One anecdote that comes to mind was with my unit's S1 cell. But
I heard it second-hand, so not sure so much is true.
The first shock, for them, was when the order came down to load up
vehicle & move out to the field. Then, instead of the usual
paperwork, it was announced that the clerks -- together with some
S3 ops people, the RSM group & all available lobo personnel for
the S2 cell (our unit didn't really had one) -- would be
participating in a POW management EX.
Role-playing, of course, but with a certain degree of realism:
inverted uniforms, blindfolds, POW tags, toggle ropes (to simulate
shackles), barb wire etc. As the story went, there was apparently a
power play by the cliques, with the S1 group losing out &
having to arrow some of its clerks as "captured enemies". As if the
regimentation's not enough, some smarty PTI (attached as one of the
RSM's RPs) came up with the bright idea of using medicine balls to
pass off as "ball & chain"!
Only a day-long EX, but imagine how sway those PES C clerks ended
up!
But we line battery troops had a good laugh when we heard about it.
Not sympathetic at all. "I wanna be a Chairborne Ranger / Live the
life of a paper messenger / Out of shape & out of danger ...."
~lol~
