Tactics of War [Monday, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.]

[replicarter.livejournal.com]

Sipping on her cinnamon latte, RC waits for the rest of the class to file in.

“One quick announcement before the lecture today, class. Callisto will be my assistant for this class. Please give her your highest respect and attention. Thank you.

And now, please take out your notebooks and pay bloody attention.

I’ve seen a lot of interesting warfare and I have an example to discuss with you today. The names have been changed to keep this as generalized as possible as we can quickly get bogged down in specifics. He totally drew the line in the sand, so bite me.

There was this planet. I’m going to call it Valero…. And it was pretty much what you’d call prime galactic real estate. Fresh air, good sunshine, lush continents, excellent seas, good location in the schematic of planets. Completely untouched, a glorious frontier of sorts.

The natives were friendly (generally speaking, of course) and related to a neighboring federation of planets, which I shall call the Evil Empire. The Evil Empire had laid claim on the planet Valero with a clever use of flags.

However, citizens from another neighboring empire (known as the Alliance of Unitedness) had infiltrated the planet with settlers, farmers,etc – as, well-- it was great real estate and had a great location between the Evil Empire and the Alliance of Unitedness.

The Evil Empire was okay with all of this as long as these new settlers agreed to be under their rule, pay their taxes, worship their gods, that sort of thing. Colonialism at its best.

Eventually, the people of Valero decided to break off from the Evil Empire to form their own independent identity – with the long term goal of joining the Alliance of Unitedness.

War, obviously, ensued and the Alliance of Unitedness decided not to help the people of Valero in their battle so it was up to all the people who lived on the planet to defend themselves.

The Evil Empire sent thousands of troops to the planet to make it a quick invasion and suppression of the rebellion. Several skirmishes took place but the largest battle was fought after the siege of Valeroian fort – which was actually the ruins of an old mission built by another race that had tried to occupy the planet.

Many brave men and women were holed up in this mission. There were people from the Evil Empire, people from the Alliance, people of mixed races, mercenaries, … the usual rag tag army in a war of this type. They were not the best soldiers in this backwater planet that had such potential. And yet, here they were, facing the most important fight for the planet’s independence.

There was no way that the garrison at this fort could beat the incoming troops from the Evil Empire and there was no way to send in more troops due to many tactical errors of the Valeroian generals as well as issues with technology and not having enough soldiers in the first place.

So, they held their ground. After a long siege, the Evil Empire’s troops finally attacked the fort itself in the dead of night and by morning, they had massacred everyone inside.

It was a huge victory for the Evil Empire. At once, they were even more cocksure than before.

The head general of the planet Valero took immediate advantage of the situation by moving his troops (which were of great number than those in the now completely ruined fort) to the battle ground of his own choosing. And now morale of the men was high as they felt the great need for vengeance over their fallen brothers.

The Evil Empire was caught in the final battle because they had decided to all take an afternoon nap (as it was in their culture to do so). The head general, of course, knew his enemy and knew this would happen and took advantage of this momentary weakness.

The battle was won, the planet was won. The Evil Empire let them be and eventually the planet joined the Alliance of Unitedness.

And the ruined-mission/fort became an icon of heroism and bravery for centuries. It is now a popular location for tourists.

Now.

Discussion questions (pick one):

1) You’re the commanding officer of the garrison under siege. You’re outnumbered, out-gunned. Your men and women are unable to handle the pressure. What tactics do you use to have a fighting chance? Also, due to circumstances and your own egotism, surrender is out of the question.
2) You’re the head general and you have a choice to send in valuable troops to help in a hopeless siege or you just let the garrison under siege be massacred. What do you choose? This is more of an ethical question, but it does involve a keen sense of the ethics involved in being tactical during wartime.
3) Consider yourself the general for the Evil Empire. Your tactic was to subdue the rebellion with superior force. What would have been a more successful way of destroying the insurrection?


OOC: (1) VICTORY OR DEATH! *fangirls* (2) I did this as an example of how students will officially IC hear the official fandom battles we’ll be covering (starring some of your classmates and peers as their adult selves).

Students will walk away from class knowing that they studied an example of the Evil Empire versus the Rebel Alliance, blah blah, even though – for clarity and fun, I’ll be using the real names (Aeryn Sun, Peacekeepers, cylons, daaaaaaahk lords of the Sith, daleks mebbe etc).

And you’ll get to ask questions of the real people (fh!Characters playing their adult/wartime selves). But -- NO ONE (including RC who is just pulling these examples out of her head) will leave the class connecting goofy John Crichton to some horrible war over a wormhole weapon (if I use that battle, still unsure, etc).

