese sub had launched an attack against coastal targets near Santa Barbara (remember how on edge we were in the months after 9/11 and you’ll get a sense of what it must have been like back then).

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Do You Want to be a Veteran?

  • November 11, 2010 1:16 pm

Many friends and family ask me to give advice to people who are thinking about enlisting. Sometimes its too harsh to give the truth but most of the time its really easy. But my respond to this favor is usually, do you want me to talk them out of going or prepare them. They are always in shock when I say this because they never realize what kind of influence a veteran can have. Of course I don’t yell, “Don’t do it! Its a huge mistake” or “They treat you like shit! Welcome to hell.” Nor do I say, “Its like Disneyland only better” or “Think about the fun you’ll be having living with 97% men, holding a gun for the next 4+ years of your life and come back all crazy.” But if you want my advice for you or anyone you know that is thinking about joining up, here it is.

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The U.S. Military’s Secret Weapon: Ghosts

  • September 28, 2010 1:00 am

Bullets and bombs aren’t the only weapons the U.S. military has used in its quest for victory. Ghosts, superstitions and even vampires (and not the kind that “sparkle” and won’t have sex with you) have all been employed to defeat our enemies on the battlefield.

According to this recent piece in io9, the U.S. military has used local supernatural beliefs as an ongoing part of a psychological warfare agenda against its enemies. Following are two examples of how this was done against our Asian brethren; in the Philippines during the 1950s and then again a few years later during the Vietnam War.

Major General Edward G. Lansdale spearheaded the aforementioned effort in the Philippines while fighting the Communist Huk rebels to make it seem as if an Asuang, a traditional vampire-like creature in the Filipino culture that can fly (she has wings) and has a taste for unborn fetuses, was present in the area. Yup, the big military strategy was to pretend there was a vampire lose. Here’s how Lansdale explained it:

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On Memorial Day

  • May 31, 2010 1:35 pm

MO

Mo Okita is a family man, fisherman, and a Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy. He loves to take pictures of what he eats (or doesn’t eat) as he has lost 30 pounds in the last few months. Although he is a “lifer” in the military, he’d rather be the captain of a fishing boat than a naval ship.

Memorial Day is observed annually on the last Monday in May. Following the Civil War it commemorated those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the good of the country. It wasn’t until 1978, after many cultures, demographics, and neighborhoods started to celebrate their own version of Memorial Day that it finally was observed as a National Holiday.

Each and every one of us have some military history in our family. Just as the history of Memorial Day came about, we all feel the need to commemorate military members that have passed. We all have a story of struggle, of opposition, of fighting for what is right, of sacrifice.  Read more...

Call of Duty

  • March 5, 2010 12:42 pm

The other day my Navy buddy drove through Los Angeles on his way to his new duty station in Washington state. We served together in San Diego a while back and did three tours in the Persian Gulf and one in Central America. We also enlisted in the military almost at the same time and to hear he only has seven more years to retirement was pretty shocking. RETIREMENT! Damn, I wouldn’t even be forty yet had I stuck it out and did my twenty. He was pretty emotional because he was leaving his wife and two kids behind in San Diego. I remembered and experienced that kind of feeling before and I never wish that upon anyone. But we both knew that’s the kind of thing you have to do when you sign your life away.

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