SLPAD - 65

[Mark Kohut]

I think the phrase "all the way' in such a context means a full embrace of
'regular Army" and all it implies.
"But all the way to what?" is a nice questioning of the meaning of being
all "regular Army" . Of the meaning
of the military; of the meaning of all it does.

On Tue, May 23, 2023 at 5:15 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> “…after awhile you forget about the rest of the spectrum
>                and start believing that this is the only frequency that
> counts or is real. While
>                outside, all up and down the land, there are these wonderful
> colors and x-rays and
>                ultraviolets going on.”
>
>
>             “Don’t you think Roach is on a closed circuit too?” Rizzo said.
> “McNeese is not the
>                world but Roach ain’t the spectrum either.”
>
>
>             Levine shook his head. “You draftees are all alike,” he said.
>
>
>
> Rizzo seems to have misconstrued Levine’s remark, doesn’t he?
>
> Wasn’t Levine talking about the restrictions of military life, and implying
> that McNeese was part of the outside world with all the “wonderful colors
> and x-rays and ultraviolets” ??
>
> That purport seems like an obvious reading - so I’m surprised to see Rizzo
> responding as if Levine means to apply the “narrowband” critique to the
> current tableau in the quad  -  and as if Levine has meant to posit the
> military as less subject to those limitations!
>
> So Rizzo “corrects” the impression of “oh, these poor students, they don’t
> know what they’re missing”*
>
> and sez words to the effect of “hey, Camp Roach ain’t any less
> closed-circuit than this place, rilly, is it?”
>
> -
>
> *which Levine (imho) is almost certainly not offering - I think all the
> context points to him intending something a lot more like, “gosh, we’re in
> this little rut, & there’s this whole wide world out there with beautiful
> co-Ed’s, case in point, right here & now, eh? Eh, comrade?”
>
> -
>
>
> This I think (ymmv) is Rizzo defending his worldview after his hollow laugh
> on the previous page bespoke a certain pang of missing civilian life.
>
> He turns it around - “yeah, these college kids have a narrow and deprived
> world - but let’s not knock them too hard: I know it’s hard to believe, but
> from a certain angle, our wonderful military life’s also got its
> confinement.”
>
> Whatever glue holds people in military service, that glue is a lot stronger
> in Rizzo than in Levine.
>
>
>
> Then this odd exchange:
>
> Levine shook his head. “You draftees are all alike,” he said.
>
>             “I know, I know. R.A. all the way. But all the way to what?”
>
>
> It’s like they are reversing roles of how they really are: Levine “of the
> bad attitude” mock-castigating Rizzo as a service-hating draftee, and Rizzo
> acting as if he’s questioning his career choice (R.A. all the way - R.A.
> being “regular Army” I think - but all the way to what?) although as a
> noncommissioned officer, he’s much more committed than Levine.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>