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MTMcGurk

@mtmcgurk.bsky.social

2.8K followers 2.6K following 2.9K posts

IWI Fellow 2025. Views are my own and do not represent DoD or the Irregular Warfare Initiative. Dad, Army Recruiter, aspiring historian, poet, #irregularwarfare, #writing #poet. #cats #LetsGoPens 🐧 #library #milsky It’s a great day to recruit!

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Dr Aimée Fox @draefox.bsky.social · 1d

Only a month 'til the publication of “Framing the First World War: How Divergent Views Shaped a Global Conflict”, edited by me, @mpmfinch.bsky.social & @dmorganowen.bsky.social!

US readers: get 30% discount (code: FRAMINGWWI) & free shipping if you order direct from @univpressofkansas.bsky.social

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Reposted by MTMcGurk

Bob Grove @bobgrove91.bsky.social · 1d

Tonight marks the 20th consecutive season Sid, Geno and Letang have skated together, the North American pro sports record. They have been on the regular season roster together for 1,394 GP and dressed together for 832 GP (59.7%). What an amazing time to be a Pens' fan.

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 2d

“However, the spring of 1918 was a lunatic time and lunatic things kept happening.”

Richard Goldhurst with an absolute banger intro.

Text of the intro of “The Midnight War.” By Richard Goldhurst

The Allies won the war against Germany and the Central Powers in November 1918, but they were perilously close to defeat in March of the same year. Statesmen and generals thought the way to avert defeat in the spring of 1918 was to counter the ever-stronger German army on the Western Front by sending an Allied expedition to reopen the Eastern Front in Russia. But to believe that a few thousand soldiers could make a difference in a country where vast distances are the one profound reality was a lunatic plan. Siberia alone is large enough to contain the whole of the continental United States. And European Russia itself could contain the United States from Maine to Mississippi. However, the spring of 1918 was a lunatic time and lunatic things kept happening.

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Reposted by MTMcGurk

Diva of the Dark 🎃🫶👠👑🥩 @queenofthinair.bsky.social · 2d

Every Day is Ethics Day.
Really. For Everyone.

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 2d

Saburo Sakai says it multiple times in his book “Samurai!”

The lack of self-sealing fuel tanks and superior US rate of fire and caliber meant the IJN fought at disadvantage routinely, especially when we matched them in airspeed.

MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 2d

An excellent view on design questions especially on what is difficult and important!

H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 2d

Fun and easy: "How big is the gun? How thick is the armor?"

Difficult and important: "How do we make a lot of them? Can we make them easy to maintain & repair? Can we make it easy for engineers in the field to turn four broken tanks into three working ones?"

MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 2d

One of the experts on German SWW fighter aircraft is @spitfirefilly.bsky.social so I’ll defer to her!

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 2d

Adolf Galland mentions this in his autobiography of the war. So many operational decisions made because the German army and Air Force needed fuel.

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 2d

I’m with you on the appeal and it can still reinforce the argument that adaptable > exquisite.

But also, the exquisite tech can be simpler things, like the self sealing fuel tanks, recovery and repair tools, etc.

MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 2d

I mean let’s ask IJN and IJA pilots whether they would have preferred self-sealing fuel tanks. Or ask German pilots if they preferred the quality engines in the US and British fighter aircraft.

And by the way THAT exquisite tech could be mass produced and easily repaired.

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 2d

a close up of a cartoon character with a very angry face and a tie .

ALT: a close up of a cartoon character with a very angry face and a tie .

media.tenor.com

MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 2d

This goes against so much history, readily available, from American and German sources, that speak to the advanced nature of US industrial weapons. Why would someone write this?

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 3d

Oh you went full into it!

For fiction, the “Sharpe’s Rifles” series is great fun

Text: Sharpe’s Regiment
A paperback book with a flintlock pistol on the front cover

Text: Sharpe’s Trafalgar Spain 1805
A hardback library book with a 19th century warship on the front, presumably HMS Victory

Text: Sharpe’s company
Image: a hardback library book with green-jacketed British infantry from the napoleonic wars

Sharpe’s fortress: India 1803
A rifled musket leaning against a drum and a Union Jack

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 3d

GBBO wholesome as always

MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 3d

Kudos to the folks who make clothes or clothes for the their kids/grandkids/family members. I appreciate your talents!

My son put on a shirt my grandmother made for me when I was his age. Forty years on…still looks great.

Good for my soul to see my son connected with the “Gran” 👵🏿 he never met.

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 3d

Funny you mention that …@roninresearch.bsky.social @dienekes.bsky.social

Text: Richard Goldhurst THE MIDNIGHT WAR: The American Intervention in Russia, 1918-1920

Image: an older book, 1975, hardback, yellow dust cover with six black & white photos of six leaders during the Russian Civil War. From left to right they are
- Ataman Grigori Semenov
- General William S. Graves
- General Rudolph Gaida
- Admiral Alexander Kolchak
- President Woodrow Wilson
- General Kikuzo Otani

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 3d

Watching this and then remembering how I watched Joe Carter’s 1993 World Series walk-off home run as a kid. Great to see this for the Blue Jays youtu.be/-F5HwiGm7lg

1993 WS Game 6: Joe Carter wins Series with homer

YouTube video by MLB

youtu.be

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 3d

SNOW ON THE MOUNTAINS IN UTAH! #snowboard

Reposted by MTMcGurk

Capitol Hill Books @capitolhillbooks.bsky.social · 4d

Open til 8pm. Furloughed folks get 10% off.

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 4d

#histbookchat

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 4d

23/2025
The Splintered Empires by @dienekes.bsky.social, book 4 in the FWW Eastern Front series.

So many things I had no idea about: The German support to Finland’s “White Guards,” German amphib ops onto Estonian islands, the madness and uncertainty of the Russian revolution, the assault on Riga.

Text: PRIT BUTTAR
Author of Germany Ascendant & Collision of Empires
THE SPLINTERED EMPIRES
THE EASTERN FRONT 1917-21

Image: Russian POWs march through the mud; the black and white book cover features a 15 year old Russian boy serving in the Army, now in captivity.

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MTMcGurk @mtmcgurk.bsky.social · 4d

You know what? 💯

Agree 👍🏽

bdonnelly @bdonnelly.bsky.social · 7d

Metalheads? We are among the brightest and most kind, open minded people out there with the few exceptions doing the proving the rule thing.

Reposted by MTMcGurk

Jamie McTrusty @jamiemctrusty.bsky.social · 5d

3rd October, 1939. West of the Scilly Isles, the Greek steamer Diamantis, bound for Barrow with a cargo of iron ore, was intercepted by U-35 under Kapitänleutnant Werner Lott. The exact sequence of events which immediately followed isn’t entirely clear.
🧵1/10
#NavalHistory

The Greek freighter Diamantis. Here, the single-funnelled cargo steamer, with derricks fore and aft, is pictured tied up alongside a wharf.
📷 uboat.net

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Reposted by MTMcGurk

Chris Ingram @chrisgingram.bsky.social · 6d

So it begins.

U.S. Army Futures Command and U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command have cased their colors. Born from both, with an even larger mission, is U.S. Army Transformation & Training Command (T2COM); responsible for Force Design, Force Generation, and Force Development.

US Army Transformation and Training Command patch.

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Reposted by MTMcGurk

WAR ROOM @warroomeds.bsky.social · 7d

warroom.armywarcollege.edu/

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