Re: [DSII] IF Ground Units

In a message dated 12/11/98 9:54:12 AM Eastern Standard Time,
john.m.atkinson@erols.com writes:

<<  see the bulk of the Islamic Federation's troops as basically local
 defense militia.  Lightly armed, few vehicles.
 
 Then we have the local Emir's troops.	Some good quality, some not so
 good, emphasis on light vehicles, possibly GEVs w/ HVCs/RFACs.
 
 Then we have the Islamic Federation Land Forces (IFLF).  No size 4+
 vehicles, and a lot of the vehicles they have will be fairly lightly
 armored.  Fast GEVs will predominate.	Troops quality will be
 indifferent at best.  Out of these will also be formed the
Revolutionary
 Guards Corps, which is higher quality and better equipped, although the
 leadership tends to be selected for political reliablity rather than
 anything else (Orange 3s!).  Primary function of the RGC is to deal
with
 any Emirs which get too independance-minded.
 
 Then various special formations:
 
 Ghulams: Turkish medium Grav armored vehicles.  Best elements of the
 entire armed forces.
 Mutatuwwi'a: Volunteer Religious Fanatics.  Light infantry mounted in
 trucks.  Really enthusiastic, but not that competent.	Only redeeming
 virtue is there's a lot of them.  
 Maghriba: Lybian light grav tanks.  
 'Abid: Mercenaries from the PAU.  High quality heavy infantry
 Zanj: Sudanese light infantry of good quality.
 Afghans: Light Infantry from hell--not only are they really, really,
 good, but they ignore movement modifiers for mountains and hills. >>

John...at the lower levels (and most likely mid levels too) I would
think that
wheeled and tracked (mostly wheeled) combat vehicles would be
predominant.
Grav & Gev are expensive to build and tough to maintain. Tracked are
too, but
to a lesser degree. I would think these people would think in
technically
simpler terms, as many Arab countries rely heavily on outside
contractors for
upkeep of hi tech stuff (The Saudi air force for example has mostly U.S.
contracted tech people to keep their Eagles flying). Not sure if this
cultural
characteristic would translate exactly into the far future...but since
we are
extrapolating for effect, why not? 
David McElhannon