I always love how Europeans used to call Americans ''cowboys'.

Maybe they still do.

I never resented it because for the most part, cowboys are pretty competent, pragmatic people.

In the service I briefly dealt with a couple of European officers, Brits and French. British officers seemed a little more relaxed while the French officers seemed to have a slight problem when they were handed off to an enlisted man. They tried to hide it but I sensed it.

I was somewhat of a liaison NCO to a visiting Brit outfit for a short time and one of the things I did was to help them draw some field gear. A Brit captain asked me something about comparable European sizes and I told him American field gear came in two sizes, too bit or too small.

Much to his credit, he simply said he'd opt for too big as he could "roll up sleeves and pant legs, that sort of thing." 

A corporal laughed and said, "Just like ours, Sir!"

I doubt a French corporal would have said such a thing.

Anyway, after normal business hours I would drop by the British barracks dressed in western attire. I wanted them to KNOW I was an American AND a cowboy. The guys were pretty amused.

One night I risked a court-martial for this but sometimes a man just has to do what he has to do. I dropped in on them for a few minutes with a six-gun on my hip. It caused a number of raised eyebrows and huge grins. I didn't stick around for long, though.

One of the grinning NCOs asked me if I had parked my horse outside.

John Wayne was still alive then and it was interesting to note that almost to a man they knew who he was. Virtually all of them had seen one of his westerns. To many of them he represented Americans and the get it done attitude. 

The French contingent I dealt with was simply a couple of officers that were observing one of our field problems.

I recall someone killing a rattlesnake and I ate it. The Frenchman said something to me about it and I pointed out that he probably ate snails. He didn't really know what to say.

He was also very surprised that I had taken it upon myself to make a deal with a nearby grunt outfit to supply the 'quick reaction force' in return for us guarding the intersection. When he asked my battery commander about this the BC grinned and said he said he expected things like that to happen because he encouraged us to show some initiative and get things done.

I think the French officer thought we had an awful lot of cowboys in the ranks. Actually there were a number of ranch and farm boys in the outfit so maybe he wasn't 100% off.

Still, we were considered cowboys and I actually considered it to be a left handed compliment.

















To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY