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Not quite a workplace prank, but still a good one that backfired on me. There I am, wasting my youth, making the world safe from communism. In the photo I am an E-4 (Third Class Petty Officer). I am 19, about to turn 20 in the photo. I had 6 or 7 guys working for me at the time. Anyhow, this is what we called the Good Humor Man (an ice cream truck man) uniform (minus my white hat). That is my first Cuda (383, auto. Had to sell it to afford graduate school). One hot and muggy Saturday in August we were having a base-wide personnel inspection. When they finally got to my Division, I was told by the alcoholic XO of Chase NAS (a Navy Captain) that the backside of my white belt was too dirty to wear (sweat and oil from using my hands to adjust the belt. He also informed me "that it did not match my white hat." OK, try not to sweat in Beeville, TX on a 100 degree plus and about 80% humidity day, when you have been standing in a heavily starched uniform, at “Parade Rest” or “Attention” from 10:00 to 1:00 on a concrete runway. So, with quicker wit than brains, I made a smart-ass remark that my belt did indeed match my hat, and I removed my hat and showed him the sweatband on the inside…he was not as amused as my fellow enlisted men. For that bit of shared wit, I got to have all of my stuff inspected and pulled apart every two days (junk-on-the-bunk inspection), plus work extra duty shifts (real crap work) for the next 4 weeks (including weekends). Oh, and they made me throw the hat away on the runway, which is why I don’t have one on in the photo. Looking back, it was worth it. I got to keep my dignity and my friends laughed their butts off. BTW, during the Viet Nam War era, some dumbass convinced the upper military officers that enlisted men really liked to have personnel inspections – that made them good for morale. A real Einstein came up with that morale booster – especially during the Viet Nam War. Hell, all of us in the Navy were there to avoid being drafted into the Army or Marines. My Division Commander and his two kiss-ass Chiefs put us through an inspection every morning for work uniforms and every month for dress uniforms.