Fire Discipline

Christmas with my family was really nice. Nobody wore pajamas and talked about Obamacare. But more impressive was the fire discipline that Lamb and her cousin Very displayed.

When it was time to go home, Lamb and Very disappeared. They'd been disappeared all afternoon and evening, off playing, but this was a different disappeared.

I wandered off looking for them in my niece's new home (which is very nice), but obviously felt constrained in opening anything up to look. Not my home. So I looked under Very's bed and I looked behind doors. But I wasn't going to open up closets.

But I had a strong suspicion that they were in Very's closet. So I went up to the door, grabbed a handle, and rattled the door.

I figured that if they were in there, I'd hear giggles, or "shhhh!" sounds.

Nothing.

So I got my niece to look. sure enough, they were hiding in that closet.

On the drive home, I noted that I expected noise. Lamb said she had coached her cousin to stay quiet.

She also said she'd opened the door a crack just as I walked in the room! Sadly, peripheral vision did not catch that before I turned my head.

I told Lamb I was quite impressed with her fire discipline.

I had to explain that, of course. You're approaching a tree line. You wonder if there might be an enemy waiting to ambush you when you get close. So you spread out and open fire as if you see them. You hope that if the enemy is waiting they will return fire, confirming an enemy and avoiding an ambush.

But well trained or experienced troops will sit and take it, not assuming they are spotted. If the fire is just flying overhead, they duck and wait. Then, when the enemy resumes movement, confident no enemy is in the tree line, the hidden troops open fire.

Lamb and Very did not assume I knew they were in the closet, they stayed quiet, and I moved on.

Still, they didn't know I had a Mom Drone to search the area. That changes everything from the old days.

Hey, it's not like Lamb will get this kind of knowledge from her mom or in school.

I hope your Christmas was good, too!