“Ah! Here’s something,” he sez, pausin’ to peer at one of the sheets he has been rifflin’ through. “What would you say to my assigning you and your crew as sanitation engineers.”
“As what?”
“You know.” he sez, “digging and filling latrines.”
It occurs to me that while there might be some potential for disruptin’ the army from such a position, it is not a route I would be particularly eager to take. You see, Nunzio still ribs me about my work with the Realistic Doggie Doodle with Lifelike Aroma that Actually Sticks to Your Hands on my last assignment for M.Y.T.H. Inc., and I would therefore prefer to avoid workin’ with variations on the real thing this time around.
“It sounds like a stinkin’ detail … sir,” I sez, the words sort of slippin’ out.
I try to recover by addin’ “… if you’ll forgive the play on words … sir.”
That’s so he’ll know I read.
I expect him to get a bit upset at my forthrightness, but instead he just gives a little shrug.
“Of course it is,” he sez with refreshin’ honesty. “But remember where you are, Sergeant. This is Headquarters … the brains of the army. It only stands to reason that most of that brain power is devoted to finding nicer, cushier assignments for the owners of those brains … which is to say the place is armpit deep in politics … if I make myself clear.”
“Not really, sir.”
The officer sighs.
“Let me try to explain it this way. Here, everybody knows somebody, and uses their connections to get the best jobs. The higher the connections, the better the jobs. You and your squad, on the other hand, have just arrived and consequently know nobody … which means that for a while, you’ll have to content yourselves with the jobs no one else wants. I expect that as you make connections, you’ll get better duties, but for the time being that’s the way it is.”