Iron bender - I got read that Watkins memoir.  I remember he got featured on Ken Burn Civil War (I'm no fan of Ken Burns).  Its been 30 years since I saw it, but as I recall the narrator read from what I thought were Watkin's letters.  I didn't realize he wrote a memoir.   That's the best kind of history.  I hope to read that book soon.  

Scott - that's a lot to think about in your recent post.  Really good points.  Lincoln suspended writ of habeas corpus, put critics in jail and in other ways violated the constitution.  And was the war really necessary?   When it started it was not about slavery.  Lincoln said if he could keep the Union together by freeing all slaves. or freeing none of the slaves, or freeing some slaves and not others he would do which ever it took.   I don't agree with all that you say, but I do agree succession was legal.  The United States was founded as a nation after war with Britian as a compact among 13 co-equal states who voluntarily assent to the compact but never said it was irreversible.  Once upon a time I took it for granted that Lincoln holding the Union together by force was the right thing to do and now I question it.  The hagiography about American leaders we are supposed to revere coming from so called "historians" whose books get touted by the corporate media is not history, its propaganda.  Great post Scott.  Got me thinking.  Thank you!    

Going back to the LeBailly wing, I went through the anniversary book for the 40-A class and found several portrait photos of other graduated of this class, and they all appear to have been issued this pattern of wing.  It would be nice to know if any of the others were also engraved.   Concerning Bowen, in the list of instructors given for Grand Central for class 40-A, three are identified as being Lieutenants in the Air Corps Reserve and two as Lieutenants in the Navy Reserve, and the other six instructors named appear to have been civilians.  There were also three instructors that they didn't know the names of but I doubt Bowen was one of them as the members of 40-A would have soloed in 1939 during their Primary training.  The next class I have instructor names for is 41-F and he is not listed there so he may have been an instructor in 1940 before returning to the Air Corps in some other roll.

Scott, I think you've got your shi. together. You too Towgunner. It's a very complex. never ending story. You can read forever on this subject and someone can prove you right or wrong. My favorite book on the subject is Co Aytch. Sam Rush Watkins thoughts and sights hit as hard to me as any OR records. It's simply impossible to decipher

I have the Liners for sale. Size Large.   

I started with the idea that i may hawk a few of the Gulf War/USMC experience souvenirs like a flak vest, BDU, etc.   It was suggested to me that i sell what i had as a collection and i thought that a good idea.  My USCC related items were all over the place - boxes, closets, desk drawers, file cabinets.  I first began bringing together the big items and it soon turned it me gathering everything I own that comes from my one enlistment and participation in the Gulf War.    Many of the items are not particularly interesting, but all of them bear on my experience.  I need to photograph each item and finish my list and looking for more items.  I have not had time to take proper pictures and finish the inventory but I'm working on it.  In the meantime, I've attached a few crappy hastily taken photos of few pieces that are in my collection.  1) The first three are UK GSGS map used by the FO on my vehicle.  the third picture has series, sheet and edition numbers.  The Brits had good topo maps of the area i was told.  Better than anyone else.  I've left it folded all these years just as it was folded by the FO.  It has troop dispositions and routes of advance marked on the plastic overlay.       2) How They Fight Desert Shield Order of Battle Handbook I was given when I deployed.  3) an Iraqi soldier beret with Eagle of Saladin found at Al Jaber airbase in Feb/March 1991.  The marking on the inside of beret are pictured.     These are some of the more interesting items, but there's a lot more.  I hope to have the list together and good pictures of each item within a few weeks.  I'm not what I'll do with it, but I'm inclined to sell as one collection that will stay together than individual parts.  But I don't know.  I just started this project a few weeks ago and I'm not sure how it will turn out.    Any insights, advice, suggestions, or input regarding the items themselves or how to present it is greatly appreciated!! if  you have questions, about the crappy pictures, please let me know.  

I am unable to find that group page or link 

Never forget that it was Lincoln who pressed to continuance of the war after 1st Bull Run. The South won and asked to be left alone. The Supreme Court had rejected the notion that secession was unconstitutional and Lincoln and the administration were warned not to bring it as a case. While a rather simple view, Wilson's Creek came next and the South won again and again asked to be left alone. They didn't invade the North until Sept of 62, well after Lincoln decided to preserve the Union at any and all costs.        So, yes, Lincoln and Lincoln alone could have stopped the war and reduced the cost and bloodshed, but good ole Honest Abe loved the country so much he killed over a million of his constituents to keep it together... Beyond him, I would concede that Grant and Sherman were the next best for what that was worth.         I am a northerner but I often ask what it got us. No Southerner was tried or convicted of treason for secession, the idea of secession is alive and well today, just ask rural Eastern Oregon, California, and even Texas. Abe Lincoln wasn't going to be put into a corner without fighting and so he fought. He used everything at his disposal to include suspending inalienable rights, conscription, executive orders, making freeing slaves an issue, arming former slaves, blockades, and more. So, he could have ended it in 61 by leaving the South to govern themselves but he didn't.             Fast forward to today and its believed by many that the war was all for slavery, that Lincoln freed slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation, that slavery was part of the South and not legislated in Congress, and on and on. Mostly to suit a political narrative and it still divides people. Most of what modern people believe about the war is surface level rubbish and it has caused history to be revised, monuments to be destroyed which include graves, and it still divides many Americans but for little to no reason. So, it got us a nation that is still very much divided and that is a tragedy for all those that fought and died in that war.     Scott

mikie makes a great point about Grant.   I forget as I get older that is one of the reasons I admired him.  There was no pretense about the man.  Wore a private's uniform.   not a spit and polish guy like McClellan or McClellen's notions of grandeur.  I can very easily see Grant talking with the troops around camp fire in a respectful non condescending way that inspiring the troops and gaining their trust and confidence.  Maybe he was more inspiring than i gave him credit    I always thought Grant made Sherman and Sherman would not be remembered if not for Grant.   I'm not sure that's correct but that's my impression.  I've not read much about Sherman.     

Not sure about the bottom one, but the top one looks like it might be an m9A1?