thedrifter
07-15-04, 08:58 AM
Issue Date: July 19, 2004
Undercover lovers?
Web site advocates a secret service for deploying troops — or does it?
By C. Mark Brinkley
Times staff writer
For the sake of argument, let’s pretend it could be true:
Organized groups of women (and men) descending on military towns to provide deploying troops with casual sex. Single young people willing to “take one for the country” so that no man or woman goes off to war horn … um, frustrated.
Sign you up, right? Hey, don’t laugh. The movement might be afoot. That’s all we know for sure.
Looking for ... love?
Try tracking down a grass-roots movement that might not exist. It’s super-hard, no pun intended.
The best place to start is the one place where the unbelievable is available 24/7 — the Internet. Beneath all the scams and porn is some level of truth. Visit www .operationtakeoneforthecountry.com or one of its five mirror sites. Would anyone pay for six Web sites advertising a group that doesn’t exist?
Our point exactly. The sites certainly look legit. There’s a copyright and an online store where you can buy a shirt or sticker.
And there’s a mission statement: “To discretely [sic] provide U.S. troops shipping out overseas with the most sensually pleasing departure possible.” We know people who’ll support that.
There’s a president, Kelly McDonough, whose picture graces the opening page. And there’s an interview where she explains that women (and men) should do their part to ensure a successful war.
The text is like a siren’s song, luring you to click a link.
So click one, the transcript of a radio interview with two alleged members. The women explain that they are a “virtual” group — that is to say, there are no membership dues, there’s no structure. Just little cells operating independently of one another for a common goal.
Sounds good, but there’s a problem: The radio station mentioned on the site doesn’t exist.
Further exploration reveals other flaws. For instance, Kelly gives props to the women of the Toby Keith Fan Club, Memphis Branch, for taking matters into their own, umm, hands. Only, we spoke to the president of the Toby Keith Fan Club, and guess what? No regional branches — not in Austin, not in Atlanta, not in Memphis. Maybe there is no movement.
The real Kelly
But maybe there is a movement. To be absolutely sure, we tracked down Kelly McDonough.
Unfortunately, she dismissed the Web site outright, calling it a parody similar to the fake news found on www.theonion.com.
“The illusion is no more than superficial, and meant to be that way,” Kelly said. “From the site, you can see that none of the information is verifiable, and some is outright wrong.”
Yes, we see that. But wouldn’t the creator of a supposedly secret society that suddenly received massive exposure have to declare it a hoax to maintain a level of security? We say yes. So her denials fell on deaf ears. We asked her more questions.
Turns out, Kelly claims to be the person pictured on the site. Her oldest brother was a captain in the Army’s 3rd Armored Division. She’s 29 and — yes, fellas — a single Pisces. She bought all six sites to prevent copycats and pays the $200 yearly fee by selling shirts, which she claims hasn’t been a shining success.
“… Most orders have been from [Scandinavian] countries,” Kelly said. “Evidently, the idea has great appeal there for some reason.”
We asked her if the plan was to spawn a revolution among single women. Not likely, but she wasn’t against the idea.
“Today, don’t women go out and choose the demographic of men they want to ‘be’ with?” she asked. “Do I think women [and men] should go out to bars and ‘take one for the country’? No, not unless they dig the guy, and they feel comfortable with casual sex.
“Do I think that women should maybe think about choosing another demographic [servicemen] if they are going out and partying?” Kelly said. “Yes, I do.”
Hey, let me introduce you to the choir. But are women going for it — creating their own secret clans and taking one for the country?
“I will share this with you,” Kelly said. “During the first month, the Web designer put an e-mail address in the gallery section. Of the women, identifying themselves as such, who responded, 80 percent were positive and asked where they could join. The other 20 percent identified themselves as Marine wives and completely ripped the site, and/or me, a new one.”
Sure, sure, but is it true?
“The genesis of the concept is basically true,” Kelly said. “One night out, a girl I know said to another, ‘I think you should take one for the country.’ In this case, it was a Coast Guard helo pilot in question, not a soldier.”
Did she do it? Impossible to tell. All we can be certain of is this: There are real women out there thinking about it. You can spread the word with a shirt or a bumper sticker, or move to a Scandinavian country to see immediate results.
Successful grass-roots movements have started with less.
C. Mark Brinkley, senior writer for Lifelines, is happily married. He can be reached at (910) 455-8354 or via e-mail at cmark@atpco.com.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-3078201.php
Ellie
Undercover lovers?
