Captains Away Day Form: Fill & Download for Free

This is a buckler.Dear God…There's more.No!… Anyway, you'll notice that for a shield, it's actually very very small; much smaller than Captain America's own shield. Held still, it doesn't really cover much of the body at all. Unless you already have some idea how they're supposed to be used, on first glance, it seems like a fairly useless shield.Which is it why it may surprise you to learn that in the Middle Ages, this was the most common and useful shield there was, outside of the military*. The buckler was so common, it came define a certain stereotype of ruffian that persists in some form or another to this day: the swashbuckler, an unarmored troublemaking civilian that would brandish his sword and his buckler at every available opportunity.I bring this up because the thing that made the buckler so useful in most fights of the era was mobility. It wasn't expected that a fighter would just hold a buckler in one place and hope it might block any incoming attacks like a bigger shield; instead, fighters had to anticipate where the enemy would stab or slash at next and move it accordingly to block. They could keep it near their sword hand to protect that, or hold it out and away at the ready for any likely thrusts or blocks. More creatively, you could punch an opponent with it, block their view temporarily, or even bind up their arm for a moment to get a thrust of your own in. Unlike bigger shields, though, it was small and portable enough that one could actually carry it around everywhere and move it all about, whereas the bigger shields were clumsy and always needed a dedicated arm.Now. Captain America.The man “sees faster", apparently. Even without a shield he seems to be perfectly capable of dodging bullets, seeing them and jumping out of the way as needed with his supereflexes. Superflexes. Super reflexes. Fast seeing. Potato, potato.With a shield, though? With a shield, there's no need to do any fancy jukes or dives out of the way, no need to sacrifice position against the shooter. Just anticipate the trajectory of the bullet, move shield accordingly, block, and go on, press attack and all as needed.Now, the real question is, why don't any of those mooks ever use a shotgun or other spread weapon…*Military uses of shields were quite different, of course, but that's largely because of their widespread use of armor, which Captain America doesn't wear for some reason.Edit: Apparently my knowledge of comics is out of date; the nerd horde of Quora has informed me through comments that Captain America's current costume apparently is a form of body armor. Black Panther, it seems, gave him a set of vibranium scale mail armor made to look just like his previous costumes as a gift. I suppose that's another reason why he isn't shot below the legs, what with his armored trousers, but then, it does also seem to make the shield a bit superfluous, at least defensively.The nerd horde also tells me that Cap's shield differs significantly from bucklers in that it is a strap shield, not a punch shield. (Punch shields are held via a handle securely fastened to the back of the shield, whereas one holds a strap shield by slipping the arm through a series of straps on the shield's back). This baffles me a bit since punch shields seem much more conducive to the crazy shield throwing and aggressive strategies Cap uses with his shield, but whatever. The point still stands in that Cap's super reflexes are what give the shield most of its utility.

After going through all the answers, I'm flabbergasted that no one mentioned what i consider to be one of the greatest and the most audacious on field decision taken by a newly appointed captain, who was under enormous pressure for not living up to the task of performing both as the main run getter for the team and also as a captain.I'm talking about the 3rd test match of The Ashes (1936-37) when England toured Australia for a 5 match test series and was Don Bradman's first test series as captain.After being well beaten by England in the first two tests as Australia's captain, Bradman was out of form, unpopular with his team-mates, under attack from the press and the public who wanted Bradman to be deposed as captain as soon as possible. The public outcry was deafening across the nation. With this as a backdrop came the most awaited Melbourne test stage was set. After winning the toss and opting to bat on a pitch which was described as "an island of green in the sunshine", Bradman got out for a below par score of 7 with the score card reading 181-6 when rain stopped play for the day. The next morning when the umpires restarted the match after lunch, Bradman decided to let his tail flail away for 30 minutes or so and declared his innings only after the scorecard readed 200-9 so as to give them a psychological advantage on a wet pitch.And so began what Bradman later called "a sensational battle of tactics". He told his bowlers to bowl a defensive line as he was in no hurry to bat again in these conditions but the wickets kept falling and before long, England were 76-7 and it was then, curiously, that Bradman began to get