Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

As I've said, I agree.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

Differences between nationalities even at the same tech level. Commonwealth "about turn" and US forces "about face" aren't just called different things but are performed completely differently.

However, differences within the same nationality but different forces (ie: US Army vs US Marines) aren't as different as you might think. The US Army and US Marines for example have different traditional terminology for some things but use most of the same field manuals, attend most of the same service schools and use much of the same equipment. As a Marine infantry officer my brother attended the Army's Armor Officer course upon promotion to Captain before taking company command. Air Force and Navy personnel attend pre-deployment training on Army posts, learning convoy defense techniques and procedures and basic ground combat tactics.

IMO the skills cover the type of training and experience, not the service where it was acquired:

Soldier covers training and experience in ground combat techniques and procedures, regardless of actual service.

Airman covers the skills of an aircrew member.

Seaman covers the skills of a wet navy or merchant crew member.

Spacer covers the skills of a space navy or merchant crew member.

Each might have familiarity for service branch. Some things are the same or similar across services, some are not. Savior Faire (Military) is not the same Army to Navy... tho most can get by when dealing with sister services. As a Soldier I mistook a Chief Petty Officer for a commissioned officer once. On the other hand an M16 is pretty much an M16 no matter what service.

There would also be familiarity for type of vessel or equipment. Seaman for surface sailors is different than for submariners.

An Air Force security forces member learns Soldier... not Airman, tho they may have that, too. A Marine learns Soldier... but may also know Seaman. A space Marine learns Soldier... but may also know Spacer.

Likewise, a military Sailor might know Seaman (tho there are lots of brown-shoe "sailors" who's specialties rarely take them to sea) and might know Soldier if they have significant ground combat training. Any Sailor or Airman who has done a significant ground deployment to a combat zone would probably have at least one point in Soldier.

An Army pilot or crew chief would have a basic level of Soldier but would have higher levels of Airman. A Marine pilot would have Soldier and Airman as well... Marine pilots have significant ground combat training, attending the same Officer Basic Course as other Marine officers.

A SEAL should have Soldier... and possibly Seaman. An Air Force TACP member would have Soldier. A Coast Guard port security specialist might have Soldier, Seaman and Profession: Law Enforcement.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

Worth noting that a great deal of Soldier is non-combat.
That one isn't a canonical skill as far as I can tell, and I'm not sure that it should be in real-world aircraft. Even large airplanes don't stay up long and have smalll crews of specialists. And as far as I know nobody's taken the non-pilot helmsman approach to heavier-than-air aircraft.

(What is in the book is Airshipman.)

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

It isn't.
There's an arguable case for it, at various times and places. WWII bomber crews are an example, as are airline stewards, who have significant emergency and safety training, as well as the catering side.
They have not. For that to be workable, things need to happen at a pace slow enough for orders to be spoken and understood. This is not a characteristic of heavier-than-air aircraft.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

Bomber crews are pretty firmly in the team of specialists category. You've got one or two pilots, a bunch of gunners (some of whom can't even get out of their firing positions while in flight), and potentially a navigator, engineer, and/or bombardier (any of whom may also man a gun).

Airline stewards with emergency training might warrant something, but having a Crewman skill entirely for proficiency in tasks you probably will never perform seems overdoing it.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

Well, it's a conceptual approach. Do you give them a point or two in First Aid, a point in Savoir-Faire (Servant), one in Housekeeping, etc., and then realise in play that you've forgotten Diplomacy — or do you give them "Airline Steward-12, First Aid-13" and assume the first one covers everything they'll need in routine job rolls?

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

That even a merchant sailor had to be somewhat accustomed to naval warfare to survive.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

I'm unconvinced that Airline Steward-12 would do anything other than job rolls, which I have more of a problem with than having a few different basic, broadly useful skills.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

Its been a while, but a conversation with a player and a perusal of this thread leaves me with a list of things I've used soldier for. All of these are specialties.



Soldier (Security Guard): You aren't a soldier or even a policeman, but you carry a gun, follow regulations, and prepare for trouble. Your run of the mill security guard may not have more than a point in this, or even be missing it, but players usually aren't run of the mill security guards!



Soldier (Infinity Patrol): I use this as a variant of soldier. It allows routine use of parachronics, knowledge of the regulations and policies of the patrol, basic instructions on what to do when things go south, signs and codes to identify comrades, and normal soldier tasks like keeping your weapons clean. I use Soldier rather than professional skill because of the psuedo-military nature of the work and because it emphasizes routine equipment use and organizational training.


Soldier (Naval): Should probably include grunt-level fire-fighting, especially on ships. My youth group got to talk to some military folks from different branches a while back, and they were comparing basic training. Apparently naval combat involves your ship catching on fire a lot.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
 

This is canonically Seamanship or Crewman, depending on the kind of ship.