Happy (Belated) Birthday, Marines
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; send your tips here.]
Okay, yesterday was the Marine Corps’ birthday, so this is technically late, but its Veterans day, too, so its still appropriate to watch this video. And I like how they are highlighting the Korean War. Not enough is said about that.
By the way, if you are wondering if I am showing a pro-Marine bias, perhaps because my Dad served, you would be exactly right. My Dad led supply convoys in ‘nam, the kind of job that is dangerous and vital, but unglamorous. He tells how he used to have his equipment set up so that at the drop of a hat, he could get out of bed, put on his boots, his helmet, his belt, his equipment and so on, and run off to fight. One morning the alarm went off and he did exactly that… getting about a hundred feet before he realized he forgot his pants. Before he could go back for them, a shell hit his tent. Which means that if he had remembered his pants, he probably would have died and I wouldn’t have been conceived, let alone born. Funny how these things work out.
The man who replaced him was killed while leading a convoy. He doesn’t talk about it all very much except to say that when he saw the bodies piled up in TV coverage of the Bosnian war, it reminded him of Vietnam. And once while watching the movie Gettysburg he broke down into tears at the sight of Americans killing Americans.
Still, to all who served, in whatever branch, we salute you. Especially you, Dad.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
Greetings:
The Rolling Stones: “Salt of the Earth”
“Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
11B40 (fc41ff) — 11/11/2010 @ 9:49 amSpare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth.”
11b40
i never knew they said anything so positive about the soldiers. thanks.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 11/11/2010 @ 10:00 amThe Rolling Stones of 1968 probably thought that “foot soldier” was a euphemism for “community organizer.”
Ah, well, happy birthday to the USMC and best wishes to all of our veterans.
JVW (ff8251) — 11/11/2010 @ 10:10 amRe: “common foot soldier”
According to wikipedia (usual caveats apply), Jagger said he was referring to the everyday worker, and he was being cynical.
Kman (d25c82) — 11/11/2010 @ 10:41 amSpeaking of Veteran’s Day, today’s Garfield strikes me as… well, I hope it’s due to bad timing or some other explanation.
Kman (d25c82) — 11/11/2010 @ 10:44 amTo the Marines and all the branches of the U.S. Military which helped make and keep itself and much of the world (relatively) free, thanks. That’s an inadequate expression, but then, any expression of words falls short.
Christoph (8ec277) — 11/11/2010 @ 10:58 amWOW, Kman,
That’s an amazing screw-up. A lot of sanctimony shall be spilled over that comic.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:02 amHappy Birthday, jarheads ;-). And a special thanks to all my fellow vets today.
JÐ (85b089) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:04 amI’m happy to see there’s already an apology up on the page Kman linked to. It’s an amazingly inappropriate comic for today.
I’ve never been in the military; my temperament would make it difficult, and it’s illegal for me to serve in any event. So all I can do is echo Aaron’s sentimients, and say thank you to those who have.
Thank you.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:07 amWell, now i am dying of curiousity, because if you follow Kman’s link, now, there is page with an apology on it.
so what was the original?
Aaron Worthing (b1db52) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:08 amYou can click through the apology, and you see Garfield executing a spider in a formation and mocking the memory of this death as National Stupid Day
Dustin (b54cdc) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:14 amNow, I’m not upset about the comic, even though I’m a veteran and I’ve suffered a close loss in OIF.
I have to admit that I don’t understand what the point of the Garfield comic was.
I looked again and I summed it up in error. Garfield is just killing a spider he came across. The spider itself is saying he will be remembered, and later, the spiders don’t know why they celebrate National Stupid Day.
Henson signed the thing 11-11, so… maybe he’s directly complaining people don’t know what Veteran’s day is about? Yet his apology seems to rule this out.
So what’s the comic mean? Again, I’m not offended by it so much as I’m just confused.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:20 amI always watch Sands of Iwo Jima on Veterans Day to celebrate Veterans Day and the Marine Corps anniversary.
