Ridiculous things your military does

[Tappahannock]

Spend money on marching bands and marshal music...as if that's gonna help in case of war or a good food fight

You might be shocked. Those bands can have uses in combat.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

Spend money on marching bands and marshal music...as if that's gonna help in case of war or a good food fight

Appropriate music has been scientifically proven to increase a person's ability to deal with pain as well as their physical strength.

If your population happens to like military music and this stirs appropriately patriotic feelings amongst them, said martial music might actually significantly increase the fighting ability of your soldiers.

Further, uniting large groups of people in some common ceremony, singing to a piece of music for example, is an excellent way of generating espirt de corps, raising morale and scaring the uncivilized foeman, who has no concept of decent music, the barbarian.

[Southern Patriots]

Ridiculous things we do? Well not necessarily widespread, but many troopies in my unit are rather fond of adorning their slouch hat with some bright, flashy bird feather. And it is common for many to add a bit of extra "camouflage" by staining their hats, scarfs, and other items with tea leaves. I myself favour a slouch hat with a rather colourful feather and tea camo.

-- Cpt. Basil Stag, 47th Harare Border Rangers

[Oterro]

And the drummer boys were rather important in French columns, AFAIK, kept the momentum of the charge going and set the timing for the

"Vive l'emperur!"'s.

[Tappahannock]

Appropriate music has been scientifically proven to increase a person's ability to deal with pain as well as their physical strength.

If your population happens to like military music and this stirs appropriately patriotic feelings amongst them, said martial music might actually significantly increase the fighting ability of your soldiers.

Further, uniting large groups of people in some common ceremony, singing to a piece of music for example, is an excellent way of generating espirt de corps, raising morale and scaring the uncivilized foeman, who has no concept of decent music, the barbarian.

In addition playing music sets a consistent tempo that improves productivity of digging and makes people march faster

Not only that, but the bandsmen have duties which they can perform apart from the playing of music. After all, somebody has to carry the wounded back to the aid stations, and function as message runners in the event the radios are not working properly.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

And the drummer boys were rather important in French columns, AFAIK, kept the momentum of the charge going and set the timing for the

"Vive l'emperur!"'s.

Drums and instruments were vitally important in Napoleonic warfare since they were the only way to effectively transmit information over a large distance quickly. Many high-level commands were issued via musical instrument, usually trumpets or drums, since a shout becomes unintelligible over a fairly short distance.
Not to mention that Napoleonic warfare was quite noisy, even by the standards of today. Go bang an iron dowel around in a metal pipe, then imagine that sound repeated 2,000 times over and you'll have a rough idea of what a Napoleonic regiment reloading sounded like.

[Oterro]

And the drummer boys were rather important in French columns, AFAIK, kept the momentum of the charge going and set the timing for the

"Vive l'emperur!"'s.

Drums and instruments were vitally important in Napoleonic warfare since they were the only way to effectively transmit information over a large distance quickly. Many high-level commands were issued via musical instrument, usually trumpets or drums, since a shout becomes unintelligible over a fairly short distance.
Not to mention that Napoleonic warfare was quite noisy, even by the standards of today. Go bang an iron dowel around in a metal pipe, then imagine that sound repeated 2,000 times over and you'll have a rough idea of what a Napoleonic regiment reloading sounded like.

In line infantry regiments, soldiers would often enlist their sons as soon as they were born as drummer boys so that when they eventually joined the army they'd have rank seniority from birth.

[Interstellar America]

In line infantry regiments, soldiers would often enlist their sons as soon as they were born as drummer boys so that when they eventually joined the army they'd have rank seniority from birth.

A practice still followed by Nicksyllvania today.

And foreigners that shoot at drummer boys are just proving they are bloodthirsty barbarians that kill children.

Sry bro. Once you've decided to take up and join the army you're not longer a child; you're an enemy combatant.

[The Anglo-Saxon Empire]

AFAIK, not really. I thought sexual activity increases testostorone instead. (Or was it the other way around?)

It also reduces stress, so soldiers will keep their cool rather then freaking out after seeing the harsh reality of war.

A soldier will protect his family and his brother in arms anyway and they are trained for that kinda of stuff they see in war (i mean the fighting notthe other stuff) but they need help to deal with it thats where family and friends come in

Either way it could be bad, testosterone increases aggression, and if a person has someone that they are in a relationship with, or have a natural urge to protect them (as men to women) than they could take unecesarry risks, or waste resources to save them.

[The Anglo-Saxon Empire]

A practice still followed by Nicksyllvania today.

And foreigners that shoot at drummer boys are just proving they are bloodthirsty barbarians that kill children.

Sry bro. Once you've decided to take up and join the army you're not longer a child; you're an enemy combatant.

Drummer boys aren't armed and thus aren't combatants. Using your logic it is okay to shoot unarmed medics.

[Interstellar America]

Sry bro. Once you've decided to take up and join the army you're not longer a child; you're an enemy combatant.

Drummer boys aren't armed and thus aren't combatants. Using your logic it is okay to shoot unarmed medics.

Every medic that dies there goes every man he could've saved.

