"I've got a face for radio," quipped milblogger Blackfive (TV screen shot above), who attempted to pitch some of his favorite milblogs -- including three of our own favorites, Technicalities, Major K and Marine Corps Moms -- on MSNBC's "Connected Coast to Coast" with Monica Crowley and Ron Reagan this afternoon.
"The women who live with you and the men who work with you will judge your personality by the old standards. Live up to them!" instructs "War Department Pamphlet 35-3 May 1945: WAC Life," brought to the blogosphere by Ann Althouse, whose Mom and Dad both served in the Army in WW II:
Keep your hair neat, your make-up fresh, your uniforms tidy. Use deodorant frequently. Check to see whether you have unpleasant breath. Above all, act and think like a person who expects to be liked and admired. Maintaining your feminine appeal will buck up your morale tremendously. When you're happy about life in general, you'll be happy about your life in the Army.
The specifics re B.O. and halitosis (pardon our French) grate on the contemporary ear, and you'd justifiably never get away with dispensing such advice to women in today's P.C. military, of course. But woman or man, acting and thinking "like a person who expects to be liked and admired" only makes sense, as long as you don't let it go to your head (yes, you, John McCain). PLUS. While such things as bodily odors would be off limits in official manuals in this nuanced era, they're still front and center in big-time advertising, one of the few places today -- other than the blogosphere -- where the truth about human nature can still be addressed. As the unspeakable Irish Spring anti-perspirant-soap ads used to say:
Made for a man, but I like it too.
And as for bad breath, even your best friends won't tell you.
Update: Our first BlackfiveLanche (The "'fly'" mint green shirts on TV" link. No, we don't know what it means either, but this is the military. Don't ask, don't tell. --ed). Always fun to discover these things in a routine obsessive visit to the Site Meter stats.
Oh wow - I wish I was doing something worth Matt plugging me on tv - LOL. He was actually plugging several milblogs written by guys with boots on the ground. In his post - he graciously linked to my post about another milblog from Afghanistan. Unless there was something more on the show that I missed - I only saw the clip that was at Treys. Matt was fabulous. So was Buzz for that matter. (it's just that I've actually met Matt *grin*) Anyhow, they both do the blogosphere proud.
Posted by: Teresa | May 31, 2005 at 08:33 AM
"The "'fly'" mint green shirts on TV" link. No, we don't know what it means either, but this is the military. Don't ask, don't tell. --ed"
LOL - go to the original post about the show on B5 - it's from one of the commenters. *grin*
Posted by: Teresa | June 01, 2005 at 07:10 PM
Thanks, doll. I knew you'd know. :)
Posted by: Sissy Willis | June 02, 2005 at 10:38 AM