T2K: State of the U.S. Army in the late Twilight War

[Raellus]

Thanks, Ironside.

I will use MWR. I'll also add a section on chaplains, another on brothels, and another on espirit de corps.

I wonder how much espirit de corps some units would have. Those kicked around and/or nuked before being reconstituted would probably not have much. Other, more successful/storied units likely would.

Another idea I had for maintaining unit cohesion and morale is to have recuperated wounded return to their parent unit instead of to a general replacement pool. I know that the Marines and Airborne units did this in WWII whereas the regular army did not.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Raellus

I will use MWR. I'll also add a section on chaplains, another on brothels, and another on espirit de corps.

Great work as always Rae. Hopefully you'll be able to fit in a sentence or two on the espirit de corps of brothel chaplains. A niche occupation I know but very valuable!

[pmulcahy11b]

A group of soldiers is standing outside such a brothel with their Chaplain, he turns to them and says, "Go, and do god's work this day..."

Did I go too far with that one?

[Webstral]

Surely not. "Be fruitful and mutliply." As I can tell you from my experience at the head of the classroom, any skills you want your people to master requires practice. This goes for multiplication in particular and math in general.

Webstral

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Did I go too far with that one?

Well as our one and only confirmed female resident has disappeared and the trousers have come off a few members, I don't think so.

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

A group of soldiers is standing outside such a brothel with their Chaplain, he turns to them and says, "Go, and do god's work this day..."

Did I go too far with that one?

wouldnt the Chaplain rather exploit the red faced ,embarassed "caught outside the brothel with money in hand by a clergy man" moment to deftly sidestep the line and cut in before the squad ?

of course-half turning and crossing fingers in air towards the guys while saying " God bless you child"

[headquarters]

You could argue that what is said of the US army here could be true for other militaries too - especially if operating in foreign countries with long supply lines etc .

I believe that the lack of supplies,manpower, fuel and the poor communication would make everything slow down to a hybrid of 19th century ,20th century and 21st century warfare ,tactics and strategies.


Thus the camp followers need a detailed explanation too imho.

One definition of such :

1.A civilian who follows a military unit from place to place, especially as a vendor of supplies or as a prostitute.
2.One who follows but does not belong to a main body or group.

At some point the commanders will realize that a group of camp followers tagging along can be a benefit -for instance to outsource tasks to .Not all skills or professions will be present in their own unit and someone to do these will possibly trudge along just far enough behind that they never get there until after the fight is over .

Even today you will see stalls outside military camps selling stuff to the troops,or small businesses springing up around the camps.They do all sorts ,dig a draintrench or garbage dump,pick garbage,wash and clean vehicles,collect the brass at the range,sell ,barter,deliver,run errands,fix little or big things.

In that way the camp followers are still there.

having an efficient group of camp followers could be important to a commander in the longer run.

[Raellus]

Good point, HQ. I will add something about camp followers.

[Marc]

Originally Posted by headquarters

Having an efficient group of camp followers could be important to a commander in the longer run.

And a source of possible problems, quarrels and misunderstandings with the local population. It could generate some interesting plots for a game.

[kota1342000]

Sorry for not being around, getting net service when youre driving truck can be iffy.
I agree with the initial assessments Raellus, Outstanding. I think Ill print it off as a summary for new players.

[Webstral]

Originally Posted by Marc

And a source of possible problems, quarrels and misunderstandings with the local population. It could generate some interesting plots for a game.

I agree. The hangers-on, who are doing some of the jobs that used to be done by the army, are a rich vein of material. I haven't done much with camp followers because I've mostly dealt with units that have fixed bases. However, in the viscous fluidity of the military situation of 2000 in Europe, camp followers would be a big issue.

Webstral