Originally posted by cutiestar
J Fred Mugs
Yes i can only talk about what i know, and that is my country, i have no idea about yours, although I do suggest in your country all the better atheletes play pro sport, all the better minds earn millions in business, and all the better shots are in special forces. But that is just a guess. I was not actually trying to be derogatory towards the army, just making the point that army men are not supermen as some children would envisage them.
Since you are experienced as a soldier maybe you can tell whether you would feel you and your unit would have been able to take out 1 million rampaging cilvilians with some automatic rifles? and therefore in a culture flip a city of millions should lose pop points.
That atheleticly inclined people get to play pro sports is a horrible misconception, one that has many believing in. Kids go all out trying to be good at sports, forgetting to learn the skills that will count for later life.
There is no shortage of people trying to get into the military academies. My bunk mate was offered a commision to West Point, he had proven himself in the field, never applied for such a thing before.
Shooting is a learned skill. People from many areas in the US learn young, such as mine. Hunting is a big deal, a rite of passage. What I had over the others when I went in, is called instict shooting, something that to my surprise was also taught.
Special Forces are just another job, specialized. The big thing, the main thing, that basic training teaches you, is you can dig deep and find you can do things you didn't think yourself capable of doing. Special Forces just dig a little deeper. It may surprise you to actually meet these people. They aren't on the whole big men and everyone I've met (met more then a few) have been very gentle men, a pleasure to be around.
Could my unit take out a million mad citizens? Well if you're speaking of the 8th of the 60th, no. Half the unit was ground to air missles. the other half Vulcans (vulcan=20mm, 6 barreled gatling guns, mounted on tracks, could shot 1000 rounds in less then 20 seconds.), I don't even remember the total number of Vulcans anymore. Now if you're speaking of 2nd Armored Division, yes, many times over. A modern army division is no longer just made up of, in this case, just tanks. It would be it's main asset, however ingrained with in any fighting division is a combined arms force, artillery, gunships, infantry, etc. Now a group of divisions makes up an Army, how many varies. The number depends on the country and time period. We here in the States have many Armies, of which they all form the total US Army. The rest of the services kind of follow this, but use different names of course.
I'm not sure where you are getting your civ figures as to what each unit represents for the military and civilians. But I think one must look in game terms, hence game balance at this whole flipping thing. I think all we're asking is some kind of explaination as to how it can be kept under control, or if it is ment to be kept under control.
The very thought of unleashing the militery on civilains is horrible to me. I refused a direct order to do crowd control practice. One of many Article Fifteens I got and proud of every one of them.
