What is it with military?

I collected them, when I did, because my father was really into watching and reading material on various wars and I liked having things that engaged him.  It's a cop-out, but that's literally the reason for me because it is rare that a military uniform is interesting enough for me to personally look at and go "wow that looks good."  Ancient history military from thousand plus years ago is maybe a little different.

I do think, for whatever psychological reason, I engage with similar looking things differently when they're based on fictional characters vs real-life, as well.  It's an interesting subject to unpack, honestly.  I haven't served, so I might feel a little weird buying/displaying something based around my country's modern day military operations, like I don't have the right.  I don't feel weird buying Duke or Flint from Gi Joe, however, if you get what I'm saying. How long ago the military uniform/figure is from is a similar factor that could affect how I feel about that.

As a kid I fell in love with Star Wars because it showed me a kind of bravery that was inspiring. It wasn't about war or uniforms/outfits. It was about a kid rising to the occasion becoming a man. Ultimately these stories all tell of The Heros Journey, which resonates deeply.

I don't know these kinds of stories attached to real war history. Sure, I've valued watching movies about heroes of war, but usually the casual ones and not so much those in uniform.

Around 2010 I wrote a script for a short film about Operation Anthropoid and performed quite a bit of research on it. I can imagine if they were to release figures of those two soldiers I would consider getting them because I would then have a specific story of bravery attached to them.

I come from a long line of military service in my family dating back to American Civil War and possibly beyond but so far my father hasn't gotten much prior to the 1840s. I grew up watching the classic war films from the 50s and 60s on TNT, especially on Memorial Day Weekend. Both my grandfathers served in WWII but never talked that much about it, not because they had bad memories of it but more because they were what we referred to nowadays as General Support MOSs and just did their part as they said (my Mom's Dad was a Company Clerk in a Medical Evacuation Unit spending more time on a ship traversing the Atlantic bringing the severely wounded back from the ETO then actually in theater; my father's Dad served at the end of the war in the Coast Guard). My father's uncle served as a Company Commander of a Tank Company in the 3rd Armored Division. I never met him, but my father told me stories that he told him and it was eye opening. The one that I took to heart was how he explained to my father how he rose from a lowly Private to commanding a Company which he said 'If you didn't die, you just kept getting promoted to replace those that were killed.' I had other uncles serve in Vietnam, two of which were killed. When I enlisted, I was the first to do so in thirty years. I went because I really wanted to be a Soldier, I didn't know that five months and five days later the US would be at war.

When Iraq kicked off, I was part of the follow-up forces (4th Infantry Division) and was pissed that we missed out on a lot of the heavy fighting and was regulated to mopping up skirmishes. Remember standing around on the outskirts of Tikrit after taking Saddam's Presidential Complex just totally depressed that I missed out on the 'Real War' and my battle buddies were in agreement. *Sigh* If we only had known what was to come later on we probably would've wished for a straight up fight then what we found ourselves in. I spent nearly four years there; going from a wide-eye, 'let's get 'em' attitude Private in '03 to a tired and dejected Squad Leader that had lost all faith in what we were doing there by '09. That last deployment I was bumping heads with everyone with that wide-eye, 'let's get 'em' attitude, and of course Sadr's last uprising in March '08 didn't really help my perspective at all. I got reprimanded by my Company CO when he asked me what my primary mission was there, to which I replied 'to get everyone in my squad back home to their families and loved ones' to which he asked what was my secondary and I replied 'to help get everyone in this company back home to their families and loved ones'. He paused for a second and then asked me about my third to which I said 'to get my ass home in one piece, sir.' He informed me I had the wrong mindset and that we were there to help to people of Iraq to which I said, 'Sir, with all due respect, but I don't give a flying ^()_@ about them anymore. I hate everything about them and everything about this God forsaken hellhole part of the world. I only feel bad for the kids because they don't know any better.'

Looking back at then, I really thought we were the good guys in '03, over throwing Saddam and his brutal regime and freeing the populace from him. But all we did was create a power vacuum. We caused all the grief and suffering that came later and because of it we gave birth to something even more brutal years after the last troops left in Dec '11. I never served in Afghanistan, but with both countries on both fronts, we look back at it now and say 'what was it all for?' Twenty years of fighting and for what?

Diane you stated 'I have zero interest and there is a kind of taboo attached to it, as if it was a glorification of war, which of course is a nono.'

As one who has seen that Beast, I can tell you this without a doubt in my mind that there is no glory in war. War is all encompassing and a Beast that devours everything it encounters without remorse or pity and transforms civilize humans back to their most primitive state of mind - survival. Anyone who has seen it and lived it, hopes that our children will never endure what we had to endure. But, as a fictional war veteran once said, 'But it ain't your country who asks you; it's a few men up top who want it. Old men start it, young men fight it, nobody wins, everybody in the middle dies, and nobody tells the truth!'

