From: L' Ermit (lhermit@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Jan 20 2002 - 12:55:12 MST
Hermit observes that if the country you are old enough to die for won't
allow you a drink, then you are probably justified in getting it where you
can... and if that is a squalid cantina over the border, then any bad
behavior goes with the territory - which those young soldiers did not
willingly choose. The trouble is that the US military is so overrun with
political correctness and teetotalers that they don't allow their personnel
to drink in comfort and close enough to their beds not to risk making fools
of themselves.
There is a story, which may be apocryphal, of a famous American leader being
approached by a delegation of teetotalers (which put this story during the
civil war), who complained that one of his Generals, who had just won a
battle, was a lush. The leader asked them, "What brand does he drink?" They
didn't know and asked why he asked. His reply was that he wanted to send a
case of the same to another of his Generals who was not displaying
sufficient fire...
Consider that all military infrastructures have detention barracks. Because
some of the people in the military are not very nice. But when military
personnel are needed, you don't need nice people, you need effective people.
Not being nice is no obstacle to military effectiveness, the reverse may
even be the case. See
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:M3bUYlbPLvAC:www.thehistorynet.com/AmericasCivilWar/articles/1997/09972_text.htm+battle+teetotaler+case+send&hl=en
All services have nicknames for themselves and their personnel, usually more
than one. Some of them probably derogatory (after all, it is usually a
love-hate relationship between the service and the personnel). But the only
people entitled to use these names are those serving (or who have served).
Having a relation who was once a sailor, or sleeping with a sailor once,
just doesn't cut it.
Brian is right. Hang-up your gloves on this one Casey.
Regards
Hermit
Who hasn't yet slept with a sailor, but might if she were cute enough...
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