Then there is the famous, but probably apocryphal story of the forklift:

One day in South Viet Nam, two diggers in a Mk1 International turn up to a US stores depot with a bunch of paperwork to collect a piece of heavy equipment.

They back the truck up to the dock in the shed and locate the equipment. The only problem is that they have no way of moving the large crate into their truck.

One digger spots a small forklift and then the next problem occurs; the crate is too tall to fit under the canopy. So, off come the canvas and bows.

It then occurs to them that they don't have a forklift at the other end of the journey.

Out come the stencil and red paint. Bingo! The forklift suddenly sports a nice red kangaroo in several locations. The only problem is that they can't put the canopy back on to hide it, not just because of the cargo, but the upright and carriage assembly of their new forklift is also a bit tall.

All they can do is hope.

As they check out at the gate, with the kangaroo-bedecked forklift in plain view, the guard says, "Next time, don't bother bringing a forklift, we have quite a few here!"


As I said, probably apocryphal, but a good "war story" just the same.