I can't remember, is that SOF group considered the Kings Guard in T2k?

What I do remember is that the senior SEAL suffers from some kind of mental disorder (PTSD?) and the GM has the option of rendering him catatonic at critical parts of the scenario.

or something like that...

oh yeah, and if any of you have the Boxed 2.2 set, there are some scenario cards. If I recall one of the scenario cards details a Spetznaz group a la T2k. Most of the members of the Spetznaz group aren't actually Spetz, but regular soldiers recruited by the surviving Spetznaz? Or maybe it was in the Merc handbook?

In US units, another thing to consider is that you will find a decent number of troops who are US troops, but are not actually Americans. This is because while anyone willing to take the oath can enlist in the US military, you cannot reenlist unless you are an American citizen. The military will then move heaven and earth to make the soldier and his immediate family US citizens. (As it should be, IMHO.)

In T2K, reenlistment will become irrelevant for this purpose, and you may find folks from various countries that are now higher ranks or even field-commissioned that are technically not American. Who knows what skills they might have?

I wasn't an Australian citizen when I joined the Australian Army Reserve but once I'd signed up they fast tracked my citizenship. Very cool.

Who'd be an American when they could be Australian?

:D

As far as I'm aware, there are tens of thousands of troops classified as "Spetznaz" while only a handful of those could truely be called elite in the same sense as the SAS, Commandos, SEALs, etc. I believe the term is more a reference to the unit's role than anything else.

Regarding reserves, I think it's useful to distinguish between pre-war and post-nuke reserves. I agree with all my comrades who have opined that virtually all Reserves of every stripe (National Guard, Reserves, Territorials, etc.) in the combatant nations would have been called up by 1998. Given the disruption to international trade, probably every nation with reserves will need to call them up to deal with civil disorder in the wake of shortages, economic disintegration, and so forth.

After the nukes, though, reserves are quite likely to reappear. The need for fighting men, or simply for warm bodies to do work for the government, will exceed the local economy's ability to support full-time troops. Reserves will reappear in the form of militias that train for a given number of days a month but otherwise engage in some sort of productive activity until marauders make their appearance. The quality of training these people have in their assigned roles will range from tolerable to deplorable.

By way of example, I created the Granite Brigade as the centerpiece of the armed forces of the State of New Hampshire, which by early 2001 is really only the City of Manchester and its hinterland. The Graniteers dispose four infantry battalions, but only one of them (1st Battalion, 1st New Hampshire Regiment, Infantry) is a regular, standing force. The other three battalions (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions, 2nd New Hampshire Regiment, Infantry) are reservists who serve one week in every four. Even this level of service is quite disruptive to local industry and is tolerable only because there is little better option. The troops of the 2nd New Hampshire spend most of their drill time manning static defenses and reinforcing their basic training. By the v1 system, virtually all of the privates and specialists in the 2nd New Hampshire are Novice NPCs, while most of the remaining troops are Experienced NPCs. A few Veteran NPCs are found here and there, but the need for seasoned (and skilled) troops in 1-1 IN is so great that 1-2 IN, 2-2 IN, and 3-2 IN that the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment has to make do with what it can get.

Much the same situation exists along the Maine coast in First District, USCG. The need for experienced troops in the main force units, 701st and 702nd Maritime Rifle Regiments (each with two line battalions and a support battalion), has left the supporting militias with a kernel of seasoned veterans in senior leadership roles and training cadres and a lot of modestly-trained part-time riflemen. Here, too, the militiamen are used to man static defenses, conduct interior patrols, and generally slow the bad guys up until the real fighters can arrive.

The United Communities of Southern Vermont (UCSV) is an even more extreme case. The Black Watch, with its 300 fighting men and women, has no effective back-up. The economy of the UCSV is insufficient to support much in the way of reserves. On paper, a number of citizens are armed and can be deputized. In reality, the potential combatants who do not actively serve in the Watch have almost no training. The Watch leadership made the decision to use their very limited resources to keep the active personnel in constant training and readiness at the expense of having a significant reserve. It's a policy fraught with hazard for the long-term prospects of the UCSV, but it has enabled the Watch to field a small but surprisingly high-quality force. Were the so-called reserves of the UCSV to be called into service, they would put in a very poor performance.