scared. He realised, as he later said, that England "were losing wickets too quickly". He began to stall for time. He called his bowlers together and ordered them to avoid getting anyone else out by bowling wide of the wicket. Then he discreetly took out his close catchers and set them back on the boundary. But Allen (England's captain at that time) called for a daring gambler's throw and declared the innings at 76-9 and 45 minutes to play.To this Bradman had more cards up his sleeve and in a brilliant tactical move sent a messenger to the England dressing room to verify that Allen had indeed closed the innings. He feigned major surprise.Bradman’s delaying tactics took five minutes off the remaining time.Ingeniously, Bradman then reversed his batting order to protect his best players from the worst of the conditions. He approached his two tailenders, O'Reilly and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, to open the innings. O'Reilly spooned the first ball and got out. However, Ward and Fleetwood-Smith, with a combination of fortune and pluck, managed to survive till the close of play.The next morning Fleetwood-Smith fell to the first ball he hit but the other batsmen held fort on a fast improving pitch and Bradman at last walked out to join Fingleton only after the fifth wicket fell with the score card reading 97-5. Australia were just 221 ahead on a fast improving wicket. A quick dismissal now would have changed the course of Bradman’s captaincy days and his career. However, under this incredible pressure, his greatness sparked and glowed.The first few hours were understandably spent in a battle for survival. Through nerve, skill and unflinching resolution Bradman made it to stumps. The next day, Bradman walked out with a head heavy with flu. Allen spread the field far and wide. The thinking was that a sick Bradman could not run all his runs if boundaries were cut off. Under the cloudy skies, the great man proceeded to work the ball away for singles. And sometimes he split the deep field with scorching boundariesBy the time Fingleton got out,the score was 443 and the 346 run stand for the sixth wicket was a world record.Australia ended the day at 500 for six, Bradman on 248. The next morning, he carried his score to 270 before falling to Verity but by then England were well and truly out of the game. He had offered no chance till the ball he was dismissed. The final lead was 688. Too ill to field, Bradman looked on from the pavilion as O’Reilly and Fleetwood-Smith, now combining again in the much more comfortable role of attacking spinners, bowled England out and Australia comfortably won the match with 365 runs."THE SEVEN HOURS AND 38 MINUTES DON BRADMAN SPENT AT THE CREASE WOULD REMAIN HIS LONGEST VIGIL IN TEST CRICKET. HE HAD OFFERED NO CHANCE TILL THE BALL HE WAS DISMISSED."Here's the australian 2nd innings scorecard where Don Bradman scored this fine double century.For full Match statistics - 3rd Test: Australia v England at Melbourne, Jan 1-7, 1937 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Let me start by setting the stage. This took place in the Nam while I was in the 5th Special Forces Group 17 September 1969 - 16 September 1970. I was assigned to A-401, IV Corps Mobile Strike Force, B-40, C-4, 5th Special Forces Group. The Mike Force was established to save camps that were in danger of being overrun. Short of that mission we would take our indigenous troops and deploy as Inafanty, each A-Team can field a battalion, each company was commanded by two sergeants (Green Berets). I as an E-4 with SSG Greg Skougland, commanded the 43rd Company comprised of 112 ethnic Cambodians. When deployed on a combat mission we would stay in the field for 30 days at a time. During one such mission our A-401 commander Captain paid us a visit intending to stay a few days. The second night we were attacked by an NVA Regiment est strength of 800 men. At 2200 hrs one of our OP/LP (Observation post/listening post) these two man teams would be placed along likely avenues of approach 100 meters out as early warning. The OP?LP to the East of the perimeter fired a six round burst, at that point all of the OP/LP’s return to the perimeter.Immediately Greg went to one side of the perimeter and I ran to the opposite side. When I arrived I walked along the perimeter to make sure that every foxhole was up and firing. I then contacted our higher HQ requesting a fire mission,. The NVA were using the human wave assault. Both Greg and I were very busy and not once did we wonder where the captain was. After a two hours fight we were able to repel the NVA inflicting a large number KIA with continuous automatic fire and artillery (105’s). Greg and I met in the middle of our perimeter and Greg asked if the captain was with me, no, I haven’t seen him and thought he was with you. We. Both looked at each other and jokingly said, “damn we lost the captain, no great loss.” The captain didn’t belong in the field and was better suited for a desk job in the rear, like supply or admin. As we approached the center of the perimeter we saw a head pop out of a foxhole. We stopped and Greg asked, “Captain XXXXXX is