Military commanders are not exactly known for their leniency when it comes to disobeying the orders they’ve assigned.

No matter how much you dislike the task you’re given, it’s not like you can just refuse!

But it’s a different problem entirely when an officer gives you an order that you have no idea how to carry out!

Unfortunately for this user’s grandpa, that exactly what happened when his commanding officer ordered him to level a field with a bulldozer, despite the fact he’d never driven one a day in his life!

Check it out!

Level that entire field? You got it Lieutenant.

My grandfather was a heavy mechanic / transport officer in the Royal Australian Air Force. Worked around a lot of heavy machinery and did maintenance on runways.

He was assigned to a base on a pacific island somewhere and he was working on a bulldozer in one of their maintenance sheds.

An uppity just out of duntroon Lieutenant walked up to him and demanded that he level a field with the bulldozer as they were preparing for an exercise.

He told him to “Level that field and level everything on that field.”

My grandfather replied that he wasn’t trained in the use of the bulldozer, he was just repairing a part on it.

But the Lieutenant wasn’t taking no for an answer…

The Lieutenant snarked back and said “A commanding officer just gave you an order, now get in that bulldozer and level that field.”

Pop thought, screw it, what’s the worst that could happen and he jumped up in that dozer and started leveling the field.

Here’s where it got malicious.

In the area of the field there was a brand new jail that had been constructed.

It was a temporary wooden building for use while the Air Force waited for supplies to build a more sturdy concrete building.

Temporary being the key word here, because with Grandpa in the bulldozer, it was not long for this world!

The construction had only been recently completed and nothing had been moved into the building yet.

Anyway, during his journey to flatten the field for the Lieutenants exercise, my Pop accidentally clipped the wall of the jail and caused it to begin collapsing.

He knew he was screwed. He was going to be in trouble no matter what he did.

So he thought “Well screw it, the Lieutenant told me to flatten the field and every thing on the field!”

Pop just ended up bulldozing the entire Jail and flattening it out along with the rest of the field.

Needless to say, the Air Force was not pleased that their jail was out of commission, and he soon found himself in military court!

He ended up being court-martialed for destroying RAAF property.

He represented himself and only asked that he question the Lieutenant that asked him to do the work on the field.

But Grandpa was only following orders!

GRANDPA: “Lieutenant, did you ask me to level the field with a bulldozer.”

LIEUTENANT: “Yes, but I didn’t tell you to level the Jail as well.”

GRANDPA: “But you did instruct me to use the bulldozer to level the field”

LIEUTENANT: “Yes, I did.”

LIEUTENANT: “Yes, I did.”

GRANDPA: “Lieutenant, did I warn you that I wasn’t instructed on the use of the bulldozer”

LIEUTENANT: “YES bu-”

GRANDPA: “Lieutenant, did you tell me to level ‘everything on that field”

LIEUTENANT: “YES BU-”

GRANDPA: “Lieutenant, is the Jailhouse on the field that you instructed me, someone not trained in the use of a bulldozer to level?”

….

LIEUTENANT: “yes, Corporal, the jailhouse is on that field”

GRANDPA: “Lieutenant, did you ask me to level the field with a bulldozer.”

LIEUTENANT: “Yes, but I didn’t tell you to level the Jail as well.”

GRANDPA:”But you did instruct me to use the bulldozer to level the field”

LIEUTENANT: “Yes, I did.”

LIEUTENANT: “Yes, I did.”

GRANDPA: “Lieutenant, did I warn you that I wasn’t instructed on the use of the bulldozer”

LIEUTENANT: “YES bu-”

GRANDPA: “Lieutenant, did you tell me to level ‘everything on that field”

LIEUTENANT: “YES BU-”

GRANDPA: “Lieutenant, is the Jailhouse on the field that you instructed me, someone not trained in the use of a bulldozer to level?”

….

LIEUTENANT: “yes, Corporal, the jailhouse is on that field”

And by some miracle, his defense actually worked!

The only trouble my Pop got into with this one was the adjudicator of the case told my Pop to “Listen far more carefully to the orders of a superior officer”.

What was the army gonna do, punish him for following the orders that his Lieutenant had screamed at him?

Reddit was surprised that the Lieutenant didn’t just lie to cover his own behind!

And others were confused by the army’s ruling, as by all accounts he listened to what his superior said perfectly well!

This user said it was lucky that the only thing that was lost was the wood used to make the building, not someone’s life!

Finally, this user thought the judge’s ruling basically told grandpa to listen to what the man meant, not what he said!

What part of “I don’t know how to work a bulldozer” don’t you understand?

It seems like a no-brainer to me.

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.