Long ago, when sailing ships ruled the waves, a captain and his
crew were in danger of being boarded by a pirate ship. As the crew
became frantic, the captain bellowed to his First Mate, "Bring me
my red shirt!"
The First Mate quickly retrieved the captain's red shirt, which the
captain put on and led the crew to battle the pirate boarding
party. Although some casualties occurred among the crew, the
pirates were repelled.
Later that day, the lookout screamed that there were two pirate
vessels sending boarding parties. The crew cowered in fear, but the
captain, calm as ever bellowed, "Bring me my red shirt!"
And once again the battle was on. The Captain and his crew repelled
both boarding parties, however this time more casualties occurred.
Weary from the battles, the men sat around on deck that night
recounting the day's occurrences when an ensign looked to the
Captain and asked, "Sir, why did you call for your red shirt before
the battle?"
The Captain, giving the ensign a look that only a captain can give,
exhorted, "If I am wounded in battle, the red shirt does not show
the wound and thus, you men will continue to fight
unafraid...
The men sat in silence marveling at the courage of such a man. As
dawn came the next morning, the lookout screamed that there were
pirate ships, 10 of them, all with boarding parties on their way.
The men became silent and looked to the Captain, their leader, for
his usual command. The Captain, calm as ever, bellowed, "Bring me
my brown pants!"