#veteran experience

[captaingimpy]

A Tale of Two Systems: Revisiting First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II

When most people think of Rambo, their minds immediately go to explosions, body counts, and a shirtless Sylvester Stallone wielding an M60. That’s fair—by the time the series evolved into its later iterations, it had become synonymous with over-the-top action. But to reduce First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II to mere action movies is to miss the heart of these films entirely. At their…

[violetsquare111]

perhaps overly rambly thoughts on the influencer arc

it is very hard to watch but i don't think it's contrary to what we know of green, and i'm enjoying it just fine.

we know green is a showoff and perfectionist. the color gang all like winning, but green likes making a big display of it too. he's quite a sore winner and loser, and hates having the spotlight taken from him when it is his.

he loves attention and praise. and like, that's okay, don't we all? he cares about his friends in the end.

but i get the feeling that, while they love him and appreciate his talents, his friends don't really give him that big attention that he might want. they're used to him winning and being good at art/performance of any kind. it's normal to them really. maybe even a little disheartening.

so i can easily see how getting that attention in the form of being an influencer is a huge thing for green. an addiction, even. he gets so drawn into it that he overlooks his friends' discomfort, so he can keep being the Perfect Celebrity, keep the hype going.

obviously this end outcome here isn't actually what he wanted, and i'm sure he feels guilt for all this on some level. but he's pushed that away in favor of the high of getting a number to go up, getting more of the spotlight. there's nothing else that matters right now but getting that new dopamine hit. again, it is an addiction.

surely his friends will come around. why don't they get it? this is a good thing for him. he's winning. he's harsh, yes, but he's just trying to be successful. his friends aren't actually hurt (they are), they're doing fine (they're not), what's the issue? (everything.)

i don't think current green is character assassination - right now he's doing horribly and hurting the people around him because he is at his lowest, the worst version of himself where his flaws overtake him. it can go up from here. i have no doubt that by the end of this green is going to get some sense shaken into him and make up with his friends. like, that's just the kind of series this is.

and despite all the character analysis i just did lol - i ALSO think it's important to remember that we are probably taking every little action of these characters infinitely more seriously than the creators are. while the series sometimes dips its toes (or entire face) into being a dramatic and beautiful story, it is ultimately a cartoon, and sometimes the character writing will be put on the back burner for a moment in favor of a gag or an overall episode arc. and that's fine! nothing they're doing is unprecedented for the characters they've set up, and i think they'll wrap this up alright.

[blackflash9]

As a veteran, I want to celebrate Veterans Day by giving a proper 'f-you' to all the stupid American citizens who decided last week that the very freedom and democracy I and many others fought and sacrificed for them to have just wasn't worth it that day.

[stupidlittlespirit]

Hugging Ford from behind and leaning your face in between his shoulder blades, listening to his heartbeat. Just holding the old man bc he's probably so unused to physical contact and he deserves all the hugs, damnit!

I think you'd have to make your presence known before doing so though because I'm of the firm belief that ol' Stanford 'PTSD' Pines would rock your shit if you unexpectedly touched him from behind like that.

[etraytin]

Old War Stories

It's interesting to talk with my WWII vet client about the war. He's 101 now but his memories of that part of his life are still clear, just tempered by the weight of years that have gone by since then. All of his old friends and comrades are dead by now, though he pays close attention when a veteran gets on the news for turning 100 or an honor flight is mentioned. Almost everyone he knew from his youth and the prime of his life are gone now, but he likes to tell stories about them. He likes telling stories about the war, mostly funny stories about how bad the sanitary conditions were or the food or being asked to build their own semi-permanent shelter and nobody knowing how. He has a great story about the time he almost got court-martialed for all but peeing on a general who happened to be walking by; it's one of his favorites.

Sometimes, though, he gets into a pensive mood and the tone of the stories changes. We were out in his yard the other evening because he wanted to trim the hedges and I was trying to keep him from breaking a hip while trimming the hedges, when something reminded him of his time in Italy. It started out with funny stories about the young guys getting lined up for medical exams and STD checks, but then wandered down other paths. He told me how they would go out into the town and the little boys who barely knew English and called all the soldiers Joe would try to tell them about their sisters who were sixteen or seventeen or eighteen and who "liked soldiers." He explained that the people in the town had nothing, they didn't have enough to eat and they would steal or do whatever they had to do. He told me that one time he made his way into the commissary area and somehow secured a big can of mixed fruit to his abdomen with a belt and managed to sneak it out and give it to some of the kids. That part of the story was funny, but he wondered aloud what happened to any of those people later on, how many of them managed to survive.

My client is proud of helping to win the war, proud of his service, proud of the friends he lost and the sacrifices they made. But he is haunted by it too, in ways that show sometimes in the stories. He says he talked with the pilot of the Enola Gay once, who came from his bombardment group and who he knew a little bit. He told me he asked the pilot if he'd do it again, and the pilot told him that he was an officer in the Army AIr Corps, under oath and under orders, and in the same circumstances he would do it again. And then my client told me another story of the first bombing mission he went on, when the bombing was a fairly new thing, and how the people in the town below heard the engines and saw the contrails and came out of their houses to look at the planes. If they'd run a few hundred yards perpendicular to the plane trajectory, my client told me, they'd have been safe. But they didn't. They didn't know any better. He decided that was enough war stories and yard work for one evening and we went inside.

[utilitycaster]

I enjoy shipping, but I cannot see the appeal in watching shows only for the purpose of shipping; I think it closes you off to so much. I think coming into a work with the expectation that it will only succeed if a particular configuration of people end up happily in a relationship with each other when the curtain closes means you will reject so many unexpected choices altogether. It destroys your ability to appreciate the entire concept of tragedy. Just, imagine refusing to let yourself enjoy "I'm not a gardener" because you are too furious that a different kiss than the one you wanted happened to feel other emotions.

