Judge — October 28, 1916 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a joke about military assignments during what appears to be the early 20th century. The cartoon shows soldiers and civilians at West Point (the U.S. Military Academy). The humor plays on a double meaning: Anne jokes that sailors have romantic conquests in every port, asking what soldiers can do instead. Dick's response—praying for "coast-defense" assignment—is a pun. Coast-defense duties would keep soldiers stationed along American coasts rather than deployed far away, theoretically giving them more opportunities for romantic encounters with local women, similar to sailors' port experiences. The satire gently mocks both military life and the romantic pursuits of young servicemen, using a common era trope about sailors' womanizing to create the joke.