"This man is not a soldier" - interesting article in Weekend Life

magazine in today's paper.

http://www.life.com/Life/lifecurrent.html

"This mand is not a soldier. But he plays one on the weekend."

(too bad this article is not online - an anachronism these days)

Saturday morning. Eight a.m. Pacing in front of 150 soldiers during a pre-ops briefing, John Lu drives home the need to follow the rules of war, especially in the sorts of murky, dangerous combat situations his company is likely to encounter over the next two days. "Dont kill an unarmed civilian. That's against the Geneva Convention!" shouts Lu, a squat man with a Brillo-pad crew cut and head-to-toe desert fatigues. He pauses to see if his message is sinking in, then adds, "It's also a 10-point deduction!"

There's a look of disappointment (my emphasis) on more than a few camo-painted faces. These men and women (and even some couples) haven't paid $90 and traveled hundreds, if not thousands, of miles to the former Joelton Air Force Station outside of Nashville this weekend just to abide by some treaty signed in Switzerland decades ago.

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John Lu has organized this two-day operation to commemorate the 18 U.S. soldiers who died during the battle for Mogadishu-on which the book and movie Black Hawk Down were based.

<snip>

A weekend's schedule might include everything from freeing hostages to searching for WMDs to holding safe elections or gaining the confidence of local religious leaders by any means available, including bribery.

<snip>

The faux soldiers in Joelton seem to fall into two general groups: those with a desire to test themselves in combat situations and those out for a good time.

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My commentary:

These people are exactly the kind who should, at the end of the weekend, have their keys confiscated and be led to the induction processing center. They're so able to play at soldier, they should jump at the opportunity to do the real thing.

Well, except for the 400 lb guy who looks like my old civics teacher. He looks like he could have a heart attack just from sitting comfortably in a chair.

Take a look at the guy on the link. He is the perfect age for the military, and even has the attitude to get his hair cut like he's serving in the forces. But do you think he'd sign up to defend our country, like is "morals" probably publicly scream but privately are quelled?

ASSHOLES.

A couple years ago when we first sent our boys to Afghanistan and then on to Iraq, you'd see some of the young men who stayed behind sporting those "high and tight" military-style haircuts. I have to assume they did this because they thought they would attract women.

These days, no one does that anymore...

Even in the cold weather!

Live in Brown Deer, work in Grafton... No numbers to back it up, but they sure seem less common than they did a couple years ago. I haven't noticed one in like 8 months, but then again I've been traveling a lot for work.

I spend a fair amount of time in Menards and Home Depot I see 2 basic hair styles for men. 1, the never combed, infrequently cut look and 2, the I'm checking out what it's like to be bald look.

None of those nicely moderate, I'm an accountant and 235 bowler looks.

the armed forces. I had no military experience, but this guy had served.

Not long afterward, at a friend's party, a complete stranger, drunk, came up to me and got in my face because I was wearing the jacket without serving. Presumably, this asshole was a marine (not much older than myself, who was about 17).

I wonder where that type of guy is now . . . is he still yelling at the kids who love to play dress-up as soldiers and wave their flags as they watch someone else go off and play war for them ?

even including nicknames for those who aren't fully "in character." They call them "FARBs" (for "far be it from accurate").

Have you thought about sending this guy's info to recruiters?