One day, three O-6s were hiking together and unexpectedly came upon a wide, raging, violent river. They needed to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so. The Air Force Colonel called out to God, praying, “Please God, give me the strength to cross this river.” POOF! God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across. It did, however, take him more than an hour and he almost drowned a couple of times. Seeing this, the Army Colonel played to God saying, “Please God, give me the strength and tools to cross this river.” POOF! God gave him a rowboat and oars. He was able to row across but it still took almost an hour, it was very rough, and he almost capsized several times. The Navy Captain saw how things worked out for the other two, so when he prayed to God, he said, “Pleas God, give me the strength, tools, and the intelligence to cross this river.” POOF! God turned him into a Marine Lance Corporal. He looked at the map, hiked upstream a couple of hundred yards, and walked across the bridge.
During a field exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., a squad was on a night patrol through some thick brush. Halfway through, they realized they’d lost their map. The patrol navigator informed them, “Our odds are 1 in 360 that we’ll get out of here.” “How did you come up with that?” someone asked. “Well,” he replied, “one of the degrees on the compass has to be right.”
hmmmm in the swamp 1 good degree to head in just ain't gonna get it done very often. Too many major obstacles you may or may not be able to overcome, and remember no map or known route out of where they were at. Just a little attention prior to making this foray would have had a few people with a general idea of a general idea of the best route out without a map. Just read the history of the Seminole wars in Florida. The Indians made fools of the troops sent against them and reduced their numbers often just before dark then slipped away before force could effectively be brought to bear. The swamp was the Seminole's friend and they had plenty of knowledge of it without a written map.
It seems that a young man volunteered for Navy service during World War II. He had such a high aptitude for aviation that he was sent right to Pensacola skipping boot camp. The very first day at Pensacola he solos and is the best flier on the base. All they could do was give him his gold wings and assign him immediately to an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. On his first day aboard he took off and single-handedly shot down 6 Japanese Zeroes. Then climbing up to 20,000 ft. he found 9 more Japanese planes and shot them all down, too. Noting that his fuel was getting low, he descended, circled the carrier and came in for a perfect landing on the deck. He threw back the canopy, climbed out and jogged over to the captain. Saluting smartly he said, “Well sir, how did I do on my very first day?” The captain turned around, bowed, and replied, “You make one velly impoltant mistake!”
