Toilet Paper as a Weapon

"Yet, at least one time, it was. This is a story I heard from Dave Hannaman, who worked at an Army human resources organization when I met with him many years ago. (Dave died in 2021.) Dave had been in the Army, including a stint as a "tunnel rat" in Vietnam. He was one of the brave soldiers who would go down into the tunnels the Viet Cong had constructed and booby-trapped. He was that kind of guy."

"During a rotation back to the U.S., Hannaman was helping train a group of noncommissioned officers (NCOs). There were four squads, and Hannaman was put in charge of the dregs-the NCOs that nobody else wanted. The higher-ups had gotten tired of listening to Hannaman mouth off about the shortcomings of the conventional Army's small unit leadership. "Let's see how he does with these losers," was the plan. They wanted to teach him a lesson."

"So off they trudged, knowing they stood little chance of success. Except for Hannaman. After they had been marching for a while, they came over a hill, and Hannaman noticed a big pile of leaves. He instructed one of his fire teams to take cover and bury themselves in the leaves just over the crest of the hill. Then, when the Alpha Squad came charging along, Hannaman's soldiers would l"

A simple, overlooked item or terrain feature can become a decisive leverage point when leaders adopt perspective-taking and creativity. Dave Hannaman, an experienced Vietnam tunnel rat, led an overlooked 'Delta Squad' tasked with evasion against the best 'Alpha Squad.' Faced with near-certain defeat, Hannaman used a pile of leaves as concealment, ordering a fire team to bury themselves and await the charging Alpha Squad. Improvisation and exploitation of surprise compensated for inferior training and numbers. Rehearsed drills improve efficiency but increase predictability; adaptability and unexpected tactics can produce outsized advantages in small-unit leadership.

Read at Psychology Today