There was an interesting situation I remember many, many years ago where there was a Lieutenant Colonel talking to me (a Lance) and just shooting the shit. After that, he suddenly just stopped talking to the lower enlisted.
Apparently, a Master Gunnery Sergeant chewed him out for talking to the junior Marines.
I don't know why I suddenly remember this, but just wanted to get a sense of...WTF? Is that even a real thing? I could see an E-9 chewing an LT or maybe even a Captain, but imagine that shit would cease at Major.
He was chicken.
So this would have been in 2006. I was a Captain on temporary duty as HQ Company XO for the Combatant Commander for Centcom for my branch, which was in Tampa Florida.
I was a little jaded and bitter in my career at this point, but still trying to do well. One of the O-6's in Ops rings drags me in his office one day and says, "There's this new movie out that I think would make a great PME (Professional Military Education) for all the officers to go see. Its 'The 300' about the Spartans and Thermopylae etc. Set up a viewing for us at the local theater." Not in my job scope, but whatever, I can figure it out. "Oh, and also prepare a battle study and analysis of the move to brief".
Ok, so the battle study and movie breakdown was way outside of my job scope, but whatever. This Colonel was just a prick. Unnecessarily so.
So I go and figure it out. I figure out where its playing and the short of it is that I not only get them a private viewing, I get them a private viewing on an IMAX screen for like $4 per person. Amazing deal. I set it up with the theater manager and everything. I even pre-screen the movie for my breakdown.
So the battle study is fairly cut & dried. My analysis of the production of this retelling is basically along the lines of "The director / producer could be drawing a parallel between the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the 300 Spartans. They are grossly outnumbered, defending what they see to be their homeland against a far superior technologically advanced force, being us. While they will inevitably lose in the end, they will wage a war of attrition against the invading Persians, etc, etc..."
This Colonel about lost his mind. "Do you think we're in an unjust war?!" "Are you calling us the Persians, the bad guys?!" No and no. Just simply giving you my take on what the director of the movie is conveying. This Colonel would have called me a commie-pinko-fag had he thought of it. Basically balled up my analysis and said, "NEVERMIND, I'LL DO IT MYSELF!!!" Cool. Should have done that in the first place, ya jerk.
The revenge.
Circling back to me locking on the IMAX to begin with, I was the only face that the manager of the place knew. And she knew nothing about rank or whatever. So on the morning of our private viewing, we all gather in there and the Colonel starts to give his analysis, and about a sentence into it, I nonchalantly look back to the projector room, and nod my head. Lights immediately go out
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