Re: Stargrunt 2 Morale Questions and Comments

In a message dated 8/20/98 10:16:41 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
Thomas.Barclay@sofkin.ca writes:

<<	Now I haven't played a lot of SGII as yet but if it's your
officers and
 > NCO's that don't care (sometimes anyway) about the rest of the squad
buying
 > a farm, well that sounds about right to me.
 
<< Speaking for myself, and most of the other infantry members I know, I

 don't think the NCOs loved us, but I think it was in their best 
 interest to take care of us. If we're fragged, their chances of 
 ending up so increase, especially if its due to their lack of 
 concern for the wellbeing of their troops. This translates in SG2 to 
 crappy motivation and morale levels. I've seen a unit commanded by 
 good NCOs and by good Officers who did care about the men (or put on 
 an excellent smoke and mirrors show if they didn't) and the units 
 performance was head and shoulders above that of one where the 
 leadership showed a lack of care. 

  Hear, hear.  I have had the opportunity so serve with some good units
and
some not-so-good units and i can tell you that leadership makes ALL the
difference. 

<<Furthermore, the unit routing has 
 more to do with the rank and file deciding to bugger off than 
 anything an officer or NCO do...for the most part. A good officer or 
 NCO will engender much more desire to stay and fight (if that's what 
 they want) than one who you know doesn't give a hoot. And losses can 
 even make that irrelevant. The shock and violence of combat can cause 
 even experienced soldiers to break and bug out in fear. 

or anything unexpected..  hehe.. I remember the when the platoon i was
in (one
that i would consider good) first encountered the SAW.	we were in
Panama
doing excersises with the 193rd AB Bde. and they had just received the
(then)
new weapon.  The sound of a new weapon threw mass confusion in our ranks
and i
experienced my first "rout"...and this was in training.  

my .02
Mark