You Bastard!

My wife found this on a knitting blog. Imagine! I think it's authentic - that is to say, from a military source.

Comments

[Kingdaddy]

Very funny.

Off topic, I keep meaning to ask if there's any special meaning to the Michael Whelan pic of the dragon and Death that's the logo for your site.

[J.]

You know, I didn't even know the painter's name, I pulled it off a site dedicated to dragon art. The Army Chemical Corps has traditionally used the green dragon as its emblem since at least World War II. The regimental crest of the Chemical Corps features a shield “blazoned as follows: Per bend Or and Azure [half gold and half cobalt blue] a dragon rampant Vert [standing on one leg and gesturing with the other three] and in base a tree trunk scared by war eradicated of the first [symbolizing the birth of the Chemical Corps during World War I]."

The dragon refers to the good old days when the Chemical Corps had an offensive CBW munitions program - thus the "dragon's breath." The Dragon was finally defanged in 1990, but it's still our symbol. When I saw the painting, I just really liked it. Maybe it's partly due to my adoration to the Tolkein books also...

[Kingdaddy]

I know Michael Whelan from the days when (1) I read a lot more SF than I do now, and (2) my family actually owned a bookstore that specialized in SF and related items (comics, movie paraphernalia, etc.). Whelan is pretty famous in SF circles as Everyone's Famous Artist. I can't remember if Whelan himself initiated it, or the awards committee did, but eventually he got off the list of yearly Hugo Award nominees for best artist because he had won too many times.

And thanks to the power of the Internet, here are some links to Whelan's art:

http://www.michaelwhelan.com/
http://www.aumania.it/fa_whelan1.html

[Eric Martin]

I never knew.