Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Ever read the Warren Report?
Assassination Interrupted
- Thread starter lesbates
- Start date
Andrew Boulton wrote:
"Ever read the Warren Report? "
Mr. Boulton,
Why yes, just this summer. My nephews* were visiting and I'd finished reading C.S. Lewis' 'Narnia Chronicles' to them at bedtime and needed another classic of High Fantasy with which to soothe the little beggars.
Worked too!
Sincerely,
Larsen
* - They are; Caractacus; age 8, Gottlieb; age 6, and Finster; age 4. As Gottlieb exclaimed in all honesty; "If you need to bait a trap, pie and hot dogs would work for me." I suspect they'd work for us all, Gottlieb, they'd work for us all.
"Ever read the Warren Report?
"Mr. Boulton,
Why yes, just this summer. My nephews* were visiting and I'd finished reading C.S. Lewis' 'Narnia Chronicles' to them at bedtime and needed another classic of High Fantasy with which to soothe the little beggars.
Worked too!
Sincerely,
Larsen
* - They are; Caractacus; age 8, Gottlieb; age 6, and Finster; age 4. As Gottlieb exclaimed in all honesty; "If you need to bait a trap, pie and hot dogs would work for me." I suspect they'd work for us all, Gottlieb, they'd work for us all.
Well, as someone who lived with the widow of a Gurkha officer (who also, in his time, served as the Bodygaurd of King Farouk), I will point out that they like their officers to stay... at arms length. If they respected you, you were fine. But they have been known to ...remove.... officers they disliked.
But they are tough. They competed in CFSAC one year, and during a rundown, one of our Navy fellows time a Gurkha who went from a prone firing position to a prone firing position 100m away (wearing combat boots and with a rifle) in just over 11 seconds. And they laughed when they finished the big run at the end. Of course, these same fellows were doing standing backflips at the party later....
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Oh, they're through tough and out the other side.
Have you heard the story about how one Gurkha won a VC during WW2? There was his platoon vs a Japanese battalion (or similar odds). A Jap threw a grenade into his foxhole, he picked it up and threw it back. The same thing happened again. And again...except this time the grenade went off in his hand, blowing his arm off, blinding him in one eye, breaking his leg, and killing the other guy in his foxhole. At this point, most people would think, "okay, game over", but not him. He just picked up his rifle in his *other* hand, and held the Japs off for *2 hours* until help arrived.
Amazing.
Keep in mind something when hearing Gurkha stories:
They know about their reputation. They love to enhance it. Half of the stuff they get up to has this in mind and stories are embellished. I don't take anything away from them (far from it... My Grandad served in the same area as some in WW1 and they used to crawl out into no man's land with only the big Kukri and come back with German ears...) but they also know the effect of their rep (some Argies went all cold inside and weak kneed when they heard tell that some Gurks might be coming against them in the Falklands).
They have done some truly amazing things, however. And won a surprising number (for their relative percentage of the armed forces) of VCs and other decorations.
I remember the tale about the journalist during WW2 who was disappointed when they tried to setup a behind enemy lines op with Gurks and only about half volunteered to be dropped out of the planes behind enemy lines. He revised his opinion years later when he discovered that most of the Gurks, being from backwoods Nepal, hadn't heard of 'parachutes' so the half that agreed stipulated the pilot should come in within 100' of the ground and drop them preferably over a swamp. And 50% volunteered.
I like them because they're a tough unit with lots of history, a sense of real spirit, and they have a rough and poor homeland that can use all the help they can bring it. And because waiving a Kurkri and shouting "Ayo Gurkhali!" is every officers secret fantasy...
They know about their reputation. They love to enhance it. Half of the stuff they get up to has this in mind and stories are embellished. I don't take anything away from them (far from it... My Grandad served in the same area as some in WW1 and they used to crawl out into no man's land with only the big Kukri and come back with German ears...) but they also know the effect of their rep (some Argies went all cold inside and weak kneed when they heard tell that some Gurks might be coming against them in the Falklands).
They have done some truly amazing things, however. And won a surprising number (for their relative percentage of the armed forces) of VCs and other decorations.
I remember the tale about the journalist during WW2 who was disappointed when they tried to setup a behind enemy lines op with Gurks and only about half volunteered to be dropped out of the planes behind enemy lines. He revised his opinion years later when he discovered that most of the Gurks, being from backwoods Nepal, hadn't heard of 'parachutes' so the half that agreed stipulated the pilot should come in within 100' of the ground and drop them preferably over a swamp. And 50% volunteered.
I like them because they're a tough unit with lots of history, a sense of real spirit, and they have a rough and poor homeland that can use all the help they can bring it. And because waiving a Kurkri and shouting "Ayo Gurkhali!" is every officers secret fantasy...
