Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau

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  1. Bill Weinberg

    Bill Weinberg said, 26 days ago

    Flashback or rerun?

  2. pouncingtiger

    pouncingtiger said, 26 days ago

    Makes sense, Toggle.

  3. rayannina

    rayannina said, 26 days ago

    No Dirty South rap? I’m disappointed.

  4. Joe Minotaur

    Joe Minotaur said, 26 days ago

    Rerun. Here we go again.

  5. Margueritem

    MargueritemGenius_badge said, 26 days ago

    I don’t want to see Toggle blow up again, please.

  6. Fairportfan2

    Fairportfan2Genius_badge said, 26 days ago

    Ditto.

    My son-in-law got blown up, but he survived with all of his parts intact, despite being in a Bradley that went end over end for some incredible distance.

    I really don’t wanaa see this again - i’m not reading the strip for the next week or so.

    Until someone tells me - say at Pibgorn that this re-run sequence is over.

  7. Hugh B. Hayve

    Hugh B. Hayve said, 26 days ago

    I’m kind of with y’all there, it’s almost like how I can’t watch the episode of M.A.S.H. where Col. Blake died.

  8. AlanG

    AlanG said, 26 days ago

    Looks like a 2007 copyright date in the marginal strip between panels 1 and 2.

  9. desertdwlr

    desertdwlr said, 26 days ago

    more dumba** liberal antiamerican crud

  10. Fairportfan2

    Fairportfan2Genius_badge said, 26 days ago

    desertdwlr said

    more dumba@@ liberal antiamerican crud

    Check my previous comment, about my son-in-law.

    And then, jerkwad, let me tell you that this is the beginning of one of the most support-the-troops sequences in recent comics.

    It has a few things to sa about our lame former President’s running of the war, but that’s another thing entirely.

    Crawl back under a rock, before someone sprinkles rock salt on you.

  11. Avolunteer

    Avolunteer said, 26 days ago

    @Fairportfan2
    I can sympathize with you. It was our niece and Afghanistan and she survived physically intact…. but the mental will take a very long time. Hope your son-in-law is doing well, our thoughts to him & his family.
    Ignore the desertdwellers of the world. They are in their own plastic bubbles, maybe they should be the ones out putting their lives on the line for their country!

  12. NoBrandName

    NoBrandName said, 26 days ago

    Fairportfan2 - maybe desertdwlr isn’t commenting on today’s comic, maybe he’s making a request. XD

  13. Doctor Toon

    Doctor ToonGenius_badge said, 26 days ago

    Hard as it is for me to believe, not everyone follows comics religiously.
    Sometimes it is nice to review a characters background to fill in the newbies and part time readers.

  14. Nemesys

    Nemesys said, 26 days ago

    Garry must have gotten some flack from the administration about his little digs in the Nobel Peace Prize story line, so it’s time to remind everyone that war is Bush’s fault.

  15. William Wilkerson

    William WilkersonGenius_badge said, 26 days ago

    Cool - GT is running the backstory for Toggle !

    … not a bad thing while on vacation since T. is likely to be his voice for vets for [sadly] quite a while as the broken and damaged soldiers come back to the imperial homeland after “going to the wars”…

  16. summerdog

    summerdog said, 26 days ago

    Not cool…

    Put me down as one who doesn’t want to see the re-run of Toggle getting blown up.

  17. babka

    babkaGenius_badge said, 26 days ago

    not looking at Toggle is not looking at the daily destruction of lives in wars so far from our hi-tech gizmos.

  18. diggitt

    diggitt said, 26 days ago

    Anyone who objects to re-running this ought to go to the right side of the page and clock on The Sandbox. It’s GT’s milblog – all those who post are in-action military and support staff and their families.

    This isn’t a comic strip – it’s their lives. Whether your politics are “support the soldiers” or “support the war” – you’re not honoring anyone if you won’t listen to the people who are living it daily.

  19. daking27

    daking27 said, 25 days ago

    Gotta comment on this one. I really don’t want to see this again, and yet because of the reasons behind it, I really don’t want to duck it. I teach college speech classes, and I had a Toggle in class last year. He struggled, he got frustrated, but he stuck with it, and he came through, unsurprisingly. For purposes of this discussion, it doesn’t matter which side of the “we should/shouldn’t be there” question you’re on. The very fact that I don’t want to be reminded of what happens to these young men and women is the very reason I need to be reminded. I want to honor every one of these people who serve, whether their leaders and decision makers were wise or not.

