2008-10-08, 05:11 | Link #1801 | |||||
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Don't we all.
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So, conscription from the strategic perspective, short version. You've just enunciated one of the reasons. The other reason is that volunteers tend to hang around longer, so they get more chance to accumulate experience. These two factors produce the superiority. On the other hand, a historical argument for conscription is that you have the chance to use the best of the bunch, rather than just those who volunteer. It is an argument between talent and motivation+experience. On Earth, the talent gap is limited, and thus motivation and experience dominates. At least that's the lesson that seems to be true so far. But the same is not true for the TSAB. I think one thing all can agree on is the chasm b/w normals and cracks, and the value of pure talent, in the TSAB and its fighting doctrines. You see? Quote:
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Same with your FanFic. You might want to know how your characters will act and what they can do. How? Analysis. Quote:
1) had to volunteer for the PLA rather than the USNR. 2) lived in an area where you can neither be conscripted or volunteer for service (HKSAR). 3) had to learn another language (Mandarin) to fluency before even considering signing up. 4) had to convince the guy doing your physical to overlook the fact you are blind in one eye. 5) as well as how close you are to cardiac arrest after the first test run, so woefully out of shape you are (partially caused by a sedentary lifestyle forced on you by 4). |
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2008-10-08, 12:09 | Link #1802 | |||||
Truth Martyr
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Doing Anzu's paperwork.
Age: 38
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Sympathies accepted. We have a saying here; "Drinking water while diving." Think really on the job learning.
The great irony is that outta my 5 peers, I was the only person to pass the promotion test on my first try... and I'm the only person who hasn't been trained as a shift manager. So yes, learn as I go along. Back to 12-hour days yay. Quote:
(Random trivia: Christopher Lee auditioned for a role in the Longest Day and was turned down as he did not look military enough. For great lulz, Lee served in the SAS during WW2. ) Quote:
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And no, the Javelin does not have stadia markings. If it's out of range, it WILL NOT LOCK. Simple as that. And you missed my point yet again. For the Javelin gunner, all that he wants and cares is that the missile will perform as expected - and that was indeed the attitude of Javelin gunners that Michael Yon met during his recent embed at FOB Gibraltar. When the missile misfires, he's not interested in understanding the root causes; he swaps to another missile that works because in the midst of a firefight, what he wants and needs is to be able to employ his weapon effectively. He does not need to know 100% how it works. He does not care about the little tiny intricacies like how much wiring is in it, how electrical pulses send the little signals into the computers, or how the IIR seeker works. It works in combat, that's good enough. Quote:
If I were to be taking things too far the way you're doing, I'd never get anything done. Quote:
2) Hmmm, they don't like HKers protecting themselves? Then again you are under China, and previously were protected by the Brits. *shrugs* Sucks to be you. On the other hand the Malaysian armed forces are institutionally racist; if you're not Malay your chances of promotion are really really low, unless you join the Sarawak Rangers (who started out as an all-Iban jungle scout unit and are now a multiracial LRRP/commando/jungle warfare). The Navy isn't as bad as the Air Force or the Army, at least, which is some small compensation. 3) Sucks to be you again. I'm fluent in Malay and English, but then almost everyone in Malaysia can speak English and Malay to some extent. (And like every single Chinese here speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, and a local dialect depending on where they're from; in Penang it's Hokkien, in Sabah it's Hakka...) 4) I passed my physical. *shrugs* 5) Just barely, but I passed. The outpatient treatment for depression sunk me. I find it rather amusing that you think I'm an American, however, despite me saying more than once that I am Malaysian. I also want to repeat here that it is intellectually dishonest, and hypocritical, to accept Strike Witches and leave it be, and not SoD Nanoha. If you're going to SoD, and not do it in a halfassed manner, you might as well go all in, no? And let's not forget your explanation of vapor trails in space was rather ridiculous - what kind of aircraft ejects coolant from the wingtips, from the same place where your beloved vortices form? And if you want to complain about 5 guys vs you, the fact that 5 different guys disagree with 5 different things you put out says more about you than it does about them. Besides, we both know you're in this for them fightin's. So you can't exactly complain. Also, ark, you can't accuse me of hypocrisy. I never stated I was SoDomising Nanoha. So there. Basically you take all this too seriously. As for being half-assed... I'll just analyse and make my world in a half-assed manner. >:3* Only Kagerou will actually get this... you need to have seen Rescue Wings to get the whole scene. A little in-joke to myself. Also, new word into Cadia's terminology: SoDomising: verb, The process of taking suspension of Disbelief anaysis too far and turning something that is supposed to be fun into serious business. I.E. "You're SoDomising the hell out of magical girl anime." >:3
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Last edited by Wild Goose; 2008-10-08 at 12:20. |
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2008-10-08, 14:36 | Link #1803 | |||||||||||
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
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And considering that the US Army manual does have this line: Quote:
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2008-10-09, 00:08 | Link #1804 | |||||||||
Truth Martyr
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Doing Anzu's paperwork.
