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Soldiers and Sailors (Posted on 2003-09-01) Difficulty: 3 of 5
At a family reunion, I met four distant cousing who are all in the US military. They each came in their dress uniforms, two from the Army, and two from the Navy. When I asked them their names, and where they were stationed, Terry and Tracy told the truth, but Lee and Loren lied. This was especially confusing because all four names could belong to either a man or a woman. Here is what they each said:

Male soldier:

  1. The male sailor is Terry.
  2. Tracy isn't stationed in Afghanistan.
Female soldier:
  1. The female sailor isn't Terry.
  2. Loren isn't the person stationed in Texas.
Male sailor:
  1. The male soldier is Lee.
  2. The female sailor is Loren.
Female sailor:
  1. A sailor is stationed in Hawaii.
  2. Tracy is stationed in Afghanistan.
Help me figure out who is who, and where they are all stationed (one is in Kuwait).

  Submitted by DJ    
Rating: 3.8889 (9 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
Male soldier   - Loren - Kuwait
Female soldier - Terry - Texas
Male sailor    - Lee   - Hawaii
Female sailor  - Tracy - Afghanistan

First, notice that the two whose names start with T told the truth, while the two whose names start with L are liars.

The male soldier and the female sailor made contradictory (and mutually exclusive) statements, so one of them is lying and the other is telling the truth.
By the mentioned convention, then, their names do not start with the same letter.
Therefore, the male sailor is lying, and his name must start with an L.

Given that, the male soldier's first statement is false, and he must be lying.
Therefore the female sailor is telling the truth.

The male soldier is lying, so his name must start with and L.
Since the male sailor is a liar, the male soldier is not Lee.
He must be Loren.
By elimination, then, the male sailor is Lee.

We also know, now, that the two females are telling the truth.
The female sailor isn't Terry (Loren, a liar, said that was her name); she must be Tracy, who is stationed in Afghanistan.
The other sailor, then, is stationed in Hawaii.

The female soldier is Terry.
She says that Loren (the male soldier) isn't stationed in Texas, which must be true.
Thus, Terry is stationed in Texas, while Loren is stationed in Kuwait.

Altogether, we have:

Male soldier   - Loren - Kuwait
Female soldier - Terry - Texas
Male sailor    - Lee   - Hawaii
Female sailor  - Tracy - Afghanistan

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
SolutionPuzzle SolutionK Sengupta2009-02-01 13:51:52
AnswerK Sengupta2009-01-31 12:36:20
SolutionSolutionLawrence2003-09-02 02:30:56
SolutionShort solutionFederico Kereki2003-09-01 21:02:25
re: solutionCharlie2003-09-01 20:51:42
SolutionJill2003-09-01 20:17:19
SolutionsolutionCharlie2003-09-01 17:27:01
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