    I disagree with much of GT’s politics, but I applaud his respect for the individuals who serve. May we all respect and support the Toggles in our lives, and may we all not turn away from those things that make us uncomfortable.

    P.S. No implication intended that OTHERS who don’t read the series are ducking out on responsibility. I just feel like I would be. If you’ve had a family member go through this, you get reminded all too much as it is. For similar reasons, I’ll never be able to watch “Saving Private Ryan” again.

  20. Potrzebie

    Potrzebie said, 25 days ago

    I too almost cried when seeing that white panel. Toggles story must be retold to remind chickenhawks of the true cost of their oil wars.

    So how long has Sgt Ray’s tour been going on? Five years? Why can’t he remob back?

  21. Joe Allen Doty

    Joe Allen Doty said, 25 days ago

    No one who has been in a war zone and had been under attack several times returns home fully intact, even when one never suffered any physical injuries.

    My own mother said one time that it was like I had left a part of myself back in Vietnam after I had returned to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

    I found “Ryan” of the “Saving Private Ryan” movie to be a self-centered jerk. It was interesting that many members of the patrol searching for him were injured or killed.

    If I had not had a person with me who knew about my Vietnam experiences, I would have walked out of the theater in less than 5 minutes after the movie started.

  22. Joe Allen Doty

    Joe Allen Doty said, 25 days ago

    That is a 2007 copyright date, AlanG.

    I decided to look at the strip that’s in today’s edition of the Tulsa World to see if you were right. So, you are correct.

    The World hides this strip on the Opinion page(s) of the paper.

  23. Shikamoo

    ShikamooGenius_badge said, 25 days ago

    Thanks Garry. Even as a Canadian, I enjoy your strip. Perhaps it’s your last name.

    Maybe this is a prelude to Toggle popping the question or something- see how far he’s come. It’s the one year anniversary of this sequence, if you notice the date.

  24. Joe Allen Doty

    Joe Allen Doty said, 25 days ago

    Added note: I went to the October 2007 archive page of “The Sandbox” and the blog entry about a guy’s hooch (living quarters) and his private cubicle reminded me of the hooch I stayed in at Chu Lai, S. Vietnam when I was with Americal Division and a Clerk-Typist for JAG officers.

    My sleeping area was not exactly private in that it had no door. But, it had a plywood wall on one side and the outside wall on the other. I had originally shared it with Booker before he was transferred to another unit to be clerk-typist for a non-JAG officer who handled Article 15 cases. Booker was his surname and he really didn’t like his friends to call him by his given name of “Sherrill.” He came back to visit with me several times after he was transferred.

  25. Susan001

    Susan001 said, 25 days ago

    Let’s find out tomorrow whether it’s a repeat or a prelude.
    Frankly, I hope it’s the latter.

  26. Jmarkoff

    Jmarkoff said, 25 days ago

    I’m sure it’s a rerun. I guess Trudeau decided this cautionary tale’s lesson is worth repeating.

  27. Bargrove

    Bargrove said, 25 days ago

    It would be a good idea for everyone here on the comment

    page to see the movie “Pentagon Wars” staring Kelsey

    Grammer. It is the story of the idiotic building of the

    Bradley.

  28. nemesis-of-empire

    nemesis-of-empire said, 25 days ago

    @Susan: I’m fairly certain it’s a prelude. We’re being reminded of how Toggle came to be injured so that when the next arrogant, insensitive, fight-my-war-and-shut-up thing happens to him, we’ll remember why his response is so muted, compared to what he should have done.

    Alex’s response, well … She goes off the deep end so nicely, don’t you think? Just like her mother. Fasten your seat belts. Heck, check your five-point.

  29. bradwilliams

    bradwilliamsGenius_badge said, 25 days ago

    I cannot say if this is a prelude or a reminder, but it reminds me of an interview with a returning soldier I heard last week. He said the hardest part of his deployment was coming home. Everything he experienced first hand on a daily basis for a year, no one over here even thought about. For too many people, both wars are treated like unwanted re-runs and you simply change the channel. Prelude or rerun this deserves our attention.

  30. dizzyspin

    dizzyspinGenius_badge said, 25 days ago

    I think this is a rerun picked to remind everyone how Toggle go into the strip, maybe he’s going to get more involved in the Vet centre now Melissa’s back overseas.

    BTW todays the strips 39th birthday, birthday cake for everyone.

  31. Dypak

    DypakGenius_badge said, 25 days ago

    desertdwlr said,
    more dumba** liberal antiamerican crud
    —————————————–
    @Fairport Fan,
    First off I’m your son-in-law is safe, miracles like that don’t often happen. Hope that he and his comrades all make it home safe.

