B. D. (Doonesbury)

B.D. is a character from Garry Trudeau's popular comic strip Doonesbury. In the comic strip, nobody is certain what "B.D." is short for (he gives his last name as "D"), but he was based on Brian Dowling, quarterback at Yale University, where Trudeau attended college. In the stage adaptation of the strip, "Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy", his full name was revealed to be Brian John Dowling (that of his real life namesake).

B.D.'s helmet

One of B.D.'s odder traits was his helmet. For 34 years he was never seen without one. He wore a football helmet at college, as a coach and as a pro football player, a soldier's helmet in the army, a policeman's helmet when he was a cop and even riot gear. His only (rare) explanations for this were "My ears stick out" or "I have bad hair". In the February 21, 2006 strip he revealed that his mother used to put helmets on him, as a means of protection, when he was a child.

History

B.D. was first introduced on September 30, 1968, in Trudeau's strip "Bull Tales" in the Yale Daily News. At the time, B.D.'s helmet was white, with a block letter "Y" for Yale. [http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/retro/yale/yale1.html]

B.D. was reintroduced in the first Doonesbury strip in 1970 in which the popular quarterback became roommate to the nerdy, awkward Mike Doonesbury at Walden College. (At Walden, B.D. wore a football helmet with a star on the side.) Mike and B.D. had many differences and initially couldn't stand each other.

As captain of the Walden football team, B.D. faced many tests of his short patience. His teammates could rarely keep their minds on the game, opting to have intense philosophical and political discussions during huddle. This became much worse when self-described "freak" Zonker Harris joined the team.

B.D. was notable for having rather conservative views, in contrast to the more liberal beliefs of the other main characters, Mike, Mark and Zonker. He deplored welfare and marijuana use, and was a supporter of the Vietnam War. He eventually joined the army (temporarily exchanging his football helmet for a military one) and went to Vietnam simply to get out of writing a term paper. He found military life to be a good match for him, and enjoyed his tour of duty immensely in sharp contrast to most of his colleagues.

While in Vietnam, B.D. met and befriended Phred, a Viet-Cong "terrorist" who captured him, only to get them both lost. B.D.'s amiability towards Phred is odd considering his strict anti-communist beliefs, his black and white view of politics, and his gung-ho attitude as a soldier, but they remain friends to this day.

During the 1970s he started dating Boopsie, and they moved into Walden Commune with Mike, Mark, Zonker, and others. He graduated with the original Doonesbury characters during the strip's hiatus in 1983, and with Boopsie moved to Malibu, California, where he played as a third-string quarterback for the then Los Angeles Rams, and worked as Boopsie's manager while she tried to develop a career in Hollywood.

B.D. remained in the army reserves and was called up for the Gulf War in 1991. There he became friends with Ray Hightower, who subsequently became a recurring character in the strip. While on leave B.D. cheated on Boopsie with a female officer. which itself was broken off abruptly when it turned out the other soldier was a captain while B.D. (at the time) was a corporal.

When Boopsie learned of the affair she broke up with B.D., but eventually they reconciled, married and in 1992 had a daughter, Samantha (Sam). During the early 90s, B.D. worked as a cop in the California Highway Patrol, changing his military helmet for a policeman's motorcycle helmet. Eventually he was hired by his alma mater Walden College to coach the football team he was once captain of.

He was briefly called back to military duty to keep order after the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, and in 2003 he was sent to fight the Iraq War.

The helmet finally came off on April 21, 2004 when, while serving in Iraq, B.D. lost a leg; his reaction to its loss was a loud, anguished, "Son of a bitch!" (which caused the strip to be pulled from some newspapers.) [http://www.sptimes.com/2004/04/20/Floridian/_Doonesbury__goes_to_.shtml] His friend and fellow soldier Ray Hightower got him airlifted to safety in time, and he survives as an above-the-knee amputee. He has successfully gone through physical therapy and can walk with the aid of a high-tech prosthetic "C-Leg". His only reflection on losing the helmet was "Oh yeah, my helmet. What was up with that?".

Although he is physically in good condition, his mental state has deteriorated since returning home. B.D. began drinking too much, suffered from nightmares and became highly irritable. Realizing the seriousness of his problems, he entered therapy in January 2006. B.D. shows great reluctance or even fear about discussing his Iraq service with the counselor. This is revealed to stem from guilt over an incident wherein he ordered the driver of his HMMWV to drive through a crowd in order to escape an ambush of the Iraqi Resistance. It is unclear if this was the same engagement in which B.D. was wounded.

Chronology of major events

* First appearance, wearing a white helmet with a star (the star is later revealed to be green): 26 October 1970
* Becomes a third-string quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, now wears that team's helmet: 12 December 1984
* Returns to wearing his Walden College helmet: 3 August 1987
* Retires from professional sports: 16 August 1987
* Called up for the first Persian Gulf War: 5 September 1990
* Changes helmet to desert camouflage: 10 September 1990
* Field promoted to Sergeant
* Returns home from first Gulf War: 6 May 1991
* Marries Boopsie: 20 April 1992
* Called up again to protect Los Angeles after the start of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots: 12 May 1992
* Joins the California Highway Patrol, changes helmet: 9 September 1992
* Moves back to Walden to coach the football team
* Promoted to Army Lieutenant
* Called up for the second Gulf War
* Loses leg, and helmet: 21 April 2004

ources

*cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102000446_3.html|title=Doonesbury's War|pages=W14|date=2006-10-22|author=Gene Weingarten|work=Washington Post