The early years of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) were strange times, to put it mildly. The American people saw their share of odd cultural shifts in entertainment and fashion. It was a period that could best be described as “cringeworthy” by today’s standards.
One questionable trend was and still is, the grunt aesthetic. In US military slang, a grunt is a soldier in the infantry, typically of lower ranks, and often involved in ground combat operations. To be a grunt means doing the gritty, demanding work of warfighting. The grunt is the underdog who fights for a noble cause. Already you can see the mythological appeal behind the grunt image.