Why do I feel like I identify with this man?

Lt Col John Pine-Coffin
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 19/10/2006

Lieutenant-Colonel John Pine-Coffin, who has died aged 85, had a distinguished
and adventurous career in the King's African Rifles and the Parachute Regiment.

John Trenchard Pine-Coffin was born in Kashmir on June 12 1921 and educated
at Wellington. After Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Devonshire
Regiment and then served with the King's African Rifles (KAR) in East Africa.

His African-born sergeant was not best pleased when Pine-Coffin advised
him not to wear medals that had been awarded to him by the Germans, but
he quickly won the respect of his men without them. Pine-Coffin subsequently
accompanied the KAR to Burma.

Stealth was often the key to survival during the Burma campaign. One night,
while lying low in an attempt to conceal their presence from the Japanese,
Pine-Coffin impressed on his African troops the need for complete silence.
They had, however, acquired a taste for tea and one of them, in his search,
perhaps, for a superior brew, had placed the billy can on a fire piled high
with full ammunition boxes.

On another occasion, when a strong Japanese patrol was preparing to attack
his unit, his soldiers threw down their arms and disappeared into the darkness.
Pine-Coffin and his brother officers had resigned themselves to their fate when
the men reappeared from the jungle with rather sheepish faces and said:
"We like you too much to see you killed." They collected their weapons,
regrouped and helped to beat off the enemy assault.

After the Japanese surrender, Pine-Coffin went to Pakistan to look for
his father, who had been a prisoner of the Japanese since the fall of Singapore.
He scoured the hospitals treating soldiers from PoW camps but was
unsuccessful. Eventually his father was repatriated to England.

Pine-Coffin then joined the Parachute Regiment and was posted to the
Middle East where he saw action during the Suez crisis. Following a move
to Cyprus, he was involved in counter-insurgency operations in the
Troodos mountains.

When he came across a number of heavily bearded men hiding in a
monastery, Pine-Coffin suspected that they were Eoka terrorists in
disguise and asked his sergeant to give their beards a sharp tug. These
all stayed firmly in place and he had to make a swift tactical withdrawal.

During his 28 years with the Parachute Regiment, Pine-Coffin served
with all three battalions and in 1961 took command of 1st Parachute
Battalion. His parachuting career was brought to a premature end when
he landed in the dark on a tractor and broke several bones in his feet.

A series of staff appointments followed. In 1963 he was in Nassau
when he was ordered to investigate a party of Cuban exiles that had
infiltrated Andros Island, part of the Bahamas. His seaplane landed
in thick mud and Pine-Coffin decided that his only chance of reaching
dry land was to strip off.

On coming ashore, plastered in mud and wearing only a red beret and
a pair of flippers, he was confronted by a party of armed Cubans.
Mustering as much authority as he could in the circumstances, he
informed the group that they were trespassing on British sovereign
territory and were surrounded.

The following morning, when the Royal Marines arrived to rescue him
they were astonished to find him and his radio operator in a clearing
standing guard over the Cubans and a pile of surrendered weapons.
He was appointed OBE.

Pine-Coffin attended the Joint Services Staff College and the Imperial
Defence College before retiring from the Army in 1969. He built up a
large farming enterprise in Devon and established a 3-star country hotel.

He was involved in many local charitable enterprises, including the
British Red Cross and the RNLI. In 1974 he was appointed
High Sheriff of Devon.

John Pine-Coffin married, in 1952, Susan Bennett, who survives
him with their son and two daughters.

(Originaly Posted by Telegraph.co.uk at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=
/news/2006/10/19/db1904.xml&DCMP=EMC-new_19102006 )
Used without permission,
God Bless The Queen

2 Updates at once!!!!

Okay, not everyone will get this:
Look what I found at Wal-Mart:

Cesar - For little Yappy-type dogs!

Next Time, Action Transvestites at Wal-Mart!
Till next time,
Be mindful and awake.

Is this all that surprising?

Your results:
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 75%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 75%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 70%
Wash (Ship Pilot) 65%
Derrial Book (Shepherd) 60%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 55%
River (Stowaway) 55%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 45%
A Reaver (Cannibal) 40%
Alliance 40%
Inara Serra (Companion) 5%



Honest and a defender of the innocent.
You sometimes make mistakes in judgment
but you are generally good and
would protect your crew from harm.

Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz

An Open Letter to Mr. Tim O'Riley

PC BS HERE
Read the link before going any further.
Did you go read it? Good, now you will understand what I am about to go off on.

Dear Mr. O'Riley,
I would like to politely invite you to put your "code" into some bodily orifice Preferably one behind you and below the waistline. I, as well as many other bloggers did not appoint you as our guardian angel nor did we elect you as a person to tell us how to write in our blogs. That is called censorship, something real journalists fight against. I refuse to be censored by any set of codes you or your moral posse may think are for the betterment of all mankind.
Here is a quick hint, take a tip from cable TV, if you don't like it change the page. I know your "outraged" about a threatening comment made on your friends blog. Oh gasp, there may be bad people out there who use naughty words. Most likely it was some 12 year old just mouthing of. If not, tell her to go spend some of that CNN cash on an NRA pistol course and a good handgun. Try something new and stand up for your self. Take responsibility for your own safety, like people once did. I have had some fairly nasty comments on blog over the years but I didn't go running to CNN offering to cry my story exclusively for a few thousand dollars. Buck up people, time to put on your adult undies and deal with it. You, like many others who jumped on the web in the past few years on blogs like to tell those of us who have been here how wonderful of a place you have made it for us.

Wow, I am just so impressed. Please just let me worship at your altar of arrogance.

Keeping in that tune, let me fire back my own code:

We blog because we wish to, it is our right as Americans to speak freely and the right of all humans to express themselves as best as they can. Civility is the preferred mode of writing, but we will not discount anything someone says because they may have used a word we do not agree with. I present this Blogger Code of Mis-Conduct in hopes someone else may stand up and advise politically correct censors they are not welcome on their blogs.

1. We take responsibility for our own words. Period.

We are committed to the "Free Exchange of Ideas" standard: we will not edit comments left on our blogs. We let people talk. If we do not agree with what is being said it is our right to either answer it or delete it. It is OUR RIGHT to procede as WE SEE FIT, not some stupid codes.

We establish standards free of the "We can change it anytime we want to for what ever reason cause it is our ball" method of regulation.

2. We can say anything we want online even if we wouldn't say in person.

3. If it is a public conversation, it stays public. If it is private, it stays private. All conversations may be ended with the use of the delete key.

We will attempt to mind our own business.

4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we may take action.

We are under no requirement to do anything, even comment. If the person who is being threatened is afraid for their safety, let them seek out the help of an attorney or law enforcement. Let them stand up and take responsibility for their own actions and their own safety.

5. We do allow anonymous comments.

In some places in the world, blogging is an act of rebellion and as such can carry a death penalty in extreme cases. I will not require people to give me any information that may be coerced from me that might lead to such punishments befalling a commenter. I will only cooperate with legal entities as far as I am required to by law in my home country. Show me the court order or get off my porch!

6. We hunt the trolls.

We may or may not prefer to respond to nasty comments about us or our blog, that is our choice. Not ignoring public attacks is often the best way to contain them. They do not just go away.

Oh, and as for your cute little badges, I got one for the rest of us and a little quote to go with it:

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats
-H.L. Mencken

PS - Mr, O'Riley, I will no longer be buying nor recommending books published by your company. If your willing to censor personal blogs one must wonder how much you censor information contained in your books. I will also no longer be doing any peer reviews for O'Riley Media. Keep your books, I prefer to keep my integrity.

Till next time,
Be mindful and awake.