that you?” The Captain responded with a yes then Greg said, “sir you can come out now, the battle is over.”As far as we were concerned it was better that he was a coward because he would have been in our way. He left that afternoon and returned to our camp. In Special Forces we would rather you own up to the fact that you can’t handle combat. We would have sent him to the rear and request a replacement. We would have dropped the fact that he was a coward and say nothing. Not everyone is capable of disregarding the fact that there are people that want to kill you. You freeze in combat and you’ll get men killed, so just leave, admit that you can’t handle the fear and just leave.What compounded the issue, our camp A-401 was shutdown and the USSF were in the B-40 Headquarters for our new assignment. The old B-40 commander had put me in for the Bronze Star with “V” (valor under fire). Unfortunately the Major’s year was up and a new commander came. Greg handed me the DA Form 628 used for submitting someone for an award. He had me read the Form and the narrative was everything I did during the 2 hour battle. I smiled and said nice. Then Greg pointed out the name on the Form. Apparently the captain took advantage of the change of command and took the Form in my name. He used the same narrative but he typed in his name and I had to sign as a witness. I was dumbfounded first he hides during a battle and then retyped the Form using his name. I went into our new commander’s office to protest and refuse to sign. The new Major gave me a direct order to sign. I told him that the captain hid during the battle. He shot back that according to the Form’s narrative he took command of the situation and through his leadership beat back the NVA. I was livid and signed.In 1994 the first B-40 commander and I connect by phone. We talked for two hours and he inquired about the award he submitted. I told him that no, the captain retyped the original but retyped the Form using his name. Major Tom Bridgewater was as angry as I’d ever seen. He then took the time and resubmitted the Form thru Senator Khole’s office because I was stationed at Ft McCoy, WI. I received the award in 1997 during the graduation ceremony for the Senior Battle Staff Course I was transferred to an Infantry Regiment as their new S-3, Operation NCO.I will not give up his name, all of the Green Berets in that area knows about the incident and the captain passed away several years ago. There were other officer empty uniforms but I’ve already taken up to much of your time with this answer, like when the B-40 S-4 (supply) captain arrived at our camp to ensure that all the equipment was still accounted for because the camp A-401 was being shut down. On the second night the camp was hit with several mortars. I always slept in my uniform and I had zippers put into my jungle boots so they could be put on quickly. I grabbed my 45 and ran to the door of our sleeping quarters. When I reached to door the S-4 Captain was standing in the door way mumbling, “don’t go out there…don’t go out there!” I said, “move sir I have to radio headquarters to report the mortar fire.” He didn’t budge. I grabbed his shoulders to move him out of the way and he was frozen stiff. I turned him to where he was facing the door jam and I squeezed past him and he continued his don’t go out there. I ran to my radio bunker made the call but it simply turned out to be harassment fire. The S-4 Captain signed the document that everything was accounted for and he was taken back to the headquarters in the rear. I mean he was a supply officer and belonged in the rear with the gear.Door to the team house, it had a two desk office, there was a bar and a dinning area.The front gate, it used to be a French garrison.The bar. What I loved most about Special Forces is the fact that we had our own rules. You want a beer during the day well get two one for you and one for me. The conventional units abided by the rules like no drinking during duty hours.Out in the field, I told Greg to wait because I had an itch, he didn’t.We had perimeter barriers around the camp.One of the camps many bunkers.We had 362 Cambodian soldiers with their families in our camp. They were divided into three companies. My 43rd Company had 112 Cambodians.After one week of a 30 day combat operation.Also we didn’t’d Give a damn about uniforms. The man without a shirt was our Team Sergeant conversing with Captain Canavan the first commander but he rotated home and they sent us a worthless captain Coward. Captain Canavan retired as a three star general…good officer.Photo taken from the camps tower.The camp was split diagonally with the other half used for housing for the families of our Cambodian troops. If the NVA were to attack the Cambodians were not only protecting the camp but also their wives and children. They weren’t going to cut and run.Each company had a different color scarf which made it easier to tell them apart.Our excellent captain, we loved him so much we addressed him as Captain Mike. I still called him Captain Mike during a phone conversation when he was a two star in command of JSOC.Captain Mike not afraid of combat.