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Are You Kidding Me?
You don’t have to break the law to be an unfit police officer.
“Your mother was there when you left
“You’re right!
“Your father was there when you left
“You’re right!
“The Law was there when you left
“You’re right!
“And that’s the reason you left
“You’re right!”
This is one of the less profane marching cadences from my USAF basic military training. Everybody understood it then because it reflected the social landscape of the time. A white boy facing criminal charges might be able to make the charges go away by agreeing to go away for a military hitch, particularly if there was a war going on.
Not everyone agreed that this common practice was a good thing. The major objection was the prospect of creating a class of criminals trained to use deadly weapons.
Others thought that teenage boys sometimes fail to develop adequate self-control as quickly as we (speaking as a parent) wish. This lack projects a decadence that is not really a reflection of ultimate values. Some teenage “crime” is stupid beyond the limits of human imagination and a temporary label of “stupid” might be fair, but a lifetime brand as “criminal” is…
