Any funny war stories to tell?

[seabolt]

Here in San Antonio, Ft. Sam runs through the heart of the city. A few civilian roads ran through the base. After 911, these were closed to civilian traffic, but this is south Texas. You don't take a man's route home away from him lightly. Perhaps more to the point, with a few too many in you, it can be hard to remember that times have changed ...

Anyway, during the runup to the latest Iraq campaign, a reservist friend ended up the LT in charge of one of the checkpoints. He's bored, he knows I'll still be up, calls me on his cell. We've been chatting for a while when I hear what sounds like three rapid 12-gauge shots (kind of hard to be sure on the other end of a cell connection ...).

The funny part was his reaction. Cheery as can be he chirps "Gotta go!" and hangs up. Turns out an inebriated local forgot to stop at the newish checkpoint and an enthusiastic sentry took the opportunity to do his job. (Anyone with any local knowledge would know that the odds were something like drunken Texan 99.9%, Al-Quaida car bomb 0.1%.) Fortunately, the casualty count was nil.

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