The Misadventures of a U.S. Army 2nd Lieutenant

Military Life is filled with incredible humor. 99.999% of military humor is inspired either directly or indirectly by junior military officers, specifically Ensigns and Lieutenants. The misadventures of these officers as they simultaneously learn to lead, learn the military, and learn what their jobs truly are serve as an amazing resource for timeless humor. They also serve as an amazing training ground for life lessons.



My military career began in the Republic of Korea (ROK) as a US Army 2nd Lieutenant in the very early 1990’s. I did my part as a young 2nd Lieutenant and provided my platoon a lifetime of mistakes, screw ups, and misadventures to fuel their stories for a lifetime. On one of my first field training exercises with my 4.2” Mortar Platoon, I asked several of my soldiers to take my camera and photograph their jobs from their perspective. The fact that I handed a hundred dollar camera with extra film to several smiling enlisted soldiers proved once and for all that I was a terribly, terribly naïve young officer. A week later, they handed me the camera back, a bill for some extra film (I was overcharged of course), and I received a great life lesson.