STORY: Obedience Save by William Barclay

Story title: Obedience Save
by William Barclay


      A veteran Navy man insisted that discipline and obedience were absolutely essential. They had to condition a sailor to obey orders automatically and unquestioningly. His life might one day depend on that. He gave and example out of his own life.
    He was working on a tugboat which was towing a very heavy ship through rough seas. The vessel
was attached to the tug by a wire cable. Suddenly a gust of wind and spray shot up and there came a loud word of command from the officer in charge of the tug. "Down!" he shouted.
    On the spot, all the crew members fell to the deck. At that moment the wire cable snapped and its loose end whipped about like a maddened steel snake. If any man had been struck by it, he would have been cut in half.
     Instant obedience saved those lives.