A couple of days ago one of the junior sergeants walked into our office (which is really a big open room with lots of desks and computers) and shows the senior sergeant what he had just bought at the hajii shop on the FOB: an honest to goodness police quality taser. Of course the question that had to follow was "Can I try it out... on myself." I was sitting quietly in my corner thinking that this could not end well, and my thoughts were confirmed when the senior sergeant's eyes light up and he says, "Sure, but you know it will hurt." Both were undaunted by the thought of pain. Luckily, all of the officers in the room are military POLICE officers and understand the effect of tasers because there was a groundswell of captains levitating over their desks to join the chorus of NOOOOO!!!! One of the captains explained how the voltage from a taser can have adverse effects on your heart, and more convincingly on your bowel control. I think the sergeant was a little disappointed deep down that he couldn't play with his new toy, but nothing came of it.
The whole event does raise the question, who in their right mind would allow police quality tasers to be sold at a store frequented almost exclusively by 18 -24 year olds? Probably the same people who allow water bongs to be sold and loaded weapons to be carried. Can't blame the Hajii's who sell them, but if that junior sergeant had been in an infantry unit instead of a an MP unit (MP's are by and large the smarter of the two), the self test would have happened. The really sad thing is that at the infantry unit they would have seen his total loss of bowel control and the burn on his skin and would have started arguing about who would get to go next.
