US Military Troops replaced with 'Flat Daddies' at home

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press

Thursday August 31, 2006 19:06

by redjade

no, this story does not come from 'The Onion'

Somethings these days are too weird for words....

Maine National Guard members in Iraq and Afghanistan are never far from the thoughts of their loved ones.

But now, thanks to a popular family-support program, they're even closer.

Welcome to the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home.

The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front.

``I prop him up in a chair, or sometimes put him on the couch and cover him up with a blanket," said Kay Judkins of Caribou, whose husband, Jim, is a minesweeper mechanic in Afghanistan. ``The cat will curl up on the blanket, and it looks kind of weird. I've tricked several people by that. They think he's home again."

At the request of relatives, about 200 Flat Daddy and Flat Mommy photos have been enlarged and printed at the state National Guard headquarters in Augusta. The families cut out the photos, which show the Guard members from the waist up, and glue them to a $2 piece of foam board.

Sergeant First Class Barbara Claudel, the state family-support director who began the program, said the response from Guard families has been giddily enthusiastic.

``If there's something we can do to make it a little easier on the families, then that's our job and our responsibility. It brings them a little bit closer and might help them somewhere down the line," Claudel said yesterday.

go read the rest of the pathetically sad story....
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/08/30/gu...ions/

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Comments (4 of 4)

Flat Daddies are back! - w/ Artificial Intelligence

Wed Jan 07, 2009 23:59

Quote: ''The U.S. Department of Defense has [....] projects to fund. Idea

OSD09-H03? Develop an AI that fools young children into thinking they are talking to Daddy or Mommy when Daddy or Mommy are off on their 3rd deployment to Iraq and can't come to the webcam.

"The child should be able to have a simulated conversation with a parent about generic, everyday topics. For instance, a child may get a response from saying "I love you", or "I miss you", or "Good night mommy/daddy." ... The application should incorporate an AI that allows for flexibility in language comprehension to give the illusion of a natural (but simple) interaction." ''

• more and discussions at http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/07/dod-wants-parent-b....html

OSD09-H03?
http://www.dodtechmatch.com/DOD/Opportunities/SBIRView....9-H03

'Deployments put stress on the entire family, especially small children and communication is key. The ability to reach out and communicate with loved ones from areas of conflict is better than at any time in history. Nevertheless, the stresses of deployment might be softened if spouses and especially children could conduct simple conversations with their loved ones in immediate times of stress or prolonged absence. Historically, families have derived comfort and support from photographs or mementos, but current technology SHOULD allow for more personal interactive messages of support. Over 80% of American children between the ages of three and five regularly use computers, and 83% of families have a computer in their home. So, computer-based applications would resonate with children and capture their interest and imagination. The challenge is to design an application that would allow a child to receive comfort from being able to have simple, virtual conversations with a parent who is not available "in-person". We are looking for innovative applications that explore and harness the power of advanced interactive multimedia computer technologies to produce compelling interactive dialogue between a Service member and their families via a pc- or web-based application using video footage or high-resolution 3-D rendering....'

That's just scary.

by scary

Thu Sep 07, 2006 18:25

Can you imagine the therapy those kids will need?
"Yeah, we had a life size cut out of Dad on the chair..., uh, Mom made us bring him on the school run... Dad was in Afghanistan... It was weird"

Hopefully they'll get the real thing back in one piece, before this self delusion causes any permanent damage to the kids... weird...

Give Bush a gun

by another absurdity

Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:43

and let him play sisyphus.

like a rat in a trap. he would never kill himself because his 'God'
which allows him to kill ,demean women; and rape the earth is a
materialist construct that condemns suicide.

cf:( The Myth of Sisyphus- Albert Camus)

Post millenial surrealism

by un chien andalou

Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:02

Its absurd because these people don't need the flat-daddy
when the father of the nation is protecting them with his bombs
and guns -yeehaw.

Patriarchial constructs gone mad?

When living individual people give up their liberties to a concept
of equality and fairness grounded in beligerent war-fare and
destruction of culture. they are constructing a mythos-right/

Therefore, the cut-out is unnecessary as they have replaced
the concept of father with el presidente. its all part of the joy
of surrealism, and the U.S is possibly the most surreal
community on the globe. no-one has shot the fucker though
he is undermining the planet with toxic policy and global warfare.

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US Military Troops replaced with 'Flat Daddies' at home

Comments (4 of 4)