Page 51 - Life's Outtakes 8

in the army, he laughed. “How does a man explain the
army? They try to kill you to make you strong, and
they do stupid things just to teach you discipline.”

“Like what?” I asked.
He thought for a moment and then answered, “Let
me tell you a story.
“Basic training was hard. We marched and
marched and drilled and marched some more. When it
was finally over, we were told that we would be
allowed a weekend furlough as soon as we could pass
inspection.
“The first inspection didn’t go well. Our sergeant
found something wrong with every soldier. We did
another week of marching and drill. Finally, the next
weekend came. This time we worked much harder, and
still, the sergeant found a few men who had something
that wasn’t quite right. Once more, we spent the week
marching.”
When the third weekend came, my dad said
everyone was determined to have everything perfect.
They shined shoes, spruced up uniforms, and worked to
get everything to perfection. The sergeant moved from
man to man, finding nothing out of line.

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