User talk:Charlesdrakew/Archives/2014/June

Kosovo War, Pristina Airfield Incident

Dear Charles,

Referencing the Incident at Pristina Airfield. I made the edits to the document. I was Corporal Michael Sibert, a Team Leader from A Co 2/505 PIR of the 82nd Airborne Division and I was one of the Infantry Leaders on the Blackhawks which were on the way to attack or eject the Russians from Pristina. The ground Commander was A CO 2/505 CPT Matthew McFarland. The mission consisted of A CO HQ's Element plus 1st and 3rd Platoons, a team from 2/505 Battalion Scout/Snipers, the 2/505 S-3 Operations Officer plus 4 NCO's from A CO 2/505's 2nd Platoon. The information cited is from the Mission Operations Orders which I retained, plus our SITREP Reports and Operational Logs of the Mission which I also Retained. I re-added the edits. For the Record: We landed at Tirana-Rinas International Airfield in Albania and first secured the Airfield and established a secure perimeter for Task Force Hawk and U.N. Relief forces from France (Foreign Legion), Great Britain, the UAE and others. Task Force 2-Panther conducted security patrols through Tirana and the countryside and rehearsed several Gun Raid missions in which a Battery of 4 105 mm Howitzers were airlifted to the Albanian-Serbian Borders by Helicopter, lowered, 56 Rounds of 105mm shells were fired into Serbian held troop concentrations and then retrieved and airlifted out of the area before counter battery fire could be attained. Following this we were first air lifted into Macedonia and then A CO 2/505 (again) was the first unit Air Assault into Kosovo when we landed at a cross-roads outside of the future Camp Bondsteel. Actually, I was the Point Soldier of the task force and therefore was the first soldier to walk up the dirt road to what would be the future Camp Bondsteel-which at the time was a big wheatfield with some blown up Serbian Combines and Tractors which NATO warplanes had bombed believing them to be Serbian Armored. There is actually a painting named "Panthers on Point for the Nation 2-505th In Kosovo" by Rick Reeves. Kosovo, June 1999 "Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment air assault into Kosovo and establish Task Force Falcon's future command and control center, Camp Bondsteel."

Following the Establishment of Bondsteel we supervised the Serbian Army and MUP forces pull out of the region and the directed the rest of NATO's entry into Kosovo as we passed the Germans, Turks, Irish Guards, and Greeks through and Lines. The Irish Guards had a great gig as they took over the operation of the passenger train service and would would see them riding the trains daily and would often cheer and jeer at them (friendly) about their great duty station. We eventually entered the City of Urosevic/Farajai, and conducted Pacification Operations and then were moved to the City's of Zitinje, Pozeraini, and KloKot in which we patrolled and attempted to stop ethnic cleansing with little success as the Albanian Kosovars were brutually assinating, bombing, and mortaring Serbian villages and villagers, which at that point meant they were either Killing Old Men and Women or younger teenage kids. I was present for the nightly lethal mortar attacks in KloKot in July-August-September of 1999, the market day Bombing of Vitinja in July of 1999, and the ethnic cleansing of Zitinje in July and August 1999- you see rules of engagement meant we were often powerless to stop it and even when our platoon bases were ambushed or mortared, many of those incidents did not get reported up or were squashed because we were "PeaceKeepers" and not supposed to be in combat.

Thankyou. (former) SGT Sibert. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 505thTrooper (talk • contribs) 14:42, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for your personal recollections, SGT Sibert, which I have found very interesting. I don't know what Charlesdrakew may make of them, but sadly the fact is that personal recollections are of no use in Wikipedia. You should recount your experiences to respected or respectable journalists - which we (volunteer Wikipedia editors) are not!

Out of interest, and if Charles will permit the discussion; if you as American forces were in control of villages in Kosovo, and witnessed blatant slaughter of civilians, how is it that you were able to do nothing to prevent it? --Demiurge1000 (talk) 18:49, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

"Answer: we had 26 American Soldiers and supposed to be watching over 5 villages- Zitinje, Trpeza, Ballance, Kravarice, and Devaje. They were separated by large foothills and we had miles of wheat fields and grazing pasteurs around each village. We would have one squad walking foot patrols at all times, one squad in our Two Humvees, and one squad guarding our Platoon Base-which was first the elementary school in Zitinje and later the Police Station in Klokot. The Albanians would use 10-12 year old boys to follow-us and it was pretty simple. The locals new where our patrols were are all times and they would kill or bomb Serbians in the places we were not.-Sibert"

Thanks for that Demiurge. Something to do with the ludicrously restrictive rules of engagement I expect e.g. if irregulars threw grenades at you and then ran off you were not allowed to shoot at them because they were deemed no longer to be a threat.