[chaoortu]

my review of warfare below!

nobody asked but you're getting it anyway. spoilers/review below the cut

A movie that forces the viewer to ask the question: is all art propaganda? and do i know what propaganda is or am i just slinging around the new internet word of the week?

Anyway, I like war movies. shoutout to being raised by a bunch of men who were in the military. are a lot of war movies propaganda? yes, absolutely. enlistment numbers in the navy jumped up by 8.3% the year after Top Gun came out. 

I'd argue Warfare is not a propaganda movie as it does not glorify the powers of the American military. In fact, Warefare being a movie by Ray Mendoza that captures his lived experience in Iraq, critiques the war without being overt. The choice to focus on this one particular day in 2006 offers an interesting critique on the U.S military's presence in Iraq without being overt; a balance done gracefully by the actors, the sound design, and an artistic choice I believe defines this film as NOT propaganda: the choice to have zero soundtrack whatsoever. 

Having no soundtrack gives the audience no chance to misconstrue what this movie is about. As an audience member you have to sit twisted up with anxiety while watching the events on screen unfold without any reprieve. The sound design immerses you in what's unfolding to the point that my watch kept going off because I got heart palpations like four times. You are left with the emotional weight of what's going on, forced to pay attention to these soldiers as they deal with everything going fine one second to shit hitting the fan one second.

Which leads me to what I believe makes this film incredible, the actors and their relationship to one another combined with an accurate depiction of military operation that is not often found in other war movies. Had in not been for the way the way they portrayed being human beings in a war instead of super soldiers, the film wouldn't be the same. Granted, I do think it's interesting that they cast a bunch of British actors to play Americans when the UK also occupied Iraq and was a "key" ally in the war. I think there's a lot to be said about where the film industry in the US is going, but seeing as Warefare was filmed in London, I'm not shocked. 

The layers of authenticity combined with the way Warfare is shot + the incredible sound design leads this movie to be one of the most accurate depictions of the Iraq War seen on screen down to equipment being more valued than human life. This is a 90-minute feature that doesn't give you a single second to breathe and that in of itself is a gift.

[moiraimyths]

Before we call anon rude because let’s see it from their perspective, imagine getting an entire feast to eat. That can be pretty hard to start with so much that’s going on, but if they start with one thing they know they’ll like (aka one character they like) that can be the start for them leaping to other characters to finish the story and the bigger story. I struggle the same way to start book series if I don’t have at least one character that drives me to read it, it’s all about what can be the hook to push them through. Sounds like the anon is neurodivergent (just a guess) so they might genuinely not see it as rude and see it as a solution to even play the game to start with.

Btw absolutely adore the game, the complex and rich characters making them all so unique is amazing. The art is so pleasing to the eyes I love it!! I’m waiting for it all to get out at once so I don’t get too impatient. Shae however interests me the most, which routes will have the most lore for them? Will there be routes that give more lore in general based on decisions you make or do they all share the same amount? (I mean general lore not just Shae lore)

Apologies; we are not trying to accuse any asker of being rude! We are simply explaining our perspective as the developers / are trying to broadly encourage folks to dip their toes into other areas of the story outside of the main route(s) they're interested in, especially considering some routes will be made available sooner than others, and these other routes will likely contain additional scenes/lore of everyone's fave(s) regardless! We want to give each main cast member an equal amount of love (and lore) regardless of their overall popularity, so our goal is not to tut-tut anyone for having strong preferences for one character over the others, but rather to explain that you may be surprised by how much *more* you learn about your preferred characters in the other routes. That's all!

For Shae... Well, they were a foot soldier for one of the worst periods of the War. Lore wise, any other story that touches on the War will likely have content relevant to them and their experiences. ^^

[semisolidmind]

Is it okay to come to you from time to time with questions about Monster Booba? I like to think of you as a Monster Male Booba Conisseur at this point

i mean...I'll help however I can...

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

simply not getting over the fact that GQ published an article (written by a journalist who’s friends with miles, i might add) that starts off with an unnecessarily detailed description of an alleged threesome between miles and alex and a mystery person???

oh, and it’s also the article that used this artwork as its header:

(full article here)

[falling-in-the-void-with-ronan]

I'm putting this here because everyone deserves to see this. If you're having a bad day take this evil crime lord, master manipulator getting flustered and feel better.

The way I'm so down bad and obsessed due to this guy, it's not even funny.

[whereismyhat5678]

I want two war veterans from different games to meet each other.

And potentially comfort one another.

I want them both to be happy, I’m glad Elder Kettle is but Peppino also needs his comfort, he’s been through a lot man- I think Elder Kettle will help by giving him some of his elderly wisdom 🫶

Also this thing I will never finish:

[guavagyal]

I honestly believe straight men come with an instruction manual on how to make a 19-year-old young woman's life a living hell.

[astrobei]

my crying at work count this week has been frankly astronomical and also quite pathetic i fear

[mellomadness]

so lowe’s has an AI chatbot instead of a proper job application now. it wants your full legal name and your phone number or email address to “send to recruiters” and then proceeds to ask you all the questions you’d normally answer on a typical job application, excluding tax info and specifics on previous employment specifically at lowe’s

well. I am a HUGE hater when it comes to AI and my personal information so. after a full hour of trying to get the damn thing to just redirect me to the ACTUAL APPLICATION PAGE—which I could not find even though the job description page says you can either apply online OR through the chatbot AI—I decided to bite the bullet and give it a name.

I am now Bungleweed Tumblebutt and I have applied for two (2) positions. I hope if there is any actual recruiter looking over chat histories that they see my vehement dislike of their bot and tell somebody about the hateful Bungleweed Tumblebutt