By the same token, the Shogun in Nevada has no real reserves for his army, the Gunryo. Volunteers and draftees are trained on an as-needed basis, which means the warlord cannot quickly made good on any substantial losses. Reserves would be totally impractical for his motorized marauders, since any reservists would live and work in the communities the Shogun has under his thumb. Training and arming the people he is repressing is not, in the mind of the Shogun, the way to long-term power. Better to keep casualties low and train only volunteers and captured marauders whose loyalty can be acquired through re-training.

At the other end of the spectrum, Colorado must have a comparatively massive reserve system. The 6000 or so troops listed in Howling Wilderness as belonging to Colorado Springs couldn't possibly be enough to maintain internal order and protect the cantonment from outside threats. There must be a separate police system and a reserve system of some sort. certainly, MilGov would have access to excellent training facilities and a good cadre of veterans for training.


Webstral

I think that by 2000-01 most of the surviving population would be relatively fit, albiet malnourished in some instances. I think the combination of the strikes, disease, and the collapse of infrastructure would have killed off most of those who were not fit. Diabetics and other sufferers of chronic illness would be dead. Because of the lack of antibiotics, many traumatic injuries would result in death, even with otherwise good medical care. Cancer is a long-term problem, but not immediately debilitating depending on the type.

Another think to consider is the baby boom you'd get when people run out of contraceptives and TV goes off the air... I think that although there may be a very high rate of birth defects, you'd still see a radical spike in the number of births per 1000 also as a result of the strikes, among the survivors. This won't play into the immediately available manpower, but does immediately address the need to find teachers (trained or otherwise), and the available manpower situation might be very different by 2010-15.

However, the infanty mortality rate would also spike, as there would be less neonatal facilities, poorer died and exposure to all manner of nasties for the unborn. Also, a spike in women dying in childbirth as well again because of a lack in prewar treatments.

And the simple childhood maladies that we consider an incovienance now would return and be the killers they were 100+ years ago when a large number of children would not make it to 10 years of age due to disease and injury.

Also, the spike in childbirth, would there be? The reproduction capacity of people under stress shuts down. Due to physical and emotional stress. So, people working hard labor, worried from say a nuclear strike and war all over, and with malnutrition. A little known fact, durring the great depression the birthrate for many nations dropped due to people afraid to start families because of fear of the unknown and economy. For the US it was the lowest birthrate ratio ever. So, it could actualy be in areas with few children. Also, couple it with the wouldbe parents exposuure to radiation, chemicals and other stuff that could make them sterile further reducing the populations ability to return to normal.

I think having a PSYOP guy or two would be a pretty interesting addition to a team, even if it was just an NPC.

In the Going home it is how the get the Polish American Father able to come back to the US even though he was a Polish Citizen. It was something to do with his service he had give then unit to get them back to catch the boat.

Hah! Shameless self promotion! :D

Shameless...lol

Yeah that is true then again most Front Commander had Spetznaz Brigades, several independent Battalions, Companies, and the Platoon size units on par of the SAS Troops or Special Forces A-Teams. The quality of troops would be reflected on if it was Brigade, Battalion, or smaller. The Companies and smaller size units would be on par with what many Western nation would call Special Forces quality troops. While the Battalions and Brigades would be the next step down, and the Brigades would probably be on mix of Airborne/high speed Light Infantry/Ranger types. They have received more training than the average Soviet Paratrooper who themselves during the Cold War were conscripts for the most part.

The thing with the independent Battalions, Companies and smaller units they would be based with Cat B and Cat C units to help misled the unit true strength and to hide these units. Same thing was probably done Cat A units in Eastern Europe to hide some of the first special ops units that would of been inserted into West Germany. One of the thing in each Tank Army in the late 1980s the Soviets were trying to assign an Air Assault or Airmobile Brigade and in many of the MRD there was MRR, usually the wheeled based unit would also supplemented as Airmobile asset too.

As far as reservists being not as good as their Regular Army counterparts in their military capacity....

The finest Soviet Motor Rifle Regiment in the world happens to be the OPFOR at Fort Irwin, California (National Training Center). This unit does nothing but Soviet tactics for most of the year and has the well-earned reputation for regularing kicking the bejesus out of every visiting unit. The OPFOR is so seldom defeated that when it does happen, the rest of the Army litterly sets up and take notice...like when a National Guard pulled it off. I can still remember the utter shock of my unit's officers/NCOs that a Guard unit managed to pull off something that we hadn't been able to do....

Of course, my faith was restored when the next NG unit in rotation was gutted in proper fashion!

