Recently it has come to my attention there is a ton of stuff I don’t know about. Some of these things RatLinks readers may also be interested in.
My process for learning something new is as follows:
Start with a big concept
Work your way through it until you can narrow your focus into something that is easily explainable.
Understand enough that you could explain the topic to a five-year-old.
This process led me to
Asia —> Wars in Asia —> Child Warriors in Asia —>
WHERE ARE THEY NOW:
Child Warriors Edition
Beginning in the late 1940s, the Burmese army went to war with the Karen people. For context the Karen people comprise 7% of the 5 million total people in Burma.
The war waged on for decades, that it continued into the early 1990s, when the Burmese army launched a major operation to secure the route of an oil pipeline through the area.
In March 1997, a local pastor brought the two illiterate nine-year-olds, twin brothers Johnny and Luther Htoo (Pronounced: Too), to the local military chief and said the Lord had spoken and the boys would save the Karen people.
Shortly thereafter, a new rebel group named God’s Army of the Holy Mountain, or God’s Army for short was formed on the border of Burma and Thailand under the nominal leadership of the Htoo twins.
Various legends claimed that the brothers had numerous magical powers, including invulnerability to bullets and mines. Legend had it that the twins not only possessed magical bullets but could kill by just pointing a rifle at the ground and concentrating.
One tale claims that Johnny turned himself into an old man and back when bathing in a river. The legend of the boys was embraced by locals who viewed the existing Karen National Union as corrupt and ineffective.
For the sake of brevity or a five-year-olds attention span.
The Htoo twins were defeated handily by the Thai army in 2001 and famously reunited in 2013. Johnny remains at an unofficial refugee camp in Thailand, not far from where the brothers were sent after they surrendered to Thai authorities. Luther lives in Sweden, listens to Weezer and is an avid court tennis player.
The Htoo twins are best remembered from this photo:
Burma today is now known as Myanmar, mostly thanks in part to John Rambo. President Donald Trump is such a fan that he honored John Rambo’s efforts by immortalizing him on the 20 Dollar Bill.
My focus was narrowed to just the Htoo twins, so you may want to fact check that Trump story, but it appears that with a clever tweak, the image on a $20 bill transforms into Rambo