G-chief profile, any advice?

[frostfire]

Gentlemen,

I've been tasked to role play a G-chief-sort-of in an FTX. Got less than 24 hours to prepare. The good guys mission is to solicit information from me. My job is to increase their stress level. I've got a few scenarios running in my head including the worst broken English I can come up with, but as I want to prepare these young folks for what's to come, I want to keep it as real as possible. Any suggestion? Is it realistic (has it been done before) to ask soldiers to lay down their weapons or clear them before speaking to the G-chief? Is it realistic to ask them for the weapons in their hand in exchange for information? Can soldiers solicit information from press field correspondent?

[Richard]

Gentlemen,

I've been tasked to role play a G-chief-sort-of in an FTX. Got less than 24 hours to prepare. The good guys mission is to solicit information from me. My job is to increase their stress level. I've got a few scenarios running in my head including the worst broken English I can come up with, but as I want to prepare these young folks for what's to come, I want to keep it as real as possible. Any suggestion? Is it realistic (has it been done before) to ask soldiers to lay down their weapons or clear them before speaking to the G-chief? Is it realistic to ask them for the weapons in their hand in exchange for information? Can soldiers solicit information from press field correspondent?

FF,

Yes to all of your questions; be careful how you define 'solicit' out there. In a nutshell, behave like a cloned combination of Chavez, Putin, Ahmadinejahd, Maliki, and Obama. Always get something before giving away anything. Make them feed you good food and talk to them about anything--the weather, the sudden worrisome limp in your prize breeding camel, your wife's needing a botox injection, the history of your 'great' land, whatever--but the subject they want to talk about. Make them 'work' for any information or concession you give them and make everything sound like it's a big deal whether it is or not. Keep smiling and nodding, don't pay any attention to time...and have fun. :)

Richard's $.02 :munchin

[Soft Target]

FF,

Yes to all of your questions; be careful how you define 'solicit' out there. In a nutshell, behave like a cloned combination of Chavez, Putin, Ahmadinejahd, Maliki, and Obama. Always get something before giving away anything. Make them feed you good food and talk to them about anything--the weather, the sudden worrisome limp in your prize breeding camel, your wife's needing a botox injection, the history of your 'great' land, whatever--but the subject they want to talk about. Make them 'work' for any information or concession you give them and make everything sound like it's a big deal whether it is or not. Keep smiling and nodding, don't pay any attention to time...and have fun. :)

Richard's $.02 :munchin

Wow. Were you related to my G-Chief in '78? Don't forget to demand money and/or gold.

[Razor]

Great advice, but at the same time, don't be over-the-top impossible to deal with, or the students lose their training effect. Eventually, you need to give some concession in the form of partial acceptance, some useful information or limited assistance in completing a task, otherwise the only thing the students will derive from the training is frustration and serious questions about the effectiveness of the techniques they've been taught to use.

[FearMonkey]

All this is true, but I had always had an issue with how things were dealt with during my Robin Sage experience. Don't forget to keep in the mind operational environment we're dealing with this day and age. If I am meeting with a Security Forces SGM of Chief of Station or an important Sheik I will certainly adapt my behavior and mannerisms to fit the meeting, but there's no way I'll be clearing my weapon and if he were to ask me to give them up for information... unless you've got a 10-digit grid to Osama Bin Laden's cave, keep dreaming brother.

So, yes, have fun and hassle the shit out of those guys but for their sake don't stray too far your left and right limit. When you're asking them to do things that you would never do as a semi-reasonable soldier then that's an indicator you're suspending reality a bit much. Like anything else, just do a good common sense check and have fun!

[Richard]

Great advice, but at the same time, don't be over-the-top impossible to deal with, or the students lose their training effect. Eventually, you need to give some concession in the form of partial acceptance, some useful information or limited assistance in completing a task, otherwise the only thing the students will derive from the training is frustration and serious questions about the effectiveness of the techniques they've been taught to use.

That's exactly right. And a good observer, grader, evaluator or whatever will monitor both sides of the scenario and tell you when to back it down a notch if the guys being evaluated are doing OK :) or ratchet it up a notch if they're not. :(

Richard :munchin

[frostfire]

thank you for the input, gents

Great advice, but at the same time, don't be over-the-top impossible to deal with, or the students lose their training effect. Eventually, you need to give some concession in the form of partial acceptance, some useful information or limited assistance in completing a task, otherwise the only thing the students will derive from the training is frustration and serious questions about the effectiveness of the techniques they've been taught to use.

No worries Razor, there's a specific predetermined sequence of events that lead to a single unavoidable outcome. There are also clear boundaries. I'm not running the show, and can only play my part during my allocated screen time, and yes, there are observers/evaluators all around.

[CSB]

My G Chief during ROBIN SAGE was a rough looking, bearded, beer-belly good 'ol boy who began the meeting with a hearty hug and then poured an 8 ounce water glass of ice cold wine. He insisted we drink a few toasts to the President of the United States, to our fallen brothers, to "Free Pineland", etc. each time draining the glass. Coming straight out of isolation, and a hot and dry road march after infil, only one glass was enough to make me feel the earth move. It raised the question of how far can you go to build creds with the G-chief, while not insulting your hosts, not looking like a p---y, and keep your wits about you. One more and I wouldn't have been able to spell ANGUS.

[I ended it by telling him that unless he had enough for the entire force, I would drink no more. That seemed to satisfy him].