Re: [Not so OT]Military discipline problems

Okay, if the high end forces  (NAC in the example below) suffer from
mass
drafting (assuming it doesn't take so long to train a competent
soldier/spaceman in the future despite the highly specialized nature of
warfare) problems - what does that mean for the lesser powers?	

Will population small powers be capable of expanding their forces to a
significant degree?  (IMO, no.)  Will they be willing to work in
multi-power forces that take their units away from their sectors?  Will
the idea that NAC colonies might be forced to depend on FSE naval forces
for defense while their FTL ships are on a deep strike mission be
palatable?  And if the FSE can't/doesn't protect the colonies/planets
for
whatever reason (justified or not) during that time how will the chances
for future multi-power forces to be assembled be affected?

How will the OU protect their planets?	What will happen when the
expanded IC ground troops (and who decides who gets to have more troops
in the IC system) face Kravak invaders (assuming they don't just nuke
human planets as SOP)? Will the IF and the NI forces cooperate under UN
auspices in repelling an attack?  Will the PAU send reinforcements to a
NAC planet under attack?  Will the NAC accept them?

And will drug knowledgable agents of the IF take advantage of the
effects
of mass conscription armies to push drugs to debilitate their enemies?

Gracias,
Glenn/Triphibious@juno.com
This is my Science Fiction Alter Ego E-mail address.
Historical - Warbeads@juno.com
Fantasy and 6mm - dwarf_warrior@juno.com

On Sun, 30 Dec 2001 10:16:10 -0500 "Thomas Barclay"
<kaladorn@fox.nstn.ca> writes:
>I see people talking about the US Army in the 
>post-Vietnam phase. Interestingly, John Ringo 
>makes some comments about this in his book a 
>Hymn Before Battle and they do seem to be of 
>the form that the 1970s US Army wouldn't have 
>been the best war-fighting institution and that 
>the Army worked very hard at straightening 
>itself out and getting the drug problems and 
>discipline issues under control. It comes up in 
>Ringo's work because of the extraordinary 
>problems of trying to cram 4 million soldiers 
>through the training system fast.... which is an 
>interesting issue if you consider the scenario in 
>Ringo's book somewhat equivalent to Humanity 
>versus the Kra'Vak - if that invasion forces a 
>very heavy call-up and the pushing through of 
>many more men through the system, especially 
>unwilling draftees, the quality of even the high 
>end powers (NAC) may (on average) decline as 
>a consequence. Or maybe just individual units 
>really suck. Somebody (Allan?) pointed out that 
>units formed pre-hostility in wars and the 
>soldiers who were soldiers beforehand tend to 
>have longer lifespans (and more competence) 
>than newbie rapid-train recruits.
>
>Derek Fulton commented:
>
>>You think just the media despises the 
>military? Try society in general :) Lock up 
>your daughters and your livestock 
>[hopefully the  soldiers don't have the 
>same use in mind for both ;) ]
>
>To which I must say: Spoken like a true 
>Queenslander..... ;) 
>
>Tomb
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>Thomas Barclay
>Instructor, CST 6304 (TCP/IP programming for the Internet)
>kaladorn@fox.nstn.ca 
>http://fox.nstn.ca/~kaladorn/CST6304
>http://stargrunt.ca/tb/CST6304
>-----------------------------------------------------------

________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit: