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Here's another attempt but hopefully less feeble(Yours wasn't that feeble but I've heard that joke about a million times so it seemed feeble to me):
The Captain calls in the Sergeant and tells him to tell Private Jones that his mother just died.
So the Sergeant calls for the morning formation and lines up all the troops.
He says, "Johnson report to the mess hall, Smith report to Personnel to sign some papers. The rest of you report to the Motor Pool for maintenance. Oh and Jones, your mother died. Report to the commander."
Later that day, the Captain calls the Sergeant into his office, "Sergeant that was a pretty tactless way to inform Private Jones of his mother's death. try to be more tactful next time." "Yes, Sir!"replies the Sergeant.
A few months later the Captain calls the Sergeant into his office, "Sergeant, I've just received a report that Private Smith's mother just died. Please inform him of this and be more tactful about doing it." "Yes, Sir!"
So the Sergeant lines up the men and says, "Everyone with a mother take 2 steps forward. Not so fast, Smith."