Create mission with several playable units in a group,
create a marker called respawn_west near playable units,
save mission,
create description.ext with the usual yadda-yadda,
add respawnTemplatesWest[] = {"MenuPosition"};
add respawnDelay of at least 1 second,
save description.ext,
start mission in hosted multiplayer game,
wait for mission load to finish,
see AI pals disappear after first spawn,
wonder where AI pals have gone,
sit down and cry frantically out of loneliness,
repeat last step because AI pals are gone and mission has become unplayable.

The funny thing is: The AI controlled playable units in player's group are placed on mission load, then removed upon respawn of the player and spawned at 000-000 (the south-east corner of the map) again.
If there's land at 000-000 they shoot each other (and the survivor gets to shoot at the player, if present).

So something is really not in place there...