I’ll be making a schedule and clearing EVERYTHING with everyone, of course.

I’ve probably confused you. Plz ask questions if you have any.

Comments

Sign in here, plz

[replicarter.livejournal.com]

...

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[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam Carter

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[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

Callisto signs in.

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[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge bounces in to the classroom and signs in.

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[cyclopeanmerc.livejournal.com]

Pip signs in as Englbert Humperdink

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[suzotchka.livejournal.com]

Ivanova signs in, still sniffly.

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[pure-blooddraco.livejournal.com]

Draco Malfoy

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[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

M. Parker

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[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin signed in.

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[can_be_more]

Aeryn signs in.

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[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna Trebond.

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[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

Edward Elric

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[janet_fraiser]

Janet Fraiser

Discussion Question #1

[replicarter.livejournal.com]

*fangirls Travis*

Re: Discussion Question #1

[cyclopeanmerc.livejournal.com]

Pip taps his pencil agains the desk.

"If I had advance warning, I'd try to set up land mines and other types of traps that would impede the encroachment of an invading force. Once they had finally bypassed the traps, our best hope would be to try and take out their commanders or their food supplies. Possibly through poison for food or assisnation or any snipers we may have. They're more refreshed than us, have greater numbers and greater firepower. Our best hope is to hit them where it hurts the absolute most.

If we stay in open warfare, they would eventually overrun us or win in a war of attrition, due to them having a superior force.

It's not a fight I'd want to fight, myself."

Re: Discussion Question #1

[pure-blooddraco.livejournal.com]

I'd start by trying to raise the hopes of my men and women. Any plan that I had would be useless if I didn't have my own soldiers behind me. Then I suppose I would surround the garrison with any type of booby traps we had. I would also have long range wand gun men ready.

Re: Discussion Question #1

[can_be_more]

"If the troops can't handle the pressure, that's the biggest problem," Aeryn says. "Morale needs to be improved, and things like hope and all that dren won't make a difference. There's usually someone bringing everyone else down with their own depression, so it might not be a horrible idea to shoot them, to remind everyone else of what will happen to them if they don't shape up."

She's completely serious, by the way.

Re: Discussion Question #1

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin thought about the question for a long time before speaking up.

"Sometimes standing your ground is more important than the tactical outcome," he said. "I'm not saying that a grand speech will make the hopelessly outnumbered feel that much better, but if the mission is that important, those carrying it out need to find the internal strength to face it." He shrugged. "Tactically, I'd try to take as many of the enemy out with us as we could." He then laid out a very cunning plan that the mun can't write because omg brain fried.

Re: Discussion Question #1

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"From what I've read... tell them they are already dead. That they are doomed, and thus they must take as many of the enemy with them as possible," Parker said slowly. "As an honor guard into Hell. That they will have honor and glory in the afterlife. If you can get them in that mindset, they can handle the pressure. That can make them fight as hard as possible, and if by some chance they survive, the victory in their mind is that much stronger."

Discussion Question #2

[replicarter.livejournal.com]

*fangirls Houston*

Re: Discussion Question #2

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I'd send in a small team of highly trained troops, to see if they could turn the tide. No one should get left behind." Sam grimaced. The answer probably wouldn't be Air Force approved, but it was how she felt.

Discussion Question #3

[replicarter.livejournal.com]

*fangirls Santa Anna*

Re: Discussion Question #3

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Alienating them from the Alliance of Unitedness, for one thing. Pointing out that they'd been abandoned to their fate, and making nice with the locals in order to get them back into the Evil Empire." Parker frowned. "Failing that, taking the rebels hostage, instead of massacring them, could have taken the heart out of the rebellion, instead of inspiring them to greater heights of defiance. Offering a parley or terms for surrender. And for god's sake, not taking a nap later!"

Talk During Class

[replicarter.livejournal.com]

Dun dun dun DUN DUN

After Class

[replicarter.livejournal.com]

If needed...?

Re: After Class

[cyclopeanmerc.livejournal.com]

Pip approaches Professor RepliCarter after classe. "Excuse me, Professor? Was there anything I missed in the last class that I need to know?" Please don't teach me by shoving your finger into my head. That would hurt.

OOC

[replicarter.livejournal.com]

*drinks a margarita with salt, mmm*

Re: OOC

[suzotchka.livejournal.com]

Thank you, for making me unable to formulate any answers because all my mind is giving me is a mental image of Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles in French maid outfits running towards the other side screaming, "Shut up and touch the monkeeeeeeey!"