The "D" in D-day

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Nestor_Kelebay

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Did you know...

... that the "D" in D-day stands for "D"ay?

When generals and admirals plan military operations, the don't know when or even if those operations will take place, so they arbitrarily assign the letter "D" to an arbitrary Day the operation will commence and the letter "H" to the hour the operation will commence. They can then plan the timing of their operation by arbitrarily assigning dates like D+1 or D+2 to the first and second day after the operation commenced. Similarily, they assign the nomenclature H+1 or H+2 to the first and second hours after an operation commenced for shorter operations.

So, the famous "D-day" of June 6, 1944, when Allied forces invaded the coast of France by an armada of boats from England is named after the military system of arbitrarily assigning the letter "D" to the date a military operation commences. In this case, "D" turned out to be June 6, 1944.

It's often said that Eisenhower himself often refered to D-day as the date that Allied forces "disembarked" to the coast of France, and the word "disembark" means to go ashore from a ship. So, history buffs will insist that the D in D-day means "disembark". However, it's commonly assumed that Eisenhower was fully aware of the use of the letter "D" amongst military planners to represent the day an operation starts, and was not intending to redefine the meaning of that letter in his speeches. He simply used the word "disembark" because it meant to go ashore from a ship. The fact that the word "disembark" starts with the letter D is merely a coincidence.
 
That is interesting. I didn't know this or paid atttention to it. It was heart breaking to hear the stories from the men that were in that war. The one man said some of the guys after being discharged from the hospital would go right back into the war to help the other men serving there. I myself am VERY THANKFUL TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT SERVED AND ARE SERVING IN THE MILITARY! For our freedom is not free these people have lost their lives to keep America free!!
 
The one man said some of the guys after being discharged from the hospital would go right back into the war to help the other men serving there.

That's happening even now. Lots of soldiers that go to Iraq and Afghanistan end up signing up for a second and third tour of duty cuz their buddies are over there, and they need the help.

As of today, one more Canadian soldier has been killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. This brings the total Canadians killed in Afghanistan to 109. There are no Canadians serving in Iraq; only Afghanistan. I agree with the US (and it's allies) going into Afghanistan after Bin Laden, but I'm not too sure about Iraq.
 
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