Monkey Business
A tourist walked into a pet store and was looking at the animals on display.
While he was there, a master chief from the local naval air station walked in
and said to the shopkeeper, "I'll take a 6114 monkey, please."

The man nodded, went to a cage at the side of the store and took out a monkey.
He put a collar and leash on the animal and handed it the master chief, saying,
"That'll be $1,000." The chief paid and left with the monkey.

Surprised, the tourist went to the shopkeeper and said, "That was a very expensive
monkey. Most of them are only a few hundred dollars. Why did that one cost so much?"

The shopkeeper answered, "Ah, that 6114 monkey, he can rig aircraft flight controls,
score 300 on the airman proficiency test, set up a perimeter defense and perform
the duties of any company grade officer with no back talk or complaints. It's well
worth the money."

The tourist spotted a monkey in another cage. "That one's even more expensive--$10,000!
What does it do?"

"Oh, that one is a 'maintenance supervisor monkey; it can instruct at all levels of
maintenance, supervise maintenance at the unit, intermediate and depot levels, and
even do most of the paperwork. A very useful monkey indeed," replied the shopkeeper.

The tourist looked around a little longer and found a third monkey in a cage. The
price tag read, "$75,000." The shocked tourist exclaimed, "That one costs more than
all the others put together! What in the world could it do?"

"Well, I've never actually seen him do anything but drink beer and goof off, but his
papers say he's a fighter pilot!



category: aviation  date entered: 2006-03-23