Patches, Patches, Patches

I spotted this story in Ares and brought to mind my patch collection...

I am known as a patch hound. That's the guy who goes to air shows and rather than looking at all the airplanes, tries to trade for patches from all the aircrews. I've been doing this rather geeky hobby for more years than I care to admit. The first patch I got that I was really proud of was when I was in high school. I sent a letter to the 64th Aggressor Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and asked if I could have one of their patches...oddly enough someone sent one. That was the beginning of a long and wallet sucking affair that continues to this day. Which brings me to this abomination...

Sorry, the patch doesn't seem to show up when I view the page...hopefully it will be there for you, it shows up when I compose the post. Maybe FOX is jamming the picture with some kind of high tech device that even the government doesn't know about, because it's in violation of copyright laws?

Anyway, if you can't see it, the patch depicts an enraged Homer Simpson yelling "You Sent Me To Afghanistan, You Bastards!" I would expect given the popularity of "The Simpsons" in the UK, this patch belongs to one of "them" or a really enthusiastic fan of "The Simpsons" (there are still people who are jacked up about "The Simpsons"?!?)

Why would I say that such a nicely rendered Homer Simpson is an abomination? Well, they ruined the joke. I have a patch that was and is still quite popular in Iraq...I bought it in '04 and it references a line that appeared in many many episodes of the popular cartoon South Park..."You Killed Kenny, You Bastards!" There is also a version for Afghanistan.

Now I will freely admit that the artist who did the Homer patch did a much better job than the guy who made the patch featuring Kyle...however, the patch has more meaning with Kyle than Homer...unless you just want to have Homer Simpson express your disgust with being sent to Afghanistan.

If that is in fact the case then mission accomplished and BRAVO!

What does this have to do with anything? Not a whole hell of a lot, expect to show that no matter where Soldiers, Sailors. Airmen and Marines go, we take our pop culture and our bitching with us. After all it is a Soldiers right to bitch...one of the few we still have.

Now if you want a patch...this is a patch!

H/T Ares