Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for December 09, 2011

Roz, the helos are going to a better place…or Afghanistan.

This is a psychological strip. Roz has a poetic soul, but fears to show it in the military environment. She is afraid to come out of her shell, but wants to. The more “liberated” Mel is amused by Roz and is encouraging her to express herself. This is all creative, symbolic stuff. Neither woman would literally jump on a flatbed and try to “free” a gunship. Why risk getting into trouble? Why is Trudeau doing this? What’s his point?

Desert

LWP (in case you’re still up): What’s the “better place”? It’s obviously not Afghanistan, elsewhere in Iraq or Iran. Is it the USA? Hangar heaven?

Trouble is, with Obama’s attitude, the “better place” may just be Kuwait! The helos will thus remain “in the region” of the Middle East, awaiting to resume the borderless “war on terror”. If the reich-wing wins major victories in the House, Senate, and maybe even takes the White House, then expect these “killing machines” to go right back into use.

Sorry, folks.

My head hurts… I just thought it was funny.

@ Dylan – eeesh. It didn’t escape your notice that this is a COMIC STRIP, I hope and trust, and that every now and then it puts in some humorous situations that might involve characters being ironic or unrealistic?

Its just was a pressure relieving moment. As soon as the birds are gone so are they.

It’s not rocket science folks. GT is trying to get you to think, and look at the deeper meanings in life. Sometimes we see it, and sometimes we don’t. One day you see a beautiful bird darting across the sky. That could mean freedom and being care free. It could mean a lot of things.

We are reminded that there are souls living this war ; poets, pretenders, patriots, perverts…. just like us. Not just death machines.

 “Much truth is spoken in jest” —Gilda Radner, American comic 

Dandwriter1, where and when did you work on F4s? I was a B43171C early in my AF career.

Popular strips are often popular because they can be inserted into our psyche to reinforce our beliefs. GT is a master at this and has lasted 40 years. I’d love to read his interpretation of this particular strip.

From 7 years ago, on their way to war, what shrink wrapped birds look like:http://www.msc.navy.mil/sealift/2004/February/graphics/2LMSRsonpier.jpg

There are times when Doonesbury is the most interesting thing in the entire paper much less the comics.

9 Chickweed Lane needs a chat site.

I love the expression on Roz’s face in the last panel.Well drawn, GT!

Dylan, sometimes, a comic is just a comic. I’m a pilot and it’s common to anthropomorphize the machines. Even though they are all the same, they develop personalities. We talk about them as such sometimes. While Trudeau does go deep in some stories, sometimes humor is pretty shallow, but still funny.

Hmm, I remember the scenes of the ships we worked hard to keep in the air being pushed off carrier decks into the ocean, or being ditched (with dramatic results!!). I also flashed from the comments on seeing and F-4 coming straight at me, with a full rack of napalm half way to the ground and the sudden urge to dig a hole, well, back to the U.S.!(not China!)

Of course what is the cost of shipping these ships home, and what is the cost of all the equipment we’re leaving behind, to either be used, or already scrap???? Yes, fly little gunship, fly!!

Fly away… to the US border.

Thanks for the fundiwack. And ‘fly, little’…etc gets them out of her (our?) hair…great sequence. Admire greatly.

Nice out look, can’t wait for more troops to come home.

Folks, the Republicans signed a bunch of budget cuts . They didn’t notice that hey had not exempted the military in their headlong rush to pass budget cuts. They put their foot in it and now must rely on Obama to extricate them from their dilemma.

“Is there a point here somewhere?” There is a point. The issue is: Shall we attack Iran? Either directly or by proxy (Israel)? I think “war with Iran” = “war with China”, since that huge, rapidly developing country needs Iran’s oil. This will lead to WWIII, the “unintended consequence”. 

“I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought with, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”—Albert Einstein

The big problem is, Trudeau doesn’t know how to draw cartoon hands, too many fingers.

Some people would say, “Trudeau is trying to tell us that, ‘the strip is more literal than we can admit’.”

I on the other hand think it just shows that 40 yrs of mediocre graphics is irrelevant.

````` I was Armorer of an active duty Army Field Artillery unit 1977-79, & confess I TOTALLY identify with coming to love beautifully made, effective, efficient machines for what they are, while mentally diviorcing them from what they do. My M203 40mm grenade launchers and Browning M2 .50-cal HB machineguns were MY BABIES, so much so that I got irationally angry if they were mistreated by the guys who acutally USED them. And I could hardly bear the thought of somebody ever getting actually shot with them.

Yeppers, The modern military mess hall. Oops! My bad, the “dinning facility.” (Danged PC’ers even got to the Pentagon.)