Imagine being a soldier in the army, and you know the higher ranking officers are technically breaking the rules. Would you mind your own business or find a way to call them out on what they’re doing?

In this story, one soldier is in this situation, and he chooses the second option. He’s really smart about it because the way he plays it he can’t be reprimanded for anything.

Keep reading for the whole story.

My granddad, Prankster and Military Compliance expert.

Backstory: My grandfather was born (1920) and raised in Germany. As was the custom at the time, he was required to volunteer for the army.

The first time he got his draft letter, his boss at the construction company took care of it, as they had government contracts and thus got exempt from military drafts. Unfortunately, that meant he could almost abuse his workers as slaves, as long as it was still a better option than getting sent to invade France.

So grandpa wiggled out of his job with the second letter 6 months later and became part of the ‘second line’, basicly he came in after the fighting and fixed what the other guys shot/bombed to hell, mostly comms & logistics stuff.

Queue one playful guy who knows his job.

Meet the cast of this story…

The players:

GD: GrandDad, or Great Dude, a good old fashioned prankster getting drafted.

PB: Patrol Buddy, his unknowing partner in crime.

DC: Dumb Captain. About the lowest of officers that actually volunteered. Hates GD for unknown reason.

Chief: Runs the local division, likes his easy military management deskjob.

All titles converted to current-ish ranks

Now, we get to know the location where the story takes place.

During his time in the military, GD’s group toured France, the Alps, over Austria back home. At some point, he was stationed as patrol guard in a villa/control in southern France post they ‘borrowed’ from a wealthy local.

It was not uncommon for officers to sneak out a small back gate of these villa grounds to go to the local village and have some drinks (and/or women).

It was officialy not allowed and even punishable to leave their post for leisure, but officers weren’t prone to complain and the few regular soldiers that knew didn’t want to get a whooping from a vengeful officer.

Queue the MC…

GrandDad had an idea.

The story:

About an hour before GD is scheduled for guard duty, he sees DC leave for the village, and starts to formulate a plan.

After making a few rounds, he convinces PB to hide behind a hedge near the gate and await the return of DC. They wait there for a long time, up to the point where PB starts asking GD to drop it and go back on patrol before they are caught.

Luckily GD is his senior in age (not sure if rank) and PB doesn’t have the guts to walk away.

Waiting eventually paid off.

About 20 min before the end of their shift, GD hears the back gate open and goes for it…

As the gate swings open and a half-drunk DC walks through, GD jumps out in the open, quickly shouts “Who goes there?”, “Who goes there?” and fires a round in the air before keeping his weapon aimed at a stunned DC.

PB, realizing it is about to go down, follows protocol and coordinates the other soldiers running to the sound and ‘frisks’ the DC for his papers and weapons before bringing him to Chief under armed escort, as per regulation.

They arrive at the Chief’s office and GD & DC are requested in to explain.

GrandDad really didn’t do anything wrong.

GD gets to go first and explain to the Chief; “While I was on patrol duty, I heard someone coming on the grounds through a small gate in the back. As per protocol, I made myself visible, shouted twice “Who goes there” and as I had not yet received an answer, fired a warning shot to apprehend the intruder.”

Chief realises GD followed protocol to the letter, and punishing would require an official explanation as to what DC was doing at the back gate.

He sends GD back on patrol and to take PB and the guard with him from his hallway.

The Chief was mad.

The door is barely closed when they hear Chief shouting at DC; “You moron, now they[soldiers] all know about our way to the village. Do you know how much you screwed us[officers] over!”

DC has sobered enough to take the earful and not make a fuss, as the alternative was a court martial for desertion.

GD walks away with a smile and a few promised beers from fellow soldiers.

DC becomes unwelcome in any card games among officers for the rest of their stay.

I love that all the GrandDad had to do was follow protocol. That story worked out really well.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

One person shares a story about his father.

Here’s a comment about how refreshing it is to hear a story from the German side.

But this person has questions about the GrandDad’s feelings about the war.

Here’s another good question.

It was a small win for the soldiers, but it was very satisfying.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.