When Bill Jempty forwarded me this article about dummy guards, I thought it was just another piece on the sad state of our correctional system. It turns out to be about actual dummies:
British troops are manning watchtowers with dummies at the Army’s main garrison in southern Iraq, it was disclosed last night. They have used mannequins to take the place of real soldiers during darkness in up to eight of the 16 watchtowers at the Shaibah Logistics Base, west of Basra.
The Grenadier Guards came up with the tactic after being sent out for a six-month tour 47 men short, The Sun reported. Every two-hour shift change the figures, equipped with desert combat fatigues, helmets and rifles, were moved about.
The Ministry of Defence spokesman said last night that every guard tower that needed to be manned was manned. “Deception techniques have played a major role in military operations across the world for thousands of years,” he said.
The tactic itself strikes me as sound, although allowing wind of it to get to the press, not so much.
