WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: Nazis Don't Go To Valhalla 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:10.039 Al Zone Media. 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:13.360 Book Club book Club book Club book Club. Hello and 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:21.680 welcome to the Coolzone Media book Club rerun edition. It's 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:23.600 the Cool Zone Media book Club, the only book club. 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:25.600 You don't have to do the reading because I, Margaret 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.240 Kiljoy do it for you. And it's a rerun episode 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.840 because I'm on the road and terrible things are happening. 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:36.640 Not on the road specifically, but I'm on tour, and 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:42.479 also an election went badly, and so I didn't record 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.159 a new episode. But I thought to myself, you know 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.400 what episode has been a while since people heard, and 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:49.680 actually it predates Coolzone Media book Club. It's part of 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.760 the precursor to Coolzone Media book Club. When I would 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:56.080 just come on and read stories on it could happen here. Well, 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.720 I thought I would read a story called the Northern Host, 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.400 which is actually most people call it my no Nazis 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:07.720 in Valhalla story. And that's fine because for some weird reason, 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.679 a lot of people are thinking about what the civil 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.800 conflict in the United States might look like, and so 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.440 what a good time to tell you a story about 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:22.160 the Battle of Asheville as fought by some ghosts. Here's 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.479 the story. Well, here's me introducing the story again because 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:27.399 I don't know what's about to happen. I'm just this 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:39.840 is the introduction to a rerun episode. Here it goes, It's. 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.160 All right, I did it, Sophy, I'm done for the day, Okay, 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.560 taking the rest off by It's okay. 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.560 We have a cooler replacement for you today. Anyways, we 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:56.280 sure do. 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.240 Uh So, you know, normally this is a show about collapse, 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:03.640 all that good stuff, YadA, YadA YadA, but fuck it, 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.400 it's Halloween week. So we're we're we're we're we're making 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:07.880 sure all of our stuff has a little bit of 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.000 an extra spooky twist. It's like when you make a 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.880 martini and you decide to actually put vermouth inside it, 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.720 as opposed to just kind of waving it nearby. That's 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.560 what we're doing this week, with spookiness being the vermouth 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:25.120 and mixing up our martini. Today is Margaret Kiljoy. 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:30.160 Margaret Hello, Hello, I'm a famous mixologist, so literally this 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:31.200 will be very good. 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:35.320 Now, Margaret, Today, for this very special episode of it 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:39.760 could happen here on Spooky Week. You have written us, well, 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:41.839 you've written a short story, and you're going to read 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.240 it and and and we're all gonna enjoy it? Is 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:46.280 that is that accurate? 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.000 I hope at least I can. I can testify to 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:51.880 the first parts, and I hope for the last part. 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:56.040 Excellent. All right, well with without further ado or with 0:02:56.120 --> 0:03:00.240 minimal further ado. Let's uh, let's let's let's you know, 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.800 with the stuff, with the stuff, Margaret with the stuff. 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:05.720 Well, and this is great because this is actually a 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.000 short story that you start reading of. 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.880 Oh shit, yeah, where's that link? You tasted it to me, 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:13.120 but I don't have my phone on me. 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:15.840 Okay, let me put it in the chat here. 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.600 Based impressive, to say the least. 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:26.080 Based in fiction, pilled. Okay, I start reading the italics. 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.560 Yeah, it's the first couple paragraphs of introduction, and then 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:31.280 you're interviewing me. 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:46.680 All right, motherfuckers, let's get it started. The Northern Host 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.480 for all it's lingering horror and misery. The wake of 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.520 a war is rich terragn for a folklorist like myself. 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.560 More people report more supernatural experiences during times of war 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.400 than times of peace. Some of my peers have argued 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.040 the stress and shock of battle leaves our brains more 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.880 susceptible to mass illusion. Others claim that the veil between 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.000 worlds remains thin when so many are passing from life 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:13.840 to death. The Second American Civil War has been no exception. 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.480 Most famously, of course, soldiers from each of the three 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.360 armies present at the fifteen day Siege of Saint Louis 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.719 reported a wailing man who walked among the wounded, healing 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:27.440 some and ending the lives of others. On the Cascadian Front, 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.680 rebel forces spoke of black bears, who in effect stood 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:34.599 sentry for their guerrilla positions. During the White Army's occupation 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:39.000 of Washington, d C. Civilians and soldiers alike reported apparitions 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.719 pouring out from the Pentagon Crater every new moon. Of 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.360 all the various myths and legends to spring up in 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.320 the wake of the recent conflict, however, I find myself 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.520 most strongly drawn to the stories of the Northern host. 