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Old 05-20-2019, 07:07 AM
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ChalkLine ChalkLine is offline
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Default Twilight 2000 2.2 Paramilitary/Gendarmerie Careers

One of the things not addressed by T2k is the various European paramilitary or 'gendarmerie' careers.

For the English-speaking world these gendarmeries don't exist. This is because historically the British feared that police forces would be used as an internal army against the population to enforce government will. As such they demanded demilitarised police forces when they were first introduced into Britain due to a cultural fear of the police used by Napoleon. These Napoleonic police not only kept the peace but were also a political secret police that perpetrated atrocities. Anyway, enough of the history.

Often in Europe the 'federal' branch of the police are paramilitary. A classic example is the French Gendarmerie, after whom the concept is named.
They combine police with what is essentially light infantry duties and can be used for rear-area security, military policing and light combat duties. I like playing these guys because as a civilian who plays alongside many military people they are 'sort of but not quite' military and thus give me a reason for not having a clear understanding of military culture and procedure.

The difference between the paramilitary police and the federal police in Twilight 2000 is quite large. Gendarmerie often use APCs, autoguns and other military equipment and are trained in military-style operations while also maintaining their roles as police. Although this gap has closed significantly since the inception of The War on Terror the difference is still large. This means the careers for police in the main book and even Paul Mulcahy's awesome stuff doesn't really suit these organisations.
Does anyone want to have a stab at making them here?
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