Awkward Squad is the name given to that group of people in any organisation who cause problems and difficulties. They are apparently
normal, everyday human beings, but when they get together, things just go wrong. They are not necessarily troublemakers, although in some instances they can be, but some strange synergy causes things to go wrong in their collective presence.
The origin of the word dates back to just after the Second World
War when National Service was compulsory in
Britain for males over the age of eighteen. This meant that all sorts of people, some of whom were totally unsuited to military service, were inducted into the armed forces. That they were unsuitable quickly became apparent, and they tended to be grouped together to keep the clumsy, the unwilling, the careless and troublesome in one unit which became known as the
awkward squad