Age: 38
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What we have here is a failure to communicate. Quote:
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Besides, ark, you seem to be doing very well in your one-man SoD effort on Nanoha. Quote:
Besides, Macross is the series where a singing AI can hypnotise people and take over a military HQ/battlecarriermecha, where singing stops giant space monsters in their tracks, where people modify HOTAS controls to fit a GUITAR CONTROLLER. Crazier shit has happened in Macross before, and everyone goes with the flow there. That's normally the best way to deal with Macross. (Zero was rather headdesk inducing, as was early bits of 7). Quote:
(You were asking for it, you know )
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2008-10-14, 07:01 | Link #1805 |
Grumpy Russian bear
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2Keroko about lost logia - when Cradle emerges in Strikers there is note "even in times of ancient Belka SC was considered Lost Logia" and then about "Al Hazard" as addition to that. So there were things which in time of Old Belka Empire were normal and now considered Lost Logia + Al Hazard LL are stage up from all other LL.
2arkhangelsk about combat cyborgs: 1. What JS incedent shows is that indoctriminated CC are worst thing for army. I mean... They were programmed, then they were indoctriminated... and out of 12 we have 1 drone unusable anywhere but frontline combat, 2 loyal, 2 loyal but crazy... and 7 defectors, including one of the "old guard" - and her reasons of defection is loyality to her sister more than to her master and his ideas! 2. Any system of combat cyborg use which would prevent this problem and problems noted above by others would cost more politicaly and economicaly than programm of wild area search and recruitment of new mages, 2 year conscription for all population and reinstalment of mass-based weapons put together. 3. Though combat cyborg program would work with partially conscription based army when they would be part of reserve anyway... Last edited by al103; 2008-10-14 at 07:40. |
2008-10-23, 12:33 | Link #1806 | ||
He Who Smites Shippers
Join Date: Mar 2008
Age: 36
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Continuing from the Image Thread:
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Call it what you like, I wouldn't expect you of all people to understand my viewpoint. Quote:
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2008-10-23, 12:39 | Link #1808 |
He Who Smites Shippers
Join Date: Mar 2008
Age: 36
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You said something about Kenshin?
*Comar checks Sheba's post* Damn your ninja edits, Sheba! DAAAMMMNNN THEEEEEEMMMMM!!!! For the record, I didn't approve of Kenshin's end either, though after everything he did over the course of the series there really wasn't all that much left for him to do except pass his legacy on to Yahiko. *EDIT* And what exactly are you implying, Sheba? That I deliberately excluded Kenshin's example to undermine your point or something? I'm just defending my opinions of what a story should be like, not trying to impose it on others the way you seem to think I am.
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Last edited by Comartemis; 2008-10-23 at 12:59. |
2008-10-23, 12:57 | Link #1809 | |
Truth Martyr
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Doing Anzu's paperwork.
Age: 38
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Once, there was a young man who grew up poor, who learned to hunt with a rifle to bring in food and as a means to test his skill. He joined the Marines, and for several years was part of their competition shooting team, winning trophies and honing his skills. Then he deployed to Vietnam, putting the skills he had nurtured while competition shooting to a different purpose, hunting Vietcong, sniping, learning fieldcraft, mentoring and developing young Marines under his leadership, creating a whole new style of warfare. Within that community he was worshiped and fiercely admired, and he was doing something he felt he had a purpose for. Then one day he was badly wounded in a fire, suffering severe burns as he dragged 7 men out of a burning APC. After that he was rotated home, no longer allowed to take to the field; instead he would be a trainer, a teacher of Marine snipers. His wings were stripped away, but he remained active, and channeled his energies into teaching and competition shooting. Then even that was taken away from him, by that dreadful foe called Multiple Sclerosis. He could no longer shoot, could no longer take part in the teaching that had given him such joy - even gripping a rifle was impossible for him. He was discharged from the Marines, a lonely, embittered man, a man with no wings. Yet from that he emerged anew. Wingless he might be, but he taught others to fly. In the last decades of his life he trained tens of thousands of military and police snipers. At his funeral hundreds turned up in person to give him an honor guard for his final journey. His wings were destroyed completely. But the legacy he left ensures he will never be forgotten. His name is Carlos_Hathcock. (In comparison, Nanoha has it well. She's at least physically alright, in comparison to Hathcock who suffered great pain from being burned alive in 1969 and a full blown onslaught of MS in 1979 that killed not only his career but his shooting and his mobility; for the rest of his life he was confined to a wheelchair.) Success is all fine and well, Comar. But it's the legacy that gets remembered. Success without a lasting legacy is pointless. People remember Hathcock's successes because of his legacy. Besides, to live is to struggle. If we don't have to strive for anything in life, it is a boring life we lead.
