[Raellus]

I was just going to post a question about the viability of paroling EPWs in the T2K world in the American Civil War thread I started. I was really surprised by the numerous mentions of incidents in which prisoners during the Civil War were parolled, in some cases almost immediately after capture. In other cases, they were held long enough to arrange a prisoner exchange.

In the past, I've imagined the Twilight War as a war of extermination, with no quarter usually given since blligerents barely have the resources to supply their own troops, let alone EPWs. What prisoners are take are usually worked to death or allowed to die of starvation, exposure, disease, etc. Basically, the way Germans and Soviets treated their opposites in WWII.

Now, I'm not so sure. Why not parole/exchange prisoners? Obviously, because you might have to fight released prisoners again, but if you can get your own back by releasing enemy prisoners you can't really take care of anyway, perhaps it's a good alternative. Disarm captured enemy troops, and then arrange to exchange them for friendly troops held as prisoners by the enemy. Now you don't have to guard and/or feed them, and you regain some of your own manpower once your own returned [former] prisoners are cleaned up and reequipped. It's also a great way to incorporate allied troops into your PC groups as I'm sure, due to record keeping difficulties, a NATO unit would likely receive troops from various NATO nations in any prisoner exchange.