Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for February 24, 2011

And they’re off to save somewhere.

Jeff knows the ropes. Zipper has a lot to learn!

Still wondering. Do Joanie and Robert know their boy owes $50 million?

No!

Can Zipper learn at all? I think not.

Red Rascal is experienced enough to warn the clueless Zipper that on a suicide mission, you may lose control of your bowels?

Oh, this will not end well for someone.

^^I imagine that’s one area he has lots of experience.

So, let’s see… a guy who lost 50 mil for his equally incompetent boss is getting called in to do a spec ops mission and bringing in a completely uncleared, untrained civilian. All of this being orchestrated by Duke & Son. There’s millions of dollars and military-grade weapons and gear getting casually tossed around.

However, our actual government is apparently nowhere in this picture.

You might call this entertainment, but that’s not what I call it.

Got the batteries charged on the camcorder? YouTube hit.

randgrithr: if you’re not amused by this strip, then don’t read it. You have the freedom of choice in this country.

Jeff strikes me as being very savvy about these things, but at the same time incredibly dumb…I think he’d have potential if he smartened up a bit!

I have a few questions. Does Zipper even know what most of the stuff is that he is supposed to bring? Even if he does, where is he going to lay hands on it. A lot of that stuff is hard to come by unless you are military or law enforcement.

Oh well. Zipper will live and learn. (And let us hope it is not die and learn.)

On second thought…… you had better bring 3 or 4 changes of underwear!!!

sandflea said, about 1 hour ago randgrithr, THIS IS NOT REAL. It’s a comic strip.

WHAT? I bet they just changed the name; they are really going to save Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.

The Red Rascal lives!!!

Without fresh underwear, they’ll have to go commando on their commando raid.

If Jeff is a success maybe he can save Wisconsin from our new dictator.

Zipper only has to hang out in the chopper. Since they’re going into a civillian uprising, not a war zone, he should be fairly safe up there so long as he doesn’t fall out. They won’t be dodging aa or stinger missiles.

Having clean spare underwear is nice, but dropping the “used” underwear out of the chopper onto the crowd as a diversion might be more tactically effective. To a culture that has traditions of hurling articles of clothing, it puts throwing shoes into perspective.

Well… I guess if Zonker can be royalty (he’s the Earl of…something-or-other), then Zipper can become a war hero.

Why does the movie “Inglorious Basterds” keep coming to mind…?

I’m fully aware it’s “not real” - perhaps more than some of you are. For example, I don’t spend hours pontificating on how cute a female cartoon character’s nose is or worrying about her love life.

As for amusement, I used to look for a little more than that from this strip. I used to expect something that would provoke thought, not try to prevent it.

randgrithr, to your original question, given the parameters that you have accurately itemized, just what would you expect the role of the US government to be in a mercenary operation?

Besides helping to arrange for the boys’ remains to be shipped out of Berkistan when its all over, that is.

Zipper better be careful when he tosses his soiled undies out of the chopper, or the s–t may really hit the fan!

baslim-the-begger: yes, you tell your parents once you’re stuck over there and need $ and a lawyer.

It will be a Charlie Foxtrot, and Zipper will somehow, with his good heart, save the day…

All those hours spent playing Halo, BF and Call of duty will help.

I had to Google to learn what a plate carrier is. When I was in the army our main concern was nuclear war, so armor plates wouldn’t have helped much.

Why bother with underwear? Why not just WOW’em?! YEEEAAHHH!!! Go get’em pilgrim!

My good side is starting to feel a little sorry for Bmz…

Bad side sez: “Young people can make doing the stupidest things look easy”.

I vote for Zipper. I can’t exactly say why, but GT has a way of making his characters do surprising things which, on reflection, do seem to be consistent with their personalities.

We already know that Jeff can’t do this stuff. He’s tried often enough. Has Zipper ever tried? No? So what does he (we?) have to lose?

Be prepared!