09-25-2012, 10:41 AM | #21 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
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A synthetic military that was not trying to emulate historical models would probably have all sorts of distinct roles and advancement paths. Many of these exist now with very odd associated command ranks. A MD Major is not a mid ranking military commander, she's a highly trained specialist. Our current military model is somewhat based on the idea of noble officers and commoner soldiers, higly filtered and modified over time. A new army model, built from scratch, would probably start out organized along similar lines to big orgs in the society that birthed it. Now a new synthetically designed military organization will probably have all sorts of glaring flaws, some of which will be patched sensibly, some of which will be kludged inelegantly, and some of which will persist against all good sense, good intentions, and reason. Additionally, as time goes on and the situation changes, the system will have to adapt - again sometimes elegantly, sometimes inelegantly, and sometimes not adapting at all. As a story or a setting, I can imagine an interesting and/or funny progression from a seemingly sensible synthetic military to a battle hardened and kludgily reformed but still understandable war machine to, five decades later, a reactionary anachronistic charlie foxtrot unable to fight the current war. Five centuries later, every GigaSwarm still has a medical specialist corps, despite the fact that the last known biological intelligence perished 9.765432 Gs ago. |
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09-25-2012, 04:00 PM | #22 | |
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
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And, if I can go out on a limb for a moment, that isn't the only additional division that might be made, merely the most obvious one (obvious because it's half-way there already). Just as an officer isn't "a NCO, but better" (and a master sergeant definitely isn't "a lieutenant, only not as good"), might it be the case that an admiral isn't "a captain, but better" (forgive mixing the services)? You'd definitely want your flag officers to have experience as regular officers, but that's not all that different from requiring your officers to have experience as enlisted. It certainly seems conceivable that commanding a fleet and commanding a ship are somewhat different skill sets. In the extreme, you might have everything done based on job titles and a chart of command relationships, if you're designing a military based on civilian corporate structure. As martinl says, any such first attempt is likely to be full of problems, of course. |
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09-25-2012, 05:53 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: The not so wild west.
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
You are also probably going to have a few people that were sheep dunked from the former traditional services. Being that you don't want people who are in combat arms who have zero experience.... so you are probably going to carry over some artifacts.
Look at some of the things the US Air Force has done. They are a majorly enlisted army... Much more so than our Army. They only "left" the army a short time ago (just over 50 years if I remember right, yes I have a computer but I'm being lazy...) I'm former US Army Infantry, and talking to those AF guys, despite the fact that the AF grew out of us, how they actually function is totally beyond me. And the Navy still have "normal ranks" but they have so many Sub-specialties... When you see their MOS/Rank written out it's like an alien language, SPF1-75A grgli, or at least that's the way it looks. I know, rather fractured, but those are my thoughts. -Woof |
09-25-2012, 09:09 PM | #24 | |
Join Date: Nov 2011
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
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Well this depends on how it's formed. Sometimes the ancestor organization is suddenly thrust into combat without much time to prepare and once it's all over with you have people with experience but without training in the traditional services. It is true that between conscious borrowing and former members of traditional militaries joining up it won't be without artifacts. |
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09-26-2012, 02:40 AM | #25 |
Join Date: Sep 2011
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
As far as chaplains and doctors who are "real" officers as opposed to mere courtesy ranks, the CF still has them as full officers. There are obviously differences even between modern miltary cultures.