Gurkhas aren't supertroops, of course. They can get beaten just as badly as anyone else.
A classic example happened during the Japanese invasion of Malaya. The Japanese advance was led by a bunch of their tin can tanks, and, of course, the Nepalese farm boys had never even seen tanks, let alone been trained to fight them. End result: an entire division of the Indian Army overrun by a force a fraction of their size.
Of course, there is a bit more to it, but essentially that's what happened.
Alan B
A classic example happened during the Japanese invasion of Malaya. The Japanese advance was led by a bunch of their tin can tanks, and, of course, the Nepalese farm boys had never even seen tanks, let alone been trained to fight them. End result: an entire division of the Indian Army overrun by a force a fraction of their size.
Of course, there is a bit more to it, but essentially that's what happened.
Alan B
True enough!
Small point: I wasn't specific, but when I say Gurkha, I particularly mean those serving with the British Army. The Indian Gurkha units were never *quite* up to the same standard. They weren't bad units, but they just weren't what I'd call quite as good. I think the Brits got the cream of the crop, recruiting wise.
Father Fletch
SOC-12
On the subject of reliable bodyguards:
These were enemies (usually rebel females) who were mind-wiped completely, reprogrammed for combat, and with unswerving loyalty to Empress Lionstone.
They had their eyes/ears, etc. removed and replaced with cybernetics. Other cyber-combat abilities were added, including but not limited to, an integral bomb. This was used as needed (without the least hesitation) by jumping-on/hugging and attacker and detonating.
All in all, pretty evil.
Especially when nobles coming to court would be suprised in recognizing (missing) daughters/nieces/family members among the maids (those who kept the 'wrong' company anyway).
Despasian
That makes me think also of the "Handmaidens" of Empress Lionstone from the Deathstalker books by S. Green.
These were enemies (usually rebel females) who were mind-wiped completely, reprogrammed for combat, and with unswerving loyalty to Empress Lionstone.
They had their eyes/ears, etc. removed and replaced with cybernetics. Other cyber-combat abilities were added, including but not limited to, an integral bomb. This was used as needed (without the least hesitation) by jumping-on/hugging and attacker and detonating.
All in all, pretty evil.
Especially when nobles coming to court would be suprised in recognizing (missing) daughters/nieces/family members among the maids (those who kept the 'wrong' company anyway).
Despasian
marginaleye
SOC-12
One that that really bothers me about the military side of the canonical "Traveller" universe is how deliberately "old-fashioned" it often feels -- it always makes me think of red coats, pith helmets, stiff-upper-lips, and after-battle drinks at the officers' club. While it's nice that the pointless Baroque detail of techno-fetishism is generally kept to a minimum, I have always had a sneaking suspicion that much of the military history of the Traveller universe could be safely re-told in terms of 19th century Earth, and that the potential "weirdness" of Warfare-in-the-Far-Future has been deliberately and unfairly minimized, too.
Yeah, I know, the standard excuses: that (1) the Imperium is a semi-feudal society, and such societies tend to be deliberately conservative, and (2) the long shadow of Vilani technophobia continues to discourage innovation, but somehow, they're just not quite believable. Oh, well, perhaps its just a matter of personal taste.
jchurchill
SOC-12
how deliberately "old-fashioned" it often feels -- it always makes me think of red coats, pith helmets, stiff-upper-lips, and after-battle drinks at the officers' club. While it's nice that the pointless Baroque detail of techno-fetishism is generally kept to a minimum, I have always had a sneaking suspicion that much of the military history of the Traveller universe could be safely re-told in terms of 19th century Earth, and that the potential "weirdness" of Warfare-in-the-Far-Future has been deliberately and unfairly minimized, too.
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Your point is well taken. I have basically run with that theme and play up the 19th century weirdness, at least in the military side. It works for me but a true techno-geek [which I'm not basically] could probably do more with it.
The anachronisms of T. play into the theory that while technology may change, people and human behaviour don't alter dramatically.
there are whole sections of this planet [hovering around low tech 9 to tech 8] that still live and behave much as they did in the year 1200 A. D. The same superstitions and backward technology etc etc...and that's not including Georgia.
================================================
Your point is well taken. I have basically run with that theme and play up the 19th century weirdness, at least in the military side. It works for me but a true techno-geek [which I'm not basically] could probably do more with it.
The anachronisms of T. play into the theory that while technology may change, people and human behaviour don't alter dramatically.
there are whole sections of this planet [hovering around low tech 9 to tech 8] that still live and behave much as they did in the year 1200 A. D. The same superstitions and backward technology etc etc...and that's not including Georgia.
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