[ApplegateRanch]

It is a pity, really, when I think of the countless hours we spent playing 'army' in a time when it was widely assumed that the children had toys,

And cops & robbers; gangsters & G-men; cowboys & Indians; even (a few of us) aliens & Space Rangers.

In the previous generation, a few went too far, though. One of my uncles was a "cowboy", and the "Indians" who captured him burned him at the stake, with real fire. Did a LOT of damage to one of his lower legs, making walking difficult & painful the rest of his life...but that didn't stop him from serving as a grunt in the Pacific Theater for three years.

[Smokin' Joe]

My wife intervened in a similar situation where one of her younger sisters had been tied to a tree and the fire laid and lit, but it wasn't going well enough to do major damage.

Considering that they are Chippewa, I am not sure who the 'cowboys' were... Thankfully, no damage was done, and the fire was extinguished. Naturally, the kids scattered.

The worst we did was (knowingly) chuck the occasional rock as part of a dirt clod 'grenade', so I guess we were pretty mild by comparison.