Laughter Is the Best Weapon

Laughter Is the Best Weapon
Author: Charles Ritchie
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-06-23
Genre:
ISBN: 9781399091886

"An army may march on its stomach but it leans on its funny bone." So says Brigadier Charles Ritchie, and he should know. Postings to the Yemen, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, and other far-away trouble spots gave him many opportunities to demonstrate that the ability to laugh - and make others laugh - is an invaluable skill in an officer's kitbag.In Laughter is the Best Weapon - the Remarkable Adventures of an Unconventional Soldier, Charles abandons the popular trend for military heroism and angst-ridden confessions. Instead he leads the reader on a forthright yet light-hearted and self-deprecating journey through his 38 years' service as a Royal Scot. In the process we witness his sometimes significant, but often comedic, participation in a wide range of recent British military operations.If you prefer your military history more entertainingly honest than earnestly intellectual and your soldiers hilariously slapstick rather than heroically stoic, then this is the book for you. Liberally sprinkled with career-limiting cock-ups, bizarre near-death experiences, and the clatter not of gunfire but shameless name-dropping, these delightfully varied anecdotes deliver a hugely entertaining glimpse into the extraordinary life of one of the British Army's most spirited and loveable characters.

The Laughing Soldier

The Laughing Soldier
Author:
Publisher: Casemate Pub & Book Dist Llc
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2011-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781612000381

* Collection of jokes compiled by Project 65 - The Veteran's Charity in support of the British Armed Forces Our armed forces have a legendary sense of humor, dating back over generations of servicemen and women. The Laughing Soldier: The British Forces Jokebook, in aid of Project 65 - The Veteran's Charity, is a collection of jokes, along with messages of support for our brave and heroic troops, sent in by people all over the world. Contributors include serving personnel, veterans and their families, the general public and famous celebrities such as Alan Titchmarsh, comedians such as Milton Jones, MPs, including George Osbourne, all inspired by the Armed Forces' strength and capacity for finding humor in the toughest of situations. With a foreword by Al Murray - The Pub Landlord - and ex-marine Mark Ormrod, the Afghanistan hero who lost his legs and right arm in a landmine explosion and now best-selling author of Man Down, and illustrated with cartoons by The Comic Stripper, The Laughing Soldier's collection of jokes will lift both the spirits of those serving and their families, and all of us who are thinking of them. With heartfelt messages conveying the warmth and affection the British public has for our Armed Forces and a donation made to Project 65 from the sale of every book - helping them continue their important work in supporting and caring for our troops - anyone reading this book will not only smile, but feel truly proud of our laughing soldiers across the world.

Laughing War

Laughing War
Author: Martyn Burke
Publisher:
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2000-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781587215131

Bien Hoa airbase, outside Saigon, wasn't a very funny place, but Barney's job had one advantage: he always played to a packed house. The soldiers flocked to his shows, and the war-zone comedian coaxed his battle-weary audiences first into chuckles and then into guffaws of healing laughter with material drawn from the lunacy around them: the little old VC with the single-shot rifle taking potshots at the jets, the international "peace-keeping" mission, the Vietnamese "car wash" racket, the numbering routine of army life, the officers One officer in particular: Colonel Isaacs, the blood-and-guts commander of the base, a driven man whose soldiers pay the price of his obsessions. Barney often ridiculed his authority from in front of the footlights, and after hours he wooed the colonel's woman, Donna, a beautiful singer with a secret. So far, he had gone unpunished But the colonel had included Barney in his plan for a jungle showdown with the enemy, a battle that would turn an abandoned firebase into a bloody killing ground and the scene of Barney's greatest performance. LAUGHING WAR does for Vietnam what Catch-22 did for World War II, laying bare the absurdity of war with a taut, fast-moving, darkly humorous tale of romance and suspense in a combat zone.

Blue and Gray Laughing

Blue and Gray Laughing
Author: Paul M. Zall
Publisher: Rank & File
Total Pages: 134
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN:

Representative samples of jokes, stories, and tall tales told by both sides to keep spirits up under the horrifying conditions of war. Demonstrates similarity between men from North and South.

