The story of Schlock Mercenary, the twenty-book saga of a carbosilicate amorph's career with a company of 31st-century soldiers of (mis)fortune, began with this exchange. 

This particular rendition of said exchange appears as the final panel of the prologue found in The Tub of Happiness: Schlock Mercenary Volume 1.

The original rendition (sans prologue) aired here at schlockmercenary.com on June 12th of 2000. You can read the whole story, beginning with that strip...