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:54.520 Never have I heard a myth recounted in such detail 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:58.159 by such a wide variety of people. My favorite telling 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.520 comes from Private Sarah Dollar in the Battle of Asheville. 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.400 This interview was recorded in the spring of twenty thirty 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.760 five and lightly edited for clarity with permission of the subject. 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:10.440 Note that the subject refers to the White Army by 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:14.600 pejoratives throughout these have been left intact for the historical record. 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.640 Could you introduce yourself and tell me what you saw. 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.080 Yeah, my name is Sarah Daher. I'm thirty one years old. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.240 I live in Ashville, in the Appalachian region of the 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:28.840 United States of America, on stolen Cherokee Land. My US 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:31.840 military rank was private. They made us all privates when 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.800 they incorporated the Irregulars into the army, but I only 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.400 served in the Union to fight the White Army a 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:39.960 year later. I'm one of those crazy radicals who doesn't 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:43.760 think the reconfiguration goes far enough. I'd never fired a 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:45.760 gun in my life before the Irregulars, and I hope 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.880 I never fire another one again. By temperament, I'm neither 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:51.640 a lover nor a fighter. I'm just your average trans 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.080 girl who likes Kats and hates Nazis. I fought in 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:59.320 three engagements in Weaverville, Leicester, and Asheville. I think I 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:00.720 killed two. 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:01.440 One of them. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:03.719 I know I killed him. I saw him bleed out 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:05.680 and I saw him taken away in a black bag. 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:08.200 The other person was a man I shot in the 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.320 thigh during the Battle of Ashville. I didn't know you 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.240 could die from a bullet in the thigh, But I've 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.800 spent a lot of time looking at casualty records, and 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.480 someone who fit that man's general description died in that 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.040 battle from a bullet to the thigh. 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.720 Does that bother you? Yes? 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.640 No, I don't know. I don't lose sleep over it, 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:29.920 but I think about it a lot. I look at 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:31.840 the docks on both of them. The first guy was 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.919 a true believer, a real blood and soil type. It 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.680 doesn't bother me that I mingled those two things for him. 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.320 The second man, though, I'm not so sure, he signed 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:43.680 up because his son signed up. I don't have any 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.440 kids myself, but I could see myself doing that. His 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:47.560 son survived the war. 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:50.440 Have you been in contact with his son? 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:53.280 No? Fuck that guy. That kid's a fucking Nazi, and 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:54.520 I don't know how he talked his way out of 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:55.280 the tribunals. 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:58.599 Can you tell me what you saw at the Battle 0:06:58.600 --> 0:06:59.200 of Asheville. 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.400 This was during the Fascist Spring Offensive last year. You 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.000 know Hitler's birthday, April twentieth. By that point, the White 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.200 Army was pretty much done, but they weren't about to 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.560 go down without doing some major symbolic damage. So there 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.640 were about forty of us, all irregulars, with our own commanders, 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.480 no army oversight. Morale was down. We felt pretty abandoned, 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.760 common sentiment in the South. I was on the street 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.960 out in front of the library, walking rounds. Downtown was 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.080 half rubble at that point. Only the library was standing, 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.200 because symbols matter and all that bullshit, So that's where 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.080 we were making a stand. Neither side had artillery. Really, 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:38.800 by that point, the brass had just commandeered even our 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.400 RPGs for the quote real fight. Air support wasn't coming, 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:45.160 not for them and not for us. Really, the Battle 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.240 of Asheville was like nothing to the rest of the world, 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.480 and we knew it. So I was doing the rounds 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.880 thinking about my shit luck, thinking maybe I was going 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:55.800 to die, and how so many people had died, and 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.560 what's another dead girl to add to the pile. I 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:00.560 was thinking about how at least this dead girls going 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:04.360 to die surrounded by or in defense of books. Then 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:06.960 I heard dogs from around the side of the building. 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:10.200 One barked loud and near, the other sort of distant 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.080 and echoey. I went to check it out, turned the 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.440 corner and there was this naked guy. He was pale 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.080 as hell, tall, tattooed and scarred, and like I said, 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.760 he was naked as the sun. I stared at him, 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:24.960 he stared at me. I got so distracted trying to 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:26.440 figure him out that it took me a moment to 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.200 realize there were nine others behind him, or maybe they 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.480 weren't there at first, I don't know. Most of them 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.640 were men, mostly of the tall Norse looking variety, but 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.480 there was a Middle Eastern man and three women, including 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:42.040 one who by my read was Latin X No dogs 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.760 anywhere that I could see. The man closest to me 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:46.839 he asked me something in a language I didn't know. 