Day 6. Dude, what’s up with all of these meetings?

Ok, now the exercise is in full swing.  I can tell because I have meeting after meeting after meeting.  We have the meeting before the meeting to discuss what we will discuss at the meeting.  It kinda feels like Tropical Thunder when Robert Downey Jr. says, “I’m the dude… playing the dude… playing the dude….” or something like that.  The problem we have is that we need to develop our position and then send it over to the Japanese Army which then sends their position to us.  We review on our own and then have each position translated.  If you followed that, then you can appreciate how long it’s going to take.  By the time the meeting is ready, the positions are all completed.  The “meeting” is really just a formality and a way of making sure that we are on the “same sheet of music.”  Of course, the simulated war is still going on and doesn’t really care how many meetings it takes.  I now understand why the Japanese don’t like to make changes to a plan.  It’s just too complicated to deviate from a plan when there are so many variables to work through which must be translated from English or from Japanese.