Quote Originally Posted by Ratzel View Post

I even like the idea of regional assignments. I believe the British have this system, but I'm not sure? The soldier would be stationed at the post nearest to his/her hometown for his/her whole career.
Not quite true. We have Regiments and move with the regiment. In the old days you could get stuck in Germany for 9 years, apart from some Northern Ireland tours, but generally it was only 5-6 years.

Now the Regimental system means different things to different folks, but the core of the concept is basically sound. The UK actually corrupted it into many things and some not good, but the core idea does make sense.

Basically if 18 year old Dave ####nuts joins 1st Battalion #### Kicker Rifles, (1 SKR) he can some day expect to be a Company Sergeant Major or RSM in 1 SKR. In that 22 or 30 year career, he might even make it to become a long service Major - an invaluable source of expertise and wisdom, and he might have known the CO, since he was a soaking wet platoon commander!!

...but there are serious pitfalls, in terms of modern soldiering which need to be looked at.