Saturday, September 30, 2006

Custer's Last Screw Up

Last Stand Hill
Last Stand Hill, Custer County, Montana. After the battle, the bodies of the hapless 7th cavalry men were buried where they fell.

I seem to have become a monthly blogger. As mentioned in previous posts there is nothing dire going on in the background -quite the reverse, in fact. Work is going quite satisfactorily and I've been fortunate to pick up a couple of decent sized grants over the summer (long may this trend continue). Indeed I've been crazily busy and running around like the proverbial headless chicken trying to organise various projects and develop some momentum. So in the course of things, I've had reason to travel to Montana; until now a state I've not had an excuse to visit. I have to say the landscape was fascinating although the the whole region is terribly depressed economically and food consists of steak and more steak (think the Monty Python Spam sketch but substitute steak). My ever increasing interest in the historical Old West caused me to stop at the Little Bighorn battlefield (Custer’s last stand, 1876). It's a poignant and lasting tribute to complete arrogance and stupidity in a military command. Unfortunately I don't think we've learned a great deal since...!
Custer's Last Stand
General George Armstrong Custer met his end here although his remains have since been interred at the West Point Academy. Now, look Georgie boy, if you happen to be reincarnated as a warrior, please read Sun Tzu's Art of War before going into battle again.