Pork Chop Platoon: A Wife’s Perspective – by Mrs. Phlipups

Oct 18, 2011

So why am I writing this now, when my three-week-old son is taking his first long nap of the day and I should be napping too?  The short answer is I love my husband–the long answer is a bit more complicated.  (Are you suprised?  Wives are complicated or so I’m told.)

To start, let’s go to the beginning.  My husband, an avid gun gamer (he is not into Madden and the fantasy crap-thank goodness), was really losing his patience with the “little punks” and “frakin’ cheaters” that he was encountering in the on-line gaming sessions for one of his games. Maybe Gears or War, Halo or Call of Duty–to be honest I don’t completely recognize the difference. While trying to sleep on the couch, all the gunfire and repetive phrases sound the same to me.  Anyway, my naps were increasingly being interrupted by his frustrated outbursts at these other gamers ruining his pursuit of some honest gaming for entertainment’s sake.

Then one day, he came home from work happier and more talkative than usual.  He had found this website where guys like him could join and they would exclude the “little punks” and “frakin’ cheaters” while playing his gunfire games online.  How great! My naps would be less interrupted by his pissed-off tirades and the “little punks’” annoying, pre-pubescent voices yelling repetitive nonsense.  In the days that followed, we (mostly he) waited to find out if he had passed his trial period and would be accepted into thePork Chop  Platoon. (A little like a Dan Brown conspiracy secret club for my taste, but I could understand the rationale).

In the days that followed his “induction”, my husband became increasingly ingratiated and occupied by the Platoon culture.  And so did I by proxy.  I heard about all the different games (I love the Red Rover-ish concept one) that had been created when normal online action was getting a little repetitive.  I started to identify certain clan members that my husband was connecting with (a big shout out to Wipsy).  Most notably, I started to understand that what to me was an odd and silly gaming club was, to my husband, a real community.  A legitimate part of his day where he could laugh and blow off the frustrations of the week with his job and (gasp) occasionally his complicated wife.

So here we are, present day, and our son is taking all of our time and energy (he’s totally worth it by the way).  While I feed him and my husband sits on the couch opposite me, waiting patiently for me to inevitably ask him for a burp cloth or to go get me more water, he occupies himself with checking in (my term, not his) with his PCP buddies.  You guys and the games you play make him happy.  Your friendship and support are important to his daily life.  Your entertainment value via the website, the contests and the online gameplay are his way of having fun and letting loose.  And in my opinion, having him at home playing online games with a group of good people (who are about the same things as he is) is much preferred to having a husband who’s extra-curriculars take him outside the house.

So, the long answer to why I’m slightly babbling away and being, I’m sure my husband will say, much to mushy is because he thinks I don’t get what PCP is all about or why he devotes so much time to it.  PCP makes my husband happy and he is such a great father and partner, why would I want to deny him that?

The short answer, slightly amended, is I love my husband. And he really wants the game that is the prize for this contest so I thought I’d try to help him out.  Plus, if he wins, we won’t have to buy it and that money can be used for diapers.  

Gotta go–Baby Tyce is waking up and the little baracuda will be hungry I’m sure.