Negative comments about your jackets from others

[Big J]

Like Micheal Herr said, you can't take the glamour out of war. How do you take the glamour out of an M-16 or a Huey? (I'm paraphrasing from memory, but that's kinda what he said).
It would seem completely rational to put war right up their with murder as socially unacceptable, and deglamourize it. And that's fine if it stops countries playing power politics with ordinary lives. But what would we do the next time someone like Hitler pops up who is intent on exterminating our human rights, and our young people won't use violence to protect themselves?
Vietnam is murky and full of interesting 'maybe's' and 'if's', likewise Korea. All the 'liberal wars' fought since then, well that's not so simple which is why FL rules rightly make it a no-go area.
For me, this is why WWII, the era, society, and people are so attractive to me; I honestly believe that it was literally a battle between genuine good and evil. And no matter how imperfect 'we' were, the other side were exterminating whole races, and if we'd lost, they'd have exterminated us too.
It seems pretty clear cut to me, and it's very simple to admire and respect not only our veterans but also every member of our society whose lives were turned upside down by the war effort. They didn't deserve it.

 

[Benny Holiday]

It's interesting to see the generational changes. I watched an fascinating interview with Nancy Wake, the famed Australian SOE agent, filmed a few years ago before she passed away, when she was in her 80s. There was, to all intents and purposes, an elderly woman like any other, who when asked how she dealt with the Nazis calmly stated she would have been happy to see them all die - and she had seen some off with her very own bare hands. Younger people generations removed from the war found her words shocking; my father served in the war and lost many friends to the Nazis and the Japanese so I had a much greater understanding of what those regimes stood for and did. If you haven't seen what Nancy Wake saw, experienced what she experienced firsthand, you don't understand just what the people of that time endured to achieve a free world for us.

For me, this is why WWII, the era, society, and people are so attractive to me; I honestly believe that it was literally a battle between genuine good and evil. And no matter how imperfect 'we' were, the other side were exterminating whole races, and if we'd lost, they'd have exterminated us too.
It seems pretty clear cut to me, and it's very simple to admire and respect not only our veterans but also every member of our society whose lives were turned upside down by the war effort. They didn't deserve it.

Brilliantly put Big J.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Actually the quote from Nancy Wake was that her only regret was "Not killing more Nazis". Awful what war did to her, forced her to become - what Nazi brutality forced her to become - but it was of necessity given the alternative, a world squashed in the dirt under their heel.

 

[2jakes]

Big J
Benny Holiday

I couldn’t have expressed it any better!

 

[Peacoat]

War sucks ass and anyone truly glorifying it either hasn't been through one or is a psychopath. (Doesn't apply to war jackets and boots of course, those are cool). I consider my year spent in the army such a waste I still regret it to this day. If I had been sitting on a couch all year, staring at the wall, it'd have been a time better spent. That year I've been dating a sociopath was more productive because at least I have some good stories to tell how. Like how she tried to kill me.

Oh, wow. I have some good stories about past girlfriends, but none about how they tried to kill me. That doesn't sound like fun, and my girlfriends were all about fun!

 

[Benny Holiday]

I reckon you expressed it mighty well yourself 2jakes. I'm just reflecting now that it's Dec 5 here right now. Two days until the 76th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbour, which ultimately led to the bombing of Darwin where my Dad served on the anti-aircraft searchlights. I've been to Pearl twice and it's such a special site of commemoration, there aren't words for it. But I know you guys know. I'll be thinking of those whose lives were cut short in that enormous act of infamy, as President Roosevelt rightly called it, over the next few days and thinking about where it led the world in the following years. Very very sad.

 

[Monsoon]

I love wearing camo pants, and watching action movies like most guys, but real war is just wrong, ... if I'm a soldier in foreign land, I rather being killed than living with the conscience that I killed someone's son/ father/ brother/ husband in their homeland.

I'm pretty certain you'll be singing a different tune if you were stuck in the beaten zone, screaming for arty or air support.

Yeah, war sucks. Not too much can be done about it since it's been around for eons. Living with what I did over there is the easy part; it's hard retiring after 30 years and friends are still in the fight while I'm at home.

My kids are seven and five, so they don't understand it all yet. They like the funny stories, like mooning the ground crew before take off and pranks we would pull on the other crews.

