I recently reenlisted in the US Navy and had to take the Oath of Enlistment again. I was a Christian when I originally joined, but have since become an atheist. There is a part of the Oath of Enlistment for the US Armed Forces that inlcudes "So help me God". It is optional, but I failed to mention to the officer who administered the oath that I would be omitting that part. Instead I had printed out a copy of the oath that did not have "so help me God". When he started to administer the oath from memory, I knew he was most likely going to include that part.
Sure enough, when he got to the part he said "So help me God" and I didn't want to just stand there looking like an idiot, so without skipping a beat I repeated back to him "So help me Odin".
It apparently caught him off guard because he hesitated for a second with a look on his face that said "did he just say Odin ?"
He almost started laughing, but held it back with a smile and continued the oath. There were several people present, some high ranking, but mostly the guys I work with. Those who caught it were amused, including a Master Chief whose only comment was something very close to "That's right del Toro. Don't let them push you around."
Started by Mercedes in Welcome to Think Atheist. Last reply by archaeopteryx 19 minutes ago. 554 Replies 0 Likes
Posted by Teri G on May 24, 2013 at 2:29am 7 Comments 0 Likes
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