    I’d be careful throwing rocks at desertdwlr. With a name like that I’d be surprised if he hadnt spent some time in the Iraq himself. Or herself, you never know. The first time around I saw this story arc I thought the same thing. It was hard to tell at first. I think we should give the desert dweller the benefit of the doubt here.

  32. Blargal

    Blargal said, 25 days ago

    I recall when he would rerun an ode to the Kent state victims,every May.

    I’ve been extended 2x . i hope I get rotated home soon.

  33. Fairportfan2

    Fairportfan2Genius_badge said, 25 days ago

    diggitt said

    Anyone who objects to re-running this…

    I have no objection - actually, i feel as if it might help to rube some people’s noses in the realities of the war.

    It’s just that i’m not going to re-read it - i read it the first time and was depressed by it then.

    Joe Allen Doty said

    No one who has been in a war zone and had been under attack several times returns home fully intact, even when one never suffered any physical injuries.

    My friend, you don’t even have to com under (direct) attack to come home from a war zone damaged. It was years after i finished my Navy time (which included a year at the CommSta at Cam Ranh Bay) that i realised i had some survivor guilt. The incident that precipitated the realisation and left me standing there with tears in my eyes was accidentally encountering the Moving Wall here in Atlanta, and spotting what i was fairly sure was the name of a guy i went to boot camp with, back in 1967.

    I found “Ryan” of the “Saving Private Ryan” movie to be a self-centered jerk. It was interesting that many members of the patrol searching for him were injured or killed.

    If I had not had a person with me who knew about my Vietnam experiences, I would have walked out of the theater in less than 5 minutes after the movie started.

    I have no opinion on Private Ryan - haven’t seen it, won’t see it. Won’t ever see Platoon (or anything else by Oliver Stone, but that’s a different matter), either.

    BTW - do you read science-fiction?

    Even if you don’t, i’d like to recommend a couple of books by David Drake, who was an Intelligence officer with a tank regiment in ‘Nam:

    Redliners, which my review calls an allegory of redemption - if you go to the review, scroll down to see the comparison of the book’s cover and a photo from Iraq or Afghanistan (i forget which).

    Rolling Hot (contained in the collection The Tank Lords; by sending a civilian reporter on a hellride along with a last-chance effort by the mercenary armor regiment’s odds and sods- clearly inspired by the events of Tet - Drake shows us an accelreated version of what makes a soldier out of a civilian. As Drake’s fellow Baen Books author, Michael Williamson, says (in the first review posted on the Amazon page that my review links to), even he. as a nineteen-year vet, didn’t really understand the Viet Nam era refrain, “Don’t mean nothin’” till he read it.

    Blargal said

    I’ve been extended 2x . i hope I get rotated home soon.

    I hope it too. I hope all you guys and gals Over There come home - soon, for preference, but alive, for sure.

    God bess, keep your head (and other end, for that matter) down, and come home - i’m sure there’s someone who’s waiting and praying for you.

    Attackof_theDypak said

    I’d be careful throwing rocks at desertdwlr. With a name like that I’d be surprised if he hadnt spent some time in the Iraq himself.

    Maybe. But if he is, he learned nothing from the experience.

  34. keabu1

    keabu1 said, 25 days ago

    I don’t believe comics should have re-runs. The old crew never did so these guys shouldn’t either….there should never be “re-runs” in the comics….you want a vacation???? draw a couple extras every day for a couple weeks

    RIP Sparky

  35. gimmickgenius

    gimmickgeniusGenius_badge said, 25 days ago

    Found it. This was first run Nov. 26, 2007.

  36. pbarnrob

    pbarnrob said, 25 days ago

    Book rec: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman, under SF. Get the 2009 reissue, it’ll have material expunged earlier.

    I’ll be looking for David Drake’s stuff, at least at the library; remember libraries? Amazon’s amazing, but not in reach right now.

    I got a bit tweaky in Private Ryan, too, but stuck it out. That opening was just too real. Pass on Deer Hunter, Platoon, etc.

    Just checked the first ten minutes of The Pentagon Wars at YouTube (gag reel of old tank film under credits was fun). Gonna look for that book, too.

    (DaNang 2-5/66, DaNang/Chu Lai 7/69-7/70) 8/70, my little daughters would come in and slam the screen door [=122!], and I’m behind the couch. Better now. –Semper Fi, all.

  37. lindz.coop

    lindz.coopGenius_badge said, 20 days ago

    I think we need to see it again – especially in light of the impending decision on the Afghanistan war.