Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for April 06, 2012
April 05, 2012
April 07, 2012
Transcript:
Joanie: So, Leo, Alex says you were in Afghanistan. Toggle: Y-y-yes, ma'am... infantry! Jeff: Yo, I was there, too. Black Ops. Can't really talk about it. Joanie: And that's where you were injured. Toggle: Y-y-yes, ma'am. But b-b-blown up in Iraq, too. Everyone... was! Toggle: You know, I almost got an eye patch. But it seemed a bit much. Joanie: Jeff, go bother your father... Toggle: No, it... okay.
We have an NG “lifer and fraud” “Jeff”, who claims all sorts of weird stories about being “a green beret” in ‘Nam, and sent on secret missions. Couple months ago he was finally jailed for “abusing” his wives, and kids. Hope Jeff isn’t headed THAT direction in the future.
Next to “Toggle”, my favorite Doonsebury character was Phred, named my first cockatiel after him. It took 30 years for me to even admit to people I’d been in ’Nam. Then it became a reason to “challenge” right wing chickenhawks, not with “war stories”, just the fact of “been there, done that”. Now my son is a disabled veteran of Iraq and other “places” after 13 years in the service, five years doing for real what Jeff only dreams about. “Real stories” are reserved only for other folks who were really there, or maybe our shrinks, and even that, reluctantly.
Suspect Leo will be tolerant of Jeff, but still “put him in his place”.