How many of you played "soldier" growing up? Has it become a thing of the past due to the "anti-gun" frenzy and other factors?

2014-10-22T09:52:40-04:00

Saw an interesting article on this topic this morning:

http://townhall.com/columnists/dwwilber/2014/10/22/boys-dont-play-soldier-anymore-n1908293?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

- Boys Don’t Play ‘Soldier’ Anymore

Whatever happened to war heroes ? As a small boy I remember watching over and over with rapt attention the movie To Hell and Back, the story of Audie Murphy, America's most decorated hero of World War II...

Response by Cpl Dennis F. made Oct 22 at 2014 11:01 AM

2014-10-22T11:01:36-04:00

Interesting article, and rather sad. This kind of stuff always make me think of the lean and hungry Mongol hoards over running the fat and lazy Roman empire. Those who will play (train) at war will win at war.

Response by MSG Wade Huffman made Oct 22 at 2014 11:32 AM

2014-10-22T11:32:48-04:00

Sad, but true. Society now frowns upon children playing 'war games', as well as 'Cops and Robbers' and 'Cowboys and Indians'. Apparently these childhood games most of us grew up with will cause children to grow up with violent tenancies and are no longer politically correct. I'm afraid these childhood games are now only a memory.
Interestingly enough though, online war gaming is all the rage and is a multi-billion dollar industry! Perhaps it's just another example of societal evolution.

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2021-12-09T11:07:43-05:00

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Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Dec 9 at 2021 3:27 PM

2021-12-09T15:27:04-05:00

Yes Boys in my neighborhood when I was in grade school played “Army”. We played with toy guns—also used for cowboys and Indians. Learned basics of marching in formation and saluting from a veteran in the neighborhood. Watched black-and-white WWII movies on TV. Also some fairly violent cartoons from the WWII era on TV.

Response by Cpl Vic Burk made Dec 9 at 2021 8:10 PM

2021-12-09T20:10:46-05:00

COL Jean (John) F. B. Back in the day when I was growing up almost every boy had a cap gun or rifle and played Army (then I joined the Marines!). It was sort of a rites of passage. My brothers and I had a whole slew of plastic Army men. Most kids when I was living in Southern Illinois had a rife, .22, shotgun or something around their twelfth birthday. It was the accepted thing of the time. These days I'm not sure kids even know what a cap gun is or if they even make them any longer. My wife didn't want my son to have a rifle but I put my foot down and said, "He's going to be a man one day and he needs to be able to protect his family. He is getting it, period." She didn't like it but she never said a word about it again.

Response by CWO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 9 at 2021 8:49 PM

2021-12-09T20:49:37-05:00

We did, with plastic miniature soldiers and tanks. No toys, we'd find a stick and practice SERE in the woods. Introducing lighter fluid to the soldiers simulated napalm. They melt. Early 60s.

Response by SGT Mary G. made Dec 9 at 2021 10:28 PM

2021-12-09T22:28:47-05:00

Excellent article. Well written and enjoyed reading it. My playmates were boys.
We played Cowboys and Indians, and had holsters for our toy guns. They were actually nice looking and near normal size. We were both Indians and Cowboys. Our Indians were the good guys too, and won a lot of the battles we fought.
When we were older, before Jr. High, and in the last years of playing pretend, we played escape from East Germany and slept in the backyard in sleeping bags. Saw Sputnik one summer like a planet or star in the sky, but it was moving across the sky. It stopped and two smaller sputniks took off at lightening speed. Problem was it was before Sputnik was said to have be launched, and we didn't think satellites could stop, then start up again.

Response by SPC Lyle Montgomery made Dec 10 at 2021 8:25 AM

2021-12-10T08:25:40-05:00

We played cowboys and indians and soldier too.I never imagined that I would end up being a soldier. At 19 in 1970 I was a grunt in Vietnam carying a M60 in the bush. All turned out OK. I did my 2 years and got the hell out.