Army Specialist Zachary Boyd, 19, of Fort Worth, Texas, rushed from his sleeping quarters on May 11 to join fellow platoon members at a base in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province after the unit came under fire from Taliban positions.
A news photographer was on hand to record the image of Boyd standing at a makeshift rampart in helmet, body armor, red T-shirt and boxers emblazoned with the message: “I love NY.”
When the image wound up on the front page of the New York Times, Boyd told his parents he might [COLOR=“Red”]lose his job if President Barack Obama saw him out of uniform.[/COLOR]
Why would he worry about “loosing his job” I would have thought that when the alarm sounds you grab your gun and go. What kind of training do the guys get these days that they worry about “being out of uniform” as the enymy is over runnig their post. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090522/lf_nm_life/us_afghanistan_gates_pink
He was not being serious. Do you really think the President of the United States sits around wondering which enlisted Army personnel to court martial for shooting in their undies?
It’s not the pink shorts that will get him into trouble, it’s that red shirt. Makes a nice target to aim at. I’m sure he wasn’t thinking about that, he was just joining the fight. Kudos to him.
A soldier from Texas is caught wearing pink “I Love NY” shorts and he’s worried about what Barack Obama will think? He’s going to have to explain himself to 24,000,000 Texans first.
Yeah, I’ll second that the soldier’s just joking. Being out of uniform is a big deal in the military, but obvioulsy not in this situation. Thus the punchline.
I don’t get the big flap over this guy. We routinely bailed out of the bunker in skivvies and flak jackets during ground attacks. Take time to get dressed and find yourself dead.
I saw some criticism of him on some of the comments on newspaper sites, with some people suggesting that the soldier was ill-prepared or that the boxers might make it easier for the enemy to air at.
That’s just silly people speculating about things they don’t understand or have no experience with. They’re just trying to be critical for lulz. The soldier was sleeping. He wasn’t on shift. I suppose he should just stay awake for the 12 months he’s there?
As for easier to aim at…that’s just ridiculous. By that logic, we shouldn’t let white people in the Army at all. And from experience, I can tell you that these people aren’t really into the whole “aiming” thing anyway.
Just my two cents, and not to criticize anyone, but it’s pretty easy to identify yourself as a soldier in the middle east in teh internets.
Not to mention that there are quite a few soldiers who actually are on active duty in the middle east who would still make those kinds of comments, and be just as wrong as someone sitting back in the world.
As a good friend of mine once said, stepping off the plane onto the baking tarmac does instantly make you 100% braver, it does not make you in any way smarter
I’ve seen pictures of WWII soldiers/sailors doing things like manning anti-aircraft guns buck naked :eek: ; time could be that critical they had to go straight from bed/shower to action stations.
I came here to quote this, and to say that Robert Gates is much cooler than I thought. He also said he wanted to shake the soldier’s hand. I especially liked what he said next:
It’s not totally silly, though. I don’t know what his specific situation is, but if you’re in a forward position, there’s no such thing as not being on duty. You sleep in your uniform with your body armor, helmet, LBE and weapon close at hand.
