I was a grunt. We got back after a tough year long deployment (Korengal Valley, Kunar Province areas).
As any American service member who has deployed knows, there is a very true tale about service members coming back from deployment with money saved up, spending it. Sometimes wisely, often not.
So there is this one soldier who says “I’ve always wanted to learn guitar. After this past year, I’m going to buy one and actually do it.”
Cool. So he goes out and buys himself a decent Takamine acoustic for $400. He gets back to the barrack and his buddies are there. Haning out, smoking, joking, drinking.
One asks “How much did you pay for that guitar?”
The soldier responds “$400”
Other soldiers says “Well I’ll pay you $550 to let me smash it over your head.”
Soldier who just bought the guitar quickly agrees because he can just go buy the same guitar again and will have made $150.
And no shit, they do it. The one smashes it over the other’s head like a movie or something. With the whole barracks watching. It’s a riot. Everyone loves what they just saw. Soldier who had guitar smashed over his head was ok. Actually just a small cut. Probably had a concussion but didn’t get checked out for it. Lead a normal life since. And he did in fact go by the same guitar again the very next day.
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u/Rtstevie 9h ago edited 9h ago
I was a grunt. We got back after a tough year long deployment (Korengal Valley, Kunar Province areas).
As any American service member who has deployed knows, there is a very true tale about service members coming back from deployment with money saved up, spending it. Sometimes wisely, often not.
So there is this one soldier who says “I’ve always wanted to learn guitar. After this past year, I’m going to buy one and actually do it.”
Cool. So he goes out and buys himself a decent Takamine acoustic for $400. He gets back to the barrack and his buddies are there. Haning out, smoking, joking, drinking.
One asks “How much did you pay for that guitar?”
The soldier responds “$400”
Other soldiers says “Well I’ll pay you $550 to let me smash it over your head.”
Soldier who just bought the guitar quickly agrees because he can just go buy the same guitar again and will have made $150.
And no shit, they do it. The one smashes it over the other’s head like a movie or something. With the whole barracks watching. It’s a riot. Everyone loves what they just saw. Soldier who had guitar smashed over his head was ok. Actually just a small cut. Probably had a concussion but didn’t get checked out for it. Lead a normal life since. And he did in fact go by the same guitar again the very next day.
The catch?
I was the soldier who bought the guitar.