The last meat grinder I remember being in… well, it kinda had the opposite effects, dumbing most of the players down, and leading to a “why the **** would I want to team up with these idiots ever again?” response. The other PCs weren’t just PTSD triggers, they were actively pursuing “murdering this character would be good for the planet” territory.

I mean, I guess it kinda felt like backstory, in that it explained why “facepalm” was on hotkey, but it really not only didn’t generate a reason for the PCs to be together, but actively generated reasons for them to want to never see each other ever again.