Project Gutenberg 2009-02-23 Public domain in the USA. 213 Sharkey, Jack 1931 1992 Sharkey, John Michael Minor Detail Produced from Amazing Stories November 1959. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "Minor Detail" by Jack Sharkey is a satirical science fiction short story first published in the late 1950s. The narrative centers around the farcical military endeavors of General "Smiley" Webb and his ambitious plan to deploy troops using an innovative yet absurd contraption called the Whirligig. The story explores themes of military bureaucracy and the folly of over-complicated solutions to fundamental problems of warfare. The plot unfolds with Secretary of Defense James Whitlow's visit to observe General Webb's top-secret project, designed to land soldiers safely in enemy territory without traditional parachutes. Webb's unorthodox method involves subjecting soldiers to extreme centrifugal forces in the Whirligig to prepare them for high-altitude jumps. However, the demonstration goes hilariously awry, leading to a disastrous outcome where the soldiers fall head-first rather than landing safely. The story ends with the general fainting in shock, highlighting the absurdity inherent in his ambitious plans. Through humor and irony, Sharkey critiques military thinking and the push for conflict in a time marked by fragile peace. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 75.5 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 45134 2025-10-11T13:13:02.513256 text/html 41372 2021-01-04T18:48:37 text/html 82178 2025-10-11T13:13:06.050768 application/epub+zip 80988 2025-10-11T13:13:04.019752 application/epub+zip 80988 2025-10-11T13:13:03.036239 application/epub+zip 145228 2025-10-11T13:13:07.575766 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 137769 2025-10-11T13:13:05.466785 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 108656 2022-09-13T07:18:20.674942 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 38859 2025-10-11T13:13:02.278255 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 38750 2021-01-04T18:48:37 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 48661 2009-01-19T21:04:00 application/octet-stream 77717 2009-01-19T21:04:00 application/octet-stream 78017 2009-01-19T21:04:00 application/octet-stream 79382 2009-01-19T21:04:00 application/octet-stream 76570 2009-01-19T21:04:00 application/octet-stream 70712 2009-01-19T21:04:00 application/octet-stream 75111 2009-01-19T21:04:00 application/octet-stream 40684 2009-01-19T21:04:00 application/octet-stream 25272 2025-10-11T13:13:07.716727 application/rdf+xml 10449 2025-10-11T13:13:03.522768 image/jpeg 2781 2025-10-11T13:13:03.277284 image/jpeg 16415 2021-01-04T18:48:37 application/octet-stream application/zip 15223 2021-01-04T18:48:37 application/octet-stream application/zip 81626 2025-10-11T13:13:02.518273 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia