War Games
by
Dougie fae Glesca

A 48 hour military exercise
between the Parachute Regiment
and the Royal Marine Commandos.
 
 

 
Chapter 1
A scientist, Professor Hamish Glesca, whose hobby was inventing unusual style gadgets, had recently developed a new stun gun. The Glesca Stun Gun looks like a pistol with a barrel 4" long and less than 1.5 " diameter. Its compact size means it can sit in a standard pistol holster. The electronic parts were sealed so that should it fall in water or mud it could be wiped clean and continue to operate. At the "muzzle" end are two prongs 0.75 inch apart. When the trigger is pulled the two prongs shoot out about 1" and when they come in contact with a man's body he receives an electric shock.

Held against his body for five seconds it paralyses the muscles system for three or four minutes. He is unable to grip anything or stand up. He collapses, unable to control his arms or legs but all the time he is aware of what is going on. During that time he can be easily overpowered, tied up, gagged and blindfolded without him putting up any resistance. After four or five minutes he would regain the feeling in his limbs but by that timer it is too late for him to take any resistive action.

The gun's purpose was to help the army during raids silently overpower the enemy. Could it be tested in an exercise? Some officials at the Ministry of Defence thought it was a waste of time and should be dropped.
"This scientist called Glesca is always inventing useless junk and this Glesca Stun Gun, as he calls it, is another of them." said one civilian official. However some marine and paratrooper leaders liked the idea of using it. But would it work? Why not try an unofficial exercise without telling the officials at the Ministry.
Army "top brass" finally agreed provided that if anything went wrong, then they knew nothing about it. If you check army records you will not find any references to this exercise,
If the guns failed during the exercise then the groups would resort to hand to hand fighting. In that case the "top brass" didn't want to sent their best men and instead go for the roughest and unruliest men. The 'dispensable ones' as one general put it.

When put to the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines both were keen on the suggestion of an "attack" on their rivals. There has always been a rivalry between the two forces so why not make it into competition? Who could capture the most "enemy" troops? In previous exercises some of the enemy were captured then escaped or were freed by reinforcements. This time it was decided that whenever an enemy was captured his head would be shaved. That would be sufficient proof of capture. Points would be earned for each prisoner captured and shaved. If a prisoner escape after having his head shaved some points would be deducted. The winner would be the side with most points at the end of the exercise.

The Parachute Regiment decided to field a platoon from 19th Parachute Regiment.
"Thugs in uniform" as one critic described them.
The Marines decided to field men from 23rd Commando Brigade.
"The unruliest unit in the marines" as one officer described them.
Each para was told that if he came back to base with a shaven head his fellow paras would beat him up. Many were also told that if the paras lost then the guys taking part would be fucked by every other guy in his billet. As some billets had as many as 16 bunks that could mean 15 cocks up his arse.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 2
For the exercise there would be 20 men defending an "Installation" and patrolling the surrounding area. They would be called Patrol Groups.
20 men attacking it would be called Assault Groups.
Each assault group would have a key and must fit the key in to the transmitter which would send a signal to HQ letting them know that the transmitter had been "blown up".
If a patrol group captured an assault group they would shave their prisoners' heads. Similarly if an assault group captured a patrol group they would shave their prisoners' heads.

There would be a points system:-
25 points earned if an enemy soldier is captured and his head shaved.
If a prisoner later escapes this is reduced to 15 points.
If an assault group manages to "blow up" an installation then an extra 50 points are earned. If the assault unit managed both to blow up the installation and captured all the defending soldiers, then they could earn two weeks extra leave. If the defending unit captured all 20 of the enemy they could earn two weeks extra leave.

The exercise would start at noon on Monday and end at noon on Wednesday.
If a prisoner tries to escape his captors are allowed a certain amount of force to re-capture him. After all, to each side the enemy is the terrorist. Also as the exercise was top secret the Army would deny such an exercise ever took place. As long as there were no permanent or long term injuries anything would be acceptable.
If a soldier returned to barracks with a black eye, bruised ribs or sore balls then it would be assumed it was because he had tried to escape and his captors had used force to restrain him. It was known some soldiers enjoyed being beaten up but officially it was denied.
Each para and marine selected for the exercise was told six weeks prior to the exercise that his hair must be at least 2" at the top. That way there would be no claims that he was a skinhead and had never been captured.

Defending the Installation - Parachute Regiment (the paras)
They will be divided into 5 defence groups each with four men
One Base group led by a Sergeant, defending the compound.
Four Patrol groups, each led by a corporal.
The patrol groups were given the names of colours:- blue, red, green and orange.

Attacking the Installation - Royal Marine Commandos (the marines)
Divided into 5 attacking, or "assault" groups each with four men
Called Assault1 to Assault 5
Assault1 to be led by a sergeant. Others led by a corporal.