I look fondly back at my fellow brothers and sisters, we were asked to do a job without question and we did so. You called it 'the glory days and brotherhood, patriotism and loyalty, the good fight'. I thought I was part of the good fight, but now I know we were just lied to by the politicians for some alternate motive that only time will tell. No victory parades down through Time Square for us.

I don't collect any modern military figures since I have no desire. I do collect WWII figures although, not because of my family history but because of my wife's family history. Most of her family on her father's side still resided in Germany in the 30s, but her grandparents on her father's side left in 1932 for the United States. They did go back for a family reunion in 1936 (I found a photo album when we were cleaning out her father's place after he passed away). Since then we've been researching her side of the family and it's been fairly eye opening experience. So its more of honoring both sides of our families that found themselves on opposite sides, only for their following kin to meet up decades later that I collect them. The same goes for my ancestors that fought in the American Civil War.

I don't think there is anything political above, just my perspective since I really don't like any politicians. If there is anything just let me know or I'm sure the Admins will edit it out.

Your family's service may not be appreciated by all but it is appreciated by me. Kipling noted the hypocrisy of humanitarians who "make mock of uniforms that guard them while they sleep."

Orwell commented on Kipling: "He sees clearly that men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard and feed them."

John Le Carré voiced a similar sentiment in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, "We do disagreeable things so that ordinary people here and elsewhere can sleep safely in their beds at night."

Richard Grenier summed up the above sentiments in his newspaper article in 1993: "When the country is in danger, the military’s mission is to wreak destruction upon the enemy. It’s a harsh and bloody business, but that’s what the military’s for. As George Orwell pointed out, people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Well said, TGS and Shazzdan. People are often quick to judge those that fight and die to keep them safe. If I collect any military figures, it’s to honor that ultimate sacrifice that brave men and women make.

Beautifully put, Dan. And, thegreatshaggy, thank you for your service.

thegreatshaggy wrote:[...]I look fondly back at my fellow brothers and sisters, we were asked to do a job without question and we did so. You called it 'the glory days and brotherhood, patriotism and loyalty, the good fight'. I thought I was part of the good fight, but now I know we were just lied to by the politicians for some alternate motive that only time will tell. No victory parades down through Time Square for us.

[...]So its more of honoring both sides of our families that found themselves on opposite sides, only for their following kin to meet up decades later that I collect them. The same goes for my ancestors that fought in the American Civil War.[...]

Thank you so much for the insight, it is much appreciated.
What I reject is the idea of committing violent acts on behalf of someone else, because of orders and the principle of not questioning orders. I firmly believe that everyone must be responsible for every single one of their own actions and can not hand over the responsibility of checking the righteousness of any particular action to those in power, because you can not be sure of there not being ulterior motives at play. (But of course I understand that a coordinated effort is needed in times of large scale war, at which point it seems impossible to live by this principle at this time. For that to work, transparency is required, and getting there is a long, multi-step process including paradigm shifts, which take time.)

In any case, I absolutely respect and value the higher motives, that motivate brave men and women to join the military to serve and protect.

shazzdan wrote:[...] Richard Grenier summed up the above sentiments in his newspaper article in 1993: "When the country is in danger, the military’s mission is to wreak destruction upon the enemy. It’s a harsh and bloody business, but that’s what the military’s for. As George Orwell pointed out, people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

I absolutely agree with this statement, though "when the country is in danger" already adds the principle of self defense into this argument. But of course we have learned that self defense is not the only reason that wars are started for, and we can not trust those in power to reveal the ulterior motives to us and every single soldier putting their lives on the line. This statement doesn't cover that aspect.

Stryker2011 wrote:Well said, TGS and Shazzdan. People are often quick to judge those that fight and die to keep them safe. If I collect any military figures, it’s to honor that ultimate sacrifice that brave men and women make.

I like that reason.

I don´t collect military figures because i get mad by close little uniform buttons, belts and buckles

I’m an American, and one piece of the figure I’m working on arrived last week from China while another piece arrived two weeks ago from the Russian Federation.

The world would be a much better place if it was run by toy collectors.

Yeah.

What is it with military?

The whole camouflage theme is puzzling?

What is the point with military camouflage?

How is one supposed to find and see you with all the camouflage?

Seriously posting . . .

I started in the 1:6 hobby by collecting 1:6 military.

I've always been fond of military offerings as a kid so it stuck with me.

I still collect 1:6 military offerings of varying themes female and male.

So there.

I'm not analyzing or over analyzing myself.

The image below sums up my affinity.