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Old 07-04-2009, 09:02 PM
Adm.Lee Adm.Lee is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Columbus, OH
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The zoomie in "Red Storm Rising" seemed a textbook example of what to do as a butter-bar (2nd Lt.)-- lead, inspire, do what the sergeant said.

As for a more experienced officer from the AF or Navy joining the infantry-- one would hope that he/she would get some basic (re)training, and/or be posted to a staff position. Since most of T2k seems to have a lot of rank inflation (lots of NCOs, not many privates left), I think rank is less important than experience and training in a lot of units.

In the one PbP I've tried to play recently, I had a Navy officer PC who had lots of experience (33 months in 1st ed.), but rolled low on rank, so ended up a 1st Lt. I figured he spent a lot of time in the peacetime Navy, then some in the wartime Navy, and transferred to the Army in '99 for some re-training. I figured some personality clashes with his Navy chain of command led to his not being promoted faster, and urged him to give the Army a try.

Winter cantonment seems like a logical time for lots of grounded zoomies and squids to be trained as infantry, IMO. There's even a more modern name for it. I read in the last few years of the "Blue to Green" program, in which the US Department of Defense was offering financial incentives to Air Force and Navy personnel to transfer to the Army, as those two services were losing numbers, in favor of an increase in the Army's strength.

So, to answer the original question, I would say the former pilot is paid () as a Captain, but considered as a brand-new lieutenant, at least for a while. Were I his Battalion CO, I would make him a staffer, or at most the XO of a company. He's probably been a leader of at least a flight, and had lots of admin tasks already, so I would use him for that stuff. I wouldn't move him on to a platoon without training (probably run by Division?) as an infantry officer. Once he's shown some stuff, then move him on to a platoon before a company. This could easily mean he's going to be taking orders from a junior lieutenant or even an NCO company commander. If he can handle that, then he'll be OK with me.
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My Twilight claim to fame: I ran "Allegheny Uprising" at Allegheny College, spring of 1988.
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