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November 15, 2004
Fight Smarter, Not Harder
Among the things that make me want to scream (other than the sight of a fine all-American, red-blooded young United States Marine, even if he is young enough to be one of my progeny) are People With Too Much Time On Their Hands.
How do I know they have an excess of free time?
Easy. Because they spend way too much of it trying to tell people who are busy doing Useful Things how to run their lives.
Cat sent me this article about LCpl. Miller, the gent pictured in the preceding photo. LCpl. Miller, when he is not making ladies all over the US swoon, has also managed to arouse the ire of folks like Linda Ortman, who (according to James Taranto) chided the Dallas Morning News for their choice of Grunt-du-jour:
Are there no photos of nonsmoking soldiers in Iraq?
We are all aware of how important it is to help people stop smoking because of health risks.
Please, Dallas Morning News, be more sensitive. Youth are easily influenced. Let's stop reinforcing the smoking habit. Stop publishing photos like the one on the front page Wednesday.
Work with me on this one. There's a war on, terrorists have attacked us (and may again), LCpl. Miller is stuck in the combat zone, but never fear... Ms. Ortman has her eye firmly on The Big Picture. Grimly, she reminds us all the health risks of smoking.
Now that I think of it, I think there are several hazardous activities going on in the general vicinity that Ms. Ortman may want to take notice of. For instance, what in the *^$^!# Sam Hill is the deal here?
I mean, I'm no expert, but that looks like FIRE in the background. Did those Marines clear the area of civilians before allowing that fire to ... to... um... conflagrate???? Are they wearing approved fire-retardant gear? Have they all been properly trained in official DOD fire-containment techniques? WHAT KIND OF WAR ARE WE RUNNING OVER THERE ANYWAY?
And just look at this young man... Where is his mother? And why doesn't he have a Band-Aid on that wound?
US Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan Chapman, from Harlan, Kentucky, a machine gunner of the 1st Battalion 3rd Marine Regiment, talks to the media during a news conference at the Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, southern Germany, Monday, Nov. 15, 2004. He was injured in Fallujah, Iraq, and is now under medical treatment in this military hospital. "It's nothing too serious - it cracked my skull but I think it looks worse than it is," he told reporters. "I want to go back - my buddies are out there."
GO BACK OUT THERE??? With a cracked skull? What kind of whackjob runs towards the fighting? Doesn't he know there's some rule that if you get three Purple Hearts you can go home? What a ding-dong...
And just look at these Marines... tsk, tsk, tsk... I'll just bet they're violating at least 17 provisions of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. To say NOTHING of noise pollution statues - I mean, are they even wearing hearing protection? "King of Battle" indeed... "Kids of Battle" is more like it. And those... those... things they fire out of those nasty big, long.. oh, I can't even talk about it... What do they call them... rounds? They can't be good for terrorists and insurgents and other living things.
This is no way to fight a more sensitive War on Terror. It's just disgusting.
Good Lord....
No wonder liberals think military people are stupid. If they just had more time on their hands, maybe they could think things through... you know... like the smart people do.
- Cassandra
November 15, 2004 at 06:47 PM | Permalink
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Comments
Marines and soliers smoke? I for one am shocked, SHOCKED!!!
Next someone is going to tell me they drink too.
That young man has really got to become more concerned about his health. What a hoot. God I love busybodies.
Posted by: Pile On® at Nov 15, 2004 6:56:40 PM
I am sure now that they have been warned the Dallas Morning News won't even think of publishing a picture of the guy yelling "Allah" who tried to smoke his own head in front of the White House today.
Posted by: Pile On® at Nov 15, 2004 7:12:39 PM
Yee-HAH!!!!!
Cass is SMOKIN now!
Idiots and people who give them air time...into the row boat, now!
Posted by: spd rdr at Nov 15, 2004 8:25:02 PM
I'm no prophet (didn't we all see this coming?) but the second - the INSTANT - I saw that photo, I knew there was going to be some outcry like Ortman's.
Even Linda Vester of FNC (seemingly enthralled with the Marlboro Marine) nearly pooped herself when she heard he smoked 3 packs a day. You could see she wanted to consult a physician/fact-checker: 3 packs a day? Is that possible, Doctor?
Posted by: bahabuddha™ at Nov 15, 2004 8:28:49 PM
3 packs a day huh?
You gotta admire a person who is willing to commit to something.
Posted by: Pile On® at Nov 15, 2004 8:35:27 PM
Good Lord... I had two friends who were almost up to that.
Posted by: Cassandra at Nov 15, 2004 8:41:30 PM
Hey, the Navy started me smoking a-way back when people weren't ostracizing you for it. Twenty-five cents a pack (at sea) and smoke breaks galore. Of course, I smoked "Kools" and was in with the brothas.
If I see a cigarette around my kids, though, I'll kill 'em with my bare hands.
Posted by: spd rdr at Nov 15, 2004 8:47:46 PM
Too funny... must be a generational thing. That's what I smoked when I was a teenager, but I didn't smoke all that long.
My Dad caught me after a year or two and asked me to stop.
I was so impressed that he didn't yell and carry on the way he usually did that I just listened to him - probably the only time I ever did that.
Posted by: Cassandra at Nov 15, 2004 9:00:33 PM
It's a wonder that they still show Humphrey Bogart movies on TV anymore. He always had a ciggy dangling out of the corner of his mouth.
Does Linda Ortman know about that?
"Ortmans? Ortmans? We don't need no steenkin' Ortmans!"
Posted by: Don Brouhaha at Nov 15, 2004 9:14:53 PM
I was a Marlboro Lights Teen. Never had a taste for the menthols, I understand those things will kill you.
