For my quiz question this week I take the liberty of using something I posted years ago, because I wanted to see what the answers might be today.
Let’s go back a number of decades, back to when I first entered the service. I had a friend in boot camp – let’s call him “Ed” because that wasn’t his name – and we hung out a lot, talking about what we might do in the future.
One day, after
we had finished boot camp, he confessed something to me. He was very excited
about it. He knew it should be kept secret, but he just had to tell someone and
he felt he could trust me.
It was a plan Ed
had been working on for quite a while. Well before he joined the Navy he had
been visiting a small city located in the central part of our state. What was
unusual about these visits is that he had managed to obtain a uniform of a
lieutenant-commander, complete with service and combat ribbons, and he
illegally wore this when he paid the visits.
In that community there weren’t many military types and very few Navy personnel
– and no shore patrol. A Lieutenant-Commander, especially one with a couple of
rows of ribbons, was privileged to be everywhere. He had visited some local church
affairs and other such functions and had managed to meet a beautiful girl.
Quite
unbelievably, after a number of dates he had proposed and the girl, undoubtedly
a bit dazzled by this remarkable young naval officer, had accepted. Her folks
had met him and had welcomed him enthusiastically into the family.
Now that Ed was
out of boot camp, he was actually going to go up in his fake uniform and marry
her. He had managed to convince everyone
there that his folks were in Africa doing some sort of relief work, so they
wouldn’t be able to attend the wedding.
It all seemed
weird and unreal. I wondered what I should do.
A: Should I call
this family on the phone (I knew their name so I thought I could get in touch
with them) and tell them that their future son-in-law was no heroic naval commander
but an ordinary sailor of the lowest rank?
Or B: Should I
notify the military authorities that there’s a guy illegally roving about that
area in a fake lieutenant-commander’s uniform?
Or C: Should I just sit down with Ed and try to
talk him out of it, to convince him that he’s not only going to be causing misery and a
lot of trouble for the girl and for her family, but that he’s heading into a lot
of trouble himself.
Or D: Should I
just ignore it all, figure it's stale news and try to forget about it?
After all, the marriage might turn out well; the couple might be happy
together, even after it came out that his officer’s commission, and his
ribbons, were phony - but that seemed highly unlikely.
Ed and I
received our assignments and we went off in different directions so I heard no
more from him. As far as I know, the wedding took place on schedule; I have no
idea how it turned out.
But my weekly quiz question is really about you. What’s your
opinion? What would you have done in such a situation?
