The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
You guys may recall how sometime ago I asked a few things concerning the One-Man Army-type Hero Unit concept that is common to many RTS games. It just occurred to me that I forgot to ask a very important question, born from my annoyance with how such soldiers are usually referred to as "commandos" (despite the fact that IRL, even outside military circles, the term is typically understood to refer to a member of a unit — like the US Army Rangers — who's supposed to operate with the rest of the unit, not as a "lone wolf"): What would you suggest could be a plausible/realistic term for in-universe militaries to coin for distinguishing this kind of hypercompetent soldiers/operatives from "regular" commandos, if they're not the product of an actual military program to purposefully produce supersoldiers via Training from Hell and/or artificial augmentation (thus would be referred to by either a specific name associated with the program or simply "supersoldiers")?
PS: I hope I'm not bugging you guys with how frequently I come here to ask questions related to fictional depictions of military organizations/technology.
Edited by MarqFJA on Aug 15th 2019 at 10:13:03 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
I guess it depends on what the intended effect of a program like that is. Oftentimes, when designations aren't just lifted from your garden-variety Standard Military Blather (TM), names tend to reflect the tactical role of a given formation or piece of equipment, usually peppered with some morale raising adjective.
For example, consider the World War 2 tank destroyers.
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
I specifically excluded the "deliberate product of a dedicated program" variant from consideration for a reason.
Edited by MarqFJA on Aug 15th 2019 at 10:16:59 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
But then how do these people come about? Are they just noticed for their competence and skill, plonked out of their squads and placed in new ones with expensive toys?
If they are in no way distinguished from other military personnel, they wouldn't have a specialized designation for the same reason that extremely competent soldiers in the real world don't have special designations.
Edited by math792d on Aug 15th 2019 at 9:18:41 PM
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Yeah, pretty much (minus the "put in new squads", because they often are not part of an actual squad per se). That's what I get from the lore behind several of such characters; at best, they were already part of a commando unit, but demonstrated far more competence at their job than could be explained by the existing training program (or, to use an alternative explanation, they took to the training far better than any normal human has a right to do so, well beyond any reasonable expectations). Some started as regular soldiers and never once were part of any spec-ops unit at all before being officially recognized as their military's resident One-Man Army (or one of the rare few such people to coexist at the same time), even.
Edited by MarqFJA on Aug 15th 2019 at 10:23:17 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
They'd just be known by their previous rank and title in whatever unit they were part of. Unless there's actually a large enough number of these people to significantly impact a war effort outside a handful of key battles, there is absolutely no need for a special name.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
I'm not talking about how they refer to such a soldier specifically, but rather about the entire "class" of such soldiers — that is, after the military comes to recognize such soldiers as not being merely random flukes, the product of unusually fortunate circumstances, or any other explanation that similarly preserves these soldiers being as mundane as any of their comrades note , but rather what amounts to a very small minority of the world human population (basically, in any given war, each faction has a 1-in-a-million chance of such a supersoldier emerging naturally within their ranks).
I mean, there's a reason why the heroes of Greek mythology are distinctly known by the label of "hero" in those very myths: Each one rose above the ranks of normal humankind thanks to demigodly ancestry, divine favor, or just sheer determination and skill, and accomplished feats that no ordinary human could do.
Edited by MarqFJA on Aug 15th 2019 at 10:41:54 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Well, the thing to remember here is that nobody runs around by themselves on the battlefield. The most basic concept in warfare is fire and maneuver, and without at least 2-3 people you can’t do that. Basically every task infantry could conceivably find themselves doing requires multiple soldiers. There isn’t actually such thing as a one man army in real life. To use a quote from our page:
As far as a name, it’s the military. Expect something fairly generic or doublespeak-y. The current preferred term is “operator”, which doesn’t exactly clue you in too quickly. “Commando” is more a colloquialism these days.
Edited by archonspeaks on Aug 15th 2019 at 12:46:12 PM
They should have sent a poet.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
And "operator" simply refers to operational (i.e. field) personnel of a special-operations force. It's equally applicable to, say, the Delta Force soldiers
of the US Army from Act of War or the SEALs from Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, both of which serve as the "elite" counterpart of the basic infantry unit.
