Spare Parts
For non-modeling topics and those without a home elsewhere.
Beetle Bailey
long_tom
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Posted: Sunday, August 20, 2017 - 01:03 AM UTC
My later father was in WW2, though stationed in Washington, D. C., and his reaction to "Beetle Bailey" was that it was accurate about army life in his era. But is it obsolete now?
timmyp
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Posted: Sunday, April 22, 2018 - 03:16 PM UTC

Quoted Text

My later father was in WW2, though stationed in Washington, D. C., and his reaction to "Beetle Bailey" was that it was accurate about army life in his era. But is it obsolete now?



I would say it was fairly obsolete even in my time, and that was from the early eighties into the early nineties.
Bravo1102
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Posted: Sunday, April 22, 2018 - 04:30 PM UTC
"Beetle Bailey" faded from being accurate throughout the 1960s. With the All-volunteer army of the 1970s? It was hopeless. Beetle should be the platoon sergeant now with Snorkel as his SGM.
Scarred
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Posted: Sunday, April 22, 2018 - 06:55 PM UTC

Quoted Text

"Beetle Bailey" faded from being accurate throughout the 1960s. With the All-volunteer army of the 1970s? It was hopeless. Beetle should be the platoon sergeant now with Snorkel as his SGM.



Sgt Snorkel would have been discharged for being overweight.
Bravo1102
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Posted: Sunday, April 22, 2018 - 10:09 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

"Beetle Bailey" faded from being accurate throughout the 1960s. With the All-volunteer army of the 1970s? It was hopeless. Beetle should be the platoon sergeant now with Snorkel as his SGM.



Sgt Snorkel would have been discharged for being overweight.



Snorkel is one of those guys who fails the BMI test but can still pass a PT test. He's always out in front marching mile after mile can do a billion push-ups and sit-ups and you wonder What the heck!?
captfue
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Posted: Monday, April 23, 2018 - 08:06 AM UTC
I think Beetle Bailey is timeless. The jest of this strip,dead beat underachiever vs the establishment, is the same today as it was 40 years ago.
Scarred
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Posted: Monday, April 23, 2018 - 08:51 AM UTC

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"Beetle Bailey" faded from being accurate throughout the 1960s. With the All-volunteer army of the 1970s? It was hopeless. Beetle should be the platoon sergeant now with Snorkel as his SGM.



Sgt Snorkel would have been discharged for being overweight.



Snorkel is one of those guys who fails the BMI test but can still pass a PT test. He's always out in front marching mile after mile can do a billion push-ups and sit-ups and you wonder What the heck!?



They started tossing those guys out in 87. We had a Samoan who fired a M60 one handed, maxed the PT test for the youngest age bracket, was 6'6" tall but failed the BMI. They booted him, one of my roommates and started cleaning out the heavy guys. They started watching us like hawks and if you "looked" overweight they sent you to be tested and if you were "close" you went to remedial P.T. When I got back stateside in 89, I Corp and 9th I.D. were doing the same thing.
Vicious
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Posted: Monday, April 23, 2018 - 08:53 AM UTC
I did the Army in Switzerland where the compulsory military service still exists and is full of Beetle Bailey and Sgt Snorkel
RobinNilsson
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Posted: Monday, April 23, 2018 - 12:41 PM UTC

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"Beetle Bailey" faded from being accurate throughout the 1960s. With the All-volunteer army of the 1970s? It was hopeless. Beetle should be the platoon sergeant now with Snorkel as his SGM.



Sgt Snorkel would have been discharged for being overweight.



Snorkel is one of those guys who fails the BMI test but can still pass a PT test. He's always out in front marching mile after mile can do a billion push-ups and sit-ups and you wonder What the heck!?



The problem with BMI is that it is slightly discriminating against tall persons and it is totally blind when it comes to muscles versus fat. I had a colleague who had a BMI way up over 30-35, the problem was that he was a solid block of muscles. Some doctor started talking about BMI and overweight, totally ignoring that he was in a lot better shape than most with a normal BMI.
If the measurement around the gut is larger than the chest then there is reason to take action.
/ Robin
Bravo1102
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Posted: Monday, April 23, 2018 - 06:26 PM UTC

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"Beetle Bailey" faded from being accurate throughout the 1960s. With the All-volunteer army of the 1970s? It was hopeless. Beetle should be the platoon sergeant now with Snorkel as his SGM.



Sgt Snorkel would have been discharged for being overweight.



Snorkel is one of those guys who fails the BMI test but can still pass a PT test. He's always out in front marching mile after mile can do a billion push-ups and sit-ups and you wonder What the heck!?



They started tossing those guys out in 87. We had a Samoan who fired a M60 one handed, maxed the PT test for the youngest age bracket, was 6'6" tall but failed the BMI. They booted him, one of my roommates and started cleaning out the heavy guys. They started watching us like hawks and if you "looked" overweight they sent you to be tested and if you were "close" you went to remedial P.T. When I got back stateside in 89, I Corp and 9th I.D. were doing the same thing.



The army of the late 1980s booting out the BMI failures out profited the reserves. A pile went into the reserves and ended up doing a billion deployments as senior NCOs in the 2000s. Many also re-upped after 9/11 and finished their 20 years doing a billion deployments.

The BMI has been adjusted accordingly and is now taken with a grain of salt based on muscle mass. I know because I'm right on the edge and monitor it in my yearly exams in the Bravo wellness program through Hackensack/Meridian health care.

My time in ended in 1996 because I screwed up my cervical spine. I saw the random drug testing with bunches of people vanishing because of that.

Beetle Bailey is eternal and there have been some attempts to Dilbert-ize bits but I still say it's time for Beetle to become a poor NCO fighting against the system rather than a private.
long_tom
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Posted: Saturday, May 05, 2018 - 07:03 PM UTC
It should be noted that in the original incarnation, Sergeant Snorkel was NOT fat-he was trim as everybody else. Of course you can be fat and be able to beat somebody up, as Snorkel did oftentimes with Beetle.