Brad have a relative in the Marines or something?

I've noticed over the last year or so that Brad is pretty quick to notice particular things. Especially references to the United States Marine Corps. Now, I'm pretty confident that Brad was never a Marine, given that I remember him being baby faced back on Gamespot, but I'm curious if it's just his normal "knowing shit" or if anyone knows if he had like a relative in the Corps. I'm just curious about it and I picked up on it because of my own relationship with the Corps (working towards enlisting+family ties). But I also know Brad has something of an interest in military topics so it might just be that.

The way Brad now knows everything that will kill you after spending a bunch of time reading on diseases, asteroids and spiders i get the feeling he can easily fall down the wikipedia rabbit hole and absorb a ton of knowledge very quickly on any subject. This knowledge does tend to mesh together in weird ways at times though. He makes some stuff up by mix and matching a ton of different things he reads.

I'm assuming it's because he's from the south and people from the south either know that shit or fake as if they know that shit to such a degree that those that don't know that shit believe them.

Yeah. As a guy who does the same exact thing on any tiny subject that holds my attention for a split-second, I can see this being the answer.

Brad does seem addicted to Wikipedia more than most.

Not sure, but I'm pretty certain he does read a ton of information online, like many of us. You go into info spirals, whisking away hours learning everything readily available about the most obscure things. I must admit, while I have genuinely studied a lot of subjects in my life, I have also built up a ridiculous repertoire of medium level understanding and recognition of almost every possible topic of human discussion that I can imagine.

Though, it isn't -that- hard to recognize Marine Corps references. It's part of the American culture. There are Marine references and a lot of stories about Marines; I mean, the country is just getting out of nearly a decade of war. So, maybe it's just something he's aware of.

I spend months going down rabbit holes of highly infectious viruses and bacteria, World War I chemical warfare, early computer science and the invention of digital cryptography, thermonuclear weaponry, astronomy and astrophysics, ancient Chinese military strategy and tactics...that kind of stuff. I thought everyone did that?

...yeah, kinda. As someone from the same state as Brad, North Carolina.

Any examples you can give? I've been on a bunch of missions with Marines and all the things that are specific to them (like calling any surface you're standing on a 'deck') are things one just picks up watching movies. A lot of my friends probably picked up enough Army knowledge through Osmosis hanging out with me and asking basic questions everyone asks in social situations about someone's job.

Hmm, I forgot he was from North Carolina, so that actually makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't assume that the south in general has a lot of Marine Corps knowledge in their heads, but I can see Brad picking that up because of Camp Lejeune. Living in Olympia, Washington is similar for Army. I used to live within earshot of Fort Lewis' shells. I just never made that connection with Brad.

I'm just going based on the fact that he tends to not notice a lot of things but usually picks up on Marine Corps stuff that I wouldn't consider normal knowledge. Stuff like the Corp's seal isn't something I expect people to identify at a glance, especially not when it's just on some guy's sleeve. That Far Cry 3 thing is the only one I really remember at the moment but there were plenty others. It's not so much him saying "hey look, it's a giant Eagle Globe and Anchor" and more just making passing remarks or observations of little Marine Corps touches that usually aren't a major part of what's going on, that most people I've been around wouldn't have noticed without giving it some thought, even having absorbed some Marine Corps knowledge through entertainment. In my experience, most people just seem to get "Oorah" and angry Drill Instructors and maybe the gist of the Rifleman's Creed, and let the rest slip through their mind.

Sorry for bringing up an old thread :p