Being Frank....

When you watch as much TV as I do you begin to notice patterns in adverts. One theme I've noticed is the decline in optimism in adverts for the military. When I was a lad I remember an army advert about Frank. Two bored guys were sitting in a cafe remarking on what had happened to their friend Frank. This was interspersed with clips of Frank jumping out of helicopters, jumping tanks of ramps and finally walking a cross a sandy beach with a cute girl. To be Frank, we were told, join the army. It seemed attractive, unless you were actually Frank, because in each exciting scene a large luminous arrow was pointing to where he was. Not great if you are trying to remain hidden in the bushes....

More recently, as the military engages in more activities overseas activities we can see the adverts reflecting the roles they do - building hospitals, helping people after storms, infiltrating drug smuggling. Joining the military will challenge your ability to do good. And its better to use your diplomacy skills as an infantry officer than as night club doorman. But slowly there is more evidence of conflict coming into the adverts. One of the latest has a TA nurse dealing with a 'hostile combatant' coming into his first aid post. Still a challenge of using your abilities. But the last I saw was of two snipers observing an enemy cam, their position is rumbled, an enemy soldier is seen in the cross-hairs of the rifle sight and then we are encouraged to visit www.army.mod.uk to discover what happens next....

We are involved in a number of conflicts now and it seems that the army recruitment is reflecting this. Because although the military do get involved in humanitarian actions much of what they do ultimately involves guns. Maybe they can't hide this fact anymore.

The older I get, the more repulsed by guns I become. I don't read my commando comics anymore, we ebayed them, to a pastor from Florida actually, for £120 a couple of years ago. I don't like that we have to have an army anymore. But there are people in this world who have guns and may not like me very much. So maybe I am quite grateful that we do have one. We might just have to be more careful about how we use it. Maybe we're learning that now. To be Frank.

Comments

[Beat Attitude]

Takes a courageous person to step up to the bat in these times knowing that they are risking their mental and physical wellbeing in order to serve their country. Guns are repulsive, that's true. So is sewage, but I'm glad that some people have opted to work in the sewage plant, otherwise I'd have to deal with it myself. I guess you could say that soldiers carry guns so you don't have to.

[Bruce]

You hit the mark Beat.
I liked the ad where the guy almost drowns trying to swim under some obstacle. Tagline '99.99% don't make it' or something like that. Without wanting to sound contrived, I thought there was a message about discipleship in there.