Treat every weapon as if it were loaded

I've been hesitant to nitpick Army Wives because I don't know much about the Army, specifically, how it differs from the Navy in the small details, where the nits live. As I begin to watch Season 3 on DVD, I need to remind myself again that in the Army, you can salute indoors under certain circumstances. But I'm not sure Colonel Burton saying goodbye to General Holden before he went to command NATO in Brussels counts as one of those circumstances.

There might be a bigger nit in Trevor's storyline in which a soldier under his charge accidentally fires his rifle to the deck after returning from a training exercise. After finding out who the soldier is, Colonel Connors asks who the team leader is, and throws the book at him in NJP (non-judicial punishment) for failing to make sure his soldiers' rifles were cleared at the end of the exercise. Trevor explains to his wife Roxy that the Army is strict, even about negligent discharges in which no one gets hurt. However, it seems to me as if the soldier whose "gun" went off actually gets off scot-free.

I wasn't an Infantryman in the Marines (couldn't have been even if I had wanted to), but even I got it drilled into my head to "treat every weapon as if it were loaded." So even if I was completely certain my rifle was cleared, I would still have put the 'dial' in the "safe" position and I still WOULD HAVE KEPT MY FINGER OFF THE @#$%ING TRIGGER! This is not to say that no Marine has ever accidentally shot his rifle. But something tells me that the Marine whose rifle went off would bear the brunt of the punishment.

Of course Army Infantry is different from Marine combat support, but one would think they too would be trained to treat every weapon as if it were loaded. I suppose such an incident is the only reason the writers could think of for getting Trevor in trouble and making Burton jump to the conclusion that Connors was coming down hard on LeBlanc to indirectly get back at her.

Aw come on, Denise, you can do better

So Lisa's got me watching Army Wives on DVD. New episodes air on Lifetime, derided by Family Guy as "television for idiots." But I'm really liking Army Wives. There is just enough action adventure elements in it to keep me interested long enough to start to care about what happens to the characters.

I've seen all of Season 1 and now I'm almost done watching Season 2. Throughout Season 1, I was almost wanting to say to the television screen: "Denise, why don't you just dump Frank? He treats you more like his personal property than like his wife." Sure he's an Army officer, but does he have anything else going for him that would justify staying with him? Oh, and he's the father of Denise's son, Jeremy. But Jeremy's grown up now, old enough to join the Army (which he did). I know this is on the level of psychology, and the human heart, which doesn't always make sense, so this doesn't yet rise to the level of a nit. Still, I feel like I have to say something.

Now, I do understand Denise Sherwood is a much different character from Major Sarah MacKenzie on JAG. But I haven't watched as many episodes of JAG as Lisa has, so I can separate Catherine Bell as Denise Sherwood, wife of an Army major, from Catherine Bell as Sarah MacKenzie, a Marine major. And even so, it seemed to me in Season 1 that Denise is strong-willed enough to divorce Frank. So, as I watch Season 2, I'm happy to see Denise taking steps towards being a strong, independent woman. Keep that motorcycle, if that's what you want to do! Keep seeing that young doctor! Etc.