Edited by MarqFJA on Aug 15th 2019 at 10:49:44 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
I’d argue that once you’ve gotten to the point where you have single individuals bouncing around the battlefield handling things themselves you’ve more or less thrown military realism by the wayside.
Much like “commando”, the term “operator” isn’t really an official one for the most part. Originally it did refer exclusively to Delta Force operatives, but it’s now the preferred term for shooters from any special forces unit. It’s not a term that’s really common in an official capacity, at least outside of Delta Force. The Navy has an official “operator” rank now, but that was only after the term became popularized.
Officially speaking, members of these elite units are referred to as troops or personnel or by their rank, same as any other soldier. These terms will also be interchangeable with the name of the unit, such as SEALs or Paras or Rangers. If these supersoldiers are one of a kind and usually work by themselves they’d probably just be called by their rank. If they’re part of some special unit, they’d likely draw their name from there.
Edited by archonspeaks on Aug 15th 2019 at 12:59:43 PM
They should have sent a poet.
Briefly tangentially returning to tank destroyers, I've been listening to Harry Yeide's book on the subject, and it's a fascinating account of what he calls 'the most successful failure of the U.S Army in World War 2.' Highly recommended.
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
The Hellcat's my favorite, but honestly the M36 is probably the best out of them all.
It's interesting that, initially, a lot of units disapproved of the Hellcat. In fact, an entire battalion mutinied when they were first assigned M18's, and they were eventually allowed to keep the M10's they already had in the field.
Either way, the most common role the tank destroyers ended up operating during the war was a combination of indirect fire support and acting in a sort of ersatz assault gun role.
The M36 was resisted by the TD branch initially because it lacked the Hellcat's operational mobility. It wasn't really until the reality of the late-war German vehicles asserted itself that it was approved to go overseas.
Edited by math792d on Aug 15th 2019 at 11:11:25 AM
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
I guess that could have been much worse. Let's try this again:
(And if anyone is curious about the original context of the fish cannon gif.)
Edited by AFP on Aug 15th 2019 at 4:45:08 AM
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/thai-air-force-prepares-hong-kong-contingency-evacuation-plan-1.1301259
The Royal Thai Air Force is ready to evacuate Thais living/working/studying in Hong Kong in case things go way south.
Oh, bother.
Now the first link links to the article about the skipper who fled from Iran being ready to deploy there.
rollin' on dubs
About that Soldier getting an ARCOM.
There is the "Soldier's Medal" that's higher on the order of merit and better fits what happened.
The controversy on da Facebook is that the DOD is getting into the bad habit of "awards by rank":
- the kid who busts his/her ass and returns fire gets an ARCOM
- The fat E-7 who sat on the FOB gets a Bronze Star or Meritorious Service Medal "for his service"
- Officers getting award inflation
- Those Navy JAG's who fumbled the SEAL warcimes trials? They were put in for awards until the Orange One had them revoked.
I think the kid's chain of command was either clueless or afraid that higher headquaters would "kick it back" (send the award back to the submitter) because the soldier was lower enlisted.
Edited by TairaMai on Aug 16th 2019 at 12:50:30 AM
All night at the computer, cuz people ain't that great. I keep to myself so I won't be on The First 48
I'm a bit fuzzy on the timeline, but my understanding is that the JAG guys who were put in for awards replaced the guys that fumbled the prosecution.
A bit related with regards that the Taliban could be back in power like what happened to South Vietnam in terms of worrying the Afghan military from the ex-ambassador to Afghanistan.
—
US Moves Ahead With $8 Billion F-16 Fighter Jets Sale to Taiwan
The Trump administration has notified Congress on August 15 that it would submit the arms deal package for informal review, sources familiar with the sale told The Washington Post. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee are expected to receive the submission of the arms sale to Taiwan for informal review from the U.S. Department of State by Friday evening, according to two sources. Congress is not expected to raise objections.
This latest move by the Trump administration comes amid accusations by U.S. lawmakers of both parties that the White House has delayed approving the $8 billion weapons sale to soften the ground for a future U.S.-China trade deal and use it as a bargaining chip during ongoing trade negotiations. Approval of the F-16 deal was reportedly deferred after trade advisers appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump. Trade negotiations between the two countries have currently reached a stalemate.
They'll need 'em.
Edited by M84 on Aug 15th 2019 at 8:10:50 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised