Several months ago, friend and fellow word-pusher David Mack turned me on to a fairly new website, The Duffel Blog. What’s it about? Well, allow me to let them sell themselves:
A Brief History
Since 1797, The Duffel Blog has been serving the men and women of the American military with insightful commentary and hard-hitting journalism. While other agencies have sometimes run from possibly scandalous stories, TDB has been known to be edgy and ahead of its time, almost as if they could see into the future. After reporting on President John Adams’ $200 per week cocaine habit in March 1799, TDB was named The American Military’s Most-Trusted News Source by the Columbia Journalism Review and the nickname stuck.
Hopefully, savvy folks by now will realize that The Duffel Blog is not a real news site. At least, it’s very up front about not being a real news site, unlike some other “real” news sites we all know are full of shit.
Basically, The Duffel Blog is The Onion for the military set.
And it’s hysterical.
Granted, those with a military background or who are familiar with its culture will probably gain greater amusement from reading the various articles. Still, most pieces are written with a broad audience in mind. Some of my recent favorites:
Marine Corps Establishes ‘Service Utilities’ For More Professional Look
Military Quietly Phasing Out Horse Meat MREs
Marine Officer’s Wife Emotionally Disturbed After Being Denied Salute
Department Of Defense To Award Purple Heart For Butthurt
As funny as the articles can be, it’s the comments where the humor often lives, particularly when somebody thinks the article in question is FOR REALZ. Oh, and somebody almost always thinks an article is FOR REALZ. Some pieces even transcend the site itself and stir up trouble elsewhere. For example, a constituent in Senator Mitch McConnell’s district wrote his office to complain about this gem, resulting in the senator firing off correspondence to the Pentagon in order to ask “WTF?”
Guantanamo Prisoners To Receive GI Bill Benefits
How can you not love when something like that happens?
So, military folks and aficionados: You should be reading The Duffel Blog. BECAUSE.
