Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Low tech warfare
Message-ID: <13044@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 11 Jan 90 05:00:16 GMT
References: <12539@cbnews.ATT.COM> <12572@cbnews.ATT.COM> <12767@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 18
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: att!utzoo!henry
>From: ssc-vax!shuksan!major@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Mike Schmitt)
>  British officers didn't inherit their positions as much as purchase their
>  commissions.  And, as much as this method seems repugnant today, from
>  Marlborough to Haig (WWI) this method saw a British Army unequalled in
>  the world for discipline under fire, sense of duty, and regimental esprit'.

This worked, however, only because of an Army made up of professional
soldiers and mostly run by very professional non-commissioned officers.
The twits with the commissions, at least at the lower levels, were mostly
just expected to inspire the men with conspicuous bravery.  If they got 
killed doing so, too bad -- they weren't very important to tactical
operations.

                                     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                                 uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu