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Archiver > SAR-TALK > 2001-12 > 1008860512
From: "Dick Fowler" <>
Subject: [[SAR-TALK]] Re: [[SAR-TALK]] Re: [[SAR-TALK]] Fw: message from a Recon Marine in Afganistan
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 10:05:58 -0800
Compatriot
James Evans,
Thank you for sending me the url http://www.snopes2.com/info/search/ . I
did check it out, and got the same results you got. I will save that URL for
future reference.
I was not representing that it was right, only that it was a story that was
aired on radio.
If that message was offensive to anyone, I do apologize.
Please send a letter or e-mail to someone in the Armed Forces.
Dick Fowler
St. Lucie River Chapter
-----Original Message-----
From: James M. Evans <>
To: <>
Date: Thursday, December 20, 2001 6:24 AM
Subject: [[SAR-TALK]] Re: [[SAR-TALK]] Fw: message from a Recon Marine in
Afganistan
>Compatriot
>Dick Fowler,
>
>
>Please check the origin of articles you pass on. A good place to start
checking is at: http://www.snopes2.com/info/search/.
>
>
>
> ""Claim: An expletive-filled letter from "Saucy Jack" detailing
conditions in Afghanistan was penned by a Marine serving there.
> Status: False.
>
> Variations:
>
>
>
> a.. In some versions, "(expletive)" is substituted for every word
of questionable taste. In others, "f*cking" or "f***ing" replace "fucking"
and "b***s***" takes the place of "bullshit," with all other words left
intact.
> Origins: This letter purportedly written by a Marine serving in
Afghanistan began circulating on the Internet at the end of November 2001.
It has since been read over the air by a variety of radio hosts, which has
helped to disseminate the piece to an even wider audience.
>
> We have no idea if the letter actually came from someone serving in
Afghanistan or if it's the fanciful invention of someone stateside as no
information has been provided about its author. Although the article has
been presented as true on the radio, that shouldn't sway anyone into
believing it's the real thing, because radio show hosts are notorious for
reading on air items harvested from the Internet that have proved to be fict
ions.
>
> No doubt this piece is so popular because it contains much that
Americans would find appealing. Besides the interest (and novelty) in
hearing from a soldier right on the front lines of a war in which we're
engaged, it gives voice to ideas that many of us want to believe: that our
soldiers are brave and tough (neither a scorpion's sting nor its supposedly
transmission fluid-like antidote fazes Saucy Jack the Marine); that our
armed forces are a well-organized, technologically advanced fighting machine
up against a primitive enemy from a backwards country; that our foes are our
inferiors, morally as well as militarily; and that the media often don't
know what they're talking about, and we'd all be better off if they just
butted out and let our servicemen do their jobs.
>
> Is the story at least believable? Not really -- the narrative is rife
with errors and inconsistencies: for example, Ab Gach, the panhandle, and
the Hindu Kush mountains are all in the northeast portion of Afghanistan,
not the northwest; scorpion antivenin is injected, not drunk; and a true
"Recon Marine" wouldn't be broadcasting specifics about his position and
mission to the world at large. If this really was the work of a serviceman
in Afghanistan, he was deliberately trying to be misleading or funny, not to
convey an account of real events.
>
> The "Saucy Jack" letter is as popular as it is because it purports to
give insight into the day-to-day reality of a soldier in the field that CNN
fails to provide. News emerging from the war in Afghanistan seems rigidly
controlled, and the people back home are hungry for information that is not
forthcoming. A message such as this one thus falls on highly receptive ears.
""
>
>
>
>
>The URL for the complete page is http://www.snopes.com/rumors/freezing.htm
>
>
>
>James M. Evans, Treasurer, Ozark Mountain Chapter, Missouri Society SAR
>http://www.rootsweb.com/~moomcsam/index.html
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