haha alex, we have an ex-ranger here in the office and he while he talks to you he's constantly rubbing his crotch.
I told the web guy and the lesbian cubemate that I was pretty sure that was part of the over the top macho culture of special forces, and remembered this bit from Black Hawk Down:
"Then he and Collett sat for a long time and talked in whispers. The D-boys had all the windows and doorways covered, so there was nothing for them to do. The moon was up, casting soft light over Fillmore's body in the middle of the courtyard. Collett kept checking his watch. Floyd poked around the courtyard, his pants flapping open around his bare middle.
Collett was feeling bored. He couldn't believe it, bored in a combat zone? How could that happen? The whole scene was weird, too weird for belief. Nobody would ever believe this shit back home. They listened to the gun runs overhead and to the approaching roar of weaponry as the giant rescue convoy fought its way in.
"Hey, Floyd."
"Yeah."
"I've got an idea."
"What?"
"Wanna get a Combatjack?"
Floyd couldn't believe his ears. Collett was suggesting they both beat off. This was a running joke with the Rangers, getting a "jack" in exotic places. Guys would brag about getting a Thailandjack, or an Egyptjack, or a C-5 jack. They both laughed.
"Collett, you're fuckin' high, man. Yer crazier 'n hell," Floyd said.
"No, man. Think about it. You would definitely be the first kid on your block. How many people can say they got one of those, huh?"
............................
Black Hawk Down, pg 153
The worst thing about hangar life, of course, was no women. There were women around, but they were all nurses who worked in a different part of the base or over at the UN compound and all were strictly off-limits. It was tough. There was plenty of porn around, of course, and many of the Rangers were humorously casual about masturbation. Most were discreet about it, but some had adopted a sort of crude defiance, standing up next to their cot to announce, "I'm going to the port-o-pot to fuckin' jack off." Specialist John Collett, a SAW gunner with absolutely no shame about such matters, would brag about his repertory, describing innovative new onanistic techniques-"Man, you shoulda seen me last night. I shit you not, I was gasping!" and coming up with new and unusual places to jack off. Collett claimed to have gotten a "harness-jack," that is, to have masturbated hanging from a parachute harness. It was pitiful. One of the air force PJs got a blow-up love doll in the mail and almost nobody laughed. All this horniness under pressure produced even more adolescent silliness than usual. Corporal Jim Cavaco walked around one night with a length of nylon cord tied around the end of his penis, holding the rope up delicately between two fingers, telling everybody, "Juss takin' the dawg out for a walk."