One day a sergeant of long service standing was trying to teach a bunch of raw recruits how to handle a rifle. The rookies were firing hither and yon and finally one of them shot the sarge in the seat of his pants.

"You dumb, censored, son of censored, censored, censored," screamed the sarge.

A second lieutenant who was with the group cautioned, "Remember, Sarge, you're in the New Army. No profanities."

The sergeant apologized to the officer and turned back to the recruit. "My goodness gracious," he said, "What on earth was your motivation in shooting me with unwarranted expenditure of valuable ammunition?"