Military Wisdom

[sydnie7]

From what is known as UD2-1, the "Bible" of safety regulations in the Norwegian Armed Forces (liberally translated by your truly); "In the event of falling over whilst riding a bicycle, you must always fall in a controlled manner to your right while clearly yelling "Help, I'm falling" three times."

I kid you not, ladies and gentlemen, I have held the book and read the words myself!

Not the military, but it reminded me of what my niece related after a very short stint working a summer job at Sea World. If you were walking across the snack bar kitchen area holding a knife, you had to continually announce "I have a knife!" as long as you were in motion

[Spartan Tartan]

Thanks for some subtle reminders

[CelticSire]

Tracers work both ways.

If you're short of everything but the enemy, you're in the combat zone.

It's a bayonet. The pointy end goes in the other guy.

[Coastie]

No battle plan lasts past contact with the enemy. That's the reason he is called the enemy.

[Nighthawk]

I have a cousin-in-law in the Air Force. I sent these along to him because I know he'll get a laugh.

[Geoff Withnell]

Back in the mists of time when I was in boot camp at Parris Island, we were shown a training film on bayonet fighting. This was the late 60's, but the film was an Army film of WWII vintage. At one point, the film told us "Your bayonet may become jammed in the body of the enemy. If this happens, fire a round, and the recoil will unstick the bayonet." Our Drill Instructors stopped the film. "You people (we were doing very well that day, so we were actually called people) have been here for several weeks. You should be able to tell what's wrong with this method." We were speechless. We were supposed to find fault with an official US Government film? "Ok, $#@*&!s, (not knowing the answer, we were no longer 'people'), if you still have rounds in your weapon, what are you doing letting the enemy get close enough so you can stab him?"

[Spartan Tartan]

if you still have rounds in your weapon, what are you doing letting the enemy get close enough so you can stab him?"

Geoff, I'll be honest...that was my first thought!

[Whidbey78]

Geoff, I'll be honest...that was my first thought!

Mine too.

[Jerry]

Geoff, I'll be honest...that was my first thought!

Mine too, and I was a sailor!

[Geoff Withnell]

Mine too, and I was a sailor!

At this point, we were 3-4 weeks into boot camp. We had already learned it was not wise to question "the Marine Corps Way". What we failed to remember was that this was an ARMY training film.