Still, whenever someone makes the claim that the Reserves just aren't as good as....

during vietnam eery major deployable unit had their own organisational long rang recon units. this has been carried on into present though the name for such unit types has changed(its currently RSTA).

having been in a reconnaissance surveillance and target acquisition squadron myself it would not be unlikely that such units would continue to exist in the later stages of the twilight war. though im certain they would still be ignored as is characteristic of most brass.

RSTAs are Cavalry Squadrons, though, not Infantry. While things are similar, the modern evolution of LRRPs are the LRSCs. The most major difference from the Vietnam-era LRRPs is that these units are no longer under the direct control of the Infantry and Armor units they support, they now fall under the command of the Battlefield Surveillance Brigades. That's not to say there isn't overlap between a RSTA's role and what LRS does, but they have two completely different mindsets and MOS backgrounds as well as role. The RSTA supports the Brigade that it falls under, the LRSC/D supports higher level, deeper reconnaissance. In a Twilight setting, they'd still be a part of each major Division though existing as a separate entity.

Additionally, the OPFOR at the National Training Center have lost a lot of their conventional role and now play Militant Islamic insurgents almost exclusively. I went to the Captain's Career Course with a guy who was a platoon leader there and he said he had never done any of the Soviet-style stuff in his three years there. I'm sure it's still in the organizational memory somewhere, but the current Joes there haven't done much with it. Although that might change with all of the saber-rattling coming from Kimmy and Seoul...

Just to back up that point, definetely!

My medical company, includes nurses, healthcare specialists, first-aid instructors and a couple of paramedics amongst its ranks. We also have a few mechanics, carpenters, the usual scattered amongst us! Myself, I'm a mere novice on the medical side, but I do alot of rock climbing and mountaineering in my spare time. Reading Boomer and Bears Den was quite cool to see abit of cold-weather info thrown in there! Winter mountaineering ftw! Its easy to see how a reserve unit have a wide smattering of skills and disciplines amongst their ranks.


Just on the note of the "shake and bake" Ranger school you were discussing. Its a class idea about units forming their own recondo teams like the Lurps in Vietnam. Would a system like this still be in effect up till 2000? I'm just curious because I've had players ask me to play SF types but was wondering whether I could just wave it off as the PC had been at the new type of Ranger School.

Short anwer is yes. Here's what I wrote earlier in the thread.

For my Lions of Twilight write up, I had the 173rd Airborne BCT start a recondo school in Kenya so that all of its widely scattered battalions would have organic LRRP companies.

Eric,

For the most part, I agree. PSYOPS is useful for more than just stereotypical propaganda. For one thing, PSYOPS requires a deep understanding of the population and the enemy, allowing you to get inside their minds and influence their decisions in different ways. On the downside, most T2K games tend to be on the "run and gun" side, where it's hard to run the longer-term operations that are the most benefit. For another, most T2K groups tend to run roughshod over the locals due to many factors, despite their best intentions.

Getting back to reservists vs. reg force, I recall a few years back a reality show took soldiers from the US and Canada and attempted to recreate the training for the 1st SSF, the Devil's Brigade.


Training was as authentic in as many ways possible from equipment to the actual camp location in Montana. Both nationalities did relatively well, and it was eventually revealed that the American participants were all US Army regulars, while the Canadians were all militia (Reserve Force). One joked "they had to keep it even, somehow!". Purely anecdotal, of course! I don't recall how many militia vs. reg force actually made it all the way through the simulated training.

Tony

sounds about right. after all yankee reservists are far crazier than anything i've ever seen. and they got the nontraditional skills to back it up.

recon out.

Bob,

In this case it was Canadian reservists and American regulars. In theory they weren't competing but cooperating to make it through training and then in mock commando operations after. The joke was that this was to keep things "even" between the two countries.

Tony

It also goes to show that not all Reserve/National Guard Officers and their staff think "inside the box" as most in the Regular Army have been taught. As with many modern battlefield it not the General and his Staff that win the battle, it some Team Leader, Squad Leader, Platoon Leader, Company Commander, and/or Battalion Commander/XO/S-3 that happens to be Johnny on the spot and makes a decision that their opponent hadn't account for. By the time they realize they are in trouble it way too late.

