When the stress of the war in Iraq becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn how to laugh.If the Pentagon had done a better job of supplying U.S. troops with the appropriate body armor, military officials might have less of a need to supply their families with the services of a "laughter coach." Amazing.
With help from the Pentagon's chief laughter instructor, families of National Guard members are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt "ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho."
No joke.
"I laugh every chance I get," says the instructor, retired Army colonel James "Scotty" Scott. "That's why I'm blessed to be at the Pentagon, where we definitely need a lot of laughter in our lives."
Scott, 57, is certified as a laughter training specialist by the Ohio-based World Laughter Tour, a group that promotes mirth as medicine. It touts scientific research that suggests chuckling can boost the body's immune system and decrease stress hormones.
This was the only silver lining I could find in this story:
The laughter program ... costs the military virtually nothing, because Scott already travels to states as a director of military family support policy.
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