War ain't pretty, soldier

Joshua spent some of his birthday money last month on a set of toy soldiers. It included dozens of soldiers in various positions/stages of battle, tanks, bunkers, a helicopter . . . you know, all the usual little green pieces of plastic needed to accurately replicate an activity in which humans blow one another to smithereens.

Yesterday the boys and I were setting up a battle in the driveway. Putting all of our little soldiers into place, I noticed Josh setting a few aside. When I asked him why, he said, "Because those guys are just cutting the grass." Huh? I looked at the soldiers in question, and I suppose to innocent eyes they did indeed look like they were swinging weed-whackers:



I had no idea toy soldier sets had come such a long way since we were kids. I remember them all being in the same position holding the same type of gun. Now there are guys on their bellies with rifles aimed, guys holding radios and pointing, guys looking through binoculars, guys with all manner of different weapons from bazookas to grenades. Here's where I think the realism went a little over the top:





Yes, they came out of the box that way. One missing everything except a trunk and the other missing his feet. Thanks a lot, Hasbro. On the bright side, it made it easy to explain what the mine-sweeper guy was doing, right?