Posted by: Pile On® at Nov 15, 2004 9:16:04 PM
We were talking along these lines at work last week..........how in the hell did we ever make it to adulthood without OSHA, the EPA, or the Surgeon General??? I chewed on a crib painted with lead-based paint, had BB-Gun battles, pine cone fights, talked to strangers, climbed trees without a harness or safety devices, crossed the street without looking both ways, smoked, played with firecrackers (M-80's)learned to shoot a rifle at 8 years, joined the Boy Scouts, said the Pledge of Allegience,swam without a life guard,rode skateboards without pads or helmet,ran with scissors, and generally lived a pretty carefree existance.
Imagine how much fuller my life would have been with the Ortmans of the world looking out for my welfare.
Greg
Posted by: Greg at Nov 15, 2004 10:15:13 PM
I suggest that we send Ms. Ortman right over there to give the young gentleman a lecture.
Posted by: RIslander at Nov 15, 2004 11:30:48 PM
Me thinks - Mr. Ortman is blowing smoke him self,not the kind that comes from a menthol cigarette - but the kind that comes out of someone's fat liberal behind....Which is the orfice, where I would suggest he blow it out of anyway...
I would be the hardest chain smoking, wild turkey drinkin...woman chasin
[Of course I mean...wife chasin..ahem..]...,SOB..etc,etc,.
If I had to put my life on the line like these brave guys do everyday I would feel I was entitled to life's little vices. Smoking that cigarette won't hurt that GI... It isn't tough enough..
I just hope this soldier isn't using Aqua-Net in a can [hairspray]. That would hurt the ozone layer.
My God I hate stupid tree hugging liberals...
Posted by: Dr. Hairnet Stuhl at Nov 16, 2004 4:00:58 AM
Marines use hairspray? I always wondered how they kept those hairdo's so perfect.
Posted by: Pile On® at Nov 16, 2004 7:41:24 AM
Some of them wear garters too with their Charlies and Alphas. I find them madly sexy...
Posted by: Cassandra at Nov 16, 2004 8:39:21 AM
Just remember guys, the rose goes in front.
Posted by: Crash Davis at Nov 16, 2004 9:45:36 AM
He is smoking and they have their knickers in a twist about that? Where are their priorities? First they off murduring scum and smoke afterward. And her point?
And where are the envirowacko self righteous
morons who want the BZ to be 'smoke free?'
Yep. You're right. They need to get a life.
But I can see her point. It is bad enough to be a role model for young men who have been feminized by the educrats by turning himself into a warrior-god, but does he have to smoke too? Does his mommy know? Does she even care?
Do I? Nope.
Posted by: Cricket at Nov 16, 2004 12:45:05 PM
I love old movies and books where the hero smoking. It so dates the work.
3 packs a day. Marines - proving once again the meaning of discipline.
Posted by: Lonely Man at Nov 16, 2004 2:18:49 PM
So many on the Left are like little kids who never grow up. They obsess over minutia while the grown-ups keep them safe by taking care of the important stuff.
Posted by: Freeven at Nov 16, 2004 5:15:01 PM
It seems Miss Ortman is a bit tense.
Can someone please give her a Marlboro?
Posted by: purple raider at Nov 16, 2004 7:02:05 PM
Da Grunt and I were talking about the smoking habits of Marines the other day and he got this totally devilish grin thing going on. I asked him what canary he just swallowed and he laughed, telling me "Grunts that smoke hate it when I lead PT!". Da boy is hell on wheels on a long run but he's too damn big, mean, and tough for anyone to give him much grief about it! he-he!
Marines have a definite moronic, maniacal, twisted sense of humor. You might even call it sadistic in the regard as to how much pain they like to inflict on one another! Let 'em catch someone hungover and watch the fun and fireworks. Brings new meaning to the phrase "Hell on earth"! But then Da Grunt always did like to pull the legs off grasshoppers and use a magnifying glass on poor little anthills! OORAH!
Posted by: JarheadDad at Nov 17, 2004 11:23:11 AM
I know what you mean, JHD.
The Unit hasn't been able to PT as much as he likes to lately - he leaves home at 5 am and doesn't get home until 7:30 or 8 most nights, and he's so busy at work he hasn't been going to the gym like he should. He had to run a PFT and he could have put it off, but when he saw how everyone in the office was bagging it he got a stubborn streak and decided to tough it out.
He was really dreading it because he hasn't been running since we moved.
Last nite he came home and I asked him how it went. He got the best time out of everyone, but didn't do so well on situps and pullups. But he took fiendish delight making the CG keep his elbows in while he was doing his situps. Way to get a good fitrep, idiot...
It was pretty funny - I remember going to the gym at 29 and having Marines come up to me when I was on the treadmill. I used to run for an hour, and they'd come up and say, "now I know where your husband gets it from - he runs us into the ground during PFTs", which is funny because I'm a total wimp and he says he can't keep up with the younger guys anymore.
Now I don't run anymore since I moved - I need to start again.
Posted by: Cassandra at Nov 17, 2004 11:40:50 AM
HA! The only place I run is in my dreams Cass! :-o
I've had too many knee rebuilds to do more than walk around the neighborhood any longer. I gave up coaching about ten years ago because I couldn't demostrate ball skills without having my knee swell up to the size of a grapefruit! Man how I miss mixing it up with the young guys.
Oh well, getting old sux! I now have to handle my boys strictly through intimidation and treachery! I know where they sleep!!! ;-)
Posted by: JarheadDad at Nov 17, 2004 11:49:54 AM
Age , treachery and guile will always overcome youth, eagerness and enthusiasm.
Posted by: Don Brouhaha at Nov 17, 2004 12:34:35 PM
Or in the words of P.J. O'Rourke, "Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence and a Bad Haircut".
Posted by: Pile On® at Nov 17, 2004 1:10:28 PM
