Swiss Army: The latest oxymoron

I read the funniest op-ed piece in the NY Times this morning and had to share it with you.

Apparently the Swiss have an army despite having been a neutral country for about a billion years. Not only do they have an army, but they still have mandatory military service for their young adults.

It seems that many Swiss don't think they need a military, but the government is loathe to dispense with one. Instead, it has come up with a host of reasons that disqualify someone from service thereby shrinking the army from 600,000 to about 240,000.

Why don't they just get rid of mandatory service? you ask.

Hmmmm. Good question. Ya got me.

Anyway, funding for the army is such that they are poorly equipped and carry no ammunition. Military maneuvers consist of marches. Really long hikes. Like over and around the Alps.

Now here comes the funny part.

On March 1, the Swiss army was out on one of these walks when, in the dead of night, they accidentally crossed the border to Liechtenstein and had to scurry back home before anyone found out. (Not wanting this excursion to be considered an invasion.)

"It was all so dark out there," one recruit is quoted as saying.

(giggle.)

Poor kids. Couldn't someone have given them a map? Maybe a compass? Pointed out the North Star, maybe?

As someone who can relate to getting lost on strange roads at night, I am pleased to be able to have a new verb to describe my problem. From now on whenever this happens -- as it regularly does -- I'm going to say that I Swiss-Armied as in:

"It was so dark out there, I Swiss-Armied. Wow! It's good to be back home."

Here's the link to the article. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/opinion/10stamm.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Colleen