Still a Favorite

I still get tickled over this story.

My oldest son is a veteran, and I am very proud of him for that. And his service has also given me a pulling the leg on people opportunity which I get a lot of miles on.

You see, he was a prison guard. That meant of course that he spent over a year stationed at Fort Leavenworth, site of the US military's largest prison. For most folks, that's the extent of their knowledge on the garrison.

Consequently, I got a lot of Dad joke mileage on that fact. Friends would come up to me and say, "So I hear your son's in the Army."

"Yep," I'd answer plainly.

"Where's he at?"

I would answer simply, "Leavenworth."

This would always be followed by a pause as they processed information which clearly stunned them. Eventually they would ask, sheepishly, "Leavenworth?" And I would respond, "Yep. Couldn't be more proud of the boy."

There would be another pause as they tried to think what to say next. But after letting them hang for a few seconds I would say, "He's a prison guard. He's on the right side of the bars." It's funny how much relief they showed when I would finally admit whole story. Many of them would audibly sigh when I let the cat out of the bag.

Have I properly thanked you son, for feeding my impish sense of humor?

A colonel of truth

When my son was in the Army he was stationed for about 15 months at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. We visited him several times while he was there.

On one trip, he was showing us around the base. As we walked along a section which was lined by the Missouri River, a man went by, jogging. "Good morning!" I said to him heartily.

"Good morning sir," he replied with a friendly smile.

As I turned back to our little group, my son's mouth was agape and his pallor nearly ashen. He remarked in disbelief, "Dad, that guy you just spoke to was a colonel!"

I replied, "For you, he's a colonel. For me, he's a guy jogging."

I think he was jealous that I was called sir by one of his officers.

The impish jokester

My oldest son is a veteran, and I am very proud of him for that. And his service has also given me a pulling the leg on people opportunity which I get a lot of miles on.

You see, he was a prison guard. That meant of course that he spent over a year stationed at Fort Leavenworth, site of the US military's largest prison. Most folks think only of that when they think of the place.

So the joke is this. Friends would come up to me and say, "So I hear you're son's in the Army."

"Yep," I'd answer plainly.

"Where's he at?"

I would simply say, "Leavenworth."

This would always be followed by a pause as they processed the information. Eventually they would ask, sheepishly, "Leavenworth?" And I would answer, "Yep. Couldn't be more proud of the boy."

There would be another pause as they tried to think what to say next. But after letting them hang for a few seconds I would say, "He's a prison guard. He's on the right side of the bars." It's funny how much relief they showed when I would finally admit whole story. Many of them would audibly sigh when I let the cat out of the bag.

Have I properly thanked you son, for feeding my impish sense of humor?