<Sources at Fort Bragg, home to the Army Special Operations Command, say there's no common thread among the cases, and suggest it may simply be an "anomaly" that so many incidents have occurred so close together.

The connecting thread is that these are all military. A majority of military personnel are control freaks. They have to be. It’s there in the chain of command, from Private First Class to Command Sergeant Major, from “butter-bar” Lieutenant to General. It’s “my way, or the highway.” That’s the way they’re trained, and that’s the way it has to be. They’re in charge of a mission, in charge of their people, and in charge of their team’s equipment.

It’s called “control”.

Well, a choice few nonconformists don’t like that highway option, preferring something along the line of “if I can’t have her, nobody can”, “if I can’t make it, neither can she”, or “who says you can’t take it with you?” These are the knut-cases, and should be dealt with accordingly, with a tour of duty at the local “ward-7”, complete with padded office.

“why’d ya flame ‘er, Bob? She wasn’t laughing at you, man -- she was laughing with you!”

Dan