Command roles for engineers [SPOILER for Shadow of Victory]

Relax wrote:

saber964 wrote:Honor has spent most of her career in space. Except for professional development schools like ATC and PCO and probably NWC. She's spent probably 90% of her career in space. Her longest stint dirtside was when Janacek benched her to the academy.

No one is going to spend most of their career in space.

They have families.

The Spear point to tail end charlie logcom is pretty much a pyramid. You don't get to the tip of the spear without filing in that pyramid and even then most of your career will be commanding a desk dirtside because active operational command time is extremely expensive and navies like to have as many different captains with experience as possible instead of a select few for .... shall we say obvious reasons.

An interesting point. Honor was XO on a couple of heavy cruisers and then on a light cruiser. Then a TAC officer. Talk about a good way to stall a career.

I would bet the well connected move up very smoothly...and probably spend most of their time in Home Fleet where the biggest danger might be paper cuts. Well, the electronic equivalents.

You're forgetting that Honor was serving in a peacetime navy when advancement would be slow and with the Young's putting the brakes on her career even more than the average officer.

saber964 wrote:You're forgetting that Honor was serving in a peacetime navy when advancement would be slow and with the Young's putting the brakes on her career even more than the average officer.

Add to that the career progression slowdown effects of prolong in the peacetime RMN.

Vince wrote:

saber964 wrote:You're forgetting that Honor was serving in a peacetime navy when advancement would be slow and with the Young's putting the brakes on her career even more than the average officer.

Add to that the career progression slowdown effects of prolong in the peacetime RMN.

How about a new angle to examine?

In the peacetime Manticore navy, those with clout got the best assignments. Home Fleet was a far higher percentage of the fleet than during wartime because, well, they were guarding a three planet system and not much else. Well, OK, Silesia, and that's where the action was.

I would bet a real lot of the aristos essentially spent most of their career in Home Fleet. Not much danger, easy to get time off to visit mommy, daddy and the really important relatives. Let the proles have the tough assignments.

When the war first began, the aristos were very prominent at the top levels but some of them actually got killed. Others may have decided on early retirement. After all, in a prolong world getting killed at 30 means missing almost a century of wealthy life. The aristos probably became more ardent in arranging transfers to Home Fleet.

And then came the First Battle of Manticore and the Home Fleet was shattered. Probably the ranks of the aristos and their rich friends were battered beyond belief.

Most of the officers we've been reading about with some prominent exceptions (Michelle Henke, Michael Oversteegan) have not been much more than "Honorables" aside from the knighthoods given and, of course, Honor's rise.

I would guess the Mantie Navy will be far more democratic in the future.

ldwechsler wrote:
An interesting point. Honor was XO on a couple of heavy cruisers and then on a light cruiser. Then a TAC officer. Talk about a good way to stall a career.

I would bet the well connected move up very smoothly...and probably spend most of their time in Home Fleet where the biggest danger might be paper cuts. Well, the electronic equivalents.

Look for a sec on the CA she was on - the Broadside. It's a dedicated Marine hauler in a nasty package.

However, while a CA, it is not intended for use in CA roles. It is specificall tasked with leading and protecting Marine taskforces. In short - it's supposed to be with the mop up forces. When deployed, most of it's time would probably be spent "guarding" the fleet train. occasionally, it would be sent to someplace like Masada where it's Marine force was needed to jump on an insurrection, and it's CA functions are required to control the space lanes just in case the insurgents get their hands on a LAC or arm a freighter.

In short - manning a Broadsword (and now a Kemerling) may be seen as babysitting duty, instead of "real" CA experience - smashing pirates in Silesia, screening a SD in a major fleet maneuver, or showing the flag to a neutral 3rd party.

Besides, she was probably "punished" after the Atticus debacle. Yes, she got a medal, but she made the navy leadership look like fools.

ldwechsler wrote:
How about a new angle to examine?

In the peacetime Manticore navy, those with clout got the best assignments. Home Fleet was a far higher percentage of the fleet than during wartime because, well, they were guarding a three planet system and not much else. Well, OK, Silesia, and that's where the action was.

I would bet a real lot of the aristos essentially spent most of their career in Home Fleet. Not much danger, easy to get time off to visit mommy, daddy and the really important relatives. Let the proles have the tough assignments.

When the war first began, the aristos were very prominent at the top levels but some of them actually got killed. Others may have decided on early retirement. After all, in a prolong world getting killed at 30 means missing almost a century of wealthy life. The aristos probably became more ardent in arranging transfers to Home Fleet.

And then came the First Battle of Manticore and the Home Fleet was shattered. Probably the ranks of the aristos and their rich friends were battered beyond belief.

Most of the officers we've been reading about with some prominent exceptions (Michelle Henke, Michael Oversteegan) have not been much more than "Honorables" aside from the knighthoods given and, of course, Honor's rise.

I would guess the Mantie Navy will be far more democratic in the future.

Methinks you missed a step. Janacec beached White Haven and his protegees, replaced them with his connected friends. They got rolled over during Operation Beatrice, The few survivors were beached or court martialed, except Kumahlo, the one that took over homefleet before OB.

pappilon wrote:

ldwechsler wrote:
How about a new angle to examine?

In the peacetime Manticore navy, those with clout got the best assignments. Home Fleet was a far higher percentage of the fleet than during wartime because, well, they were guarding a three planet system and not much else. Well, OK, Silesia, and that's where the action was.

I would bet a real lot of the aristos essentially spent most of their career in Home Fleet. Not much danger, easy to get time off to visit mommy, daddy and the really important relatives. Let the proles have the tough assignments.

When the war first began, the aristos were very prominent at the top levels but some of them actually got killed. Others may have decided on early retirement. After all, in a prolong world getting killed at 30 means missing almost a century of wealthy life. The aristos probably became more ardent in arranging transfers to Home Fleet.

And then came the First Battle of Manticore and the Home Fleet was shattered. Probably the ranks of the aristos and their rich friends were battered beyond belief.

Most of the officers we've been reading about with some prominent exceptions (Michelle Henke, Michael Oversteegan) have not been much more than "Honorables" aside from the knighthoods given and, of course, Honor's rise.

I would guess the Mantie Navy will be far more democratic in the future.

Methinks you missed a step. Janacec beached White Haven and his protegees, replaced them with his connected friends. They got rolled over during Operation Beatrice, The few survivors were beached or court martialed, except Kumahlo, the one that took over homefleet before OB.

Not all of them. Yes, there were deaths and the top leadership was trimmed although we know that Higgins, for one, was not.
But there were many others who were in ships who survived. And
the Home Fleet was not greatly damaged.

But the Home Fleet was shattered at the First Battle of Manticore. Hundreds of thousands died and a real high percentage of the connected were gone as well. For a historical comparison, note that a high percentage of West Pointers only wound up in dangerous situations for brief times in Vietnam. They were "punching their tickets" for promotion, protected by higher ups.

The same will be done in the Manticoran navy. I would guess that more than half the connected officers died that day. And while connected middies and ensigns can be graduated out, it takes years. And for the mid-level officers a lot longer.