Context is er'thing

Just a short, pointless, and silly thing for today...

All of the interservice rivalry represented in one image…

My wife and I were watching the Tom Cruise film “Minority Report” the other night and the movie got to a scene where the cops were about to capture Tom Cruise. One of the tools, for submitting the bad guys, that they had at their disposal was something called “sick sticks”. These things looked like collapsible batons but when they touch a person in the proper location on their body, the sick stick caused the person to projectile vomit. It’s hard to be tough and fight back when you’re puking everywhere.

Well… the scene played out something like this; the cops were about to get their man (Tom Cruise) when he forced one officer to touch another officer with their “sick stick”, immediately causing the touched officer to puke all over another officer that was trying to detain Cruise. This created a diversion which enabled Tom Cruise to fight the arresting officers and ultimately get away.

It was at this point that I started laughing like a fool. I’m not sure that the scene on the TV was really all that funny and I’m sure my laughing caused my wife to wonder if there was something (newly) wrong in my head, but the scene on the TV was not what I was laughing at. This is where the context matters.

I imagined a group of guys in a berthing compartment on a ship or in a barracks or at someone’s wedding hitting each other with these sticks just to see who would puke first. It dawned on me in that instant that the US military could not and should not ever acquire a weapon like that. Not because it would be demoralizing and embarrassing to the enemy but rather because a weapon like that in the hands of the typical, as well as the atypical, E-4 paygrade and below would be turned on the nearest E-4 and below and quite possibly higher ranking folks if the moment presented itself and would be done just for fun and just to see what would happen… This would be true of the Navy and Marine Corps and even much more so for the Army. Not so much for the Air Force though as those guys and gals are far too grown up and responsible for that kind of thing. If you’ve been in the US military then you know this is true and are prolly shaking your head in agreement while simultaneously remembering who you would’ve hit with this thing and who you would’ve had to watch out for if they had one as well.

Veterans are a unique group of folks and if you can get them corralled together and focused in a direction with a purpose or a mission, then they can achieve amazing things, which is why companies like to hire them, but put them in a group, no matter the branch (except air force. They’re too grown up) and they can become one of the most destructive forces known to man when together without adult supervision.

Ok… that’s it for today. I felt like posting something today and for better or worse, this is what happened. Hope everyone’s day is blessed. Share, subscribe, like, or comment if you want… or don’t.

Fair Winds and Following Seas,

Nate