What are you reading?

[Brett327]

Don't get me wrong, the topic is fascinating, but Jocko is not my cup of tea. Fun fact, in the summer of '78, we road tripped from our home in Poitiers, France to West Berlin to see one of my dad's college buddies who worked in the US embassy. I was seven. This, of course, meant crossing into East Germany, and we wound up going through Checkpoint Charlie. We were pulled out of our 1974 Peugeot 504 while the East German border guards went over every inch of that car - dogs, mirrors underneath, borescope in the gas tank - not fucking around. My dad discretely snapped some pics of what we assumed to be Stasi in the background observing the evolution. Anyhow, we eventually got into West Berlin. Good times.

Not our car, but same model. French cars are bizarre...

 

[SlickAg]

Don't get me wrong, the topic is fascinating, but Jocko is not my cup of tea. Fun fact, in the summer of '78, we road tripped from our home in Poitiers, France to West Berlin to see one of my dad's college buddies who worked in the US embassy. I was seven. This, of course, meant crossing into East Germany, and we wound up going through Checkpoint Charlie. We were pulled out of our 1974 Peugeot 504 while the East German border guards went over every inch of that car - dogs, mirrors underneath, borescope in the gas tank - not fucking around. My dad discretely snapped some pics of what we assumed to be Stasi in the background observing the evolution. Anyhow, we eventually got into West Berlin. Good times.

Not our car, but same model. French cars are bizarre...
View attachment 25253

Pourquoi avez-vous habiter à Poitiers?

 

[Brett327]

Pourquoi avez-vous habiter à Poitiers?

Mon père était prof de Francais en Oregon, et il était directeur du programme d'échange d'étudiants à l'université. J'ai vécu à Poitiers environs 1977-79, et encore en 1984.

 

[nittany03]

Pourquoi avez-vous habiter à Poitiers?

Mon père était prof de Francais en Oregon, et il était directeur du programme d'échange d'étudiants à l'université. J'ai vécu à Poitiers environs 1977-79, et encore en 1984.

Ich habe keine Ahnung was Sie gepostet haben. Ich verstehe es nicht.
(Yes, I can actually puzzle it out after a bit)

 

[Brett327]

Ich habe keine Ahnung was Sie gepostet haben. Ich verstehe es nicht.
(Yes, I can actually puzzle it out after a bit)

Fuck off, Nazi!

 

[Hair Warrior]

Don't get me wrong, the topic is fascinating, but Jocko is not my cup of tea.

The podcast interview with Maj Gen Ennis was with Int’l Spy Museum historian Mark Stout. (No one from Naval Special Warfare was involved in the making of that podcast.)

Pretty rad story yourself, by the way. The earliest I motored around France was 1989-90. Those French cars were built to look at when parked.

 

[SlickAg]

Mon père était prof de Francais en Oregon, et il était directeur du programme d'échange d'étudiants à l'université. J'ai vécu à Poitiers environs 1977-79, et encore en 1984.

Zut alors! Quelle université?

 

[AllYourBass]

Don't get me wrong, the topic is fascinating, but Jocko is not my cup of tea.

I hadn't heard of this guy until recently, but I've been listening to his book titled Leadership Strategy and Tactics and it's been pretty hard to put down...or...put out of my ears...? Didn't think I'd enjoy anything with either Leadership, Tactics or Strategy in the title, let alone...

 

[Brett327]

Zut alors! Quelle université?

Il a travaillé à SOU (autrefois SOSC) à Ashland, mais le programme était pour Université d'Oregon à Eugene. C'était plus-ou-moins pour les étudiants de tout l'Orégon.

 

[SlickAg]

Il a travaillé à SOU (autrefois SOSC) à Ashland, mais le programme était pour Université d'Oregon à Eugene. C'était plus-ou-moins pour les étudiants de tout l'Orégon.

