I think I’ll start this post with a similar joke that the joke Petreaus told was probably based on.  It’s a pretty well-known joke in the military world.

The classic joke:

So I saw this poster the other day.  It was really great!  It depicts the 4 different services on it, the first one is a Soldier out at a checkpoint in the middle of the jungle and it’s raining and the bubble above his head says, ‘This Sucks!’  The next picture shows a Marine in the middle of the jungle with a 80 pound pack on and it’s raining and he’s covered in mud and he says, ‘This sucks, but I love it!’  Man, those Marines are crazy.  Then, there’s a picture of this Sailor and he’s out in the middle of the ocean and the waves are crashing over-top of his ship and washing over him and he says, ‘This SUCKS!’  The last picture shows this Air Force Officer sitting on his couch in his office looking at his TV.  He’s clicking the remote and he says, ‘The CABLE IS OUT! THIS SUCKS!’

Why is this evidence that Petraeus plans on running for president?  It’s simple, no self-respecting Soldier would ever apologize for telling this joke.  Only a politician who is very worried about offending a large section of potential voters would apologize for this kind of joke.

The Marines’ sense of toughness permeates the Corps’ lore as well as its reality.

To recall an illustrative story, a soldier is trudging through the muck in the midst of a downpour with a 60-pound rucksack on his back. “This is tough,” he thinks to himself.

Just ahead of him trudges an Army Ranger with an 80-pound pack on his back: “This is really tough,” he thinks.

And ahead of him is a Marine with a 90-pound pack on. And he thinks to himself, “I love how tough this is!” Then, of course, 30,000 feet above them, an Air Force pilot flips aside his ponytail — I’m sorry, I don’t know how that got in there, they haven’t had ponytails in a year or two — and looks down at them through his cockpit as he flies over. “Boy,” he radios his wingman, “It must be tough down there.”

You have to understand; Soldiers and Marines are Warriors.  We follow a Warrior creed, and we fight and kill the enemy under any condition.  However, Airmen are not warriors.  They are Technicians.  The only people in the Air Force that actually train to fight are Pilots and their Special Forces guys.  They can take their physical training test on a stationary bicycle for goodness sake!  The fact of the matter is that most of the time when you joke around with Air Force people about this, they are usually pretty proud of it.  Why are they proud?  The have insanely higher living conditions standards, and when they have to live in Army or Marine housing, they get paid extra!  Air Force Personnel are treated like civilians (business-professionals).  They have better housing, food, bases, everything!  They really don’t have a reason to feel bad.

So if you have really thin skin and get bent out of shape because of a joke that made you feel like your not working or enduring as hard as the rest of us.  Then, frankly, you shouldn’t have joined the Air Force.  That’s what I would have said.  But!  I’m not running for an elected position.  Not yet… at least.