The academy has always had lots of wasted time and impractical lessons about how you should always follow whatever policy says. The problem with policy is it was written in a nice, calm, sterile environment, instead of a chaotic and dangerous environment where things don't always happen the way you expect. If you drill into recruits heads that they can do nothing if policy doesn't allow it, then you're laying the groundwork for them eventually getting themselves killed. Shorten the academy to just