I've wondered for many years about the comic strip "Beetle Bailey." It has persisted in newspapers around the country, yet it seems impossibly out of date. The army life it depicts seems to be the one that existed, say, in the 1940s. Even in the late 1960s it had almost nothing in common with my own army service at about the same time, perhaps because it always showed garrison life, rather than war - and it still does! And finally, its huge dependence on the constant repetition of the same old gags (the brutal-but-sometimes-lovable "Sarge," for example) makes it quite a bore.
Well, we have put up with all that for many years. But I was prompted to write this post when I saw the strip last Sunday, February 16. It has the characters imagining their life after the army based on the experience they gained in service: scrubbing floors, hauling garbage, and the like. Good lord, how out-of-touch is that? Today's soldier is a high-tech miracle, trained in all kinds of advanced fields. The Beetle Bailey caricature is not only totally wrong, but an insult to today's servicemen.
The problem seems to be that this strip is one of the longest-running, perhaps THE longest-running, comic and is still produced by its original creator (though now apparently joined by one or more of his sons as collaborators).
Beetle joined the army in 1950. It's way past time he retired.