Life — July 5, 1917 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This illustration depicts a sailor standing beside a baby carriage, captioned "Shore Duty." The satire likely comments on the contrast between naval service and domestic life during World War I. The uniformed sailor—shown in full dress with distinctive sailor's collar—appears positioned awkwardly with the baby carriage, suggesting the incongruity of a military man assigned to stateside, peacetime duties. The joke plays on the phrase "shore duty" (assignment to land-based naval stations) as a mundane alternative to active combat service. During 1917, when America had recently entered WWI, the image humorously depicts how some servicemen were assigned domestic tasks rather than frontline action—a common source of military humor and satire in period publications.