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.040 I just kind of stared. He asked me another question 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:52.600 in another language. What I asked? 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:53.480 Who are you? 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:58.040 Who are we fighting? He asked? His accent was thick, 0:08:58.040 --> 0:08:59.560 and I couldn't place it for the life of me. 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.480 I mean, I know now, but I'm sure shit didn't 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.839 know it then we I asked what I was due 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:07.720 back out front, because I was a century doing the 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.599 rounds and this sure needed reporting. What the hell was 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:14.200 I going to tell people? Who are we fighting? Where 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:18.640 are we You're in Asheville? Who are you ah the 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.679 American conflict, the man said behind him, others nodded. Their 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.360 movements were sloppy, dream like they were drunk. I later 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.160 realized one of them had dried blood running down from 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:33.439 her lip onto her not insubstantial belly. You're fighting the nationalists, 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:37.040 the first one said, We're here to help you. Who 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:40.360 are you, I asked this third time he actually answered, 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:41.880 my name is Bellgear. 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:42.800 We are the dead. 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.679 We are the ainhear from Valhalla. Every day we are 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:49.960 sent to a battle to fight, and we die. The 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:55.439 others behind him nodded, definitely drunk. Now, I know there 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.040 were good folks on our side who were into European paganism, 0:09:58.040 --> 0:09:59.559 but you have to understand that a lot more of 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.480 the fashion were into that shit than anybody else. If 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.199 they hadn't been naked and drunk, I might have mistaken 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:09.120 them for the enemy and shot them. Valhalla, I said, 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.560 reciting the tiny bit. I knew that's where vikings go 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:15.440 if they die in battle, feast every day and fight 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.760 every night in Odin's Hall until the end of the world, 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.560 where you like also fight and die. But uh wolf 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.960 feeds the sun or something close enough, Belgar said. I mean, 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.880 Odin only gets half the battle dead, and Viking isn't 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.400 a good name for us. But sure, and you're here 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.719 because we are to take arms alongside you, fight your 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:39.800 enemies and die today. Am I going to die today? 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:44.240 Only the seers and the gods know that. I'd been 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.520 calling myself a witch half my life, but honestly that 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.160 was mostly because I like tarot and astrology and panagrams 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.880 and shit. I've never been someone who took the supernatural 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:54.720 all that seriously. But nothing in the world made sense 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.400 like it used to. Fascists had just been driven out 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.000 of DC. Cascadia had not only succeeded, but was an 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.800 civil war of its own now. Mexico was gone and 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.280 replaced by self governing states of almost every stripe in 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.480 the political rainbow. China had backed white supremacists and other 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.000 nationalist types in an American civil war, and anti government 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.959 leftists were fighting alongside weirdos like me in the damn 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.600 US Army. I can't say those things were as weird 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:21.000 as naked dead don't call us vikings talking to me 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.560 in the street. But somehow all of that was just 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:28.080 comparably bizarre. Come let us arm ourselves and fight together. 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.120 You and I belgar said, So that's how I met 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.880 the Northern Host. Most people don't believe me, assume it 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.040 was just some kind of drunk wing nuts, maybe some 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:38.960 irregulars I'd never met before. But I saw what I saw, 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.440 and I believe it. The rest of us who survived 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:42.320 they saw it too. 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:47.560 And how did it go? Yeah? Pardon the battle? How 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:48.000 did it go? 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.200 We got the einherar into irregular's garb and armed them. 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:54.920 There were plenty of guns at that point in the 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:59.360 forgotten hell hole. Afront bullets not so much, but plenty 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:02.480 of guns. They were all comfortable with firearms, though one 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:04.640 fellow groused about what he wouldn't do for an axe 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.520 and shield, and another said what we had was fine, 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.640 but monofilament web guns were better than any combat shotgun. 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:13.240 To hear them, tell it. Fuck it? Why am I 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:15.480 pretending like I don't believe them. I believe them with 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:17.280 every bit of my soul, And damn what people think 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:19.320 of me for it. The Northern Host fight every night, 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:21.840 and every night there in a different time and place 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.760 most battles in human history were in the past, they said, 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.000 which sounds optimistic, doesn't it? But they said they fought 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.200 in every century up to the twenty fourth. Nothing happens 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:35.320 after the twenty fourth century. Ragnarok most likely the end 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:37.040 of the world, wolves eating the sun and the moon. 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:37.400 All that. 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.200 They stood guard out with me out front. Around midday 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.000 we got hit with an EMP. We knew that was coming. 