The CF uses both ranks and appointments. A chaplain or doctor holds a different appointment than a platoon commander but that's true even between infantry officers, the Adjutant, the Transport Officer, the Platoon Commander and the Quartermaster may all be infantry captains but they erach hold a different appointment (position in the organizational chart). The "perks" and "ranks" for chaplains and doctors are necessary to their function and making them NCOs would change the nature by which they perform their duties. They are currently officers so that their professional advice and recommendations cannot be shrugged off by the line officer. The Medical Officer (doctor) is responsible for getting troops back into battle-ready health and the Chaplain is responsible for the morale of the troops. They usually carry the rank of captain (or higher as they climb the ladder within the Medical Corps or Chaplain Corps) so that it takes a Company Commander or Deputy Commanding Officer to over-ride their recommendations. Most militaries don't want young inexperienced officers bucking the opinions of their expert staff and combat officers of captain rank and below are young. A peace-time "combat arms" captain might have as much as eight years experience but a lieutenant likely has no more than four and a second lieutenant two. Other points to consider, Warrant Officers are not universal to all militaries. I can't think of a military outside of those with a U.S. military tradition that does make use of them. Warrant Officers do exist as a rank in the CF and in other British-influenced military but they are replacement rank titles as follows (approximately): Warrant Officer = Staff Sergeant Master Warrant Officer = Sergeant Major Chief Warrant Officer = Regimental Sergeant Major The U.S. raised its militaries for short term service during the Viet-Nam War period. It was said outside the U.S. that the U.S. Army did not fight the war for fourteen years but that fourteen armies fought the war for a year each. In a science-fiction campaign, a future society with cyberpunk-style skill chips might employ a similar draft policy. "All right, we're now at war and require 200,000 soldiers. All workplaces will conduct a lottery draw today, with a requirement of 5% of the total paper strength of the workforce to be inducted. Inductees will report to their local armouries for chip allocation." As long as the military remains successful, the chips are unlikely to be upgraded and when an upgrade to deal with new enemy behaviours is needed, it may be months or years before a new skill set with an appropriate response is available for issue. Dropping a separate military code of justice is unlikely unless you want your troops mutinying, being insubordinate, deserting or behaving with cowardice in the presence of the enemy. There are behaviours that are of no or little consequence in civilian life that are potentially deadly in a combat environment. Being late for work at the office might get you a reprimand or possibly fired. Being late to the battle when you're driving the ammunition vehicle could lose the battle. One current trend in militaries is turning support functions such as cooks over to civilian contractors. It's probably not a good idea since the British commissary system and the old artillery train (gun teamsters) worked on similar principles and were eventually abolished because the civilians would sometimes refuse to enter the combat area. For the artillery train there was a period when they were accompanied by infantry units whose function was to repel attacks on the train. (Those units survive as the various fusilier regiments, so-called because the personal weapon they were issued for protection of the train was a fusil.) Paramilitary and police-sourced militaries would likely look something like their modern counter-parts: the Texas Rangers, the RCMP, the Soviet era NKVD/KGB border units and possibly the South African Constabulary. Corporate societies in space might not have permanent militaries as such but hire mercenary units and issue letters of marque to private individuals/small corporations to recover damages to commercial shipping as privateers. They might instead have a navy that was strongly oriented to commerce raiding but avoid being drawn into battle against more conventional space forces. You might also find that civilian titles are both wordier and less clear as to actual authority than traditional military ranks. The Assistant Deputy Vice-Director for Comptrol is a civil service appointment title born by a Brigadier General in the Finance Branch (formerly Pay Corps). Last edited by Curmudgeon; 08-27-2021 at 08:10 PM. Reason: grammar correction |
09-26-2012, 08:58 AM | #26 | |
Icelandic - Approach With Caution
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Reykjavík, Iceland
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
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09-26-2012, 09:23 AM | #27 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
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One idea is to add quirks that sound "tribalistic" rather then "militaristic" into a military culture. These make for a handy way to bring more color. Think about what type of weapons are revered and how they decorate them or refrain from doing so. What kind of ceremonies they go through and so on. What kind of message they are trying to bring across and why? For instance I once said that captured starships are ceremonially renamed and go through a rather bizarre rechristening ceremony. Other ideas can be thought of. In Honor Harrington one Havenite captain used Ride of the Valkyries for general quarters, and all Manticorans revere Captain Saganami. In Traveller Imperial Marines have a fetish for bagpipes and especially for cutlasses. One thing to remember is that all modern regular forces are in effect a recycling of the Roman Army(that is true precisely by the way; the modern system was designed by Latinophile generals and monarchs and spread throughout the world because it proved successful). The fact that a space military is also a when you first construct it need not daunt you. It will probably always be a recycling. What you need is to think of how you will overlay it. Kipling's Army was not Dayan's Army was not Rommel's Army but all were Scipio's army for the reasons I have given. It is the quirks that enliven it. The quirks should reflect the culture the army represents. If they are mercenaries then the quirks should reflect both the home culture and quirks they picked up from employer(s) culture.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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09-26-2012, 09:29 AM | #28 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
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In any case the assumption that bigotry will disappear but war not is eccentric to start with.
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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; 09-26-2012 at 10:04 AM. |
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09-26-2012, 09:50 AM | #29 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
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Furthermore, NCOs and officers have to be taught different though overlapping skills. Keeping an army functioning is different then using an army. Just as a horse doctor is different from a jockey. Finally allowing the split, allows someone to do the dirty work of discipline while keeping the officers in pristine in their godlike purity. It is an old psychological game.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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09-26-2012, 09:58 AM | #30 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Creating Military Culture From Scratch
You'd still have a difference between small-unit tactical leaders, battlefield operational commanders, and theater strategic commanders. I have trouble conceiving of a way to do that without an ascending chain of command between them.
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Tags |
brainstorm, military, military culture, military organisation, military organistion, military sf |
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