Nothing the young staff officer did that day turned out right. Each time he
was given a task it turned into a "bucket of worms" and brought with
it another chewing out. Finally, at close of the day, the colonel gave him a
classified message in which a subordinate commander had asked permission to
do something. Turning to the captain, the colonel said, "Here, tell him
to go ahead. See if you can do THAT right." The captain drafted a very
correct, unclassified reply, with a text of: "1. IAW REF A, PERGRA"*
Knowing he had finally done something right, he handed the smooth message to
the colonel and received the following: "For cripes sake, Jones, can't
you do ANYTHING right? This should be CLASSIFIED."
* 1. in accordance with your reference (document) A (we inform you): permission granated