As a matter of fact, I have two copies of that film, so just in case one goes bad, I’ll still be ready to rock.
Semper Fidelis.
Lock and load.
Dave Surls (2155f1) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:22 amProbably a cache thing, but I don’t get the apology. Just the comic strip.
What does the apology say?
Kman (d25c82) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:23 amhttp://blogs.gocomics.com/2010/11/jim-davis-on-todays-garfield.html has the text.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:24 amdustin, thanks.
actually you have to credit them for leaving it up to be found. they could have disappeared it down the memory hole, and i think they would have been justified in doing so, as long as they left a note.
but leaving it so you can see the original, its really kind of owning up to it in full. “yes, we did this. here, go ahead and see how bad it was. we’re sorry. it was an accident. please don’t hate us.”
btw, it also reminds me of why i don’t like garfield anymore. it used to be funny because it was really representative of what your average cat was thinking. Its sort of the same reason why “Dug” in the movie Up! is so funny–because you think, “that’s exactly what dogs are thinking! at least the big fluffy lovable but dumb ones.” but somewhere along the line garfield just went off into surreal territory and lost what i loved about him around twenty years ago.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 11/11/2010 @ 11:26 amHonestly, I don’t know that I could have. It’s really an amazing screw up. It’s to their credit.
I do believe Henson’s claim that it’s an accident.
I found those comics where they delete all of Garfield’s comments to be much funnier than the actual comics.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 11/11/2010 @ 12:04 pmYesterday morning, having breakfast with a friend at Cracker Barrel, 5 Marines came in wearing dress blues. I’m sure they had just left a ceremony at the Marine Corps Air Station. They looked so impressive. Numerous people said Happy Birthday to them.
Thanks to all who served. I certainly appreciate it.
PatAZ (9d1bb3) — 11/11/2010 @ 12:44 pmA toast to my fellow Veterans and a prayer for those Veterans whose lives were cut short in the defense of our country. You didn’t get to finish the journey many of us were blessed to enjoy but you are never ever forgotten.
Aaron, nice account about your Dad’s close call. I’d offer a Semper Fi but he might say “Eh, he is in the Chairforce – what does he know?!” 🙂
VOR2 (c1f4a2) — 11/11/2010 @ 2:18 pmThanks to all of the veterans who have, and continue, to keep us safe, and especially for answering this noble call in spite of those who would denigrate our military.
My dad was a Marine, old school. He is in Washington now and spearheading his community’s first Veteran’s Day barbeque celebration. The local paper interviewed him, more than $1,000 has been donated from local Kiwanis, Lion’s Club, churches, etc. The support has been phenomenal and the rsvp’s so great that he fears the firehall won’t be big enough. There are vets from WWII, Korea, Viet Nam and Iraq attending. Best of all, young guys from the VA are being transported to the event so they too can be honored and recognized for their sacrifice. It’s a great and wonderful thing when you’re biggest worry for an event like this is that you’ve outgrown the locale before the event even takes place.
Dana (8ba2fb) — 11/11/2010 @ 6:11 pmThat’s great, Dana.
Ðustin (b54cdc) — 11/11/2010 @ 6:15 pmWow, aphrael, so Jim Davis’s excuse is that the comic was drawn “almost a year ago”? Man, all of us should have been a comic. I don’t begrudge Mr. Davis his success, but, Heavens, one would think he would have given better direction to the Korean animators.
JVW (eccfd6) — 11/12/2010 @ 12:13 amI think alot of people were reading something into a comic strip that wasn’t there.
My
Ass
Rides
In
Navy
Equipment
Happy belated birthday ya freaking jarheads.
Gerald A (5b55e9) — 11/12/2010 @ 5:10 amSome members of our HS band visited elementary schools on Veteran’s Day and played tribute…
kay2the2nd (b62152) — 11/15/2010 @ 9:41 amhttp://www.youtube.com/user/landofgar