This image was lost some time after publication.

Is Iraq just one big frat party? What else are we to assume based on the fact that, a) soldiers are whipping out their 'Big Shockers' during the obligatory wartime salute to the troops in the Superbowl pre-game show (above); and, b) female soldiers at Camp Bucca, in southern Iraq are mud-wrestling for the delight of their male colleagues, according to The New York Daily News.

According to the News:

In front of a cheering male audience, two young women wearing only bras and panties throw themselves into a mud-filled plastic kiddie pool and roll around in a wild wrestling match.

At one point a man in the audience raises a water bottle and douses the entwined pair.

At another, a "referee" moves in to break up the scantily clad grapplers.

A young blond lifts her T-shirt to expose her breasts. A brunette turns her back to the camera and exposes her thong undies.


The worst part, apparently, was that those thongs weren't bulletproof, but were instead fortified with bits of fabric to create "hillbilly under-armor."

As for those 'big shockers,' College Humor has the video. If you're over twenty-five, Rebecca Mead helpfully described it in The New Yorker as follows:

Another familiar trope of contemporary college humor is a hand gesture known as the shocker, in which the ring finger of the hand is held down by the thumb while the remaining three fingers stay rigid. No one over the age of twenty-five knows what it means, but I guarantee you that ninety per cent of college students know what it is, Josh said. (The gesture indicates a method of pleasuring a female partner, though not one that looks to be easily undertaken without incurring hand cramps.) Ricky had the idea of manufacturing a large foam hand, the Big Shocker, like those on sale at sports events. So far, close to twenty thousand have been sold through CollegeHumor.com, for a profit of about ten dollars apiece. We figured that other people would copy them, so we took a patent out on it, Josh said. So we have a U.S. government document that has a picture of the shocker on it. It s kind of funny.


There's some sort of metaphor in that, but we can't figure it out.

That exploding sound you hear is Michael Powell shooting himself in the head right now.

Out of control at Camp Crazy! [NYDN]
Soldiers hold up their Big Shockers during Fox's Super Bowl pre-game show! [College Humor]
Big in '05: Fraternities