Have you ever given directions with a "knife hand"? What are some things you can think of that would make a civilian think you are crazy?

I actually do it all the time teaching my tactical class s.

Just as offensive to inmates, as well... Lol (but that's not supposed to be funny, right?!?)

Every third day as a Battalion Chief in knife handing someone

after getting out of the military I always used army one liners like "Suck it up and drive on" my daughter is 25 now she just recently called me and said "do you know what the berst advice was that you ever gave me" i said "what?" "suck it up and drive on" she said, she explained that she has said that to herself through out her life high school, college, and so on. made me smile

When I used to smoke I'd field strip my cigarette butts and put them in my pocket until I could get to a trash can. Made people around me wonder WTF I was doing.

Bad thing was, the wife doesn't check pockets when she does the laundry. Filters all over the inside of the dryer...

"Bravo Zulu" One of my work crews went out to resolve a disaster at a customer site and restored order and operational status (life saving equipment went down). I called out a Bravo Zulu to all hands on the team.

My team lead looked at me and said "is that a good thing?"

"Roger that" I replied.

Now, they are used to me but it is funny as heck to get a new staff member.

in the old school that was the way we were instructed ...

The hardest thing for some civilians to "adjust" to is reticent notions of expediency and risk-assessment. The military focuses on mission, while the private sector focuses on metrics. If you have a 60% of winning stepping outside of procedure, they'd rather lose. Why? because at the end of the day, it costs more to litigate than reduce costs.

I give directions with the knife hand all the time. And when dealing with civilians--even family--I try to speak their own language to them, but it is hard.

I still do give knife hands! Half of my staff thinks I'm Brilliant while rolling 51/50