04-03-2020, 11:52 AM | #21 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: John McBride Background
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So on a "Big guy gets the big gun" theory your character may have shot the BAR most of the time. That would make LMG his highest Guns skill.
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Fred Brackin |
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04-03-2020, 12:37 PM | #22 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: John McBride Background
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When he re-enlisted, if he left the Marines as, say, a Sergeant*, he might well have become a Staff Sergeant either upon re-enlistment or shortly after arriving in Korea. That would probably mean a carbine, but McBride never accepted the .30 carbine round. I suppose that means an M3 'Grease Gun' in Korea, if he didn't just carry an M1911A1 and grab a machine gun when necessary. McBride was 23 when he entered the Marines and while he was not well-educated, he would have been a natural leader in combat. The character is meant to be one of those rare human beings who can calmly act in the chaos of battle, without their performance suffering much, if at all. While McBride was probably not even the best shot in his platoon, he would have been the one who could shoot 'Japs' or 'Chinks' as easily as he shot paper targets for qualification. And while not intellectually brilliant, he was savvy, sensible and could think clearly even when under artillery fire and being flanked by a battalion of Chinese. Basically, the character had all the necessary ingredients to be an Audie Murphy or (more appropriately, perhaps) Dan Daly, if only he wanted to make the Marines a career. To put his combat leadership abilities in perspective, at age seventy, John McBride could stand in a room full of specially chosen commandos and special operators, all of who had more years of military service than his eight years, but still be accepted without question as the man in charge. And, most likely, had everyone convinced that if it should come to it, he could put them down, hard. Not an especially likable man. Cold, reserved, intolerant of weakness or emotion. The sort of man who had difficulty telling his sons he loved them, because that, in his experience and opinion, was not the sort of thing men said to one another. Still less would he say any such thing to the Marines under his command. In fact, McBride believed that men should not need praise or encouragement to do their duty. Yet, despite his limitations when it came to expressing it, McBride's sense of personal responsibility was, in fact, a kind of paternal love for those he perceived as 'in his charge'. In GURPS terms, he had Callous (limited version with experience, as he bought off the penalty to Teaching), but Sense of Duty made up for the Reaction penalty. And he'd have had some kind of Natural Soldier or similar Talent at high levels. *With active duty service from early 1942 to early 1946.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 04-03-2020 at 04:23 PM. |
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04-03-2020, 07:20 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Duty Assignments Between Deployments
What are some typical duty assignments for Marines in combat arms MOS-es in the modern era when they are not deployed to a combat zone?
I know that there will be pre-deployment work-ups with their units and occasionally, they'll attend courses and schools to retain professional certifications or add new ones. But beyond that, when I'm working up a year-by-year backstory of Marines who spent anywhere from four to twenty years on active duty, what are some common, mundane types of duty that Marines are often assigned to when not on foreign deployments? For example, if a Marine serves as a recruiter, how does that work? Can any MOS do it or is it generally something only Marines with relevant MOS-es (Personnel field, I guess?) do? What ranks generally do that duty? Is it something people are assigned to completely out of the blue or do people volunteer for it? Is there training and familiarisation before recruiters start work and if so, how long? And how long does the typical recruiter spend doing it? How long would an experienced NCO expect to spend at a training school or course (Recruit Training, SOI, BCR, Scout-Sniper Course, ITC, etc.) if he's sent there as an instructor? A year? Or one training cycle? What are some other typical duties that Marines with combat arms MOS-es might do while stationed in CONUS?
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
04-05-2020, 11:05 AM | #24 | |||||
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: USMC Minutiae for Marine Character Background
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Big and strong means that he might end up being assigned to a weapons platoon, schlepping a MG or mortar. He might also be the squad's designated BAR gunner. Quote:
Theoretically, yes, but there were ways around it. Commanders weren't exactly going to force an incredibly experienced NCO to rotate out of combat if they didn't want to go. Quote:
Given McBride's attitude, it's quite possible he would have accepted a demotion in order to stay in combat or to get back into the service. Plenty of WW2 NCOs and junior officers initially went back into Korean service with much lower rank - maybe even private. Usually, they got their rank back again once their experience was recognized. Quote:
Perhaps given a battlefield commission to 2nd or 1st LT in 1942-43, but did what he could to get out of being an officer so he could stay with his men. Smart superiors realized that it would be stupid to try to turn him into anything other than what he was - a great junior NCO. At some point, probably late in WW2, his CO told him that the Corps expected its sergeants to be able to read, write, and do math, and that the Marines would give him an education if he wanted it. That gave him the equivalent of a high school diploma. That was a very common story. Even before the GI Bill, lots of servicemen got their first decent classroom education courtesy of Uncle Sam. After Korea, based on what you've written, it's unlikely that McBride would have continued in the Marine Reserves. But, given his increasingly elite Law Enforcement background, it's possible that he might have been a civilian consultant to the Marines. Depending on how badass you want him to be, this could be anything from the local recruiter asking him to lecture local high school kids to hand-to-hand or combat shotgun training sessions for active duty personnel. |
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04-05-2020, 05:06 PM | #25 | |||||||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: USMC Minutiae for Marine Character Background
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McBride didn't even consider peacetime military service. From everything he heard, it didn't sound like something he'd like to do. Quote:
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Some of his old weapons are still used in combat by his son, maybe even weapons that were tracked down from when he used them in his Marine service, because personal connections with equipment makes it easier to enchant (it's pretty much the only way to get enchanted high-tech gear). John McBride was terrifyingly tough.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
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04-05-2020, 06:13 PM | #26 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: USMC Minutiae for Marine Character Background
I had a High School teacher who'd been a Sargent in the 1st Marines at Chosin. He wasn't scary in his demeanor but from the neck down he still looked like he'd just gotten out of basic even though that had been 25 years or more before. I'm sure there are Marine vets who get fat and slouchy after they leave service but Mr Reynolds wasn't one of them.
