My dad, who worked in the civilian end of the Air Force for 30 years, had many of these stories. Such as the sheaf of blank paper, simulating a report, circulated with a "read and sign" tracking sheet that came back signed off by every person on the list.

His signature story of this type, which generated a standard quip of mine, is about the experiment with grasshoppers. An Army team took a grasshopper and trained it to jump whenever they said "Jump!" Once successful, they cut off two of its legs and tried again. "Jump!" - and the creature jumped, albeit awkwardly. They cut off two more legs. "Jump!" - and it did its best, flopping over on command. They cut off the last two legs. "Jump!" - and nothing happened.

Conclusion of the team: Grasshoppers without legs can't hear.