The history of military training.
Obviously we're all Battlefield veterinarians here and don't need any advice on tactics or training. But I've delved a little deeper into the history of military tactics, to try and uncover why we do what we do.
The first evidence of organised armies becoming complex enough to warrant a formal training regime is found in ancient Egypt where ancient scraps of papyrus warn of the dangers snipers. The snipers of the day used longer ranged weapons and attempted to incapacitate their enemies with fatal headshots. Of course at this period of history a ranged weapon consisted of a slightly longer stick than your opponent. To combat these tactics the scriptures tell that commanders first toyed with the idea of 'even longer sticks' before settling on the strategy that is commonly seen throughout history. Solders in the Egyptian armies were taught that when crossing open terrain they should run in short randomly directed bursts whilst jumping around like fools.
Fig1: Ancient Jumping tactics are successful as the sniper only manages a body hit.
Looking at the training regime of the classical Greek soldiers uncovers some remarkable insights. The Greeks were not trained in specific military skills, with the commanders of the era placing a strong emphasis on physical conditioning. The ancient Greeks worshiped many gods and even believed that the dead had the ears of the Gods and so could influence the lives and fates of the living. Popular military culture of the time involved shouting expletives at the recently deceased to in an attempt to appease the gods. Popular cries to be heard on the battlefield included "Don't punished me, because you ran into the area I just thrown a javelin" and "Well if you're going to crouch behind my chariot what do you expect ?, how can you punish me for that ?"
Fig2: Of course modern day 'Horseless carriages' are far removed from their ancient counterparts
The Romans were the first soldiers to utilise squads and formations with the most popular tactic being the one that is still most widely used to this day. Roman commanders would organise their units into tight squads with a range of skill sets that would ensure that the squad could deal with almost any challenge that it could meet on the battlefield. Once battle commenced, the squad members would then rush in completely different directions setting there own objectives, based upon personal gain or sometimes what looked most interesting. Often large groups of soldiers would be seen gathered around a carpenter waiting for another chariot to be produced.
By the 17th Century the importance of transportation had become a key factor on the battlefield with cavalry being widely utilised. Recognition of the individual soldier became important at this time and so reward systems were widely used to recognise heroics on the battlefield. This system was revised by Napoleon, to become more like it's modern day counterpart after disaster struck in a key battle of the Napoleonic wars. One of Napoleons most trusted regiments was entirely destroyed by a much smaller cavalry force when they fool-hardily abandoned their muskets and bayonets in an attempt to win their 'Knife combat badges'
Fig3: A Napoleonic canon combat badge
Fig4: Early Basic AND Veteran chariot badges
Well history tells many stories which explain our actions on the modern day battlefield, but re-search is time consuming so for now - that is all.
Obviously we're all Battlefield veterinarians here and don't need any advice on tactics or training. But I've delved a little deeper into the history of military tactics, to try and uncover why we do what we do.
The first evidence of organised armies becoming complex enough to warrant a formal training regime is found in ancient Egypt where ancient scraps of papyrus warn of the dangers snipers. The snipers of the day used longer ranged weapons and attempted to incapacitate their enemies with fatal headshots. Of course at this period of history a ranged weapon consisted of a slightly longer stick than your opponent. To combat these tactics the scriptures tell that commanders first toyed with the idea of 'even longer sticks' before settling on the strategy that is commonly seen throughout history. Solders in the Egyptian armies were taught that when crossing open terrain they should run in short randomly directed bursts whilst jumping around like fools.
Fig1: Ancient Jumping tactics are successful as the sniper only manages a body hit.
Looking at the training regime of the classical Greek soldiers uncovers some remarkable insights. The Greeks were not trained in specific military skills, with the commanders of the era placing a strong emphasis on physical conditioning. The ancient Greeks worshiped many gods and even believed that the dead had the ears of the Gods and so could influence the lives and fates of the living. Popular military culture of the time involved shouting expletives at the recently deceased to in an attempt to appease the gods. Popular cries to be heard on the battlefield included "Don't punished me, because you ran into the area I just thrown a javelin" and "Well if you're going to crouch behind my chariot what do you expect ?, how can you punish me for that ?"
Fig2: Of course modern day 'Horseless carriages' are far removed from their ancient counterparts
The Romans were the first soldiers to utilise squads and formations with the most popular tactic being the one that is still most widely used to this day. Roman commanders would organise their units into tight squads with a range of skill sets that would ensure that the squad could deal with almost any challenge that it could meet on the battlefield. Once battle commenced, the squad members would then rush in completely different directions setting there own objectives, based upon personal gain or sometimes what looked most interesting. Often large groups of soldiers would be seen gathered around a carpenter waiting for another chariot to be produced.
By the 17th Century the importance of transportation had become a key factor on the battlefield with cavalry being widely utilised. Recognition of the individual soldier became important at this time and so reward systems were widely used to recognise heroics on the battlefield. This system was revised by Napoleon, to become more like it's modern day counterpart after disaster struck in a key battle of the Napoleonic wars. One of Napoleons most trusted regiments was entirely destroyed by a much smaller cavalry force when they fool-hardily abandoned their muskets and bayonets in an attempt to win their 'Knife combat badges'
Fig3: A Napoleonic canon combat badge
Fig4: Early Basic AND Veteran chariot badges
Well history tells many stories which explain our actions on the modern day battlefield, but re-search is time consuming so for now - that is all.
Last edited by gvp000 (2005-09-08 14:08:33)