SOON AFTER I arrived for duty as chief of public affairs for a Strategic Air Command wing, the unit had a surprise operational-readiness inspection. We had no time to alert the surrounding community that we’d be launching our fleet of B-52 bombers and KC-135 tankers, one after another, before the sun came up.

My office phones quickly lit up with noise complaints. One irate caller was a dairy farmer. “Sir,” I said, appealing to his sense of patriotism, “what you’re hearing is the sound of freedom.”

“Son,” he snapped, “your sound of freedom is souring my milk of kindness!”

–Contributed to “Humor In Uniform” by Ronald D. Fuchs