BritinBritain
Per Ardua Ad Astra
On exercise in Germany during the 1980's I was leading a section of trucks along a busy road.
I was sitting in the front passenger seat of the lead truck, when the driver said, “There's mine tape across the road, do I stop or keep going?”
I told the driver to keep going.
As we crossed the mine tape a military policeman pulled us over saying, “You've driven into a minefield and your section has been destroyed.”
I climbed out of the truck and said, “If this was a real minefield, there wouldn't be civilian cars and trucks driving along it, blown up cars and trucks littering the road would have given me a clue that there's a minefield here. As there isn't any blown up cars or trucks on the road, my section isn't blown up. By the way, who's built a land mine that can tell the difference between military and civilian traffic?”
He blinked trying to think of answer, by which time I climbed into the front truck and drove on.
When I got back to the location the CO was waiting for me, saying that the Military Police had radioed him and complained that I wasn't entering into the spirit of the exercise. He grinned and said, “You must enter into the spirit if the exercise, now bugger off back to your section, and don't do it again.”
I was sitting in the front passenger seat of the lead truck, when the driver said, “There's mine tape across the road, do I stop or keep going?”
I told the driver to keep going.
As we crossed the mine tape a military policeman pulled us over saying, “You've driven into a minefield and your section has been destroyed.”
I climbed out of the truck and said, “If this was a real minefield, there wouldn't be civilian cars and trucks driving along it, blown up cars and trucks littering the road would have given me a clue that there's a minefield here. As there isn't any blown up cars or trucks on the road, my section isn't blown up. By the way, who's built a land mine that can tell the difference between military and civilian traffic?”
He blinked trying to think of answer, by which time I climbed into the front truck and drove on.
When I got back to the location the CO was waiting for me, saying that the Military Police had radioed him and complained that I wasn't entering into the spirit of the exercise. He grinned and said, “You must enter into the spirit if the exercise, now bugger off back to your section, and don't do it again.”
