For Veterans Day

Today, lots of soldiers. But before you get nervous because you see swastikas on these uniforms, just remember that about the only exposure our kids have to soldiers is through "Hogan's Heroes." In fact, that's Col. Hogan coming in at No. 3.

SCHULTZ!

Now here's our oldest with a bit of nostalgia from one of his Opa's favorite TV shows. Who doesn't like a little bit of Sgt. Schultz?

The Little Details

As a student of "The Great Escape," I know that it's often the tiniest little human frailty that can unravel even the best-laid plans.

Our oldest son knows this as well. Behold:

And the detail shot:

I just taught him the intricacies of Pig Latin a few weeks ago. I'm glad to see the lesson sank in.

I'm also pleasantly surprised at how easily he gets his characters to emote. You know the guy on the left is disgusted. You know the guy on the right is trying to fix things. You know the colonel is aghast. And you really, really know the guy in the middle has to go ottypay.

The drawing is incomplete because I fished it out of the trash. He decided he didn't like the picture, so not only didn't he finish it, he tossed it. I'm glad I rescued it.

We're In the Army Now

We have many, many drawings of army guys. I'm not really sure why. They have an uncle who served in the US Army, but that was before they were born. Their Opa served in the Dutch army in Indonesia in 1948, but about all he did was eat food, try to ford a river while wearing a big backpack and holding his rifle over his head (he sank like a stone and had to swim to he opposite shore) and play pranks with the other country boys on the city kids.

We do watch some army-themed TV shows, notably MASH and Hogan's Heroes. That's got to be where it comes from.

Here's another. The first is from our oldest. This is from our youngest.

I think this one's either African or Russian, given the number of decorations he's got on his uniform. And before you ask, I have no idea where the bow tie came from.

We're in the Army Now

We don't have broadcast, satellite or cable TV at the house, primarily because we're too cheap to buy it, secondarily because when we do get to watch TV at, say my in-laws' house, there's never anything good on TV to watch.

But we do watch a lot of TV, mostly in the form of movies and recorded TV shows. We have several DVD collections, including the complete episodes of MASH and Hogan's Heroes.

You can see where this is going, giving the blog title and the nature of this blog. Meet our oldest child's recruits:



Note the presence of some MASH alumni, clad inexplicably in what looks like German WW II uniforms, right down to Col. Klink's ceremonial Kaiser hat.



Yes, some are repeats, but there are enough differences to keep them entertaining.



And, of course, when you have a pencil-on-paper army, they have to have an army base. Here it is. It's a bit hard to see given the blue pencil (I don't know why he chose that color, perhaps he was thinking blueprint) so click on the image to embiggen.

'I Got the Balloon!'

Another one from our oldest. This is also a pencil drawing, but rather than drawing inspiration from Scott Adams, our oldest this time drew from his own developing and warped sense of humor, plus an Army theme from the shows his parents make him watch (first MASH, then Hogan's Heroes). I do like that he's equal opportunity and includes a female member in a skirt. I also think it's interesting he dares have a character with his back to the "camera," so to speak. And of COURSE someone with access to a big gun would shoot a balloon if a fellow soldier were dumb enough to try to float away on one.