RE: [GZG] Everyone's got a piece of the action

> From: ~On Behalf Of Christopher Downes-Ward
> Sent: 29 August 2006 11:48

> It seems as if it is a natural inclination of an armed force
> to gather some aspects of the other services.

<snip examples from UK army, navy & air force>

The examples you cite all exist for specific reasons and
can't really be taken as examples of a service encroaching in
the same way that certain other nations' military and security
forces seem to. (Someone back me up here and make the case for
the RAF Regiment!)

> So how to apply this to GZG games and does anyone care?

Who says there will still be three never mind four services
around? After the advent of endo-atmospheric fighters and
fighter-bombers capable of making orbit there isn't going to
be much of a case (or much of a budget) for a separate air
force.

If the nascent space force draws primarily from the air force
then the latter survives (UK readers think Dan Dare). In all
other cases it devolves into specialised corps of the army.

What happens to the navy is even trickier. Surface warships
are probably obsolete as soon as it's possible for one side
to hold orbital superiority and drop a significant weight of
weapons on any target that can't hide. A navy isn't even
needed if there is no surface traffic to protect or harry.

If submarines are still around (because there is enemy traffic
to attack but it's too dangerous to surface) then the best way
to hunt then will be from orbit with a chain of observation &
communication satellites and a few fighter-bombers with ASW
packages. Once a sub gives away its general position, a
detachment swoop down and drop high-speed robot sonar torps
to track down and eliminate the intruder.

So you have only two services left, an army and a space force.
Assuming the army takes responsibility for the overall defence
of a planet then there is more encroachment than ever as it
probably operates space-capable interceptors and missile
batteries, whilst the (spacegoing) navy has "marine" troops
for boarding and bridgeheads, and possibly even submarines
that it can drop for raiding and intelligence work. However,
I can't see an aquatic navy or a purely atmospheric air force
surviving as a separate service in this era.
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