Skip to main content

What's In General?

As titles go I must admit I am clueless with those that adorn the folks of the armed forces. First what's with the armed bit - why not leggy forces? First thing you do when in danger is run (to fight another day) - for that you need strong legs. Flight is often a better way to end a problem. If you must fight you might need arms. That can have variety of consequences. Depends on the arms. Ideally you do not want to get into a situation involving fights. But its hard to explain to someone obsessed with arming their forces. You mostly need cunning. That does not need arms it actually just needs a head. A good one at that. Speaking of forces - these are beyond me since I spent my childhood mostly learning about silly ones like gravity, nuclear and some others that I cannot remember. Armed was not one of them. If push comes to shove and their is a fight we get into the whole discussion around who's fighting and who is administering the fight. Much like a boxer fights and the rest of the gang just sits and watches (and bets often times). Mostly the people that fight have not much invested in titles. They are just fighting. That said what's with the General? I mean its like one of those guys with a lot to command but still called a General. How anyone listens to someone called General is generally unexplainable. Captain sounds officious. So does Major. As opposed to someone called Minor. Then there are Brigadiers and Colonels (pronounced kernels - go figure). I have never quite understood how to pronounce and spell Lieutenant - to me it sounded like a deadbeat tenant with a lute no less. So I say lets simplify the code. Everyone that is fresh on the farm gets called junior. Then you become senior (when the existing seniors decide its time) and finally you become a captain. That's it. Juniors then seniors and then captain. Only one captain not too many. You do not have more than one CEO do you? And who is wasting money printing all those goofy colored pins and plates that go on their clothes? I cannot imagine what a dry cleaning nightmare it would be not to mention waste of time esp when you are being summoned to go to war. Hold on almost got the pink ones done - three more to go!

Comments

  1. There are the leggy forces. They 'general'ly appear in full 'force' on a channel called Fashion TV. Much more attractive to look at than the armed variety.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New England is gleaming in the fall

 This autumn the weather gods cooperated as we took a family trip in the northeast to see six states that qualify or makeup what is known colloquially in America as New England. Mass, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island (tiniest state in the union). The outing helped tally up the states we either lived in, visited or have worked in to 47. Guess which three have eluded this intrepid traveling family. Any rate the drive was all in about 1,800 miles and included some memorable geographic wonders or points of interest.  Easternmost part of state of Massachusetts being one.  Furthest drivable road east in Mass being another. Visit to all Ivy League schools (term harkens to a collegiate athletics conference and generally regarded as elite academic institutes of some repute worldwide) is another random bucket list item of which this trip afforded the chance to knock two more of the list.  Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and Brown (and its sister institute the RISD  - school f

Searching for a lavish 'fill in the blank with other adjectives and gender' in bed

 Many of the readers of this blog have experienced this. Strange sounding messages popping up in your text or WA or emails all day long from some exotic sounding locale with an out of this world individual looking for love, sex, money or other paraphernalia to get a high. I mean granted that electronic spamming is a low cost enterprise and all but the sheer volumes and the variety in these exhortations is beyond imagination. Having a desire to engage you in some sort of sexual payola or invest in some arcane crypto scheme must be a profound algorithm that someone from Oklahoma to Odessa is cranking on through the night and watching one in a few million fall for. Otherwise this nonsense would not exist I suspect. It would be funny to watch the lifecycle of some such persona that creates said content and that of a prospect for this invite becoming an unwilling or willing participant. Then that whole thing could go on some social channel and earn likes and subscriptions for someone else a

Lakeside frivolities

 We moved to the Charlotte area not knowing where exactly our new home would be. Turns out it was by a popular lake formed by the damming of the Catawba river which flows north to south in the Carolinas. Local electricity generation utility built a series of dams along the waterway for hydro and couple nuclear plants as well to supply the state grid.  The lake our house butts into is Lake Wylie. While tract home build has picked up in the Carolinas the developer often carves out parcels that they can get their hands on leaving behind privately owned lots that the individual owner may not want to sell. Our house is part of a subdivision but backs into actual lake front yardage that has always been part of legacy family owned properties who chose to build a cabin or getaway and did not sell to a corporation wanting to build in the hundreds. As such we can see the water through the year but it does not afford actual water access.  That privilege is to our neighbors who still maintain thei