Man From The South

Man from the South is a short story of a young soldier and a man notorious of making a bet he has a frequent history of winning. The soldier finds himself boasting up the wrong tree, but is fortunately saved by the old man’s wife, just in time to save himself from getting his pinky cut off. 

            

An occupation that could be greatly affected by the soldier losing is pinky finger would be his ability to hold and grip a gun. We know that hand mobility increases from a radial to ulnar aspect. This means that you have the greatest range of flexion in the pinky finger which allows for greater hand closure and a firmer grip. The soldier would need to be able to utilize a power grip to operate a gun effectively and without his pinky finger I believe he may find this very difficult. 

Some equipment that could help the soldier to continue in his role of effectively using a gun would be a shoulder strap if using a heavy rifle. This could help to take the weight off of his hand and put it onto his shoulder and back where his strength is not compromised. In the soldier’s case, without his pinky, the less weight on the hand, the better. A grip attachment could also be added to the soldiers rifle. In this case he can use his opposite hand to steady the gun and to make sure the gun remains in an upright position. This could help to maintain a more precise aim. By using this equipment the soldier can still participate in his everyday occupations with ease.