The defending paratroopers would wear normal combat camouflage uniform. They would be issued with 5 sets of hair clippers, one for each group. Each para would also have 20 Flexicuffs, a roll of tape for gags, 2 blindfolds and two lengths of thin rope for securing prisoners. Flexicuffs are like nylon cable ties often used in the electrical industry to tie several wires together. They are approx 0.5 ins wide, approx 16 ins long and have a loop and non-slip ratchet. Used round a soldier's wrists it is a very efficient handcuff. (In the story when a prisoner is secured with flexicuffs he will be described as being handcuffed.) With a soldier's wrists crossed behind his back a flexicuff can be fitted in 20 seconds compared with over a minute with a rope.

The attacking marines would wear plain olive grey uniform. They also, would be issued with hair clippers, blindfolds, Flexicuffs etc. The marine uniform was quite tight fitting compared with the normal fit. As one marine said "It certainly shows up your arse."
"Yes. It's an enticement for these paras to fuck you." said another.

Each patrol group and assault group would be issued with a radio. It had a safety feature built in. The radio had a "scrambler" button which was deactivated by a special code. The code had to be keyed in each time the radio was switched on. The radio automatically switched off if not used after five minutes. If the radio fell into the enemy hands and they switched it on then all they would hear was a garbled voice. However if it fell into enemy hands switched on and had been used recently then the enemy could make use of it. Only the radio at the base could be switched on at any time without a code.
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
Chapter 3
The War Zone is approx 25 miles diameter. It is enclosed by a 16 ft high wire fence.
In the centre is a group of buildings called the Installation.
Buildings are set in three sides of a square with the Installation building in the middle and painted yellow. Other buildings are painted brown. These include a prison, two sleeping billets, a cookhouse, a planning room and latrines.
The area of ground round it is called the Compound and is in concrete

The site is often used for escape and evasion exercises as well as psychological warfare. It has facilities for securing prisoners, both inside and outside the buildings. In the open area in front of the buildings several steel poles approx 8 ft high have been cemented into the ground. Prisoners could stand spread-eagled between poles. There are also several poles bent at right angles and 40" high. Prisoners could kneel with their necks and wrists tied to the poles.
"The right height to get a blow job." as one para commented.
"Bend him over the pole and it's the right height to fuck his arse." said another para.

About sixty steel rings were cemented into the walls of the buildings at various heights. Inside were four cells and also six small cages where a prisoner would be forced to kneel.
A roll of barbed wire 40" diameter surrounded the area outside the compound 160 ft to the north and east. Beyond that is woodland. To the west and south, also about 160 ft, is a shallow river bending at 90 degrees and the land between the river and the compound is low lying and had been flooded then ploughed and run over by heavy 4X4 trucks. The result was an area approx 6 ins deep in mud. The area is exposed and anyone trying to run across the mud is slowed down as well as being easily seen.
 
 
 
 

 

 
Chapter 4
Preparation - The Marines (The assault force)
On Saturday morning at 0900 hours (9 a.m.), 2 days prior to the assault, the marines were taken by helicopter on an aerial tour of the zone. The helicopter circled the site in a spiral motion starting on the outside working into the centre. It then went back to the perimeter. It repeated the manoeuvre a second time with various features, such as holding areas in the woods, marshland and rocky areas being pointed out to them. Then the helicopter went back to base.
At base they were supplied with 5 maps. They had 48 hours to plan their assault. They had the option of using one, two or three entry points. At noon on Monday they would be positioned at any of these points.

Preparation - The Paratroopers (The defending force)
The paratroopers were taken on a similar helicopter tour three hours later at 12 noon, then dropped in the compound area. They were given 45 hours to plan their defence. They were given 5 maps. They could discuss the terrain, plan ambushes and check out possible routes from the perimeter to the compound. They would be able to roam the site checking out "holding areas", clear areas with poles cemented into the ground to secure prisoners while groups continued patrols.
At 0800 hours on Monday four monitors would arrive and all paras must be in the compound by 0900 hours and remain until 12 noon when the monitors would leave. The "defenders" would then be told a group of terrorists had infiltrated the area and intended to blow up the transmitter. It was important they capture "by any means possible" the enemy before they reached the site.

The Briefing
At the briefing for the squad leaders of 2 sergeants and 8 corporals, on the evening before the exercise, the leader of the paras, Sergeant Baxter said to his marine opponent "My boys get a bit rough and randy after being cooped up for a week. They like a good punch-up and to let their cocks get a bit of action. I've already promised them they can fuck any marine that they capture and shave. In fact I've told them if they come back to the paratroops barracks with a shaven head they would get fucked by every para in the platoon and there are over 100 guys."
"Thanks for the warning." said Sergeant Macdonald in charge of the attacking marines. "My boys like a good punch up as well and to keep your platoon happy we're going to shave every single one of you bastards."
There was quite a lot of banter sometimes bordering on to threats. By the time all of them left it was obvious this was going to be a "no holds barred" exercises.
 

 

 
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