While stationed at Fort Knox, we would often leave the tanks at the gunnery range and head back into main post for the night and take the van back out the next morning and prep for our trainees.
While driving down the road out to the ranges, in a white goverment-issue van, the five of us passed a MP car. One of our instructors, nicknamed Smitty thought it would be funny to duck down like he was hiding from the MPs. Bad move. The MPs did a 180 on the road and lit up the lights and sirens. We stopped, but the MPs parked about 50 meters behind us and pulled out their M-16 and shotgun and told us to place our hands against the roof of the van <MAJOR OH-SHIT MOMENT>. Within a couple of minutes, he had seven MP cars blocking us in front and back and some eighteen MPs pointing a variety of weapons at us.
After having the driver drop his keys on the road, we had to exit the vehicle, one by one and lie spread-eagled in the ditch, until the MPs cuffed all of us.
Needless to say, by this time Smitty was being threatened by his fellow prisoners with every form of mayhem.
Turns out that the MPs were running a hostage scenario that involved a white, government-issue van loaded with five people dressed in GI uniform who had kidnapped the post commander and his wife.
Smitty never lived that one down....
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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