Posted On: Monday - June 30th 2025 6:15PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Movies Americans US Feral Government Race/Genetics
That's one of the many funny lines* in the 1981 movie Stripes. Man, some of those Saturday Night Live comedians and others were pretty young 44 years ago. John Candy, maybe the 2nd, after John Belushi, in a sequence of hilarious fat guys from that show (Chris Farley being the next(?)), died young as fat guys unfortunately tend to. The others are old guys now.
But this post ain't a movie review, except to say "It's kind of dated. The Cold War was still ongoing."... oh, and to add "and look how skinny the people were back then." John Candy, in his role of the fat-guy misfit among the other misfits, was an exception. He had a time getting through the physical training, but he had the spirit, as seen above. It was a farce.
This farce has become reality for the present-day US Army. This is not news to me, but I will relate an anecdote:
As we were ready to depart about 20 minutes late on an airline flight out of the hub, things dragged on more. I was in my seat when the Captain came on the P/A: "We have soldiers coming from various flights, and, this being the last flight** of the night to our destination, we will wait for them. I was in the Navy. My First Officer was in the Navy. We're gonna hold the flight." He was so very proud.
I can tell you that it's not usually up to the Captain to do this, but he wouldn't get in trouble doing this a handful of times either. This airplane was not doing a turn-around upon arrival, in which case this longer delay could jeopardize connections on the way back, ruining many passengers' days . The plane was staying the night, so barring tight rest-times (not the case), in a way, it didn't matter much besides that the plane was still taking up the space at the gate. (This DOES matter, many times.)
These soldiers started trickling into the plane and down the aisle. I saw one White guy out of about 30 of them. The rest were black/brown/Oriental. That's not the biggest, ahem, thing I noticed though. These people were BIG. Not one in 4, by my estimate, weighed what one would expect in, say the time of Stripes. I'd say of the others, they averaged 30 to 40 lb. overweight. These were no lean, mean, fighting machines!
I guess this IS being all you can be in today's US Army. There aren't Soviets anymore, as in Stripes, but if our NeoCons, including that Orange NeoCon, somehow get us in a real face-off with the Ruskies, I think those Ruskies will be amused, as these "soldiers" make John Candy look like, yes, a lean, mean, fighting machine.
I really would have liked to see that Captain's face, if he'd been saying goodbye to his "fellow servicemen and women" as they disembarked that night. How proud would he be next time?
* Peak Stupidity used one of the funniest scenes - from the start of the movie and not part of the join-the-army story - at the bottom of our old post Citizenship in the Nation - with Harold Ramos, the guy with John Candy here.
** It wasn't though. There was one more late flight. I told the First Officer that upon arrival, as he was on the jet bridge. Next time, don't assume, or you will make an ass ... different movie, sorry.
Comments:
Moderator
Tuesday - July 1st 2025 5:15PM MST
PS: No, I missed that big Army 1/4 millenium parade, Alarmist. I'm guessing they picked the slim soldiers, but that's Slim Pickens!
I have seen lots of this before, so I wrote at the top here that this is nothing new to me. What irked me was that Captain's pride in some people whose shape, size, and color may have him just shutting up and blocking the flight out next time around.
I have seen lots of this before, so I wrote at the top here that this is nothing new to me. What irked me was that Captain's pride in some people whose shape, size, and color may have him just shutting up and blocking the flight out next time around.
SafeNow
Tuesday - July 1st 2025 3:09PM MST
PS
“I wonder how it is to watch old movies for a 25 - 40 y/o.”
They would also be thinking….
What? People LIVED in hotels? And, regular people, WHEREVER they lived, always kept a well-stocked bar openly available, including ice cubes in an ice bucket, and booze in cut-crystal decanters.
“I wonder how it is to watch old movies for a 25 - 40 y/o.”
They would also be thinking….
What? People LIVED in hotels? And, regular people, WHEREVER they lived, always kept a well-stocked bar openly available, including ice cubes in an ice bucket, and booze in cut-crystal decanters.
The Alarmist
Tuesday - July 1st 2025 6:44AM MST
PS
Did you see the troops “marching” in Mr. Trump’s B’day parade?
🕉
Did you see the troops “marching” in Mr. Trump’s B’day parade?
🕉
Moderator
Tuesday - July 1st 2025 5:18AM MST
PS: I watched about 80% of that, SafeNow. I couldn't get all the lines, but then the youtube poster gave good descriptions.
There are a couple of chunky women (1st 2 rounds) from what I see, but this beats what I saw the other day by a mile. They look pretty professional. Thanks for this. I didn't even know they had contests. (I guess some of the best older Marine/Army ones would not meet youtube's "standards", haha.)
I wonder how it is to watch old movies for a 25 - 40 y/o. Will he believe people in the background of scenes used to look like that generally, or would he figure they were all paid actors? Gotta hire hundreds of skinny people for every movie?
There are a couple of chunky women (1st 2 rounds) from what I see, but this beats what I saw the other day by a mile. They look pretty professional. Thanks for this. I didn't even know they had contests. (I guess some of the best older Marine/Army ones would not meet youtube's "standards", haha.)
I wonder how it is to watch old movies for a 25 - 40 y/o. Will he believe people in the background of scenes used to look like that generally, or would he figure they were all paid actors? Gotta hire hundreds of skinny people for every movie?
SafeNow
Monday - June 30th 2025 8:47PM MST
PS
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TsPTO2l4EWE
USCG cadence drills, (finalists, 2013) walking and jogging. Zero fatties. Great lyrics! (“There’s oil in the water, and ducky needs a save.” Plus many many human rescue situations, of course. ). Absence of Hispanics and blacks explains most of this no-fatties I guess. This shows what the other branches would be like without blacks and Hispanics.
On the civilian side, the now-vs.-then weight comparisons must be astonishing to young peopke who have no memories of how it used to be.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TsPTO2l4EWE
USCG cadence drills, (finalists, 2013) walking and jogging. Zero fatties. Great lyrics! (“There’s oil in the water, and ducky needs a save.” Plus many many human rescue situations, of course. ). Absence of Hispanics and blacks explains most of this no-fatties I guess. This shows what the other branches would be like without blacks and Hispanics.
On the civilian side, the now-vs.-then weight comparisons must be astonishing to young peopke who have no memories of how it used to be.
Good point, SafeNow. Also, they'd all seem to have this same semi-New York accent in many of the old shows (thinking TV here). Is that where they got a lot of the actors?
People said "See" at the beginning of sentences, and often started with "Why" not as a question, but as an exclamation. "Why, I oughtta'...!" Did you talk like that? ;-}