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The Duffel Brief · the free edition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Vol. 15 · No. 121 · Saturday, 10 October 2026

Pentagon

Hegseth opens up new TradWife MOS

Army says new career field will allow warfighters to focus on lethality while someone else remembers the kids

DTS works properly after hack by rogue AI

Lincoln sailor returning from deployment already broke

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Vol. 15 · No. 121

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Duffel Blog

Established 2012 · Deployed worldwide

Vol. 15 · No. 121 · Deployed worldwide

Saturday

10 October 2026

2122 Zulu

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· Page 2

Are you trapped in an escape room or just your weekly staff meeting?

A Duffel Blog guide to the circles of hell

Filed · 1409

“Let’s just stick a pin in that one to circle back to later.”

ANY BASE, Anywhere - COVID is over, people are in the office, welcome back to Hell. And now your boss has scheduled everyone for an escape room, doubling down on agony through team building.

There are a lot of similarities between staff meetings and escape rooms. Both involve packing people into a confined space because the boss said so. They also showcase the skills of thinkers, doers, overachieving butt-snorkelers, and natural work shirkers alike. Mentally checking out to your happy place is the only way you’ll survive either forced gathering. But how can you tell where you are once you check back in? Duffel Blog understands, and our experts offer these clues to help you figure out in which circle of Hell you’re currently being tormented.

1. Is the group pursuing a definable goal? Clear goals are the stuff of escape rooms. The purpose of a staff meeting is to staff, and meet, and generate more planning and tasks which require more meetings for staffing. They are perpetual self-licking ice cream cones, available only in the flavors of futility and exasperation.

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