What do you think the iC would be most likely to do for recruitment (by
Battalion or even company??) for regular forces?
Personal or 'governor's or regional defense forces are not being considered
here, but the IC 'regular army' per se.
1) Recruit ethnically homogeneous units and post them away from like
populations (like the cold war soviets did.) Language would be theirs
internally but the lingua franca mil-speak for unit to unit purposes.
2) Recruit individuals and parcel them out to units to create line units
with diverse populations and one "language" for command/mil-speak (like
the cold war soviets did also on occasion)?
3) Recruit locally and place them in/among populations likely to be more
sympathetic towards 'our troops' (and possibly dangerously the other way
also)?
Would there be a core of the 'regulars' on each colony planet to
stiffen/control the local self defense forces (and watch the 'governor'
raised forces? Or would raising military forces off planet be restricted
to "Supra-National" troops only?
Comments requested, please.
Gracias,
Option 1 makes the best sense. IIRC the issue that Imperial (Austria, Russia,
and Soviet Union) Armies have is making sure that the troops understand the
officers. If the lingua franca is limited to only a few things, C3 can break
down quickly.
Michael Brown
[quoted original message omitted]
This has been sitting in my Drafts folder since June; I thought the thread had
gone cold:
> From: ~ On Behalf Of Glenn M Wilson
> What do you think the IC would be most likely to do for
> 1) Recruit ethnically homogeneous units?
> Would there be a core of the 'regulars' on each colony
I did a little scratching around on this, and modern-day
Indonesia certainly seems a patchwork. So the official language is Bahasa
Indonesian, but more Indonesians speak Javanese? And both of these are
minority languages since there are over 300 languages across the islands,
mostly concentrated in particular areas and spoken by populations varying from
a few thousands to several millions? Who needs interstellar colonies? These
people already have a good analogy of their own.
It's possible that in the years before colonisation mass media will have
rationalised the number of languages down, possibly to the point where most IC
citizens can speak the state language. For example, the Chinese now claim that
93% of their population can speak Mandarin. By contrast, I keep on finding
figures suggesting that only 5% of India is fluent in English (though this may
be rapidly changing.)
Assuming that linguistic convergence and integration isn't widespread, I would
expect the IC to use all three of your options in the classic Praetorian
model. Tier 3 is comprised of your local forces, raised on the same planet
(for lack of interstellar transport?) with a single language, simple command
structure and local support. Politically suspect, they have the worst
equipment,
frequently manufactured on-planet.
Tier 2 contains drafts from tier 3, uprooted from their homeworlds and given
better training, equipment and pay. They keep their own officers and draw
replacements from their planets of origin, but do not go home until they are
demobilised. Indeed, they may never return at all but instead may be packed
off to found new colonies, along with accompanying dependents or new brides
pressed from their homeworlds. These troops are loyal to the IC because they
are surrounded by strangers and the navy is their only way home.
Tier 1 are your Praetorians*, picked troops of all ranks with proven combat
records and a good command of the IC language. Confident individual soldiers,
they can be slotted into any IC TOE that their specialisations permit. On
retirement they can select the planet to retire to and can count on
preferential treatment, including reserved occupations and a worthwhile
pension.
Tier 2 can beat any four tier 3 units and can engage far higher strategic odds
due to superior mobility. Tier 1 think they can beat any four tier 2 units,
and tier 2 know better than to try it. Tier 3 simply think tier 2 can beat ten
times their own number, and rout if confronted by a tier 1 unit.
Given that it's very bad press for your Praetorians to lose a scrap, I would
expect tier 1 to remain as
garrisons or only get low-risk assignments (ideally
with the prospect of a high enemy bodycount). It would be the better tier 2
units that get fielded as cheap mercenary units, particularly to give them
experience.
* Yes, I know in reality the Praetorian Guard didn't work like that; I'm just
going with the popular image.
It might be 2,000 year-old propaganda, but it's GOOD
propaganda.
[quoted original message omitted]
> From: "CS Renegade" <njg@csrenegade.demon.co.uk>
> It's possible that in the years before colonisation mass
> From: ~ On Behalf Of kh.ranitzsch
> Quite likely that Bahasa Indonesia would be spoken /
If the language issue hasn't been sorted out by the time of colonisation, the
IC have no choice but to reproduce their patchwork in space or risk diluting
their loyal
terrestrial population base. I shan't stir the old hi-
tech / lo-tech colonies debate; what happens next depends
on whether you favour Jerry Pournelle's "ship out your unwanted masses"
CoDominium or expect colonisation efforts to begin with skilled technicians
maintaining atmosphere processors that are basically giant fusion reactors.
As Glenn has pointed out, even if the Indonesians get their core territory
together they will also have inherited a large number of other states of
varying technical aptitude (and political reliability). I would also predict a
divisive level of factionalising, especially if the leading families have
expanded their wealth throughout the 21st century. If these approach the
influence of the zaibatsus
of early 20th-century Japan then they will have the wealth,
technology and power to launch their own starships. A
placid population that _can't_ speak the state language
could be an asset.
> I would assume that there is another tier (at roughly
This would be a useful government asset, but the IC navy is going to hoover up
a lot of the more promising recruits because aptitude, loyalty and a common
language are going to be more important to the navy than to any ground force.
A recruit who speaks the state language has already met one of the criteria
for tier 3 and a candidate from a known reliable background might be favoured
by a politician, but this misses the core of the tier 3 ideal. A praetor has
seen and fought on a dozen or more worlds, and will consider himself* first
and foremost a citizen of the IC rather than a member of any ethnic group.
These troops have social status and a strong sense of their own superiority,
even over their own kampongs.
Over time the IC Praetorians may be weakened by the same
forces that degraded the originals. Nepotism, feather-
bedding and enmeshment in factional government politics may gradually run down
the effectiveness of the entire tier 3 concept and transfer the balance of
power to IC
mercenary units with hard-as-nails reputations.
* Don't make me fix the gender this time of night.
> consider himself* first and foremost a citizen of the IC
> * Don't make me fix the gender this time of night.
<g> It *is* the right usage, unless you're in an environment where you have to
ignore grammatical correctness in favor of political correctness.
On Wed, 9 Jul 2003 23:30:04 +0100 "CS Renegade"
> <njg@csrenegade.demon.co.uk> writes:
This is the IC I expect 80-90% of the military will be male. Maybe
100%.
> * Don't make me fix the gender this time of night.