Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for June 03, 2012
Transcript:
B.D.: Walden, AKA.... House of Vets! Ray: You're late, dude - we're starved! B.D.: Sorry, I ran into an old acquaintance at the vet center... a young sergeant still dealing with her MST. Ray: Man. Don't you know any vets not messed up by war? B.D.: Sure. Lot's of 'em! Ray: Uh-huh. B.D.: Nobody in this room, obviously. Ray: Obviously. Ray: What you... mean? My life great! B.D.: Oh... Toggle. I didn't see you there, son. Ray: I didn't either. Toggle: We... all three lucky!
BE THIS GUY over 12 years ago
I love Toggle. He is the best character GT created after the original cast.
Dtroutma over 12 years ago
Orion-13 over 12 years ago
Toggle’s got it right.
Orion
Buzza Wuzza over 12 years ago
Toggle is indeed a great character and he and Alex make this strip really go.
pbarnrob over 12 years ago
Toggle’s survival and continued character growth gives us hope for any future. So many, so messed-up, and when the rest come home, they’ll need to turn to and start fixing all that’s wrong here. Will they have the education and training to to it? I sure hope so!
thesnowleopard Premium Member over 12 years ago
Toggle’s great. Definitely someone worth waiting on to hear what he has to say.
3hourtour Premium Member over 12 years ago
..Love Toggle..
jploch5408 over 12 years ago
Seems to me GT always has Toggle say the right thing at the right time. Fantastic!
Nighthawks Premium Member over 12 years ago
I know!let’s invade Syria! and then, let’s invade Iran!what the heck, let’s invade the world!what could POSSibly go wrong?
terryfitz2 over 12 years ago
He’s waiting for the election so he can keep blaming Bush for his own screw-ups
Bosn_c_otter over 12 years ago
Tonight I am going to spend some time with an old friend of mine suffering from PTSD from the Iraq war. Its one thing to read it in a comic and quite another to see it. He’s bone skinny from starvation modes, cut marks on both wrists, currently wearing an Anklet to monitor his movements. All the little rituals we have to go though for even the simplest of tasks…. But he’s worth it. He’s my friend.
William Bednar Premium Member over 12 years ago
nighthawk? Are you psychic or what? When Romney becomes president, your musings will come true when we WILL invade Iran, Syria, Yemen, etc. And then, we’ll have millions more messed Vets! Count on it!
Linguist over 12 years ago
I’m pretty sure that BD was alluding to Mel, thus rounding out the veteran characters in one strip. I agree that of all GT’s wounded warriors, though we cheer for them all, we see hope in Toggle. His youth and optimism give us all inspiration. Toggle, throughout his adversities, has shown that most basic of all human instincts – survival. We are all survivors, no matter how personally damaged. We should celebrate this.Also, as this strip points out, we should provide support for our fellow men and women. You needn’t have been with them in the military, you needn’t have walked in their shoes. Just BEING with them is often enough.
tigre1 over 12 years ago
Amen, Toggle. I got off easy…
George Alexander over 12 years ago
All you Toggle fans seem to have missed the core of his strength, which consists of his innocence. A saintly holy innocent, unblemished by the hell that he has gone through.
Linguist over 12 years ago
He’s Back! We had a peaceful week of insightful commentary sans the shrill screeds of Guard SGT. I thought the troll was perhaps on permanent leave. But, alas, no such luck. He will insist on foisting his farthest right agenda onto us – even in a strip that has absolutely no bearing on his views.Vacation is over!
Linguist over 12 years ago
You seem to forget that some of us REALLY fought and shed blood. And not all of us Veterans are so easily misguided by extreme politics and conspiracy theories dreamed up on the right.I’ve stated before and I’ll state again. I’m neither right nor left, Republican nor Democrat. I am an independent thinker and an Independent voter. I believe in reading and listening to all schools of thought – even ones I don’t agree with. Yes, even your comments! What angers me is anyone would have the unmitigated gall to question my patriotism, or beliefs, simply because they don’t coincide with their own preconceptions.
Dtroutma over 12 years ago
Guard: better not get around orthodox Jews in Israel, or fundamentalist Mormons in Arizona or Nevada, or well fundamentalist evangelicals in much of the U.S.
Your hatred is from KKK matched with radical right hypocrisy regarding “true religion”, not any “experience” that opened your eyes to the “outside world”.
I worked with “those other people” in Viet Nam, grew to understand them, and hold no animus. My son has worked with the different sects in Iraq, and elsewhere we’ve been involved “militarily”, as well as other places where we’ve just been “training” other folks. He’s got a real world adjustment to where he disagrees with some of their values, and sees how they formed. “Enemies” they were, because of OUR invasion of their countries, again.
But, “Guard”, when you see the “other peoples’” view, it’s harder to hold animus, such as your blind hate. You learned nothing while sitting “overseas”, eating your pizza, or maybe burger and fries.
Rocky Premium Member over 12 years ago
Amen…
beyondnow777 over 12 years ago
um, because it’s a foreign, sovereign nation and those are not reasons for war, and don’t have a damn thing to do with national defense. The best solutions to those problems are Facebook, Twitter, and hamburgers, not bombs and invasion.
Not the Smartest Man On the Planet -- Maybe Close Premium Member over 12 years ago
There’s always someone worse off than you are.
Bill Chapman over 12 years ago
I’ve always thought that any food shipments sent to Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, etc. should be laced with saltpeter……
montessoriteacher over 12 years ago
Sadly, there are many innocent people in places like North Korea who are starving. Blowing up starving innocent people really won’t solve anything. North Korea is an extremely repressed country, probably worse than any in the world. Lil Kim’s son isn’t going anywhere. They now have lil Kim II.
eggman01 over 12 years ago
Am I the only one who didn’t get the joke? Toggle is sitting right there, Ray says ’we’re’ starving, but neither Ray nor BD sees him — why? Is the joke supposed to be that vets are invisible even to each other?
Or maybe BD and Ray are backpedaling on insinuating that Toggle is messed up, because he had a harder road to recovery physically than any of them. If he can be upbeat they don’t want to bring him down. But saying they didn’t see him is a weird way to make him feel better.
Dtroutma over 12 years ago
Guard, you might want to look into your buddy Oliver North regarding the string of events, called “Iran-Contra” that let to that Beirut bombing.
LeoAutodidact over 12 years ago
History shows that a ususal way for the Political Class to distract the “Plebes” from economic troubles is a war. Especially in Election Years, so get ready for Iran!
corzak over 12 years ago
So sorry on this Guard, but the Cheney/Bush administration definitely lied on the WMDs and the Iraq/911connection. I know because for months I witnessed them say these things with my own eyes and earsThere is nothing you can say or do or link to that will get me to forgot that I witnessed them say these things with my own eyes and ears. And, over the years, I witnessed them all recant. One by one. With my own eyes and ears.
yuggib over 12 years ago
GT should bring back aging comrade Phred (whatever happened to him?) and see if there might be some chemistry between him and Toggle. Might be interesting to see old foes sit down over a supper and discuss “old times.” And to see what advice Phred might give to the latest generation.
paddywhoo over 12 years ago
IT TOOK ME A COUPLE OF BEATS TO GET THAT RAY HAS BRAIN DAMAGE THAT HAD HIM FORGET THAT TOGGLE WAS THERE, THEN ANOTHER COUPLE BEATS FOR THE QUESTION TO OCCUR TO ME: SO, DOES BD HAVE BRAIN DAMAGE, TOO?