I remember in the book "Team Yankee" when the Armor Company had been reinforce for supporting attack. They weren't the main axis of the attack, but somehow had captured a bridge. After they had reported to Battalion, the Brigade S-3 I believe who overheard the report came on. There was awkward silence as everyone tried to figure if they let the Battalion continue with their main attack in attempt to capture the bridge head the Battalion was after or shift the Battalion main axis. If they didn't shift the Battalion main attack then the question was there anyone they could move hastily to support the lucky reinforce Armor Company in holding their Bridge...

In modern Mechanized/Armor/Motorized warfare as we have seen these days it takes only little incidents like these to change things. In WWII there was this minor attack that led to the Battle of the Bulge. In which the German main attack had happen to strike at a point of the battle field that was held by green US Division that broke with none to little resistance against a force that no one was expecting to strike there.

At least at one time all US Division had on the book in theory of National Guard unit that would take long range recon unit. Most of the so call "Light" had National Guard or Reserve Battalion that was to provide most of the Anti-Tank assets too.

With that said, I know in the most of the Regular Army "Light" Division there would be enough ex-Paratroop, ex-Air Assault, tabbed Rangers, and so on that by 1998-1999 that each would re-start the pre-ranger classes they had before the war and expand them to make a small company size unit that was able to act as the LRRP units had with each Division in Vietnam.

I can see some of these troop being 'borrowed' by Corps and other Division to set up similar units at those levels too. As well as setting up Infantry training school at both Corps and Division level to help retrain the excess support units personnel and personnel transferred in from other service to get them ready for their new job.

If one was to believe the troop levels that were expressed in the game, it wouldn't be far fetch to have Platoon/Squad with wide variety of skills sets, even in the Regular Army units. Another thing I have seen posted time again is the fact the misconception that National Guard that had been raised in one State or Region would still have a heavy influence from there. Yes, there would still be several troops left over from those areas, but if they had been in the fighting at any time until after late-1997 the odds are with the replacement for wounded dead would water it down quite a bit. This is due to the fact that the US Army would be responsible to provide replacement, not the National Guard of whatever state they came from. As support I would like to point out during the build up to WWII the 28th Division which was PA NG unit prior to Federalization had been tapped several time to provide cadre to other units that were being raised and Federalized. It was so out of hand at one time a certain Major General Bradley had sent word back up the chain of command that, yes the Division could provide another cadre, but he would need one sent to the Division to help train the replacements that they were still trying to train and bring up to speed.

No honestly it can go either way. There could be a Company with 4 platoons... One for each of the three Brigades and one for Division. Or one "Company" in sense that many other Companies happen to be in. It would depend on a number of things, the Division itself, how much combat the Division has seen, and other factors. Armored and Mechanized Divisions would probably have a smaller "Companies", while a Light Infantry Division commander would try to field a company. One of the rationale behind this would be they would help the Divisional Cavalry in their assignment too. Remember in the US Army of the Twilight 2000 war, Brigades didn't have their own recon units. They relied on Division diverting assets to them or worse diverting the assets at Battalion level for their need.

Remember a Divisional Commander could come from any branch of the military in theory. Artillery unit or Engineer or Armor/Armor Cavalry/Mechanized minded Commanders wouldn't realize the what an 'asset' this type of company could be. On the other hand many Commanders who had seen service in Vietnam would view all Special Force with mix feelings. Some would know and understand what they are capable of, while others would go out of their way to not use them. It really depend on how any commander would feel what they need to provide the security for their unit. Much like a member of this group wrote up re-organization of the 5th US Mechanized Division in which it was basically one Heavy Brigade and two Light Infantry Brigade with enough transport to move a Battalion or two of those Brigade if need be.

One has to remember before the US Army committed troops World War II to the Battle that the Armor Division were basically 2 Armor Regiments and 1 Armor Infantry Regiment. Later all but two of the Divisions were reorganized 3 Armor Battalions and 3 Armored Infantry Battalion usually organized in into three combat commands that would have one Battalion of each to work with. Again Combat Command were quite fluid in who had what.

Up until 1943 the US Army had tried organize Motorized Infantry Divisions but the idea was dropped and it was decide that if they needed a Motorized Infantry Division they would supply a Division from Corps/Army/Army Group levels transport assets to make the unit mobile. Not only that many Division had enough Motorized Recon Vehicle (jeeps) and other transport to move up to Regiment at when need in leapfrog fashion. Much how the 101st had done with their Air Assault assets during Operation Desert Storm.