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:46.920 It didn't screw us up much. We had a hardened 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.920 phone in the basement, and all our weapons operated just 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.040 as well in dumb mode as smart mode, including our 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.520 own EMPs. The White Army showed up, maybe a hundred men, 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.880 all men. That's their whole shtick. They came in on motorcycles, 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:04.280 ATVs and horses. More shtick like how fucking folksy they are. 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.400 We hit them with the EMPs anyway, level the field, 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:11.280 took out the ATVs. The bikes were retrofitted, no electric. 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:11.720 And a horse. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.640 You can't e MP a horse. I don't know if 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:16.559 there was a skirmish in that war that didn't start 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:18.800 with both sides ritually knocking the other one. Back to 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:22.600 basically the twentieth century. I think the tactical EMP is 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.839 the reason there's anything left of this country. We took 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:27.760 a few pot shots while they were still at range, 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:29.840 but we didn't have the amo to waste on anything else. 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.520 Don't think we did any damage. They took up position 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:35.880 further up the hill in the ruins of the old Basilica. 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:40.720 Then we waited. We should have mined the church. That 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:43.199 old thing was blown half to shit anyway. It wouldn't 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.120 have made the world any worse if we'd either leveled 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:49.199 it or hidden explosives throughout. But you know, ethical war 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:53.240 or whatever, don't mind churches. The other side leveled every mosque, 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.000 synagogue and quote heretic church they got their hands on, 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:58.720 not to mention libraries in universities, and even the goddamn 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.960 Statue of Liberty because they had imigrants. But we were 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.360 supposed to be fighting a quote ethical war. Those two 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.120 words don't got nothing to do with one another, and 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:11.400 everyone knows it. So they hold up in the basilica, 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:13.240 and we pulled back into the library and we had 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.840 one of those good old fashioned standoffs where people die 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:20.080 slowly from sniper fire and everything is awful. That's when 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.000 Laura got shot right in the head because we missed 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.800 a spot when we bulletproofed the facade. She's dead. She 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.520 had natural red hair, but she always died at Redder 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.280 and her favorite show is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.680 she liked to drink water out of long stem glasses. 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.920 She was I think she was thirty seven, way past 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:44.160 drafting age. She volunteered. It was her first engagement. She 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:47.280 was only there because she loved books, had plenty of 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.360 time to avoid looking at her corpse while she was 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.200 in there with us dead. Dwight was another one of 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.320 my friends in the unit, one of my favorite people, 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.040 hands down, total weirdo, and he was all obsessed with 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:00.360 that Viking shit and dark ages in general, as parents 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:02.560 had come over from Sweden, though his dad was originally 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.840 from Nigeria. Dwight had one degree in medieval studies and 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.280 another in African history, and I can't tell you how 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.840 many times during basic he'd run down the details of 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.760 this or that ancient battle, whether in Europe or Africa. 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.440 If there were guns involved, he didn't care about it, 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:18.840 but if there were swords and armor or spears and shields, 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:22.000 he was all in. He started talking to the Vikings 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.520 first thing. He was the first person to believe them, 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:28.400 to really believe them, and his faith was contagious. While 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.880 we were pinned down. He asked them everything. Mostly they 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.000 were quiet, even taciturn, but there was one thing they 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.800 were very insistent on that I overheard them talking about. 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.360 Nazis don't go to Valhalla. But why not? Dwight asked, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:47.000 It takes two things to go to Valhalla. The spokesperson said, 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:48.640 you have to die in battle, and you have to 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:53.080 venerate Odin. A bunch of those fuckers are Odina's, He said, no, 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.880 they aren't. They're nationalists, fascists, racial separatists, They're all kinds 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.880 of things, but they don't venerate Odin. Whatever they think, 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.400 what do you mean? They only know one half of Odin. 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.880 They know the masculine side, the heterosexual side, the Christian side. 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:11.200 They worship a bastardization of our God, a basstardization first 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.640 created by a nationalist Christian eight hundred years ago that's 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:18.720 only gotten further afield since our Odin practices women's magic, 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.920 the magic of these sexually penetrated. We also worship female 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:24.960 gods of war, and male gods of the hearth, and 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:28.120 gods who change their gender when they're bored. Nazis don't 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:32.320 understand that any of it. In life, we raided sometimes traded. 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.920 Other times, we also did all sorts of things that 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.560 won't fit your modern sensibilities, things that were I alive, 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.600 you might kill me for. But we're not Nazis, and 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.360 people who worship a Christian version of our God most 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:48.480 certainly do not go to Valhalla. It was as if 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.520 the man had used up every word allotted to him 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:52.760 for the day, because I don't believe a one of 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.040 them spoke again before the battle began in. 