Virtual Campfire

[NJCubScouter]

3 hours ago, Tampa Turtle said:

""F-Troop*" 

*a 1960's western TV show comedy for those of a different era and country. Ask Mrs Google.

...speaking of disrespectful portrayals of Native Americans.  (See current discussion in OA thread.)

Of course, the portrayal of U.S. Army cavalry in that show was not particularly respectful either.

That is one of the shows that I will occasionally stumble across while flipping through channels, watch a couple of minutes' worth and ask myself, did I really think THAT was funny when I was a kid? Same with Gilligan's Island.  Same with Hogan's Heroes, but that show is a whole other subject.

[Jameson76]

2 minutes ago, NJCubScouter said:

Hogan's Heroes, but that show is a whole other subject.

Hogan's Heroes was on one night and my son (maybe 9th grade at the time) watched the episode.  First we had to get beyond officers and enlisted men in the same POW camp, but then he said..so the Nazis were just fun loving guys??  I explained it was the 60's and that you had to sort of roll with it.  

Then we found Rat Patrol....

[Tampa Turtle]

"F-Troop" when the Indians were still Italian-Americans in a black wig. At least they all were friendly.

I see "Rat Patrol" on real late...seems the same plot week after week...guys with a couple jeeps and a .50 caliper successfully ambush a german half-track and panzer week after week spoiling a critical mission. Guest stars have the life expectancy of an Original Star Trek red shirt.

(at this point I drop a marshmallow into the fire just to watch in flare up)

[NJCubScouter]

1 hour ago, Jameson76 said:

Hogan's Heroes was on one night and my son (maybe 9th grade at the time) watched the episode.  First we had to get beyond officers and enlisted men in the same POW camp, but then he said..so the Nazis were just fun loving guys??  I explained it was the 60's and that you had to sort of roll with it.  

My parents had a definite opinion about a show with "funny Nazis," and this WAS in the 60s/70s when my brothers and I would watch it.  When I see it now, I know my parents were correct.

[Oldscout448]

My Dad loved Hogans Hero's ,  and he spent two years in France and Germany shooting at Nazis.

Maybe he  used the humor as a way of dealing with the horrors he saw as a young man.  I don't know. But each to his own.

"Adds a few more sticks of ash under the coffeepot"

Edited January 31, 2018 by Oldscout448

[RememberSchiff]

My Dad, ex-Navy,  laughed his hardest watching Sergeant Bilko (The Phil Silvers Show). I guess the humor transfers to all services. Still funny today.

 

 

[DuctTape]

My father lives in Germany and over there he says the germans watch reruns of Hogans Heroes and find it hilarious. They are also very ashamed of allowing the fascist regime to take control by not standing up out of fear.

[Eagle1993]

I had an engineering team that used to work for me out of Germany.  One of them told me of the time he told his son about WWII.  He got through telling his son the history and his son asked...”dad, we were on the good side, right”.   “Well son, as a matter of fact....”  it was a tough conversation to have.

[Eagle1993]

Oh, and many of them still dislike the French... at least those 40 and older.

[MattR]

... and the French hate the Germans ...

We were in Prague and saw a fun show. It was for kids. It was mostly a mime but in the beginning they wanted to tell everyone to turn off their cell phones. Rather than just say it they acted it out. The English version was a take off on a California surfer dude. The French version was a take off on someone that was full of himself. The German version was someone that was very stiff and formal, stay within the lines. There were a bunch of German kids there and they loved it all.

[skeptic]

I was stationed on a small NATO bombing range north of Munich in the late 60's.  We were remote, so we had our own little clubhouse where we had fussbol, a pinball machine, small jukebox, and where we showed our own movies from a reel machine.  There were only 9 of us stationed there, and we had local German workers for building target stuff on the range and even keeping up the little house we used for a barrack and office.  When we showed movies, which we would get from Munich fifty miles south, we opened the clubhouse to the locals if they wanted.  They also would play bingo with us once a week.  Always at least two cases of beer, usually double, half chilled and half warm.  We got the Battle of the Bulge in one time, and we had locals begging to see it.  Few of them had any animosity towards us.  One worker even spent most of the war in a camp in the states.  The funny comment that was common though from those that had been in the War was that they fought on the Russian front.  The veteran NCO that ran the site (officers were sent TDY to talk to pilots, but not permanent) had actually bombed the area we were in as a crew chief on a large bomber.  It was an interesting experience.
b

[Eagle1993]

The Germans I worked with were near France/Switzerland.  They told me that after the war, the American and German leaders made peace and that all levels of American soldiers treated the Germans well.  The French and German leaders also made peace but the Germans I talked to said that didn’t trickle down.  Even German kids who had nothing to do with the war were mistreated by the French soldiers.   I didn’t ask for specifics.  To this day, they said that most Germans pick Spanish or Italian as their foreign language vs French.     Many Germans will still not vacation in France either.  I told them that I thought English was their number one foreign language... the guy laughed and said English is not considered a foreign language anymore (it is required for all German school children).  That was about the end of the conversation... I didn’t point out that Germany invaded France twice in 30 years and perhaps that was why they were a little pissed.

[MattR]

Time for a new topic.

I had to pick something up from an old scouter today. I was lamenting the drop in participation and said I was reading some old books from Hillcourt that were just dripping with enthusiasm and adventure. So he said he took Woodbadge with Hillcourt being the SM. That started a discussion. I asked him about a syllabus and he told me it was pretty simple. After months of preparation by the staff he showed up the first night and told everyone there would be no flip charts and all the teaching would be outdoors (chuck all the planning). Each patrol had to teach anything they wanted, as long as it came out of the scout handbook, the patrol leaders handbook, the scoutmaster's handbook, or the field book. Also, whatever they taught had to be in the form of a game. So, basically patrols made up games that taught skills. There might have been more but that was the bulk of it.

So he used that as SM. Patrols made up games that taught skills. And to think that I used to really encourage scouts to make up games that covered skills.

I'm thinking this might be how the next camporee works.

[ianwilkins]

Some Dutch don't like the Germans either. Or maybe they are fed up with Brits thinking they're German as Dutch sounds a bit German if you don't know either language that well. They bridle somewhat. You can normally tell they're Dutch as they'll have something orange on. Or if you're on a campsite in France, probably better to assume they're dutch. I'm convinced Holland must be empty in the summer as almost every campsite we go to is chockablock with Dutch.

I seem to meet nice friendly people wherever I go from whatever country. I think there's a parable about that, or maybe an apocryphal tale. Something about an old man on the road from one town to another.

[Tampa Turtle]

My father was a boy scout on Long Island NY during the war. In his (then) rural community there were a number of (very happy) German POW's on work release who did odd jobs, gardening etc. A number of the high school boys like him befriended them (dad knew a little german) and he swapped an old Cub Scout cap for a German POW cap which was considered very cool in his high school. He said almost his entire patrol had one and would wear them on campouts though the Scoutmaster told them not to let anyone see them wear with the scout uniform.

He remembers talking to one german (a torpedo mate from a U-boat) in late '43 who was so happy to be out of the war and was planning to relocate to the US after the war.