Integrity: Is there such a thing as too much?

The short answer, is no. For most of March, we were at JRTC on Ft. Polk in Louisiana. It's a training base where you do lots of, well, training, designed to get you ready for your deployment. In our case, Iraq. We were there a month, not sleeping, going on patrols, doing mortar drills, eating bad food, and playing chess. Well, one night, my friend VT, from Buffalo, NY, goes outside to have a smoke and before I knew it, he had run back in the tent and then come back out, this time, with his weapon. (side note: while deployed, even in training, your weapon goes EVERYWHERE with you. EVERYWHERE.) He asked me, cuz I outrank him, how many push-ups does he owe. I said, how about 50? So he knocks out 50. Then we move on...But for 15 minutes, I notice he's agitated, so I ask him what's wrong. Oh, nothing. We go back inside. Then 5 minutes later, he comes to me and says, get your stuff, let's go outside! Ok...So we go outside and he asks me to smoke him. Smoke you? Like, smoke you? Yes, Specialist, smoke me! I forgot my weapon and I need to be punished! Are you serious? And he yelled at me, yes! I'm serious! Smoke the shit out of me! So I did. For the next 20 minutes, his life was pushups, bearcrawls, ironmikes, leglifts, rifle PT and whatever else I could come up with. He was thoroughly sweating and was exclaiming loudly, upon being asked, that he would NEVER forget his weapon again. Are you sure? Yes, Specialist, I'll never forget it again! OK, then, position of attention...MOVE! Fall out...I hugged him and was touched by his integrity. No one would have known he screwed up. No one except him...Like my father has told me a million times, the true measure of a man's character and integrity can be measured by what he would do if he knew he wouldn't be caught. VT has character and integrity enough for many men. Hats off you...