Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
It could be that by staying in the military they are able to assist their families (or what's left of them) by sending money (if it's still got any value) or even food and clothing parcels. It might even be in the Army's best interest to provide such packages to soldiers, even supplying the transportation for them back to their families - a bit like a reverse care package.
A happy soldier unworried about their loved ones is after all much more likely to stick around than one who's family is starving, in danger, sick, etc.
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If there was any way to make this happen, it would be in the interest of every national government remnant to make this happen. Soldiers who aren't worried about their families are less likely to desert.
After all, it wasn't until after Sherman's March to the Sea and the raising of South Carolina that the Army of Northern Virginia started to hemorrhage deserters. They went home not only to protect their families from the Union troops looting the Rebels' backfield, but also to help provide for their families during the famines that followed the economic devastation left in the Union Army's wake.
Of course, it is hard to imagine that MilGov or CivGov having the ability to keep the US Postal Service going... but you know... I gotta tell ya... I can't think of a more important service when it comes to keeping the nation from falling into regionalism.
Sure, you've got to have security, and the armed forces fill that role, but you've got to have communications beyond simply those of the government. Otherwise people are going to stop thinking about the country (or even the state) as a whole and end up thinking like Medieval peasants.
I can't imagine MilGov or CivGov having the resources for a postal service outside the military resupply convoys that move back and forth between unit cantonments. So I guess it's going to fall to private enterprise to fill this gap. Merchant convoys will most definitely be carrying what little mail is moving.
All references to David Brin's book (and the less successful movie) aside, a successful mail service would be an excellent bulwark against desertion.
A. Scott Glancy, President TCCorp, dba Pagan Publishing