[Apaduckadagwengo]

Bar Code every single soldier and put a metal plating on the back of their neck, covering over said bar code.

[Interstellar America]

Every medic that dies there goes every man he could've saved.

Do your men completely lack a conscience and remain unaffected by their atrocities?

Oh I don't condone nor do that ICly nor OOCly; I'm just stating what is effective; if not brutal.

American Soldiers wouldn't do such things and the ones that do well.. -Points at Viet Nam.- They get pretty head fucked by shooting little kids.

[Interstellar America]

Oh I don't condone nor do that ICly nor OOCly; I'm just stating what is effective; if not brutal.

American Soldiers wouldn't do such things and the ones that do well.. -Points at Viet Nam.- They get pretty head fucked by shooting little kids.

Usually the most brutal things are the moral people who witness the enemy being brutal. They then feel self-righteous in their vengeance and get rather carried away.

Noted.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

Sry bro. Once you've decided to take up and join the army you're not longer a child; you're an enemy combatant.

Go ahead and shoot at unarmed children, aside from there being more important targets you only embolden our men's desire to get at the child murdering sharpers on the trench over yonder.

I present as evidence, this scene from a movie!

[Soyuz 11]

Soyuz Satellite Forces don't do anything.

[Tappahannock]

If a child is wearing the uniform of the enemy and is not putting up his hands in surrender, or running away unarmed, then the child is a soldier, and will be shot.

Class dismissed.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

I present as evidence, this scene from a movie!

Now I need to find that movie

'Admiral' directed by Oleg Fomin.
As is typical of Russian cinema, it has totally awesome action scenes interspersed with lots of terribly boring dialog. And I'm fairly sure that every single one of the main characters has an affair.

Let me know if you find a version with decent subtitles. It's sad to say that Russian cinema is mostly 'subtitled' by people who put the script through Google Translation. Such was the case for 'Tsar', 'The Sovereign's Servant' and 'Gentlemen Officers: To Save the Emperor'. 9th Platoon got a decent translation, though...I suspect 'cause it's the Russian version of a Vietnam movie and it makes Americans feel good to see Afghanis getting slaughtered

@That later post
Your drummers don't wear yellow? C'mon, I thought you were based on the British

[Tappahannock]

Bandsmen wear inverted colours, so in our case they were be wearing bright crimson red with blue facings. They are also given very conspicuous plumes in order to notify the enemy of their location. They carry no sidearms and generally are at the back of the formation.

They are still soldiers, but if they are unarmed, they will likely only be shot if they are seen to be doing something critical to your operations. Carrying ammunition, for instance.

[Alevuss]

We do not see this as ridiculous, however, more violent nations might.

When invaded or threatened with war, we refuse to engage in combat, unless there is serious threat to civilians. We also just try to subdue our enemies, not kill, even though we have plenty of horrific weapons that do nothing but kill. If there is no threat to civilians, we encourage negotiations, surrender, and cease-fire. This is not to say we are totally non-violent.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

I'll further add that good drill and practice increase the overall perception of your military as competent.

Compare these two videos:
2009 inagural parade in the US
The West Point fellows (or marines? I can't tell.) at the start of the video are alright, but things just go downhill from there. The group at about 1:40 is simply pathetic. Whoever taught them to march should be demoted and possibly shot.

The Welsh Guard in Red Square for the 2010 V-day parade
Much more impressive, to my mind. They have a better bearing, and don't look like a shifty group shuffling along in a sort of half-hearted clump.
And, of course, the US soldiers did much better in that parade as well. Although I can't seem to find a video of just THEM marching along.

[Oterro]

I'll further add that good drill and practice increase the overall perception of your military as competent.

Compare these two videos:
2009 inagural parade in the US
The West Point fellows (or marines? I can't tell.) at the start of the video are alright, but things just go downhill from there. The group at about 1:40 is simply pathetic. Whoever taught them to march should be demoted and possibly shot.

The Welsh Guard in Red Square for the 2010 V-day parade
Much more impressive, to my mind. They have a better bearing, and don't look like a shifty group shuffling along in a sort of half-hearted clump.
And, of course, the US soldiers did much better in that parade as well. Although I can't seem to find a video of just THEM marching along.

The difference is insane. I'm by no means an expert on military, well, anything really and even I can see it. The Americans look...bored!

[Kaninov]

To celebrate Victory we Chug Vodka, Do The Kanin Leg Dance (A AK-47 Wielding Russian Leg Dance), and Shoot AK-47s in the Air while recieving "Special Treatment" from Kanin Women.

[Tursanay]

Unless you count the fact that we like to fight at night when possible as ridiculous, we have nothing to put here.

~ Colonel Fulvio Amjad Genovese

[Legitums Bonus]

In the USLB we have the proud tradition of having to steal a shrubbery from [insert hated group], paint it pink, and give it back to them.

Orchestras are considered deadly weapons on the battlefield, so no platoon goes without a orchestra.

Another time honored tradition is the Macgyver challenge. We lock each contestant in a enemy supply closet, and see who overtakes their enemy base fastest without conventional weapons, our last winner created a nuclear reactor using belt buckles, shoelaces, and a piece of gum. M5 Industries is in charge of judging.