Claymore Mines

P-Ziddy has a Marine buddy, and of course I've got OoRah. 'Zid and I wound up being a proxy for the two of them to discuss T-Shirt ideas.

It started with this little bit of genius from CafePress. I didn't understand the joke, but OoRah was kind enough to outline it for me.

"The original Claymore Mine had nothing printed on it. After some accidents with troopers pointing the concave part of the mine towards the enemy (instead of the convex part), they printed "front towards enemy" on the front of the mine."

"Later on, they discovered that in the dark, Claymores could be mistaken for ration cans, which led to some other accidents and damaged mines. So they printed Do not eat. The lettering is "carved" - it has some depth, so if anyone picks one up in the dark, the letters can be felt."

This led to OoRah's magnificent T-Shirt idea... "Front Toward Enemy", as in the picture above. The back would say, "Do not eat: Contents toxic."

This is where P-Ziddy's Marine buddy comes into the discussion. He suggested "Backblast area all secure" for the back of the shirt.

Stellar.

Turns out, "Backblast area all secure" is the warning one gives before firing a bazooka or LAW rocket. I'm told it's also a warning that a Marine shouts just before he passes gas.

I would like to take this moment to thank the US Marine Corps for providing me blog content for today. Gentlemen, a tiny nerd salutes you.