Not surprisingly, my reading comprehension is much better than my ability to write, much less speak. I started taking French in middle school and even minored in it for a while in college. In retrospect, I sort of wish I’d taken Spanish just because I would’ve found it more useful in everyday life. Not only because I live in Texas but because I go to Mexico, Central, and South America fairly often for my job.

Both my parents went to U of O, my dad was from Springfield and my mom Lake Oswego, and I was born in the Portland area. I’m still a big Ducks fan. I look forward to PDX layovers because I like browsing Powell’s but I don’t miss the rain at all. I’m glad we moved because I think I would’ve ended up going to Corvallis to do NROTC there and I’m not sure how I would’ve been able to live with myself.

 

[Gatordev]

Mon père était prof de Francais en Oregon, et il était directeur du programme d'échange d'étudiants à l'université. J'ai vécu à Poitiers environs 1977-79, et encore en 1984.

My dad did a year in West Germany as an exchange student and said he had witnessed someone trying to go over the wall. I remember his description being very much like Bridge of Spies when he's on the train crossing the border, with the same results, unfortunately.

I can't remember if I posted this already and I'm too lazy to go look... A couple of months ago I read Deep Cover, written by one of "The Illegals" that came over in the 70's. He apparently visited the set of The Americans at one point and other than all the killing, approved of what they were doing on the show.

It's also interesting to see how clueless the Russians really were about our world and culture, and as a result, how unproductive the whole program seemed to be.

 

[Jim123]

It's also interesting to see how clueless the Russians really were about our world and culture, and as a result, how unproductive the whole program seemed to be.

I remember a telling part of one of the Vietnam POW biographies. When they were allowed to receive mail, the guy's wife sent a few pictures of daily life, including their new family car. The Communist North Vietnamese guards were incredulous and they insisted the pictures had to be U.S. propaganda, believing that no one person or family could legitimately accumulate such wealth.


edit: oops, almost committed a party foul, talking about a book on the book thread but not including the book. Been over twenty years since I read it but here is the book:

A P.O.W.'s Story: 2801 Days in Hanoi

 

[Brett327]

Not surprisingly, my reading comprehension is much better than my ability to write, much less speak. I started taking French in middle school and even minored in it for a while in college. In retrospect, I sort of wish I’d taken Spanish just because I would’ve found it more useful in everyday life. Not only because I live in Texas but because I go to Mexico, Central, and South America fairly often for my job.

Both my parents went to U of O, my dad was from Springfield and my mom Lake Oswego, and I was born in the Portland area. I’m still a big Ducks fan. I look forward to PDX layovers because I like browsing Powell’s but I don’t miss the rain at all. I’m glad we moved because I think I would’ve ended up going to Corvallis to do NROTC there and I’m not sure how I would’ve been able to live with myself.

Yeah, the writing is the most difficult part for me, plus the fact that my vocabulary was built when I was in 7th grade, so that can be frustrating, but I can pull off a more or less native accent since I learned it when I was 6. My parents just threw me into the public school for 1st grade - sink or swim style learning. Sometimes I dream in French, which is entertaining.

I love being from Oregon. It is so full of quirks and astounding natural beauty. Sometimes, it seems like Narnia. I try to do a summer road trip every year to explore the geology on the East side. I'm a big fan of Bend, which is probably where I'll settle once this Navy thing runs its course.

 

[Gatordev]

I started taking French in 1st grade, as well, and took it all the way into college. I can still think in conjugations (a lot of them are still rattling around up there) but mon vocabulaire, c'est merde. It's long since atrophied. Although I know there is no pissin' in la piscine.

 

[nittany03]

I started taking French in 1st grade, as well, and took it all the way into college. I can still think in conjugations (a lot of them are still rattling around up there) but mon vocabulaire, c'est merde. It's long since atrophied. Although I know there is no pissin' in la piscine.

My German is the same way. 5 years in high school and college. The grammar stays with you but the vocabulary? Poof. If I got dumped on a street corner in Germany, I could probably muddle through and get it back quickly, but it’d take a bit.

Looking back, it’s silly they didn’t teach foreign languages in my school district until high school.