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Thread: Military Totemism and its Impact on Small Wars

  1. #81
    Council Member marct's Avatar
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    Hi Steve,

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
    Not originally. The honorary colonel system came into use as a way to preserve unit heritage, and was really in vogue after World War I, if memory serves. It continued on with fits and starts through the last re-org, and I don't know where it stands now. Under the old system the honorary colonel had to have served as an active officer with the regiment in question.
    Hunh, I never knew that. It's totally different from our system, then.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
    What you're thinking of, Marc, was the system used to create officers for militia and volunteer units during the Civil War (it was used in other conflicts, but obviously saw its greatest use during the Civil War). Typically if a person put up the money to raise and equip a unit, he was given command of that unit and the rank to go with it. So if a guy funded the "Livingston Light Rifle Company," he'd get the rank of captain or major from the state legislature to go with his unit. Many of those units also elected officers and NCOs, with often comical results. It was a purchase system, in a way, but also a way to show political patronage and clout.
    Actually, I was thinking of the war of 1812 rather than your civil war, and the later militia land grabs in the west - the Indian Wars, etc. I think it was a little looser, i.e. you didn't have to actually pay for the unit itself to get the rank. Didn't Jackson say something about that regarding the Georgia militias?

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
    After a year or so of war, most units abandoned the election process, but you would still see regimental commanders appointed by politicians. If they were idiots, they were fired or (if the clout was too strong) shifted to an assignment where they would cause little damage.
    Yeah, I can see that. That type of system wouldn't have worked well in your civil war.

    Marc
    Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
    Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
    Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
    Senior Research Fellow,
    The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
    Carleton University
    http://marctyrrell.com/

  2. #82
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    Default Combat Fashion in UK Forces

    I thought I'd break my posting duck by pointing out some UK views of combat fashion. The aim for the soldier concerned is to be seen as "ally", that difficult to define blend of professionalism and style. It's trying hard to appear as though you've made no effort. It varies from conflict to conflict - Falklands "ally" was very different to Herrick (Afghanistan) "ally".

    http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/...c/t=46346.html

    http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/...c/t=53077.html

    Failure results in being labelled as a "walt", as in Walter Mitty. But that's a whole new topic all by itself.

  3. #83
    Council Member Stan's Avatar
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    Default Older Weapons on the Battlefield

    Hey 120mm,

    While an OTT to Aberdeen, MD to introduce ground forces weapons to the Estonian military as potential FMF sales, the Estonian NCO and his Colonel were offered to try various weapons on the range and at the end of the day, both seemed to favor the M-14 over any other weapon.

    Turns out, one of the NCO's distant relatives was part of an Estonia sniper unit trained by the Germans in the early 1900s. The unit then and today is know as the Kuperjanov Single Infantry Battalion. Formed as a partisan troop in 1918 by 1LT Julius Kuperjanov, their enemies often referred to them as a death squad.

    Kuperjanov's battalion lacking sufficient ammo to sustain a long firefight, would simply wait hiden in a dense growth of trees for an adorn officer and use a single 7mm round.

    The Kuperjanov battalion today still practice the one round-rule, but now use US-donated M14s.

    Regards, Stan

  4. #84
    Council Member marct's Avatar
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    Default A new Honourary Colonel for the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

    The PPCLI announced a new Honourary Colonel last week, and the CBC story has some interesting observations about the role.
    Former GG assumes honorary role for regiment
    Last Updated: Saturday, March 17, 2007 | 6:19 PM ET
    CBC News

    Canada's former governor general has been given an honorary regimental position usually reserved for members of the Royal Family.

    Adrienne Clarkson, who was the Queen's representative in Canada, became the first Canadian to be appointed colonel-in-chief of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, in a ceremony on Saturday in Edmonton.

    She succeeds Lady Patricia Brabourne, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, who has been colonel-in-chief for 32 years.

    "It gives me a sense of great comfort and joy that we now have such a perfectly splendid successor, and I retire in the knowledge that the Patricias will be as well looked after as I was able to do," Lady Patricia said.

    The position was first held by Lady Patricia Ramsay, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, from whom the regiment gets its name.

    According to the regiment, Clarkson was chosen because she meets all of the criteria for the position, including having visited Canadian troops overseas while governor general, and has a personal connection to the regiment because her husband, John Ralston Saul, is the son of a regiment officer.

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    Marc
    Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
    Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
    Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
    Senior Research Fellow,
    The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
    Carleton University
    http://marctyrrell.com/

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    My wife is an honorary Kentucky Colonel. She threatens on a regular basis to send me to Anbar provence.

  6. #86
    Council Member marct's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by goesh View Post
    My wife is an honorary Kentucky Colonel. She threatens on a regular basis to send me to Anbar provence.
    LOLOL. Maybe I'm luckier - my wife only threatens me with Gehenna (or the Kitchen; whichever is worse) .

    Marc
    Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
    Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
    Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
    Senior Research Fellow,
    The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
    Carleton University
    http://marctyrrell.com/

  7. #87
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    I seem to recall a great passage in The Guns of August about the bright red pants the French troops wore in the years running up to WWI, and the furious fight against changing it. But if I recall it was resisting a change, rather than keeping up with fashion.

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