Don't know about thinking inside the box, but there are several units (the armored cav regts especially) that were trained to "wing it" as necessary. We were always taught that the doctrine was just a base and that the units had to key off of the individual track commander, if necessary. In several REFORGERS, for example, the 2nd ACR was famous for its end runs as well as its ability to find that special weak spot. We had scout tracks launching what turned out to be a regimental-sized attack just because they found a gap that the OPFOR wasn't watching. Regulars blindly following doctrine....not in any unit that I served in!

Hmmm, first time I've every heard of a minor attack launching the BoB?!?! I study/read about the BoB and I've walked most of the ground that was fought over. The Germans went into the fight knowing that they were going to hit a thinly held sector, held by a mix of green and worn-out troops. Fifth Panzer Armee's attack was actually modified from Hitler's plan to take advantage of just how thinly the 28th Division held the front. As for the 106th...the main attack was keyed for the Lorsheim Gap, a major avenue of approach into St. Vith that was held by a single cavalry squadron with an attached battery of towed tank destroyers. Seeing that the Germans threw in a Fallschrimjager Division...the cav tried but failed to hold the line.

By '98-99, divisions in everybody's military will have large bodies of really serious veterans. And units will be getting small enough that resume qualifications will be switching more to word of mouth and less and less about schools and tabs and other pre-war resume entries. Honestly, guys who survive through to 1999 have been through levels of privation and stress while doing the job for real under fire that eight weeks of suck in the woods of Georgia and swamps of Florida won't have imparted anything they haven't learned the hard way.

I've always felt that PCs are pretty much the SOF of their unit... mainly because of the things they end up doing during the campaign. With all the combat experiences they've had since the start of the war... they have the OTJ training necessary for the kinds of missions that pre-War SOF personnel/teams had been tasked for.

Yeah I have felt that almost any unit that one throws together for the game would bring a good cross selection of skills sets that would allow them to pull of most operations. It was one of the few things that GDW got right with the game. Especially if one took the time to read the Player guide line and the back story in it about they used for the unit they used.

That's a really good point, Nate. I do think an in-theatre RECONDO school would still be a good investment in the Twilight U, though. It would serve as a finishing school, if you will, for long-range patrolling, fieldcraft, small unit tactics, and E&E skills.

Exactly... to give the personnel additional skills they would need for their missions. be it small unit training to get use to working the other members of their team out of combat or training them to use specialized weapons or equipment (because supplying specialized equipment and weapons would actually be easy all things considered, look at what happened with WW2 and the wonder weapons that the Germans were able to make while they were getting bombed 24/7, or the gear that OSS was coming up with out in the field).

Nate,

I seem to recall in one of the adventures it kind of suggests that when the PCs get back home, they are kept together because they are proven to function as a team. This gives what is probably an ad hoc unit a more permanent arrangement. (I thought this was laid out in "Going Home" but I can't find it now.)

The implication could be that this group is "special" in some sense and therefore are best kept intact as a kind of crack cadre or unit instead of broken up to reinforce other more conventional units.

Tony

Yup... that's what gave me the idea that PCs are ad hoc SOF type units that came into being on the front lines, and became the stuff of legend!

Getting back to the levels of experience in the combat units, I think it’s worthwhile to look at the encounter tables and the modules. A large slice of the combatants the PCs are expected to encounter are relatively (or not so relatively) unseasoned. This is because new guys are constantly being inducted. Many of them die pretty quickly, but the veterans are getting killed, too. It’s a tough world.

Webstral

So true, there was episode in the "Band of Brothers" in which many of the veterans wouldn't befriend new guys right away since they seemed to get killed so quickly. As stated even luck of the veterans would run out too.

Nate,

Dang, am I imagining the information on PC groups from some Challenge article or some adventure? They give tips for dealing with unit leaders that are of too low rank, suggesting that PCs can be promoted on a permanent of brevet basis.

Well, either way, a kind of "in theatre" school could qualify for a sort of SOF unit. Many T2K GMs understandably want to add skills to starting PCs. Such a "school" would be a perfect mechanism to give PCs a basic grounding in combat skills, especially some of the more esoteric ones. Also, it would even things with PCs that really are SOF.

Getting back to actual SOF and their inclusion as PCs, I think they tend to be over-represented and the GM is within their rights in drawing the line and limiting them to a few, at most. Unless the PCs are part of a kind of special unit, they are going to be rare as hen's teeth. As well, I guess in a Kalisz type scenario SOF might try to band together for survival, then allow others to travel along as "meat shields". Then again, if you allow SOF PCs, no one can rightfully complain if you, as a GM, throw some real bad hombres to oppose them!

