Old military truism: The bad stuff settles at the bottom. I wasn’t in basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio for three days when I heard that. It came from S.Sgt. Wallace Tidwell, my military training instructor, who was a Tennessee good ‘ol boy.

Tidwell, who stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and was as wide as a Sherman tank, didn’t use the term “bad stuff.” He chose a word that was a bit more scatological in nature.