Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for August 31, 2010

The right person got the promotion.

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless subordinate.

SSgt Shakespeare

You’re supposed to go easy on your buds! No fair!

What does ‘squared away’ mean?

@nagut: Squared Away is an Army slang term for having everything the way it should be. Think of building a house - you want everything square, right? Someone who is squared away has the right equipment, the right training, the right attitude and is ready for their mission.

And this is one reason why NCO’s don’t generally socialize with their former ‘buddies’ - You can be friendly, but you can’t be FRIENDS.

Orion

Thanks, I guessed something like that. I don’t really know what to think about that though. I mean, nobody wants to be a neat little building block - on the other hand, that’s the only way it works in the military. So I guess Melissa is right, but it’s a pity, because Roz sure has earned some extra treatment.

“Squared Away” — Refer to Kipling’s “The ‘Eathen” for further details.

Mel needs to heed Lord Acton….power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

sandfan said”

“Mel needs to heed Lord Acton….power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Nope. Mel’s doing her job.

Wondering if this ties into the addage, “a woman has to work twice as hard to get half as much credit…”

Maybe Roz isn’t entirely wrong. Maaaaaybe Mel is trying to prove something, overcompensating for the “incident.”

Gotta love the last panel

6x6 squares for t-shirts in the marines, drove me nuts. Even spaces between the shirts, socks, underwear, etc at all times. Hangers evenly spaced, field gear arranged neatly and all the same way. and on and on…. The marines have a thing for 6 inch measurments.

………like t.v. ……..is why they call it “programming”…..

oh, Mel, Mel……come on out from that helicopter and break through the “hardening” that Condi so wished for us…….

futile, illegal, soul-destroying, oil-seeking demonic war.

OPTRZEBIE Having my wall locker squared away to Marine Corps Standards just might keep my toes from falling off from swamp rot in the jungle. If I could not maintain standards in the barracks, how would I maintain any hygiene in the field. “Sir, yes Sir, the private’s hair is 3.125 inches long Sir. I will get it cut to a regulation 3 immediately Sir. Yes Sir, the private does appreciate that head lice are common in the field, Sir. Yes Sir, a high and tight would be better, Sir.” Wonder why I’m alive 40 years later? Scratching a louse could get you shot in the field.

I thought chicks liked being told they have a tight ass.

Mel is pretty generous letting Roz get away with calling her that even once… :)

Many years ago, Arnold Fine (he wrote for The Jewish Press) talked about his drill Sergeant during WWII - tough as nails, and everyone hated him, but they all came back alive from combat, so they all were grateful to him.

Sometimes it’s cruel to be kind.

You can be a friend, or you can be in charge. Good on her for figuring that out early on.

@Potrzebie: “The marines have a thing for 6 inch measurments.”

That explains a lot about the Marines…

The first film I went to see after basic training was Full Metal Jacket - having just gone through an admittedly milder version of the boot camp scenes I couldn’t help but laugh throughout the first half of the movie. Up to the point where Private ‘Pyle’ blows away his DI…

When I was in the USAF, we always said (jokingly) that we’d accept an Article 15 (limited, but arbitrary, unit punishment) for only murder or other serious, if not capital, crimes. Otherwise, they’d have to court-martial us and prove the crime.

I admit I’ve not been in the military, but to my way of thinking: Mel is down there working her butt off, sweat & dirt on her face, while Roz is just flapping her gums, and being insolent on top of it.

From what we can tell in the strip, Mel isn’t being a tight-ass – she’s being a leader. And it isn’t “programming” or the result of being in a “futile, illegal, soul-destroying, oil-seeking demonic war”…all of which may be true or not, but is simply beside the point. You can be a buddy or a leader, but not both at the same time.

Put some people in charge, and they’ll stand around giving orders just because they can, while others do the work – that’s a “boss”. A leader gets down into the work and leads by example, with a clear idea of what they’re doing and why, and the mission comes first. They can do it with friendliness and compassion, but not with compromise.

And Roz is way the hell out of line by imposing her buddy relationship with Mel on getting the work done.

The term we used to get thrown at us, even posted on mirrors, while in the Army was STRAC. Straight And Correct. Are you Strac?

Mel isn’t even giving an order per se. She stated that the blades had to be balanced so the copter could be ready by a time specific. As stated before she is leading and not commanding. Doing what she expects her troops to do. As an Army vet I have to say I have more respect for her actions then some of those whom I had to actually take commends from.

My husband served 4 years in Navy in the ’50s. When he died at 77 last year, his skivies and undershirts were still 6x6. And the rest of his closet looked like a locker, He tried to train me, but I didn’t do too well.

When I became a Petty Officer in the Navy (1962) I was told if I wanted to drink with non-rated men they would be happy to brake me back to ‘the ranks’.

That is why you do not make ‘good friends’ in the service.

Richard - you may have been oblivious, but I was born the Army brat of a drill sergeant. Try spending the first 18 years of your life in boot camp. :)

get over it , and get to work Roz.. if Mel is worthy of the promotion, then her friends will need to be even more squared away than the rest of the unit.

Roz is about to make the same mistake I made in AF basic. We had immediately paired up in a ‘buddy’ system. Then they made my ‘buddy’ dorm chief. Rather that ask why we were out of toilet paper one morning, he assumed that I had not been to the supply room and proceeded to chew me out. I listened for a while then told him that, if he would shut up for a second (not in anger, just a poor choice of words), I could explain that I had been down there but that the supply room was inexplicably closed.

I was put on report. Set back in training. Transferred from what became an honor flight to a bunch of Mickey Mouse misfits.

All because I thought I could speak to my ‘buddy’ like that.

Richard, Gary does give us a glimpse, but its our great posters’ willingness to share their experiences that really fleshes it out for me. Thanks all!

They promoted me to “Work Center Supervisor,” & told me to learn to like paperwork. As my first act of leadership, I explained delegation of authority, appointed a paperwork petty officer, & left to fix something. My rank was a yo-yo. Good tech. Military mind, not.

“My father called me that once… once!”

NashvilleMac: I highly recommend http://www.bratsourjourneyhome.com/. A documentary about us brats you will identify with.

I notice that although Roz is complaining about Mel’s air of “superiority,” only Mel has been doing any serious work in either of the last two strips.

“Mel needs to heed Lord Acton….power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Mel needs to continue being in charge; after all, that’s why they promoted her.

jhouck99, in the movie FMJ Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, the DI was played by a real DI, R. Lee Ermey. Kubrick brought him in as an advisor, and Ermey finagled the part with lines like:

“Are you quitting on me? Well, are you? Then quit, you slimyfucking walrus-looking piece ofshit! Get thefuck off of my obstacle! Get thefuck down off of my obstacle! NOW! MOVE IT! Or I’m going to rip your balls off, so you cannot contaminate the rest of the world! I will motivate you, Private Pyle, IF IT SHORT-DICKS EVERY CANNIBAL ON THE CONGO!”

http://bit.ly/9QgZLI

“Power TENDS TO corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

This is the correct quotation. Slightly different from the one people use all the time.