Commandant's Corner Update 6 July 2014

Greetings Cold War Enthusiasts,

It has been a while since I have been able to contribute articles to this site as I would like but I wanted to stop by and post a quick update to share with all the readers that I have so graciously had the pleasure of hearing from over the past several months. First and foremost I hope everyone had a joyous Fourth of July celebration. Secondly, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed comments, suggestions and corrections over the passed several months. When dealing with particular subjects and issues regarding varying nations, the information is not always regularly available in English so sometimes differing subjects fall victim to misinterpretation and or mistranslation so therefore it becomes imperative to have input from those who were there at the time or that speak the native language to which many of these reports and documents were originally written. So again I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all who have supplied further information and suggestions to various articles I have posted over the duration of the year.

I am currently in the process of rebranding and relaunching this blog with a somewhat more expansive take on the Cold War. My collections have continued to grow in relation to the belligerents of the European Cold War to their fronts across the globe. I will expand to several fronts although not as in depth as the Cold War in Europe but there are several proxy conflicts that will be covered as well. The growth of my collections have seen the inclusion of the 1946-1954 French Indochina War in Southeast Asia which was the precursor to America's involvement in Vietnam in 1955 and ultimately the Vietnam War's escalation in 1965. I will not cover America's war in Vietnam post-1964 as I do feel that there are more than enough websites and blogs dedicated primarily to this conflict so there is no disrespect intended to the veterans of the Vietnam War I am just a firm believer that to understand America's war in Vietnam one must understand the French campaigns in southeast Asia. Also the post-1953 situation on the Korean peninsula and 38th parallel, Planet Earth's most heavily defended piece of real estate the DeMilitarized Zone. What the general public often fails to realize is just how many clashes have taken place along the Korean DMZ since the armistice was signed in 1953.

Other conflicts I have had the privilege of coming upon artifacts from include the French campaigns in Algeria, and the combined Franco-Belgian operation in 1978 to counter communist sponsored guerrillas in the African nation of Zaire. The British Operations Banner in Northern Ireland and Corporate in the Falkland Islands of 1982. The Soviet Union's lengthy and costly war in a Central Asian Republic known as Afghanistan has also seen additions to the growing interests. As NATO nations prepare to wind down their commitments to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, I believe again it is only appropriate in understanding the current situation in Afghanistan by understanding the Soviet Union's length war in Afghanistan years earlier. A war that not only left Afghanistan ripe for breeding internal instability but also lead to the destruction of a nation and the ruin of the USSR. The Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988 and even the subsequent 1990 Persian Gulf War will see articles contributed as they march hand in hand but on a more sensitive note, I am debating whether or not to branch into the Arab-Israeli Wars which I have a great amount of material but I've seen a large number of disparaging and often inappropriate remarks and comments but the determination will be met as the subject comes to fold.

I look forward to continuing on with this blog and supplying a steady source of information for military history enthusiasts, veterans, researchers, airsofters, reenactors and general fans of world history and political science as well as other militaria collectors. As always,

Horrido!

Redd Catcher

Commandant's Corner Update: 2 January 2014

Happy New Year Everyone, 

Thank you for bearing with me as I've been working and adjusting to this new post. It's taken me a little longer than I had projected to begin getting squared away but I think I'm in a position now to begin the process of continuing my research and maintaining this blog again. No worries. As of this posting, 2014 is looking promising in the collecting world I am following up on leads and looking into several new pieces from both NATO and Warsaw Pact allied nations some from France and some from Communist Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Also 2014 may see a semi  branch out beyond the scope of Europe as proxy wars based off of contingencies in Europe flared up in the Middle East and Asia during the Cold War period but as always my primary focus has been and always will be the Cold War and preserving that period of history for the future. 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I wish you all the best in 2014. As always, Horrido!

- The Commandant

Commandant's Corner Update: 3 October 2013

Message from the Author:

Thank you to all who have and continue to visit my blog focused on cataloging, preserving and sharing the history of the intense period of World history known as the Cold War. It has and continues to be a great pleasure to bring you all new articles and topics of interest concerning this period of political and military uncertainty. I would like to begin by issuing a public apology for the lack of site updates recently. I have been going through the process of relocating from one location to another so this has warranted my absence as of late and has not allowed me much time to begin preparing new articles and information to prepare for this site. The website is however NOT closed nor will it be to the best of my ability. It will remain open and active, once I get settled in and get a feel for the rhythm of my new work tempo then research, posting and so forth will continue.

I would also like to thank all who have contributed information and source wise for helping to prepare new articles and areas of interest and I look forward to your continued input and involvement here in the future. To all those who have shared our posts on pages and helped to spread the site around and garner further interest in the Cold War you are also appreciated. To all who have left encouraging comments and compliments as well as those who have shared information for making corrections regarding past posts thank you for your contributions. I am striving to provide a comprehensive and thorough reference to this period of world history and being from one participant nation sometimes it is rather difficult to find plausible information and sources from various other nations involved particularly in other nations whose primary languages are not English. As can be expected many things can become lost in translation or misinterpreted when attempting to convert information or data from one language to another.

As previously stated, the posts will continue in the future I am hoping to have the blog fully functional again and readily turning out new updates fairly regularly beginning around the end of October or early November. Your patience, support and involvement has helped make this an enjoyable venture and I look forward to providing more quality posts in the coming months and years ahead. Thanks again for your continued patronage and I look forward to helping further preserve the history of the Cold War for future generations to come!

Horrido!

Redd Catcher

Introductions

Welcome friends, readers & history enthusiasts,

The intent of this blog is to share the stories, images and objects from one of the most defining periods of modern human history; the period between 1945 through 1994 known as the Cold War. (Although the Cold War technically ended in 1991, the last Allied troops left Berlin upon it's reunification in 1994) It was an era of extensive political and ideological struggle between the powers of the West representing democracy, and the powers of the Eastern bloc whom embraced communism. The purpose behind this blog is to preserve a period of history which some try to quickly forget in order to share it with the future generations.

Each item presented here has a particular story to tell for it has seen, represented or been somewhere at a crucial point in our history. The Cold War was a time of great fear, struggle and in some parts of the world repression. It saw the largest arms development race in civilized history. Every article has a story tied to a particular moment on the brink. A time when the world was a tinder box waiting to ignite at the strike of a match. Preserving these items is to preserve the history of those who were there, those that lived through it, grew up in it's looming shadow and those that unfortunately did not survive.

Though it was not officially a military conflict, it saw service members and ordinary people alike effected by the struggle of governments and their extensive ideologies.

In a time where the whispers of the past are largely going unheard, and the painful lessons of history forgotten we must not forget the struggles of people repressed by an idea. So many lessons of the participants of that conflict are passed over frequently and the items of that era are largely just as forgotten hidden away in basements and attics, stuffed away in trunks or largely discarded much to the despair of human kind.

As the son of a service member who served on the front lines of the Cold War, this particular period has a significant meaning to me. I was one of hundreds of thousands of 'Border Babies' born to an American military family who was there. Even though I grew up during the final years of the global conflict, as I grew older I developed an intense appreciation for world history and the events that shape civilized society on a daily basis. I treat every article that comes into my hands with the utmost care and respect in an effort to preserve them to share with generations to come.

This is the story of our grandparents, our parents, it is us, it is our brothers and sisters. It is the story of those who lived it, who experienced it. It is the story of an event that had the possibility to ignite a Third World War.

Some of the items portrayed belong to states and nations which no longer exist, all but a shadow in time many have purposely forgotten. But their stories and symbolism should never be forgotten...