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.480 Earnest And how long was that. 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.320 Another hour? Maybe the sun was still right overhead when 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.240 the White army rushed us. It was a bullshit move, 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:08.720 rushing us one part over confidence in one part desperation. 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.520 If you can imagine that they knew they were losing 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.760 the war at that point, but they had us more 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.160 than two to one, and we all know the KKK 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.680 commanders don't give two shits about the lives of their men. 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:21.560 That's when I put a bullet in a man's leg 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.679 while he was in the street running. It was a 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.359 good shot. He was running, and I led the target 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.520 and everything I've been aiming for center body masks, but 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.479 still at least one hundred yards against a moving target. 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:35.359 I was proud of that shot at the time on 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:37.960 a technical level, even if I'm not sure I'm proud 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.080 of it anymore now that I know the man's name. 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:43.760 We expected the charge. What we didn't expect was the 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:46.960 ordinance that knocked the reinforced front off its hinges. But 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:49.440 that happened, and almost all the fighting happened right there 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.359 on the first floor among the empty shelves. The whole 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.120 thing felt like it lasted half an hour. I've looked 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.600 it up since, from the time of the first blast 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.480 at the time the last shot was fired, talking about 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:04.280 three minutes and twelve seconds. We thought they were going 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:06.199 to pour in through the door after they blew it 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.479 the fuck off. So James got in there with our 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:10.679 one functioning automatic and he took at least ten of 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.639 the fash down with him before someone got him in 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.280 the neck. It was a faint and they blew a 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:16.200 hole in the side. 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:16.479 Of the building. 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:18.879 Well, well that was going on, and that's where they 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.800 got in close quarters. Combat is a whole different beast, 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.399 a worse one, maybe maybe a better one. I go 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.439 back on forth on that. Sometimes instead of sleeping, I 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:30.520 think about the pros and cons of various types of 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.320 absolute horror. Is it better to see your death coming 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.040 or to get picked off without knowing it? I would 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.440 have thought the Vikings would expend themselves right off. I 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:42.679 mean Vikings. They were starting to sober up by that point, 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.760 but still they'd been drinking, and they were already dead, 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.479 and they were doomed to die. But they were smarter 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:52.600 than that. Never risk themselves unnecessarily. Your next assumption of 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.919 a comrade you know is doomed is that they'll sacrifice 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.480 themselves to save others. None of that either. They knew 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.080 they were the best trained soldiers on the feet, and 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:02.960 that in order for us to win, they had to 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.120 be in the fight as long as they could. They 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:09.240 were smart like that. Assholes like that. I stationed myself 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.840 in the back. I fancy myself more of a sniper 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.160 than the assaults sort, so I watched the whole thing 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.080 go down. I also only hit three targets out of 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.560 one hundred and seventeen bullets I fired. But that's another story. 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.479 I watched us win. We took casualties of fifty percent, 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.680 half of those were KIA, but we defeated a force 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:31.280 twice our strength. I watched the einhear, but bayonet men 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:33.520 and shoot them. And I saw one of the Viking 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:37.040 women break a man's face apart with her fists. Soon after, 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.159 a bullet found her heart and she collapsed with a 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:43.600 smile on her lips. She disappeared, like literally she phased 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.920 out of existence. Beam me up, Scottie. We pushed them 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.240 back onto the pavement. And when I say we, I'm 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.119 honestly not being fair because I didn't do much of 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:55.520 it myself. We had them scattered and running, most of them. 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.320 Dwight was out there waving a pistol in one hand 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:00.919 and swinging a wooden stock right like a club in 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:04.120 the other. A Viking with a shotgun stood beside him. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:06.800 I think the same fascy little shit killed them both, 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.720 maybe in the same three round burst. I tagged the 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.040 Fasci in his belly, and his friends helped him get away, 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:16.040 and the remaining Nazis ran. He survived his wound. Why 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:18.360 do we have so much information about the war? Does 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.320 it do me any good to know who I killed 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:21.240 and who I didn't? 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:22.840 And Dwight? 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.480 Dwight lay alone in the concrete, face down. There wasn't 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.800 much blood, but he was dead. Two ravens sat atop him, 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.280 one on each shoulder. I've never seen a raven in 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:36.320