"The Fog of War" is an intereting idea. I like its implications (you can't always control everything). I like the games it creates, even though they tend to be a little slow. But I'm human and I hate to be wiped out due to my own errors. My ego tells me to tweak the system so I survive, but I don't and another fine British command bites the dust (OOPS!). I am not in the military, but I do do a job that can call me out in the middle of the night on Psychiatric emergencies. Like the military, I rely on lines of communication to keep me informed. Also like the military, it never works... The following is an experience I had when I was "on Call" for a five county region in my last job. My responsibilities are to call crazies back who call the emergency line and interview those few who may need to be hospitalised. Here is what happened the night the phone went out ... 5:30PM: I get home from work and call the hospital to let them know where I am. I conveniently put the thought that I could be called out of my mind. As I talked to the nurse, I noticed that the phone wasn't working quite right. I ignore it. 7:OOPM: The hospital calls and tells me to contact Mr. Jones who lives in the county south of me. I call Mr. Jones and find him to be bug nuts. Of course Mr. Jones doesn't see it that way, but his family does. So I get to do an emergency detention (a legal way of forcing a mentally ill or suicidal person into the hospital or local snake pit). I feel off balance at this point because I don't know what will happen next. 7:40PM: I call the psychiatrist, and explain the situation to him. He agrees with my assessment of the Bug Nuttyness of the person, and gives me a verbal order to sign his name to the form (What? You thought we didn't have paper work. Not quite.). Tomorrow he needs to sign it for real. 7:55PM: I need a Judge's okay to put Mr. Jones away. First, I try the Judge of Bug Nut county, but he refuses to give a verbal order. The fact that it is a hour drive both ways to get to him is ignored. So I call the Judge from Drunk German county and get him to validate Mr. Jones marching orders. 8:00PM to 8:40PM: The judge calls the sheriff and tells them to pick up Mr. Jones. I then call them to tell them where he is. If I had called them first they would not have listened to me or done anything (so past experience tells me). As it is, they tell me the sheriff will call me back. I try Mr. Jones' house several times and get no response. I am getting a little frustrated by now because I've been at this for 2 hours already and at very best I will not be done until 11:00PM. Then my phone goes out. No dial tone, I can't call out, but I believe people can call in, or so I want to believe. Of course noone does call so ...I begin rehearsing excuses for why I chose to be inactive. I want to be off the hook (no, they wouldn't accept it) - I want to sleep (ditto) I can not fix the phone, and it may not be broken (maybe) - Running to another phone is too much trouble (no) I am not paid enough to do this! (sounds good 11--o my tired brain) This is a SHIT admission anyway!!! (matter settled...I ignore the phone) 10:OOPM to 11:30PM: I go to sleep. 11:30PM: A runner wakes me by knocking on my door. In a sleep filled daze I learn that my supervisor is at the hospital, that I need to go there, and that my admission is on the way. AAAAHHHH! 11:30PM to 1:00AM: I admit the bug nuts Mr. Jones to the Psych ward and make lame excuses to my boss. Somehow my rehersed reasons for going to sleep don't seem like such good ideas now. As a stop gap measure to keep me in contact, I get to take home an electronic beeper (machine of Satan). If it goes off I get to go out to a pay phone to talk to the next Mr. Jones. 1:00AM to 6:30AM: I sleep restlessly knowing I'm going to be called at any minute. But I get no more calls. 7:00AM: The phone fixes Itself! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! Take me now, lord! This Illustrates how it is easy to make truly bad decisions when you are out of communications. I for one will not go to sleep without alternate communications. You never know when you'll get called out in the front line trenches of mental health. Back to Experimental Games Group # 4 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1989 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com