This post brought some memories back. I have lived near Camp MacKall all of my life. We used to have some fun with the soldiers doing maneuvers around here. My little brother used to take food to the spots where they were camping and, in return, they always gave him some trinket or another and some were cool enough to let us shoot the gun mounted on the jeep. We used to give them directions to a particular rendevouz spots when they were lost 'cause we knew these woods like the backs of our hands. It was a lot of fun. I am sure that we got in their way but they never complained. It was never surprising to look out into the woods and see them filled with soldiers. I miss that. My boys have never got to experience that.
In 1975, while assigned to Wildflecken with the 2/12 Cavalry, we went on some wargames with the Bundeswehr inside Heidelberg. We were assigned to patrol the river and Bundeswehr "commandos" were tasked to try to cross it and sabotage parts of the city. I was the M-60 machinegunner on a four-man patrol at 0-dark-hundred along the river when we heard a noise and saw a shadow on the river. We took cover behind an embankment and I readied my machinegun (with a 200-round belt of blanks). When the shadow got about 25 yards from the shore, SGT Kan popped an illumination flare and I opened fire.
Man, I never saw two old German fishermen rowing so fast in my life.
You weren't in their way, you were a valuable training aid. You were replicating what really happens on a battlefield - people get LLMF (lost like a... well.. you know) and ask the locals. You also served, who gave directions ;)