Saturday, May 07, 2005
Doonesbury is no Comic
Okay, I'll bite.
Has Garry Trudeau even read a military web log? I'm only one, and I haven't read all the others, but I have seen quite a few. They are all very different, but not one of them reads like the one Trudeau dreamed up for his Doonesbury cutouts.
Does he have any idea what the military is like? Does he know anyone in the military? I'd be very surprised if his "research" for this latest series went farther than the Daily Kos or Democratic Underground.
Hillbilly armor humvees. Please, can somebody dream up any new strawmen for Garry? We're National Guard, and half of our vehicles were up-armored with factory grade steel before they left Kuwait; the rest were line hauled. Since we've been here, we use the light skin for around the FOB, but even those, as many as we want can get up-armored. We just won't bother with some of them as they will be shipped back home, and other than for convoys the up-armored are difficult, costly to maintain, and more prone to accident. (Everything is a trade-off my friend, even body armor presents risk as well as protection.)
And other supply and equipment? My word, we waste more than armies usually have. Our soldiers have been the best equipped, trained, supported, and supplied soldiers in history. Our guys are complaining about a lot of things, as they always will, but they aren't complaining about their Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI) goodies or their advanced weapons and equipment. And we're National Guard.
I am sure Garry thinks he's very clever, but it should occur to him that to properly satirize, lampoon, or profile critically in caricature, your result needs to remotely resemble what you lampoon. And it wouldn't hurt for you to have some positive goal in mind, either. Trudeau fails on both counts.
I remember enjoying Doonesbury a very long time ago. But then, I didn't used to have much respect for the military either, until I devoted 20 years and 18 months away from my wife and children in service to our country.
It really is sad that Trudeau can't find any true and realistic stories of soldiers that he wants to tell. But that's okay, because MILBLOGS will do it for him.
UPDATE:
John Schroeder of Blogotional and Mustang 23 of Assumption of Command both offer gracious and well-appreciated support for our beef with Doonesbury.
Thanks John, and thanks Mustang 23. I have very much appreciated your support and encouragement. You both do fine work, and I couldn't ask for a higher class of readers. Which of course is true of all of you, and if you don't know John and Mustang 23, check them out. :)
Has Garry Trudeau even read a military web log? I'm only one, and I haven't read all the others, but I have seen quite a few. They are all very different, but not one of them reads like the one Trudeau dreamed up for his Doonesbury cutouts.
Does he have any idea what the military is like? Does he know anyone in the military? I'd be very surprised if his "research" for this latest series went farther than the Daily Kos or Democratic Underground.
Hillbilly armor humvees. Please, can somebody dream up any new strawmen for Garry? We're National Guard, and half of our vehicles were up-armored with factory grade steel before they left Kuwait; the rest were line hauled. Since we've been here, we use the light skin for around the FOB, but even those, as many as we want can get up-armored. We just won't bother with some of them as they will be shipped back home, and other than for convoys the up-armored are difficult, costly to maintain, and more prone to accident. (Everything is a trade-off my friend, even body armor presents risk as well as protection.)
And other supply and equipment? My word, we waste more than armies usually have. Our soldiers have been the best equipped, trained, supported, and supplied soldiers in history. Our guys are complaining about a lot of things, as they always will, but they aren't complaining about their Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI) goodies or their advanced weapons and equipment. And we're National Guard.
I am sure Garry thinks he's very clever, but it should occur to him that to properly satirize, lampoon, or profile critically in caricature, your result needs to remotely resemble what you lampoon. And it wouldn't hurt for you to have some positive goal in mind, either. Trudeau fails on both counts.
I remember enjoying Doonesbury a very long time ago. But then, I didn't used to have much respect for the military either, until I devoted 20 years and 18 months away from my wife and children in service to our country.
It really is sad that Trudeau can't find any true and realistic stories of soldiers that he wants to tell. But that's okay, because MILBLOGS will do it for him.
UPDATE:
John Schroeder of Blogotional and Mustang 23 of Assumption of Command both offer gracious and well-appreciated support for our beef with Doonesbury.
Thanks John, and thanks Mustang 23. I have very much appreciated your support and encouragement. You both do fine work, and I couldn't ask for a higher class of readers. Which of course is true of all of you, and if you don't know John and Mustang 23, check them out. :)
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