Military service Letter

This is a translation of a letter which claims to be copy of a lettersent by a young Croatian man to the Croatian Secretary of Defence to a void military service. An extraordinary piece of reasoning, worthy ofattention of anyone interested in logic and related matters.

Dear Minister of Defence,

Please allow me to explain my situation in a hope that you will be ableto resolve my case.I am expecting to get the call to serve in the Croatian Army. I am 23and I married a 47 year old widow who has a 26 year old daughter. Her daughter subsequently married my father. By marrying my wife's daughter,my father became my son-in-law. In the same time, my wife is amother-in-law of my father, and her daughter is now also my step-mother.In September my wife and I had a son. Clearly this child is a brother ofmy father's wife, and thus a brother-in-law of my father. In the sametime, my son is also my uncle because he is a brother of my step-mother.In October my father's wife had a son as well. This child is now also mybrother because he is a son of my father. But I am the step-father of my wife's daughter and also a brother of her son whose father is also myfather. Thus, my father's son is also my step-grand son because he is ason of my wife's daughter. Consequently, I am a brother of my ownstep-grandson, so I am also my own step-grandfather.However, according to the law, not more than two consecutive generations of fathers and sons (grand-father, father, son) can be called for military duty simultaneously, so I should be relieved from the military duty.

Thank you for your understanding.

The reply of the Croatian Ministry of Defence was sent only two weeks later, and it read: "The applicant is permanently relieved from themilitary duty due to possible mental problems and mental instability caused by the chaotic situation within his family."