Tuesday 15 August 2023

My 'Combat' Story

 Back around 15 years ago, I was working at a Air Force (contractor work) where we had a four-star general who was a bit 'nuts'.  On a weekly basis, he was ordering odd things to occur.

So one day.....he ordered the Air Force PR folks to make a commercial for AFN (Armed Force Network).  

The general had several programs which revolved around the use of the word 'combat'.  It wasn't real combat crap (like you Marines would suggest)....this was more of a program, and attached 'combat' to it.

About a month after these commercials came out....I talked to two Army E3 types (living in the barracks).

The commercials had liberal use of the word 'combat'.....the Army guys had invented a nightly game, where if this Air Force commercial came on.....you had to sip a shot of booze.  

I asked....apparently they'd seen all six commercials....just how many could one single commercial trigger you to drink?  One guy cited the worst one.....30 seconds long....five utterances of 'combat'.  That meant five shots.  The least one was three utterances....three shots.

The problem was....there might be a one-hour show, and five of these commercials to come up....maybe two in a row.  

They both grinned and admitted that was an ongoing problem. 

Adding to this....you might go through a whole bottle by yourself...in one single night.  

On the day that the general left.....the commercials halted (almost overnight).  I would imagine that booze issues dwindled after this.

Binge-Viewing 'Rookie'

 Over the past month, I've binge-watched about 40 episodes of the 'Rookie' (the cop show).  Humble thoughts?

1.  It's like Adam-12, except on steroids'.

2.  I'd say per episode.....there's at least one-hundred rounds of ammo fired, and about 95-percent of time....no one ever gets hit by the bullets.

3.  I've come to the frame of mind that I would never step foot in LA ever again after watching this show.

4.  Virtually every single fed LE character guy.....is either an idiot or can't be trusted.

5.  I would guess at least three police cars are shot-up completely for each show....leaving me to wonder if this the norm in real  life.

6. You almost never see any officer eating a donut.

7.  The more that the show develops....it's more of a soap opera than a cop show.

8.  I sat and watched the one episode where a rookie-cop character got a 'whiff' of cocaine, and suddenly wanted to show his intelligence and visionary insight.....to which it just suddenly hit me....the 'act' given is exactly how VP Harris acts.....when giving these 200-word sentences that make no sense.  Just odd, I guess.  

9.  On my scale of decent modern-day shows....I actually give a decent score on story-text and characters.