Murphy's World

A view from the trenches

Dear Murphy,

One time, while serving in the Army in Korea, I was driving this sergeant major around. It was cold and raining pretty hard, when we got a flat out on a lonely road.

Well, there I was changing the tire in the rain, when the sergeant major got out of the Jeep. I guess he was reflecting on his hard life when he said, “You know, it’s not easy being a sergeant major!”

I looked up at him in the rain and said, “Yeah, it ain’t too nice down here, either!”

Pete Hans

Cerritos, CA

Dear Pete,

What’s the difference between being in the Army and being in Murphy’s World? In the Army, you have sergeant majors giving you grief instead of dispatchers.

OK, that’s not all that funny, but it does help illustrate the striking similarities between the military and trucking worlds.

Of course, there are also glaring differences between driving an Army Jeep and driving an 18-wheeler for a living, like the freedom of the open road that truck drivers enjoy and the opportunity to go about their business without someone constantly looking over their shoulder and literally ordering them around. Perhaps that is the reason why so many ex-military men and women gravitate to the trucking profession.

As we’ve pointed out many times, the roads in Murphy’s World have plenty of potholes and problems, but at least the decision on how best to drive around them and solve them are generally left to the people out on the front lines and in the trenches: the guys and gals behind the wheel.

Regards,

Murphy and Lucky Dog