Lyceum of Martial and Societal Antediluvian Chronicles

The SAMS Lyceum of Martial and Societal Antediluvian Chronicles An addendum to The SAMS Sporran January 2012 Scottish History Real Scottish Food Everyone associates Haggis as the penultimate Scottish food. One cannot discount The Fried Mars Bar either. But is it really? Over the centuries the key to Scotland's survival and winning many battles has been oatmeal. It has sustained generations of Scots, and the image of the hardy Scot is almost entirely founded on oatmeal as a food. It is also a key ingredient in haggis. Before you dismiss this idea as foolish, stop and think. Refrigeration is a modern invention. So, food had to be either eaten immediately, smoked, salted for storage, kept warm or like chicken fried. Kitchens, or at least the fireplaces or hearths, where food was prepared, were large. One stood IN the hearth or fireplace to cook and stir the food. You probably grew up reciting the children's poem Peas Porridge. That is exactly how it was. For those of us who may have been culturally deprived: “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold , peas porridge in the pot nine days old.” How did this work? First you layered stones, a lot of them, on the bottom of your fireplace. Then you built the fire over them and cooked your food. After the final meal of the day the fire would gradually die down but the stones remained hot. The warmth kept the food from spoiling. To prepare the next meal one only needed to “stoke “ the firestones, throw a little kindling, then wood and poof, you had fire. Add some water to the porridge, stir lightly and you had your meal. This process was repeated as long as needed.When the original ingredients were gone you simply added something else and began it all over again. Fortunately, we don't have to cook it that way now, oatmeal (porridge)is a both healthy and a most delicious substance, whether fine cut, medium, coarse or pinhead. Oatmeal is low on the glycaemic index, which means that it is slowly absorbed by the body, providing a gradual release of energy. Oatmeal is high in fibre – indeed, it has been top of the list of recommended foods to be eaten daily to prevent bowel cancer, and it absorbs cholesterol – so it wins all round as a health-food. It is also tasty. Oatmeal (porridge) is extremely utilitarian. For example, the pinhead variety makes the best of all coatings for filleted fish or chicken, or as a crust for racks of lamb. And for those who are allergic to gluten, oatmeal makes delicious pancakes. The flavor of oatmeal is also enhanced when dry-fried before use as stuffing. Mixed with walnuts and herbs it makes a great crumble crust for meats especially lamb. So maybe that smiling guy, on the front of the box, should be wearing a kilt instead of a pilgrim’s hat. Scotland Magazine American History The Viet Nam War In 1961 Mad Magazine declared it an upside down and backwards year and with so much that occurred that year, mercifully it is the last one until 6009. That was the year that the Viet Nam entered the American psyche. That was the year that inwhich what was to become the Viet Nam War literally exploded after simmering for 16 years. The Viet Nam War ended the illusions with which we had grown up. It psychologically and literally split the country. It was the longest and most expensive war. It had the most casualties. It was the most divisive war since the Civil War and most importantly it didn’t have to happen. Like most wars the one in Viet Nam had a complicated beginning. The United States had become involved in Viet Nam near the end of World War II. In 1945 President Truman authorized the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to assist Ho Chi Minh in locating downed American pilots and gathering intelligence on Japanese military positions and provide weather reports to the US air services. (Each branch had its own aviators; the USAF wasn’t formed until 1947.) Initially, it was with money, weapons and advisors. The advisors were to train Ho’s rag tag troops in the finer art of war. Prior to WWII Viet Nam had been part of French IndoChina.The Japanese invaded and expelled the French. Although physically and financially devastated by the war the French returned to their former colonies, whether or not the colonies wanted them back, many did not. Ho Chi Minh had fought the Japanese for Vietnamese freedom and now he was fighting the French. This placed The American government in a difficult position. Which “ally” should they support? By 1947, President Truman was tacitly supporting France; he had authorised a moderate amount of funding ($160 million) to assist the French war effort. Additionally, we were allies with the French during World War II so in September 1950, President Harry Truman cancelled the OSS and created the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) and sent it to Vietnam to assist the French to fight against our other former “ally” Ho Chi Minh. The President claimed they were not sent as combat troops, but to supervise the use of $10 million worth of US military equipment to support the French in their effort to fight the Communist forces. We wound up footing the bill initially for @ 30%, eventually footing the bill for up to 80% of the French costs. In 1953 General Henri Navarre, gave us the penultimate aphorism about the war in Viet Nam, when he said, “There is a light at the end of the tunnel.” By 1951, US military aid to the French had tripled to $450 million. By 1953, it was up to $785 million. French forces in Vietnam were using American supplied equipment, armaments, tanks, ships and aircraft on loan from the US and of course American advisors. The unsaid truth about American advisors was that if you were advising French troops in combat tactics you weren’t doing it in a classroom. The airplanes air-dropping supplies to French Troops at Dien Bien Phu were American flown by Americans. By the time French surrendered to the Viet Minh in mid-1954, Washington had invested almost $3 billion in ‘saving’ Indochina from the spectre of communism. In 1954 The South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was formed to prevent the spread of Communism in The Former French Colonies. (The irony of this organization was that of the eight members there were only two member countries actually in Asia.)This allowed President Eisenhower to increase MAAG’s numbers to 700 in 1955. He also supported South Vietnam's refusal to hold the election to determine who would rule a united Viet Nam. Thus guaranteeing a complete civil war. It is impossible to write about Viet Nam without mentioning those who fought and those who died there. Mad- The What Me Worry- Magazine was certainly correct, at least for one section of the population; the men who grew up in the ‘50’s and 60’s. We were the children of the people who won “The Big One - WWII”. Our fathers fought the war and our mothers worked in the factories and flew airplanes. Our fathers were heroes and our mothers were the first truly “liberated” women. For them it was a time of celebration of prosperity. For us it was a time of ice cream trucks ringing their way down the streets. It was a time of plenty. We had plenty of time to play outside. We always had plenty of time to play baseball in the street,the playground or any patch of grass we could find. We had plenty of friends and plenty of things to do. We were fearless; we shot each other with finger pistols or rubber bands and played dodgeball and actually enjoyed it! We even drank water from garden hoses! Later we would watch TV and The Mickey Mouse Club. Jiminy Cricket even taught us how to spell encyclopedia. We wore coonskin caps and Mickey Mouse ears. We went onto high school with a pile of textbooks, homework and SAT tests. Then there was all the bally-hoo and hoopla associated with high school sports. Professional sports players still lived in our neighborhoods and we could see our local heroes close up in church or in stores. It was a time of Camelot, with a bright future for everyone, where “It never rained until after sundown”. As the song by Simon & Garfunkel put it; “Time it was, and what a time it was, A time of innocence, A time of confidences.” That innocence ended abruptly. The harsh realities of life struck us immediately after we finished high school. We had to face a situation no other generation had faced before. There was a war going on and men had to be drafted to fight that wasr. While some of our fathers overseas had letters of love and encouragement, we all had letters from The Selective Service that began with “Greetings”. The letter casually mentioned that since you had reached the age of 18 you immediately became 1A, eligible for military service. We were faced with a difficult choice; be drafted (for two years) and there was an extremely high chance of you winding up in combat. The alternative was to volunteer -- to enlist (for three years). Then you were given the choice of which field you wanted to follow and of your training you would receive. Enlistment carried two very large caveats; they were if and it was a very big IF you qualified and IF there was a position available then you could fill it, otherwise more than likely you were assigned to a job in Viet Nam.

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