 

[Monsoon]

Oh, and about jackets. My wife said I have a jacket for every five degree change in temperature. I think she's right. She doesn't mind them, except they take up room in the coat closet.

I've only gotten a few compliments on them. Most people don't really notice, I think.

 

[navetsea]

unlike tsunami, earthquake, volcano eruption,
war is not a natural phenomenon, it is a fabricated distressing
always a bad choice
including on leather jacket.
bad choice may get a negative comment

 

[ton312]

Man only on this forum could a couple of sideways comments about a jacket turn into such an interesting and frankly thought provoking discussion. God bless this place. It's a gem. And it's precisely why I keep coming back for more.

 

[2jakes]

Man only on this forum could a couple of sideways comments about a jacket turn into such an interesting and frankly thought provoking discussion. God bless this place. It's a gem. And it's precisely why I keep coming back for more.

I’m glad that you appreciate the forum. I do too.
My comment was a reflection about what a WW2 flying ace told me about my jacket.
That it opened up into other discussions with different views and opinions is great
because I believe we all bring to the table what we have experienced and is refreshing
if done in a positive tone.
This is not always the case in other forums.
Much credit to our bartenders, (moderators).

 

[JMax]

Unless you live on an island, just you and your buddy Wilson, someone is doing some fighting for you. No matter where on this mortal coil you rest your head. All the philosophical peace stuff is nice and I bet some ladies dig it, but you can choose not to partake only because someone else in your tribe made a different choice. In my experience, that is the natural state of things.

 

[Monsoon]

war is not a natural phenomenon, it is a fabricated distressing

That is pure poetry.

 

[crimsonofsam]

I just stumbled upon this thread and caught the last 4-5 post. Am I missing something?

 

[JMax]

We got a bit off track. Back to the original topic, a co-worker told me a few days ago that my Octagon jacket looked the same color as furniture typically found in an attorney’s office...ouch.

 

[crimsonofsam]

Who makes the best replacement buttons for an A-1?

 

[Justhandguns]

We got a bit off track. Back to the original topic, a co-worker told me a few days ago that my Octagon jacket looked the same color as furniture typically found in an attorney’s office...ouch.

Looks like furniture? Well, I got similar comment about my screechy A-2, sounds like a sofa, smells like a sofa.... according to my other half....

Well, I think it is inevitable to avoid the subject of war, most of our jackets were uniforms of soldiers, either direct clones or carrying similar designs. Somehow we never learn from our long history of sufferings and the modern media tend to hide the ugly facts and glorifying the victories too much.

I recently saw an interesting documentary made by NHK Japan, called the Tokyo Black Hole. It has a lot of footages of Japan right after the war. Not that I agree on what they did in those years, but it shows that the toll it takes for a country (even from an invader's perspective) to go into wars.

 

[GyreneGreen]

Back to the main topic, I wear my military jackets all the time. Mainly M-1941 and M-1943 field jackets, and most of them are patched up. Some just have division patches, but others have chevrons, division/air force patches, overseas bars, etc. Never received any negative comments on them. People seem to be pretty accustomed to seeing that kind of stuff thanks to Ralph Lauren.

My girlfriend hates the field jackets, especially the M-1943 because of its drawstring waist.

My B-15s are a different story. She loves those. One out of every four times I wear my Buzz Rickson B-15 (patched with a 587th BS patch and name plate) someone comments on how much they like the jacket. Once I was reading on the steps of my house and a guy stopped his truck and yelled "Dude! That is one cool jacket!"

 

[Monsoon]

My daughters like my Buzz B-10 due to the "furry soft collar".

I also have a DD Aero/Acme A-2. Great jacket, but since it's new, it squeaks. It's gotten better since I've been wearing it most of the fall, but my girls call it my, "talking jacket".

 

[CBI]

I avoid the jacket comments now by mostly wearing regular stuff. I find I wear my A-2's less and less and when I do, its my original Aero which I need to be careful with. My leather jacket "collection" is dwindling. I am down to 6 (from 20 plus a year or two ago). Lots more cloth now which generally gets more wear. That said, I still LOVE the leather stuff, just more on others and in photos. Weird I guess...................