Cage Rattling and Mindless Pratling

DISCLAIMER/MORAL: Everyone's army has idiots in it. Unfortunately, they
tend to not only get themselves killed, but to get other people killed
too. This isn't a US phenomenon by any means. (Just when you have such a
big military, there are lots of stories!)

Dawgie said:

what your old  untieroffizier did not tell you is that in peacetime
manuevers as well as  as in combat, all armies have  soldiers who are
idiots and semi-idiots who either get killed, wounded, cause the  deaths
and injuries to others, before they wise up and learn this s for REAL!

[Tomb] Strewth! You have that one right Pilgrim! I remember on a MILES
(laser tag) excercise my unit was on, one guy came home all happy
because he'd got 5 kills - 2 enemy, 3 friendly - during the course of
the day. JUST the kind of backup I want.... in fact I'd try real hard to
stay behind this individual at all costs. And he wasn't the only one.
The Canadian Army has a lot of great soldiers, and some absolute jerks.
Worse, they are jerks with dangerous weapons in some cases. Like idiots
who laugh when their simulated Carl Gustav backblast would envelop squad
mates - which in real life is a VeryBadThing(TM).

[Tomb] Funny story about some clueless Yanks: 
Everyone heard of The Big Red One? (1st Div). They were over in Germany
at the time, as was another US unit. My unit was doing security for the
CEWOC (EW Vehicle). Excercise kicked off involving 2 German units, 2 US
Divisions, and us. Our US Division (the Big Dead One) got the kick off
date confused and was caught in bivouac. Needless to say, the Canucks
spent the rest of the mock excercise "breaking out" of encirclements,
since our allies had been rendered hors-de-combat in barracks. (OTOH, on
at least one occasion, our CEWOC was NOT blown up by an enemy fighter
bomber because (in the words of the pilot) "the vehicle had to be a
referee vehicle... no one else would leave their vehicle parked in the
open with no camouflage"). (So the Yanks weren't the only clueless ones
... some of our comms guys (in charge) had the same need for an
encounter with the clue-stick...).

[Tomb] Less funny US soldier story:
US formation out of southern states up in Canada doing winter training.
My buddy (corporal) assigned to escort them. He's cas-aide trained
(medic/lifesaver). He's supposed to be the guide. They want to travel
down a frozen stream onto a frozen lake. He (knowing better) advises in
strongest terms that this is a baaaad idea and the consequences will not
be good. US Captain says "You're a corporal. If I want to hear from you,
I'll ask. Otherwise, shut up." and proceeds. Buddy gets on the radio to
ready medevac chopper. Inevitable happens and the US pointman ends up in
the drink (which is slightly subzero C). They get him out. Get him into
a tent. Buddy tells them "the only way this guy is gonna make it, as
he's going into shock, is if someone gets his clothes off and gets into
a sleeping bag with him for warmth until the medevac arrives" (they had
blankets on him, but it wasn't going to be enough). Medevac is a ways
off... this is Canada. US soldiers, displaying blatant homophobia,
refuse to allow it. They get the chopper in, but they can't save the guy
by this time and he dies. Canadian Colonel blows his stack, goes to talk
to the US Colonel in charge of the unit. US Colonel considers the loss
"acceptable training casualty". In Canada, that'd get any officer
involved busted out of the service. 

[Tomb] I've met some very squared away US soldiers (US SF/Intel, Some US
10th Mtn, and some others). I've met some squared away Brits and I hear
very favourable things about Kiwis and Aussies. As Dawg says, you're
always greatful for people you can rely on. And every army has some of
them, and some that aren't so hot. This is just same old same old. This
was probably true in the time of Alexander and will be true in the time
of the GZGverse. Even top-flight armies have some less than stellar
units. And even crappy armies have one or two outstanding units
(sometimes).