"Anser: That and the fact they were running down a street- a block away full of people. Imagine a scene where someone throws a grenade in Times Square New York and then takes off running down the sidewalk on Broadway. As a soldier do you take a shot at them running through the crowd and risk shooting and innocent bystander in the head? No of course not."

I salute you Sgt. Sibert. It must have been both exciting and terrifying. My own military experience is rather more limited having been a sergeant in my high school's cadet force. We were once flown by helicopter into a mock battle but nobody was likely to be firing live rounds at us.

I forget now how I stumbled across that article but it was in a poor state. It seemed to have been largely written by a James Blunt fan about how the singer had single handedly stopped World War III. I happen to have General Mike Jackson's autobiography, which my wife picked up at a used book sale a couple of years ago. He tells how Wesley Clark wanted to send US helicopters until Jackson convinced him that British tanks would be more practical, knowing that the British government would veto this anyway. He does not say which US units were involved. I would like to be able to use some of this, although is rather long and detailed. If we are to include that you will need to find published sources, articles in army magazines or newspapers perhaps? As Demiurge says we are not allowed to use personal recollections or unpublished documents as sources.--Charles (talk) 21:09, 30 April 2014 (UTC).

"Answer: There are some brief mentions in old Army Times Magazine etc. The problem with quoting Generals and their autobiographies is that they are usually propaganda designed to make themselves look smart or important- and since the times of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. or maybe George Patton-I haven't seen a lot of General on the ground with the troops and they are often times the least knowledgeable of what really happened. Most of the stuff that happened in Kosovo got reported up, to a certain point- usually a Major, Lietenant Colonel, or Colonel level and then died there because they didn't want to report that their sections were having problems."

Jacko went on to be head of the British Army and does not need to distort facts. He is not intending to belittle the US contribution either it seems to me. He covers the US helicopter force being on, then off, then on again, but has no reason to go into details of units or exactly how far they got. You will just have to dig out those magazine sources.--Charles (talk) 17:38, 13 May 2014 (UTC)

Metrobus (South East England)

I am a senior member of staff for this company but note you have removed my edits to some incorrect information? What do I need to do as it's very frustrating when incorrect information is being published worldwide about your company. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lucacroydon (talk • contribs) 15:56, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Well if you are a senior member of staff you have a serious conflict of interest so best read that first. If information is incorrect and has no sources just delete it, with an explanation in the edit summary box. At least you will know the facts better than the bus spotter nerds and obsessives who infest these pages adding original research and unencyclopedic trivia.--Charles (talk) 20:33, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Grammar isn't a ground for deletion is it, really?

Dear Charles. You are a total Godsend in terms of creation in this encyclopedia as any English geographer would see quickly. You and I know to use Revert, Discuss, Amend sparingly: only where unverifiable opinion is spouted (or similar). As to grammar, really do we have to descend to that level? - Adam37 Talk 13:53, 11 May 2014 (UTC)

Your work on updating population statistics is welcome but you then insert all sorts of other information all over the article without citing sources. I am too busy to follow editors around cleaning out the original research while leaving the useful bits. I will therefore revert the lot if you keep doing it.--Charles (talk) 16:40, 11 May 2014 (UTC)

Ely Cathedral

Dear Charles, I think you must have deleted the Gallery without referring to the talk page, where there is an explanation of the work in progress, intended to improve or split the existing gallery to comply with WP:Image use policy.SovalValtos (talk) 09:32, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

No problem. It is all still in the page history. Just click back to that version and copy/paste any material you need. Nice to see you getting into editing in various areas.--Charles (talk) 22:05, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

East Grinstead entry

Hi Charles

I added East Grinstead Online to the media section for East Grinstead.

We are a new community hyperlocal new website focused purely on East Grinstead and as such are as legitimate for this section as the Courier or the local radio station or indeed RH19 which is just a free magazine posted through people's doors monthly.

We are non-profit - in fact we fund it ourselves.

We are supported by the local council, business association and many community clubs and organisations.

You can view our site for a message of support from our constituency MP - Nicholas Soames

I would like you to reinstate the link I added or please justify its removal?

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.253.208.0 (talk) 08:06, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

Regardless of fatty Soames' endorsement we do not want it thank you.--Charles (talk) 08:29, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

Charles, I don't think your political views should be shaping your activity on Wikipedia - Soames endorsement was purely in his role as the local MP - we are strictly non partisan politically.

Are you going to justify not including the site?