Ordered to Laugh

Ordered to Laugh
Author: Sudhir Mudgal
Publisher: Orient Paperbacks
Total Pages: 159
Release:
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 8122205763

The Indian armed forces have a great sense of humour, as awe-inspiring as its fighting prowess — remarkably incisive and direct (like the famed Bofors), succinct and biting, but for reasons unknown (and perhaps ‘classified’), they prefer to shoot with their weapons, rather than with their writing instruments. 'It surely has come as a pleasant surprise that one of us has put together numerous jokes on service personnel itself. It is said that a person who can laugh on oneself is a gifted individual and a person who cannot laugh/smile is cursed.' — Air Chief Marshall S K Sareen, PVSM, AVSM, VM(G), Former Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force

Old Soldiers Never Laugh and Other Stories

Old Soldiers Never Laugh and Other Stories
Author: W. A. Leavey
Publisher:
Total Pages: 134
Release: 2019-10-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781988932101

The first of longtime military writer Bill Leavey's attempts at civilian humour, the tales in this collection range from family feuds and follies to fantasy and social satire. They span across the great nation of Canada from to the British Columbia coast, from a mental health hospital in Manitoba to a television studio in Kingston to a fishing town in Nova Scotia. All readers should recognize themselves in the pages filled with human and non-human foibles along with the traits and habits of humanity that haunt and help us all.

The Psychology of Military Humour

The Psychology of Military Humour
Author: Brigadier J Nazareth
Publisher: Lancer Publishers LLC
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2008
Genre: Psychology, Military
ISBN: 1935501704

This book is the most comprehensive work on the subject and perhaps the only one that focuses on military humour. Everyone enjoys humour, and military humour has a particular appeal because it is created in an environment that offers the maximum opportunity for its exploitation. It will also make the general reader closely familiar with the military milieu and the working of the military mind. The student of psychology should find this book useful because it presents the difficult subject of humour in general, in a comprehensive and readable form. However, this book should prove most useful to the Service officer. For him the pleasure of the humour will be enhanced because he is familiar with the military environment. It will also give him a new dimension in the exercise of military command by the use of humour to mitigate the stresses and strains of peace and war. In handling his men he will go beyond merely applying the yardstick of the code of military law.

Humor in Uniform

Humor in Uniform
Author: Editors of Reader's Digest
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2008-05-01
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1606525875

If laughter is the best medicine, then look no further to cure whatever ails you. The column “Offbase,” formally known as “Humor in Uniform,” has appeared in the Reader's Digest magazine for over half a century, and has published more than 3,500 jokes, quotes, and funny stories from the more than a million readers who have submitted them. This volume—from the world’s #1 source of humor—contains laugh-out-loud gems from one of Reader’s Digest’s most popular columns. This side-splitting collection of humor delivers hundreds of the best jokes, anecdotes, cartoons, quotes, and stories from men and women in the armed forces or their families proving that life is often funnier than fiction. Such as: · From a Family Member: My son regaled me with stories about how they do things in the modern Air Force. Being an old Air Force man myself, I scoffed at their complicated methods. “That’s not the way we did it when I was in the service,” I said. “Yeah,” he shot back. “But when you were in, there were only two pilots, Wilbur and Orville” — Ted Shirley · From an Army Soldier: Our Army Unit was overseas conducting maneuvers with the Marines. On shift one night, a Marine asked my sergeant where he was from. “I’m originally from Central America,” said the sergeant. “Oh, yeah?” asked the Marine. “Kansas?” — David Denbek · From Iraq: At the end of a tough day in Iraq, my daughter, the airman, collapsed onto the first seat in the transport truck, forcing everyone else to climb over her. “Private!” hollered the sergeant, “Skinny girls get in the back so when we men get on with our weapons and equipment, we don’t have to climb over you. Have I made myself clear?” Suddenly my daughter perked up, “Do you really think I’m skinny?” — Margaret Culbertson · About the Military: A soldier stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, actually got a letter addressed to “Fort Ignorance.” “How did you know where to deliver it?” she asked the mailman. “We were stumped at first,” he admitted. “But then I remembered, ignorance is bliss.” — William De Graf For yourself, a friend, or family member—what could be better than the gift of laughter?

The Laughing Soldier

The Laughing Soldier
Author: R. Sheppard
Publisher: Casemate
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2011-03-24
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1612000479

A witty collection that celebrates the strength to find humor even in the most challenging circumstances—with proceeds benefiting veterans. Britain’s armed forces have a legendary sense of humor, dating back over generations of servicemen and women. The Laughing Soldier, aiding the veterans’ charity Project 65, is a collection of jokes, along with messages of support for the troops, sent in by people all over the world. Contributors include serving personnel, veterans and their families, the general public, celebrities such as Alan Titchmarsh, comedian Milton Jones, and public officials including George Osborne, all inspired by the Armed Forces’ strength and capacity for finding humor in the toughest of situations. With forewords by satirist Al Murray, a.k.a. the Pub Landlord, and ex-marine Mark Ormrod, the Afghanistan hero who lost three limbs to a landmine and bestselling author of Man Down, and illustrated with cartoons by The Comic Stripper, The Laughing Soldier’s collection of jokes will lift the spirits of servicemembers and their families—and those who care about them. A donation is made to Project 65 from the sale of every book.