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Thursday, June 03, 2004

Is It Too Much to Ask? (More Rank Ignorance) 
This time from MSNBC's Petra Cahill:

Warren Josephy, 86, was the captain of the 187th Field Artillery Battalion when he landed at Omaha Beach on June 8, or D-Day plus 2. Josephy described how he could see the action on the beach ahead of the landing, but that nobody was prepared for what was ahead.


Link.

Clue memo to the editors of MSNBC:

Nobody is THE captain of a battalion. At full strength, all battalions--even in World War II, had at least seven captains--in an artillery battalion, that would be three gun battery commanders, a headquarters battery commander, an adjutant, an intelligence officer, and a supply/logistics officer. The operations officer COULD be a captain, but is usually a major, and was then as well.

You can be "the captain" of a company, but not a battalion. In WWII, it wasn't uncommon for captains to find themselves in command of battalions, as lieutenant colonels and majors were killed or wounded. But even then, he wouldn't be called "the captain."

I'm sure the meaning the reporter intended was "the captain of (insert battery name here), 187th Artillery Battalion.

You know, after over two and a half years of covering war, is it too much to ask to get SOMEONE in the newsroom--a reporter, an editor, a factchecker--who knows the difference between a battery and a battalion, and the difference between a captain and a lieutenant colonel?

Please?

Splash, out

Jason

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