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Fred Brackin |
04-06-2020, 02:41 PM | #27 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: USMC Minutiae for Marine Character Background
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Most of the Marines on Guadalcanal in the beginning were actually rather raw. Some of the non coms would have been Old China Hands and old Latin Hands though (Edson's Ranger's got their battle cry from the ChiComs no less). If you want him on Guadalcanal you might have him join in the cold war stage in 1941 when FDR was baiting the Axis and begging money from Congress. Generally the Navy got more money than the Army and the Marines with it. The Marines because of the need to survive bureaucratic shuffling emphasized as their essential gimmick "no more Gallipolis". If War Plan Orange was to work the Marines had to occupy ground. In fact naval expansion started before the war, as it was slipped in as part of the New Deal. But of course a more plausible reason for a Hero to enlist is that he expected a war with evildoers. Of course I may be wrong depending on how long the training period was before going into action at the time.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison Last edited by jason taylor; 04-06-2020 at 02:48 PM. |
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04-06-2020, 05:28 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Mar 2020
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Re: USMC Minutiae for Marine Character Background
One thing to keep in mind is that the USMC is a real-world bureaucracy and not a theoretical Mage's Guild. While everyone in the Mage's Guild might be required to have an Thaumatology-15, in the real world there's no way of directly examining proficiency and a sometimes bureaucrats mess with the way tests are conducted and recording is done in order to make their unit 'pass muster' by the letter of the regulation even if it violates the spirit. I suspect that there were many people vastly more qualified who were digging latrines (maybe their CO didn't like their attitude) while a not-insignificant number of half-wits had multiple stars. Real world organizations are not [directly] based on merit except in the most uselessly Darwinian meta-sense (of being well-positioned and adapted for their specific environment).
To put it shortly, 'what a Major General should know is not the same as what Major Generals actually know'. To abstract away from the USMC, remember that the USSR and modern Afghani armies have thousands of 'ghost soldiers' who never existed to begin with and their equipment was just embezzled to their officers' pocket. Likewise, a person might be 'fully trained' on a system which is actually useless because it's a porkbarrel project. Likewise, a lot of jarheads have common skills (such as dealing with bureaucracy) that are not covered in their training, even though they're absolutely necessary for a successful career. Also, a lot of career soldiers are GARBAGE with their primary weapon. I have met plenty of Army guys I could outshoot any day of the week, and I am not particularly good. Same goes for police, etc. What people are 'supposed' to know is not what they actually know, what is 'supposed' to be required may have little relation to what is actually possessed by the soldier in question. While some basic operational skills (how to load an AR15-type weapon) certainly will be transmitted to them, many things which are 'supposed' to be learned will simply be a matter of rote instruction immediately forgotten and never used by the people who receive it (like algebra for most American schoolchildren). Regarding primary infantry weapon failings, in my experience this is less common with combat duty people (both because they are selected for that role and because they are more likely to acquire those skills), whereas professional skills (from artillery to satellite communications education) seem to be more reliably transmitted. People tend to not actually 'learn' stuff they don't use or expect to use, even if instructed in it. I would say that for a good percentage of lower-ranking soldiers they are operating on Defaults most of the time, beyond skills that require professional training. Higher-ranking officers may (or may not) have skills like Tactics and LEadership, but they are most likely to have Savoir-Faire (Military) and Administration skills, which provide more practical advancement opportunities than being good with a rifle or a submarine. This can change somewhat in heavy situations (the Korean War), but not as much as you might think. It took a French Revolution to take advantage of the potential skills of the French army, reforming military culture is virtually impossible without a crushing defeat. Last edited by Abrasax; 04-06-2020 at 05:43 PM. |
04-06-2020, 09:40 PM | #29 | |||
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: USMC Minutiae for Marine Character Background
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Other WW2-era Japanese weapons were likely to be crap, fit only be traded to gullible Navy men who wanted battlefield souvenirs. Ice cream, canned fruit, whiskey, and beer would have had a lot more appeal to a combat Marine than a clapped- out Nambu pistol. U.S.-made equipment was more likely to have been acquired as "war surplus" after the fighting ended, although McBride might have smuggled out a customized/Weapon Bond M1911 ACP pistol or two and perhaps a Bowie-style or Marine Raider stiletto. Long guns are more likely to come from his service as a Texas Ranger, but he might have managed to retain some slightly unusual or customized long gun from his Guadalcanal service, like a shotgun or Springfield M1903 rifle (pre-war issue, but accurized as a sniper rifle, perhaps with carved notches from the butt to the stock representing McBride's WW2-era kills). Ignoring their sentimental and enchantment value, weapons like that could have serious monetary value to a collector. Presumably, that enhances their enchantment potential. Given the level of work you've put into this guy, his remarkable toughness, and the fact that it's a horror campaign, he's just begging to show up as a ghost or revenant. Not necessarily hostile, but certainly "restless dead." Great roleplaying potential as father and son discuss things they could never talk about when McBride was alive. Potentially a Contact or even a (secret) Patron. Last edited by Pursuivant; 04-06-2020 at 09:49 PM. |
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04-07-2020, 12:24 AM | #30 | |
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
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Re: USMC Minutiae for Marine Character Background
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Last edited by Celjabba; 04-07-2020 at 12:28 AM. |
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marines, military, military culture |
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