My friend Benari Poulten has a joke about the army commercial with the slogan "Army of One" in which he imagines himself to be the one and the only one sent into battle. There's a new campaign of army commercials meant to show you the validity of the skills you learn in the army and how they can apply to your life when you return from service (assuming you're not part of the 2100 we've been hearing about).
One of these commericals shows a group of firefighters driving in an engine. One is talking to the newbie about how others need to know "they can count on you. You know what I mean?" BOOM! All of a sudden you see the newbie at bootcamp training with his fellow soldiers helping each other through an ostacle course living up to the army adage "You're only as strong as the weakest link in the chain." BOOM! Back to him in the fire engine and he says "Yeah I do."
Another has a guy returning to a group of friends who are excited to see him. They ask what he was doing in the army. "Working with computers." They are a bit shocked. "Computers," they ask, "couldn't you have done that here?" BOOM! He's in a tent surrounded by high tech computers looking at various monitors and shouting directions: he's either in the middle of battle or an intense simulation. BOOM! Back in the room with his friends. He looks at them all and with a sober expression states "No, I don't think so."
So what is the message here? It seems like "Hey, join the army and enjoy constant random flashbacks!" Is one of these guys gonna be with his wife in the kitchen and she'll say "did you take out the trash?" and BOOM he's in a village in Iraq surrounded by children throwing garbage at him yelling in a language he doesn't understand while at the same time he's yelling "I'm here to help you!" and then he fires his machine gun over their heads to scare them away while other soldiers are going "What are you doing? Hold your fire! HOLD YOUR FIRE! You gave away our position!" all of a sudden random machine gun fire is coming at them from rooftops. BOOM! He's back in the kitchen talking to his wife "No I didn't take it out yet."
Go Army
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
B-Boy. brilliant. I loved this post, sailor. My dad was in "Nam. Flashbacks are like coffee in the AM.
I love the smell of napalm in the morn--wait. I think I just had a flashback to another post.
I'm away this weekend, but let's get together next week, dude.
Go army.
Post a Comment