Tony

all of the SOF guys i met, had said that rank didn't matter when out in the field on a mission. The person with the skills needed at that moment was the one in the lead. And that's how we always ran our groups... the person with the best 'hands on' knowledge would be the one in charge. The highest ranking member would be in charge when NOT in combat, they'd basicly be in charge of making sure we had food, water, ammo, shelter and the like. Basicly like the 2LT is in command of a platoon, but the Platoon Sergeant is the one who does the heavy lifting!

That the concept that for many non-SOF personnel to wrapped their head around. The Senior man is basically in charge while not in the field and for admin purpose, but once you get in the field who ever has the strongest knowledge of that supported the missions the best would be in charge. It is one of the things traditional Officers and in cases senior NCOs have trouble with at time when they go to such units.

The best way to explain is when new 2nd Lts or Ensigns are get to their first duty assignment it quite a shock to some when they learn until they are told, they are 'consult' their senior NCO first before making any 'decision'. Then again for most senior NCOs it didn't matter if the 2nd Lt came from West Point, ROTC, or OCS they were treated equally and lord help you if you had been E-6 or higher and been through OCS. It was the OCS trained officers were suppose to know better than make certain mistakes that other Officers were bound to make.

In the tradition units this is the only time career of for Officers where they are in charge in title only. When they screw up, the senior NCO still gets a reaming for allowing the Officer doing something so stupid, even if said NCO was no where near said Officer when they screwed up.

Even when the Officer raise above the Platoon Leader position the senior NCOs they have become more and more 'advisor' types. Yet, in most case the unwritten rule is that they are to prevent them from screwing up to much.

As state in the SOF community, once in the field the Officer and Warrant Officer and all enlisted are trained to take orders from the person designate to be in charge of a particular mission.

To the credit of most officers when they first join the service, they do realize that the young Spec-4 often haves more experience than the new "butter-bar" does. Its those handful of "special" officers, you know, the ones who know that their excrement does not reek, that make life soooo intresting!

I don't recall every serving with a mustang officer that was bad. Its like serving as an NCO increased thier IQ by 200-300 points (LOL!!!).

I agree for the most part the new 2nd Lt from West Point or ROTC after their training did realize that for the most that even the companies newest Specialist 4 knew more about thing than they did. Many had been told repeatedly during their training to listen to their senior NCOs, for they are their to make sure you don't make mistake that make them look bad.

Yes, the mustang Officers seemed to have their shit together quite well. Otherwise they would of never made it to OCS, also from what I seen they usually were fast tracked to 1st Lts because for the most part they had already done most of their mistake raising through ranks or had seen others make the mistakes they never told themselves they would never make.

Yes the problem children who had trouble smelling their own feces because they had grown use to the smell over the years. The non-surprising thing was the fact that many of these Officer usually didn't make far in leadership roles and could spend a career with luck in staff roles.

Nate,

Not really news to me, and hey, it makes sense. In my own game, that's certainly been the usual pattern. There is a Lt. Colonel in command of the unit, but basically lets the unit senior NCOs (a bunch of Sergeants) run the show tactically while she takes care of the logistical end, interfaces with the high command and local community, and keeps the unit on-mission be defining the objectives. (She's also an NPC, and can fade into the background a little too much, which is probably fine with the players as they are allowed a freer hand.)

I was more just looking for a particular rule in some adventure about how ad hoc player groups could be somewhat formalised at some point.


Overall, I'm reminded of Master Corporal Erin Doyle, killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2008.

http://www.legionmagazine.com/en/wp-.../erinintro.jpg

http://www.legionmagazine.com/en/ind...of-erin-doyle/

Getting back to T2K, in the past I've been in at least a few games (T2K in particular but also Recon, or wherever you have a rank structure) where the "rank game" has been played, even taken advantage of by some. I guess the attitude by some commander PCs is "it's good to be king" and they don't much listen to their NCOs or take their advice. That doesn't mean they're wrong or are bad leaders as such, and of course this may just be the way the PC is being played, not the way the player would otherwise personally act themselves. While I can't say that this necessarily applies to any game I'm currently in, I'm sure we've all been there. Hack, I'm sure I've played that officer who's excrement doesn't smell some time in the past!

Tony

My gut tells me it's in Urban guerrilla, but it could easily be Armies of the night or Kidnapped, or one of the other American modules.