orders-disorder

"Equally, even the best thought out and most concise orders can have unintended consequences. On my first tour in Northern Ireland the loss of a single round of ammunition was punished by a prohibitive fine. I am, of course, entirely comfortable that we always look after all the kit and equipment that we are issued. But the result of this fine was that some soldiers taped the top of their magazines so that no rounds could be lost. Nor, equally, would it permit the magazine to be fitted to be the rifle. Thankfully the batch numbers of the training ammunition eventually matched that of the operational ammunition, allowing Platoon Sergeants to cover any discrepancies.

On the All Arms Commando Course the focus on field cleanliness, while admirable, led to people carrying two sets of wash and shave kit; one for the inspection and one for use. As part of our frequent drives to save money, the direction came out that all air flights would have to be signed off by a 2*. The process was either so tortuous as to deter applications, or word got back that none would be signed. People found a work around. Typically, they would get a hire car, book a ferry, probably book a night or two in a hotel, and travel anyway. The net result was that any saving in airfares was wiped out several times over by the expense of the alternative travel arrangements – not to mention the cost of lost time."