How the heroes have fallen.

Once upon a time, when men were men and, well, real men were real men:

Two Island veterans of the Second World War who served with the fearsome Devil’s Brigade have been awarded the prestigious U.S. Bronze Star Medal.

Lawrence (Junior) Durant of Charlottetown and his cousin Ray Durant, who now lives in Ottawa, can add the bronze star to their impressive list of military accolades...

The one-of-a-kind military unit was perhaps most noted for conducting silent night raids on the German lines, their faces smeared with black boot paste, leaving casualties in their wake and a special calling card that read, in German: “The worst is yet to come.’’

The FSSF was known for special training that included parachuting, skiing and mountain climbing, as well as conducting extreme marches with immensely heavy packs on their backs.

Fast forward to 2008, where Canadian right-wing Blogging Tory military heroism appears to consist of the stamina to remain motionless for hours at a time except for the rapid-fire thumb motion of playing World of Warcraft, and conducting the occasional raid on Mahmood's convenience store for the dill pickle-flavoured Cheetos while being able to yell up the stairs, "Mom! Is there any Dr. Pepper left? Mom? Mommmmmm!!"

To paraphrase Dostoevsky, try to read the above and not think of Blogging Tory "Neo Conservative." Go ahead -- I dare you.

P.S. I would be remiss if I did not take you down memory lane.