A Sergeant calls his men out to line up on parade.
He calls out: "Private Smith, take one step forward!" After Smith does so, the Sergeant baldly announces: "We've just had word.....your mother is dead!" Whereupon Private Smith collapses on the ground and starts crying uncontrollably.
When the Commanding Officer hears about this, he calls in the Sergeant to bawl him out. "You can't just tell someone their mother is dead like that! Use a bit of tact and subtlety when dealing with something like…