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Press, 27 March 1981, Page 15

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CRIMINAL ASSAULT

Army manoeuvres are not to be dismissed, as some critics have tried, as 5 merely expensive versions of children's J cowboys-and-Indians games. They are much more than that: they are expensive versions of adults’ cowboys-and-Indians games. They allow the training: of a core force, a body of men that will form the skeleton and the principal muscle of a quickly expanding army, in the event of conflict. They practice the co-ordination and movement of large bodies of men and large amounts of equipment in a variety of roles and in realistically simulated battlefield situations. They form a hierarchical nucleus of military professionals with skills that would be invaluable in a civil emergency. (They enable jokers who like crawling around in ditches throwing big fireworks and making bangs to have a game of cowboys-and-Indians while getting out from under the Missus’s feet and making a bit of i beer money.) f The art of participation in ? manoeuvres at the; lowest Jevel is to £ balance scepticism and involvement I' with sufficient skill to give a maximum return of both amusement and excite- i ment. Anybody who has been involved in I the services knows that the principal 1 function of other ranks js to laugh at '• officers. Considering the performance on ■ manoeuvres of the average officer, this is a task easily done. But it should not be taken to such an extreme that the . whole manoeuvre is seen for the big, < pointless game it is very likely to be. ? Such scepticism may end up with the J participant sitting up to his waist in cold T mud in the middle of a wood wondering ') why he is not at home in bed, This is i; when the sense of detachment must be q put aside and the toy soldier must’ ‘

. concentrate on seeking a thrill from | pretending it is all real. ¥ It is often not an easy balance to | maintain. The participant may find i himself in a difficult undercover apI proach to a heavily defended wood from I which the tantalising smell of bacon and 1 eggs is wafting. The night march and ■ approach may have been long and difficult, the platoon wet and fractious, , the week-end exercise almost over. But 2 he should not dwell on the fact that it is all a game, that in a few minutes, after | the attack has gone in, a whistle will | blow and attackers and defenders will i be eating that delicious-smelling breakI fast together. He must try and maintain I the illusion of reality; otherwise much of ■ its point is lost. S Too much imagination can be disas- £ trous, though. A toy soldier found him--1 self leading a daring do-or-die charge at | a wood, blood pounding in his ears, M maniacal yell rising like hot bile in his $ throat, ignoring the steady stream of S machine-gunfire . that in reality would | have torn him to pieces. Through the if first line of defenders, loosing off an | ’angry and totally inaccurate spatter of I rifleshots among the equipment, vehi- | cles, and defenders huddled in the wood. | Ahead, 30 yards, a table, laden. Assault | and destroy. | Eyes misting, an animal, in he went to .? obey his brain’s enraged instructions, i Yells of dismay. A long and loud whistle, s An angry’ man with a whisky tan, | impressive rank, and an umpire’s arm- | band appeared. The mist of rage ft cleared. Doubt washed in to take its 1 place. » “I don’t know what the hell you think | you were doing,” said the umpire. ‘'But S you have just singlehandedly wiped out ® the breakfast.”