One of my readers commented on a post and asked the rhetoric question, “What is it about a man in uniform?”

Now, this is a question that we were all asked in our interviews, and my answer was, “A man (or woman) who chooses this as a profession has to have a sense of pride and commitment. These are jobs that can get you killed, and to do that on a daily basis is an amazing thing.

How could a man who cares so deeply about protecting others NOT be a great romantic character? If he is willing to put his life on the line for total strangers, imagine what he would do for the woman that he loves. The possibilities are endless.”

As I was answering the question, however, I thought about the image that we have in our heads of these men and how when we read, our mind paints that picture for us. And those images come mainly from what we get out of Hollywood. How many of us swooned during the volleyball scene in Top Gun? The perfect bodies on the beach with the dog tags swinging and the aviator shades…

Or when we picture a Navy man, it’s Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman (which by the way, was on Oprah’s new network this morning. Is that an omen or what??) How about police? Do you picture Will Smith from Bad Boys (or if you are a child of the 80s – Don Johnson on Miami Vice)? Or is it a still amazing looking Tom Selleck in Blue Bloods?

What we visualize makes such a difference in how we read a story and for so many of us Hollywood has put those images in our head. So, I’m wondering when you think of a man in uniform, who comes to mind? (And no fair if you are lucky enough to be married to one of these heros… I’m wondering in the world of Hollywood who you think of when you think, HOT UNIFORMED MAN??

I will go first. Now, I don’t know how many of you will know this one, but I have a weakness for David Keith (he would be the poor sucker in Officer and a Gentleman who got played and then couldn’t go on), and David Keith in a uniform sends me over the edge! He not only wore a uniform in Officer and a Gentleman, but also in the late 90s he was a cop in a TV show called High Incident. BUT, my favorite is in the 1983 movie Lords of Discipline, based on the book by Pat Conroy. The story centers around a southern military academy, so it’s an entire movie of men in uniform! While it isn’t really a romance, it builds on the integrity and the honor that a soldier needs to have in a world that tries to bring him down.

Now it’s your turn…who is it that you picture? Remember comments get you in the pool for a signed copy of Indivisible!

Bonus points and maybe a little treat if anyone knows what movie Tom Cruise’s first real big role (more than two lines) was where he was in uniform??