Authority

In 1971 I was in Vietnam with my buddy, Jocko Booth.  We were Army draftees.  One day in Saigon we passed a second lieutenant dressed for some reason in starched khakis with a “fruit salad” of ribbons pinned on his uniform.  Jocko and I were wearing jungle fatiques and boonie hats.  Once we had passed this fellow, he yelled out, “Don’t you soldiers know how to salute?”  We slowly turned around, answered “yes” and proceeded to salute.  He sternly returned the salute. 

 “Sir,” Jocko said, “around here we don’t do much saluting.” 

“And why is that, soldier?” he asked.

Jocko grinned.  “It just tells Charlie who to shoot, sir.”