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2008-10-23, 13:10 | Link #1810 | |
He Who Smites Shippers
Join Date: Mar 2008
Age: 36
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A good point, Goose. However....
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How many times do I have to say it?! I have NOTHING against heroes struggling to come out on top! It IS a boring story when the heroes get whatever they want without working for it, of that there is no doubt! But there must be a happy ending waiting for them at the end of the road. Otherwise what was the point of everything they went through? Case in point: If I hadn't known that the successive murders in Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni didn't ultimately lead to a happy ending I would never ever have gone anywhere near it, and it is only for that Good End that I decided to watch it in the first place. By the same token I absolutely refuse to watch School Days or finish watching Evangelion, because there's no point in watching a series just to get a Bad End at the end of the road, or at least not to me. I guess others may get a kick out of a depressing story or they'd never sell any like that, but that's really not my thing.
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2008-10-23, 13:27 | Link #1811 | ||
Truth Martyr
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Doing Anzu's paperwork.
Age: 38
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It all depends on how you interpret things, of course. You want the totally sweet hot chocolate good ending. Me, I prefer the sweetened Milo/Nescafe/Milk true ending that's happy, but has a sense of a little bit of sadness and drama in it, because that's life: until The Day comes, and so long as we remain on this imperfect world, we will experience the good and the bad. It's the bad that makes us treasure the good. Quote:
If the future is of feathers and lead Then I am water and fire
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2008-10-23, 13:35 | Link #1812 |
Dansa med oss
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Near Cincinnati, OH, but actually in Kentucky
Age: 36
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Mahou shoujo is SRS BZNS
He was illustrating a different take on "coming out on top." In the instance of that Hathcock fellow, dying in Vietnam would have gotten his name on a wall in D.C., but instead he affected hundreds of other people even after he was past his prime. Maybe it wasn't your definition of an "epic and heroic death" like gunning down a hundred Vietcong before he was shot himself, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good end. |
2008-10-23, 13:42 | Link #1813 | |
Truth Martyr
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Doing Anzu's paperwork.
Age: 38
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Also, had Hathcock not suffered the way he did, and had lived normally, it's debatable whether he would have been so admired - true, he was already admired when he was serving, but lots of that admiration in his later years came from the fact that here was a guy confined to a wheelchair, living off a measely disability pension, who'd lost the ability to do something he really loved, who was going around and teaching and training others for free. That's a kind of legacy you don't quite get by being 100% healthy.
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2008-10-23, 13:42 | Link #1814 | |
He Who Smites Shippers
Join Date: Mar 2008
Age: 36
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And if you think this is serious business, then don't EVER ask arkhangelsk anything about Suspension of Disbelief, or he'll completely blow your mind.
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2008-10-23, 14:10 | Link #1817 | |
I'm Back
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Land of Lincoln
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2008-10-23, 14:14 | Link #1818 | |||
Σ(。д°(o--(ಠ益ಠ )
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Hotsprings Resort
Age: 37
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After all, nothing is gained without loss. EDIT: Quote:
I don't even know what to say to that. You're calling the legacy of a real life United States Marine Corps hero SYMPATHY? He doesn't need to be immortal, because his legacy already IS. I'm so angry right now I can't even type anymore. This ignorance is shameful and disgusting.
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2008-10-23, 14:27 | Link #1819 | |
NERV Personnel
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Are you saying that this man, who volunteered to put his LIFE on the line for his country and ended up severely injuring himself by pulling not one, but seven men from out of several tons of flaming steel and then still pushed forward to teach regardless of his declining health which he had no control over is honored out of SYMPATHY?! I...I don't know how to respond to this. It's almost like saying Nanoha's sacrifice to try and save Vivio from the Cradle and the Relic was a selfish and stupid move on her part...almost...kinda... |
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2008-10-23, 15:53 | Link #1820 | ||
He Who Smites Shippers
Join Date: Mar 2008
Age: 36
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*Comar yanks on Tempest's hair instead*
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And for that matter, that's not even true in real life. You ever find loose change on the ground? I found a $20 bill blowing down the street in a stiff breeze a few years ago. Lucky~!
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Last edited by Comartemis; 2008-10-23 at 16:05. |
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