One-Off Fun: 3-360th Motor Rifle Regiment (Patreon)

Many years ago I was in a unit called the 3-360th OCT Battalion. OCT's are "Observer-Controller-Trainer" and we were the people that followed units around during downrange field exercises, evaluating their performance and ability to adhere to doctrine, perform battle drills properly, not cheat, etc. 

Our unit was part of 1st Army, which in my opinion were a bunch of overly-rigid, stiff-necked, hidebound battle droids. They were sticklers about adhering to doctrine to the point where (I felt) individual initiative and the ability of a soldier to interpret events was stifled. 

On top of that, their personnel management techniques within the unit were... not helpful. Berating subordinates, shouting, accusing, treating people with contempt, while simultaneously expecting unswerving loyalty, obedience, and respect were pretty much the norm. "Leaders" would punch down to junior soldiers with ease, but would become completely servile when their own superiors abused them. My experiences in the 3-360th provided fodder for a recent BOHICA Blues comic, about a weak, spineless officer who had submit "proof of submissive urination" several times a day (and meekly did so). 

Needless to say I did not thrive in this environment and left after a couple short years, the whole time referring to the unit as the "Banana Republic 3-360th Motor-Rifle Regiment" (said in a thick cartoonish Russian accent, while referring to everyone one as "comrade"). That probably did little to endear them to me but I didn't care. 

I went to another OCT unit that was somewhat better, the 11th Battalion of the 91st Infantry Training Division, the "Christmas Tree" division. I did okay there until 1st Army started to essentially take over that Division as well, stating that they had to be in charge of ALL OCT units nationwide. At that point I jumped ship entirely and went National Guard to get away from the creeping rot of 1st Army. 

My apologies if any of you reading this are 1st Army. Some good people, but crappy unit culture and toxic upper leadership. 

The picture? I was going to make a T-shirt out of it, but I left the unit so fast I couldn't see the plan come to fruition. It would also imply spending money on, and wearing, something affiliated with the 3-360th, which I was loathe to do. It was that bad.