Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for September 10, 2010

Phred!!! He and B.D. shared a case of Schlitz, too, as I recall.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear B.D., Happy Birthday toooooo Yooouuu!

I remember reading about Phred in one of those old Doonesbury collections.

Ah, the good old days! Haven’t thought about Phred in ages.

I remember when Phred captured B.D. and then proceeded to get them lost, good story.

Phred has been one of G.B. Trudeau’s most brilliant creations. I am impressed with how he lands on his feet time after time. I still recall his years at the U.N.

Heh, one would’ve thought that BD was too old for Iraq … until I read in the paper last year about a local (Massachusetts) sergeant retiring. He was sixty years old, looked forty, in the National Guard, and as far as anyone knew was the last enlisted man on active duty who’d served in Vietnam.

Wow, where is Phred? Last we saw him, he was managing a Nike factory in Vietnam, correct?

Raven, assuming an age of 19, and when did Nam end? 72? so: 31 (2003)+19= 50. Good enough to catch bullets. I did serve with some Nam vets in the sandtrap in 05/06.

Yep, Vanpelt (are you Lucy, Linus, or Rerun?), it’s been a long strange strip.

@BrianCrook

Nice play on the Dead’s lyrics, there.

I figured yesterday BD was going to bring up Phred. Too bad it’s not quite a similar situation: Phred and BD were “frenemies” almost from the start. Kind of like Havoc and his various Afghan contacts today. Toggle, well, BD’s old unit, didn’t seem to have connected much with Iraqis, even the ones who were happy to have them there.

I’m thinking BD will try to help talk Toggle down by using his own experience, but he didn’t have PTSD to that great extent. Toggle will get recommended to a VA shrink, perhaps BDs therapist.

And I just bet we’ll get, tomorrow or next week, a “Meanwhile…” when BD says, “I wonder what Phred’s up to now.”

I think I will just let this one unfold…see where GT wants to go with it. McDermott is probably right though. This does feel like a short Phred revival comin on.

I do want to thank whoever told me about Strummer yesterday. The Pogues, to me, or ok.

oops. “are ok”

Bring back Phred!

The Iraqis (the majority thereof) were MEANT to win, weren’t they?

Something is indeed wrong when a member of an army liberating a country by overthrowing its dictator automatically sees any national of that country as an enemy.

^ Uh, that is who they were fighting.

I think Toggle should meet Phred. It would be good for him.

As noted, named my first cockatiel, decades ago-“Phred”. She was a good friend for 20 years. Would also like to see GT do a “catchup” on Phred, which may well be coming.

I third - would love to see Phred again.

Perhaps in this arc GT is referring to “the fog of war,” a term used to describe the level of ambiguity in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one’s own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign. The term is ascribed to the Prussian military analyst Carl von Clausewitz. From his book “On War.”

jimpow:

Again, please, this time in street-english.

I’ll 4th the bring back Phred sentiment. What a great character and story line from those old days.

It was pretty funny when the Viet Cong traded Phred to the Pathet Lao. Haven’t seen Rev. Sloan lately, either. What ever happened to Mike’s little brother? Was Kim originally the war orphan who’s first English word was “BigMac?”

To answer your last question, Chuck, Kim was a war orphan, and “Big Mac” were two of her first words.

Good early DOONESBURY allusion there, Dwkiser.

TexTech, I was borrowing G.B. Trudeau’s own pun, from the title of his quarter-century retrospective volume.

Ah, Phred, we’ve missed you. Our daughter even named her bowling ball ‘PHRED’ .. name incised on it and everything! It was a different era, that’s for sure!

It is a great story. For once the comments have all been excellent and to the point. I also hope Phred returns for a rematch.