As I said - RH19 is a for profit freesheet magazine that no one chooses to read, but is pushed through your letterbox every month if you live in the town. It is fine for doing what it does but is just an advertising business.

We are trying to build up a positive independent news source for East Grinstead and also help to promote local community organisations, clubs, charities, businesses etc in our own free time and at our own cost. The team include a professional journalist, web specialist, a few photographers and we welcome contributions from any interested parties.

I can't really see why we can't live in the media section considering RH19 is listed there already and the local radio station is also there - they are the same as us, but just a different medium - non-profit, volunteer-run, only local.

Hoping for a reasoned reply this time.

Sincerely, — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.253.208.0 (talk) 08:42, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

On yer bike.--Charles (talk) 09:04, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

A discussion on this has been started at ANI (by the IP). Regards, Iselilja (talk) 09:24, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

hey, confused

hey, Charles. question ≤if somebody has a question, say on the teahouse question board, will my name pop up as one of the people that can help≥ im kind of confused about how that works. Kendall 13:44, 15 May 2014 (UTC)Kendanne — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kendanne (talk • contribs)

Not exactly. There is one host shown at random on the question page but the rest of us reside here. Someone posts a question on the questions page and any host who sees it on their watchlist will go there and answer if they have the knowledge. I seldom seem to answer these days because others have usually got there first, which is a tribute to the generosity of our volunteers.--Charles (talk) 21:07, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

Sydney's Patronized Railway Stations

I am editing to put the important information on, so I would like you not to remove anymore after today.

Alexander MCGREGOR — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.211.235.71 (talk) 06:37, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

If it is not reliably sourced and verifiable it will be removed. It looks like original research anyway.--Charles (talk) 07:27, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Millennium Force

Dear Charles, Please could you look at this article. I have made some edits that so far have been accepted, but one concerning the phrase 'in this world', which I feel inappropriate, I cannot put into suitable wiki terms to justify a revert. Likely I am wrong and 'in this world' repeated is correct?? SovalValtos (talk) 18:32, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

Hi again. Just looking at the photos makes me feel queasy. WP:PEACOCK comes to mind, along with the essay WP:Fancruft.--Charles (talk) 21:06, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

Thank you. I am not capable of dealing with this. I have looked at some of the editors' other involvements, and they seem to be associated with a number of articles in the same broad field with Peacock queasiness. I expect you are too busy to get involved, but maybe you could get another editor to have a look? Sorry to bother you over what may seem trivial.SovalValtos (talk) 17:07, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

I am very busy at present but I will try to take a look tommorow. Not too trivial at all. Minority interest subjects can get taken over by fans and need to be policed by more general editors.--Charles (talk) 22:05, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

I am looking forward to learning from your work. Not easy, many refs seem to be from sources related to the subject.SovalValtos (talk) 08:26, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

I am run off my feet at the moment so not sure when I will get to it.--Charles (talk) 09:14, 24 May 2014 (UTC)

Help!

Hi I had submitted an afc called National centre For Excellence but for the past 2 consecutive attempts the problem was " Not reliable sources ". I have surfed the net for reliable source for my afc and i have listed all of the ones I got. Help please. link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/National_Centre_For_Excellence Thank you, Sincerely, Rahul — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rahulmdinesh (talk • contribs) 10:49, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) I have given our new friend an answer and advice on my own talk page, advcie you may like to see, even disagree with. I've also left a comment on the draft article. The organisation feels as if it ought to be notable, but I can find nothing so far to verify my gut reaction. Fiddle Faddle 10:54, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. Schools that educate secondary age children are treated as inherently notable regardless of lack of online sources.--Charles (talk) 12:44, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

Falklands War

You're so right. Isn't all of the World actually owned by the British? Haven't they simply leased back the property rights to the host countries (who are mere occupiers) of the British empire? If a child steals another child's sandwich on a playground, does that mean that the child who stole the sandwich is now the owner of that food? I guess, according to British theories of ownership, that would be true... Thank you for clarifying that... However, that would still not be NPOV (Neutral Point of View) from an observational perspective. Stevenmitchell (talk) 19:08, 2 June 2014 (UTC)

It has sometimes been said of English law that "possession is nine tenths of the law". And this is, after all, the English Wikipedia... --Demiurge1000 (talk) 20:28, 2 June 2014 (UTC)

Whatever our opinions of the British(talk), sarcasm does not move forward Wiki. SovalValtos (talk) 20:38, 2 June 2014 (UTC)

Ah. What fun you all have while I am out.--Charles (talk) 22:02, 2 June 2014 (UTC)