shaeun wrote:
I am not certain that mainstreaming orphans is a moral imperative. Socialization can be done in many forms, one of which could be the formal adoption of the orphans by a newly formed 'Training Regiment'.
Is it a little out of the box? Yes, but it could be structured the say way that scouting is with adults around for supervision.
In other words - it is not an immediate non-starter. Though one would have to be very careful during the implementation phase.
The whole idea reminds me of the "child armies" we've seen in subsahara Africa and especially in Burma with the Karen tribes.
Asking children to learn to kill when they should be learning to respect and treasure life is in my view a horrible thing. It's bad enough when adults have to do it, but kids whose brains aren't even fully developed yet?
At the same time, I can understand that in some instances where survival is at stake that it happens. In that event you do what has to be done.
But the allies are not in that situation on Safehold at this stage of the game. Quite frankly, they are winning handily and have no need for such an expedient. If special forces are called for--and I think it's a good idea myself---, let's start with supplementing the training of some scout sniper units with their wiley, seasoned and tough non coms as well as some high performance officers and light infantry. Merlin could dig out the extra stuff they'd need to know and go from there.
I believe that current policy in terms of special forces recruitment is to sort out candidates whose performance in the ranks has been superior and build from there. That would also be good policy for Safehold.
Don