Web site advocates a secret service for deploying troops — or does it?
By C. Mark Brinkley
Times staff writer
For the sake of argument, let’s pretend it could be true:
Organized groups of women (and men) descending on military towns to provide deploying troops with casual sex. Single young people willing to “take one for the country” so that no man or woman goes off to war horn … um, frustrated.
Sign you up, right? Hey, don’t laugh. The movement might be afoot. That’s all we know for sure.
Looking for ... love?
Try tracking down a grass-roots movement that might not exist. It’s super-hard, no pun intended.
The best place to start is the one place where the unbelievable is available 24/7 — the Internet. Beneath all the scams and porn is some level of truth. Visit www .operationtakeoneforthecountry.com or one of its five mirror sites. Would anyone pay for six Web sites advertising a group that doesn’t exist?
Our point exactly. The sites certainly look legit. There’s a copyright and an online store where you can buy a shirt or sticker.
And there’s a mission statement: “To discretely [sic] provide U.S. troops shipping out overseas with the most sensually pleasing departure possible.” We know people who’ll support that.
There’s a president, Kelly McDonough, whose picture graces the opening page. And there’s an interview where she explains that women (and men) should do their part to ensure a successful war.
The text is like a siren’s song, luring you to click a link.
So click one, the transcript of a radio interview with two alleged members. The women explain that they are a “virtual” group — that is to say, there are no membership dues, there’s no structure. Just little cells operating independently of one another for a common goal.
Sounds good, but there’s a problem: The radio station mentioned on the site doesn’t exist.
Further exploration reveals other flaws. For instance, Kelly gives props to the women of the Toby Keith Fan Club, Memphis Branch, for taking matters into their own, umm, hands. Only, we spoke to the president of the Toby Keith Fan Club, and guess what? No regional branches — not in Austin, not in Atlanta, not in Memphis. Maybe there is no movement.
The real Kelly
But maybe there is a movement. To be absolutely sure, we tracked down Kelly McDonough.
Unfortunately, she dismissed the Web site outright, calling it a parody similar to the fake news found on www.theonion.com.
“The illusion is no more than superficial, and meant to be that way,” Kelly said. “From the site, you can see that none of the information is verifiable, and some is outright wrong.”
Yes, we see that. But wouldn’t the creator of a supposedly secret society that suddenly received massive exposure have to declare it a hoax to maintain a level of security? We say yes. So her denials fell on deaf ears. We asked her more questions.
Turns out, Kelly claims to be the person pictured on the site. Her oldest brother was a captain in the Army’s 3rd Armored Division. She’s 29 and — yes, fellas — a single Pisces. She bought all six sites to prevent copycats and pays the $200 yearly fee by selling shirts, which she claims hasn’t been a shining success.
“… Most orders have been from [Scandinavian] countries,” Kelly said. “Evidently, the idea has great appeal there for some reason.”
We asked her if the plan was to spawn a revolution among single women. Not likely, but she wasn’t against the idea.
“Today, don’t women go out and choose the demographic of men they want to ‘be’ with?” she asked. “Do I think women [and men] should go out to bars and ‘take one for the country’? No, not unless they dig the guy, and they feel comfortable with casual sex.
“Do I think that women should maybe think about choosing another demographic [servicemen] if they are going out and partying?” Kelly said. “Yes, I do.”
Hey, let me introduce you to the choir. But are women going for it — creating their own secret clans and taking one for the country?
“I will share this with you,” Kelly said. “During the first month, the Web designer put an e-mail address in the gallery section. Of the women, identifying themselves as such, who responded, 80 percent were positive and asked where they could join. The other 20 percent identified themselves as Marine wives and completely ripped the site, and/or me, a new one.”
Sure, sure, but is it true?
“The genesis of the concept is basically true,” Kelly said. “One night out, a girl I know said to another, ‘I think you should take one for the country.’ In this case, it was a Coast Guard helo pilot in question, not a soldier.”
Did she do it? Impossible to tell. All we can be certain of is this: There are real women out there thinking about it. You can spread the word with a shirt or a bumper sticker, or move to a Scandinavian country to see immediate results.
Successful grass-roots movements have started with less.
C. Mark Brinkley, senior writer for Lifelines, is happily married. He can be reached at (910) 455-8354 or via e-mail at cmark@atpco.com.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-3078201.php
Ellie