Point of particular Doonesbury strip?

[sbrothy]

I've been a fan of Doonesbury since I was 12 (even though I'm from Denmark), and the older I get, and the more American politics I understand, the more strips I understand. There are still many points that elude me, but specifically one annoys me. Unfortunately the albums don't seem to fit any pattern from country to country and sometimes the translation is downright horrendous.

As a non-US citizen I, needless to say, don't fully understand the diffferences between the US army and the U.S. Marine Corp. The only thing I (think I know) is that joining the marines is a voluntary choice.

One strip puzzles me though:

Switch has just had a session with his educational advisor after having a crisis (making his aphasia worse) and his advisor promises to fix the army payment he is due. Switch then asks him if his advisor served as well, and the answer is yes, he stormed the beaches of Mogadishu as a marine. Switch then jokingly asks "Why a marine? Did the army reject you?", whereupon his advisor, again jokingly, warns him: "Don't play too smart. We're in a parking lot."

Can someone explain this joke to me? I mean it's not like Mogadishu had a lot of parking lots? I'm sure the point is banal and clear once pointed out but it annoys me that I don't get it.

EDIT: Thinking again this question belonged on Civicswatch.

 

[.Scott]

Marines have quite a different reputation than Army soldiers. A common slang term for a Marine is "jarhead".
If you join the Marines, you can expect rigorous discipline and perhaps very challenging assignments - "First to Fight". They are also the branch that provides the most "ceremony" - with assignments to the Embassies and the Presidents Band.

Decades ago, I was part of a team charged putting together some of the software test tools for the Osprey helicopter. There was not a engineer there that thought this machine would be safe to use. But the ultimate customer was the US Marines - and from their point of view, it was the only thing that would get them to where they needed to be to fight. It would be used on missions where casualties were expected. As the years went by and the Ospreys continued to crash, the Marines made it clear (to Congress and everyone else), that this was the machine they wanted.

And yes, if you are turned down by the Army for being too crazy or criminal, you still have a good shot at getting into the Marines.

 

[berkeman]

EDIT: Thinking again this question belonged on Civicswatch.

I don't think it's particularly political. There are well-known rivalries between the services here in America. I'm not sure about the parking lot reference, though. Can you link to the actual cartoon, or is it behind a paywall?

 

[sbrothy]

Well I was reading it at the library but let me make an effort. Thanks for your input so far.

 

[sbrothy]

Well, as I said, the translation is completely random. They translated SPC Leo Deluca (AKA: "Toggle") to "Switch" in the Danish version; which makes no sense to me. Why translate an English word to another English word? It's almost insulting.

But that's the member of the cast I meant by Switch. I'll dig a little deeper, but there's lots of strips!

 

[sbrothy]

I especially like Doonesbury because of the character development and because the cast gets older and die off. Sending the torch to their children. It has matured a lot since it start.