You're in the Army now. . .

My son-in-law, Chris, is in the Army. He's about to deploy to Afghanistan. When we started our military action there, one would have thought that we could bomb the place into the Stone Age, but that's not possible. As George Will pointed out, you can't bomb a place forward a thousand years.

Last week I saw that Chris' group was held over until 1830 (that's 6:30 PM, for you 12-hour-clock folks.) Someone in their company messed something up, and all paid a penalty. That's military life. In the Navy there's somebody in every group, no matter how small, that just doesn't get it. I'm guessing it's the same in the Army, the Marines, the Air Force, or the Texas Air National Guard. The military has its own set of urban legends, and these usually hinge on that one person.

The story is told in the USMC about one Private Wright. Private Wright was almost always Private Wrong. In one incident on the firing range Wright's weapon jammed. He called a sergeant over, and the command was given: "Cease fire! Cease fire!" Firing ceased. Someone started walking toward Wright to look at his weapon, and someone else started walking down the range to see if Wright might have accidentally hit his target once or twice. At that moment, Wright's rifle worked again: a loud POP was heard, and an instructor's hat sailed downrange.

The Marines do frown on that sort of thing, and a collection of sergeants spent the next few moments - er - frowning on Private Wright. And, I'm guessing, one of the sergeants may have needed a change of clothing.

Is this story true? Why, of course! Did it actually happen? I dunno. I would bet that a lot of military people would swear that they know Private Wright. I KNOW that everybody, in every organization, knows someone just like that. It takes all kinds - as long as all kinds don't have loaded M-16s in their hands. Those M-16s and the USMC lead to another story, for another time.

Have a great day, all!