Brad's Excellent Adventure: 2008-02-10

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Bob on the FOB

Tuesday 12 February 2008
2100

Well, I’ve been meaning to post these for a long time, and since I also haven’t written a blog entry in a long time I guess this is a good way to get started again.

“Bob on the FOB” is a cartoon that was drawn by a soldier who was here (in Iraq, I think) a couple of years ago. They consist of single, detailed drawings, each showing an archetypal inhabitant of military facilities, with a corresponding humorous definition. They are posted everywhere here in people’s workspaces, and I’ve seen them on other blogs, so I don’t think I’ll be violating any copyrights to share them here.

SGT Albert J. Merrifield (the artist /cartoonist) was clearly very perceptive and creative, kind of in the vein of Scott Adams, who created Dilbert from his own experiences as an engineer. In any case, his cartoons provide a humorous look at some of people’s foibles here. We all know at least one person like each of these characters, and it’s only fair to say that I recognize myself in at least two of them (I am certainly at least a moderate Geardo, and maybe even a FOB locust at times. Old habits die hard…).

A little background on terminology: a FOB is a Forward Operating Base, which is a smallish, self-contained base in a forward area. It is what most of the people in Iraq and Afghanistan live on and work out of. A TOC is a Tactical Operations Center, which is simply a headquarters facility with radios, computers, mapboards, etc, out of which people work. “Back when”, this meant a canvas tent extension off the back of a parked M577 armored vehicle (and no computers), but I suspect most of the TOCs here are in fixed facilities. Since I’m a REMF at Camp Arifjan, I don’t really know.

OIF is Operation Iraqi Freedom, which is what we're here for. "OIF I" refers to the intial invasion and battle against Saddam's Army, as opposed to the follow-on counterinsurgency.

I know there were more of these, because I’ve seen them posted here and there. But these were all I could find online.

Anyway, enjoy… :-)