Gotta Love The Troops

[civdiv]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

A possible resurgence of Photos of the Day in progress here?

[Michael Dorosh]

Well, it's not original. Check out Colonel Stanley Wray's "Rigid Digit Salute" from the 91st Bomb Group out of Bassingbourn in 1942-43 - its referenced in Mighty 8th War Diary. Wray is shown in the Memphis Belle documentary, incidentally.

Interesting that both photos are of airborne troops.

I think they're just coping Pierre Trudeau's Salmon Arm Salute, personally...

[Nidan1]

Why would it be original? Do you think we are dopey enough to think that these troopers are the first ever to flip a photog the bird?

Check out "Caeser's Commentaries" there is a wood carving of a Tribune flipping the bird to a Roman Senator on an inspection tour of Gaul.

[civdiv]

'Check out "Caeser's Commentaries" there is a wood carving of a Tribune flipping the bird to a Roman Senator on an inspection tour of Gaul.'

That's so passe.

civdiv

[Battlefront.com]

Isn't that the international sign for Victory?

Steve

[sross]

I wonder if that's 6 shot in the top photo. Are there pheasants in Iraq? )

[Wisbech_lad]

Civdiv loves the troops! Civdiv loves the troops! Civdiv and the troops, sitting under the tree! Civdiv and the troops, K.I.S.S.I.N.G!

(sorry, just in a silly mood. Besides, a good commander should love his troops)

[SgtMuhammed]

Well you don't want to risk the trigger finger by placing it in an exposed position so the display of the middle finger is a way of acknowledging the cammera without endangering that vital digit.

I have a question for the guys who have deployed there. When we were deployed to Cuba in '95 AFN used to ask if they could interview us. The problem was that if you said yes they would hand you a card with your answers on them. When I saw that I refused any requests and so did my guys. I was wondering if they were doing the same thing now?

[MikeyD]

"Isn't that the international sign for Victory?"

I'm reminded of that story about Winston Churchill early in the war initiated the famous 'V-for-Victory' handsign. Initially it was the two upright digits with the palm facing in, until an aide eventually whispered in Churchill's ear that in some parts of the north country the gesture meant "up yours mate!" Churchill afterwards did the gesture palm-out in what would later become the Vietnam era "peace, dude" sign.

[Boo Radley]

Originally posted by MikeyD:

"Isn't that the international sign for Victory?"

I'm reminded of that story about Winston Churchill early in the war initiated the famous 'V-for-Victory' handsign. Initially it was the two upright digits with the palm facing in, until an aide eventually whispered in Churchill's ear that in some parts of the north country the gesture meant "up yours mate!" Churchill afterwards did the gesture palm-out in what would later become the Vietnam era "peace, dude" sign.

It was also, in the early '60's the sign among teenagers for drag racing, which they got from Churchill.

How, you ask?

Remember, Churchill smoked a cigar and he held it between those two fingers and occasionally, he would turn to a friend and ask, "Wanna drag?"

And the kids picked it up.

[flamingknives]

The V-sign with the palm in derives from when France and England were at each other's throats. It seems that the French aristocracy were a trifle put out by the English (Welsh, originally) longbow archers, who had a nasty habit of being common yet killing armoured knights. Which obviously contradicts the rule of warfare at the time where armoured and mounted knights of both sides would rampage through the most lightly armed and armoured units of the opposing side to try and kill the most peasants. Chivalry, eh?

As a result, the French tended to amputate (though I doubt it was anything like as surgical as the term implies) the first and second fingers of the right hand, as these were the two used to draw the bowstring. An archer without those two fingers wasn't much use at his trade. The two fingered salute was used by archers who had avoided such hospitality to demonstrate that they were fully capable of using their bows.

[Sergei]

Originally posted by flamingknives:

As a result, the French tended to amputate (though I doubt it was anything like as surgical as the term implies) the first and second fingers of the right hand

Gee! I shudder to think what they did to their enemy!

[Sixxkiller]

Since I started my career in the All Americans, only the bottom pic is of REAL airborne soldiers! The saying goes, "If you aint 82nd Airborne, you aint!"

[flamingknives]

Originally posted by Sergei:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by flamingknives:

As a result, the French tended to amputate (though I doubt it was anything like as surgical as the term implies) the first and second fingers of the right hand

Gee! I shudder to think what they did to their enemy! </font>

[MikeyD]

Another hand gesture I recall seeing alot of in early Iraq war photos was of civilians giving the 'thumbs-up' sign to passing U.S. troops. I later heard somewhere that hand gesture means something quite different in Iraq than it does in the U.S. I got the feeling that the Iraqis were well aware of the different meanings of their and our handsigns and were having great fun at our expense.

This stuff can go both ways. I heard about a U.S. reporter interviewing then-president Saddam. As the interview went on the seated reporter casually crossed his legs and Saddam's face suddenly went ashen. Unknown to the reporter the gravest insult you can give an Iraqi is to flash him the soles of your shoes.

[ChrisND]

Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

Interesting that both photos are of airborne troops.

Actually, only the bottom one is. 101st is no longer Airborne.

Amen Sixxkiller.