A question for the military folks on this board

[lost-in-nj]

My son just relayed a story to me about a friend of his in an honor guard yesterday for a local 911 service.
He said that his friend crossed his fingers while doing this as a sign of protest.
It means you will do your duty but you don't believe in the reason. (my words not his-just for clarification)
Is this true??
Thanks for clearing this up for me.


on another note at our local high school at the times the buildings fell they had 4 buglers in each corner of the school
playing taps.... I wish I had known this, it was probably awesome


lost

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. Well, I'm not military but...

As kids, my sister & I (and our friends) always said that if we promised something while our fingers were crossed, it didn't count. Basically, that we didn't believe in it or we weren't going to do it. She's 18 and I'm 23, so probably around the same age as the guy in the honor guard.

[qnr]

2. Been around a lot longer than that. It was common knowledge when I was

growing up in the sixties. Probably been out there for hundreds of years.

[lost-in-nj]

6. We used to do that to..

Or if we had to tell Mom and Dad a white lie :)
Thats why I knew what it meant and it had nothing to do with the military

lost

[Spaceman Spiff]

3. I was in the Army from 89-93

and I never heard of that one. I'm not saying it's not true , though. Guess we really didn't have much to protest back then.

[qnr]

4. Yeah, I pretty much felt the same way. I was kind of wondering when

they'd cross their fingers though. At attention? Parade rest?

[speedoo]

5. The implication from your question is that your son's friend...

is actually in the military.

If he is, it's a pretty courageous act on his part, assuming he knew the potential consequences. He would almost certainly be subject to disciplinary action, IMO. And not just a slap on the wrist, if his commanding officer chooses to make it tough on him.

I've never heard of a military person doing that before. My guess is the UCMJ has a number of provisions under which he could be disciplined.

[lost-in-nj]

7. He is an ex Marine

now a police officer. I'm not sure what capacity he was doing this as....
But the crossed fingers were supposedly a military thing
Thanks
lost

[sarge43]

8. Unless it started in the past 20 years,

I never heard or saw it. Our reaction to bull shit was the Eye Roll.

Of course, crossed fingers always meant negating or cancelling your word or actions, so it's not strictly a military thing.