One Manticore's need for Competent Officers

Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but "deowll" <deowll RemoveThis @bellsouth.net>
wrote on Mon, 26 Jun 2006 22:06:25 -0500 in alt.books.david-weber :
>
>> In the first round of the resumed war, the new tactics and weapons,
>> unreported by ONI, combined with incompetent commanders on the Manties
>> side, let Haven roll up most of the RN's gains from the last war. OTOH,
>> if
>> those self same commanders had been in charge 20 years ago when the
>> President Harris started a "short victorious war", I strongly suspect that
>> the People's Respublic of Haven would have been thinning the ranks of the
>> Manticore Aristocrats and conducting "police activity" on Gryphon just
>> this side of global war.
>>
>
>Maybe, it was a near thing the last time. The main problem in some ways was
>Manticore's officer core were caught with their shorts at half mast. Nobody
>looks good with their shorts at half mast. People look a lot more competent
>when they are expecting and prepared for trouble.

Part of what makes for a "competent" officer core is the civilian
leadership. The Cromarty administration was expecting war, and preparing
for said war, back when Elizabeth was a princess.
The problem in this current go round was that the "competent" officers
were put on half-pay, because the High Ridge government didn't like the
military, saw no real need for the military, and to be blunt, were
incompetent in regards to things military themselves. E.g. Houseman, the
economic expert in the original mission to Grayson, discounted several
centuries of Grayson/Masada conflict as an absurdity, and that Grayson and
Masada were obviously meant to be trade partners. That same obstinate
insistence on ignoring reality, or 'worse' filtering it through their own
perceptions, underlay the entire High Ridge administrations leadership's
view of the universe. They are smart, ergo they are right, and the
universe must be as they understand it.
So they down size the military, beach the more "militaristic" members
of the Navy, promote those with a proper understanding of political
realities, and wind up with commanders who are not expecting war, are not
planning for war, and consequently when war comes to them, having no plans
to improvise from, fight stupid. Worse, send the competent officers under
them out with no forethought. Pushing baby ducks into a pond full of Saber
pike, I believe is the expression.

That said, even if the Manticore Government had had a change of heart,
and sent out fully competent officers and staffs, with enough time to get
everyone up to speed with some 'realistic' battle plans (even if the battle
plans were based on the situation at the time of the cease fire), the
Manties would still have gotten rolled over. But they might have been able
to take a few Haven ships with them, rather than "lead with their face" as
a friend described his losing style in a competition. E.g. Sidmore
Station. Had not Honor reinforced her command with her "other navy", she
would have been as much toast as the forces which were rolled up.

tschus
pyotr


>
--
pyotr filipivich
Typos, Grammos and da kind are the result of ragin hormones
Fortesque Consulting: Teaching Pigs to Sing since 1968.

pyotr filipivich wrote in message ...
>Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but "deowll" <deowll DeleteThis @bellsouth.net>
>wrote on Mon, 26 Jun 2006 22:06:25 -0500 in alt.books.david-weber :
>>
>>> In the first round of the resumed war, the new tactics and weapons,
>>> unreported by ONI, combined with incompetent commanders on the Manties
>>> side, let Haven roll up most of the RN's gains from the last war. OTOH,
>>> if
>>> those self same commanders had been in charge 20 years ago when the
>>> President Harris started a "short victorious war", I strongly suspect
that
>>> the People's Respublic of Haven would have been thinning the ranks of
the
>>> Manticore Aristocrats and conducting "police activity" on Gryphon just
>>> this side of global war.
>>>
>>
>>Maybe, it was a near thing the last time. The main problem in some ways
was
>>Manticore's officer core were caught with their shorts at half mast.
Nobody
>>looks good with their shorts at half mast. People look a lot more
competent
>>when they are expecting and prepared for trouble.
>
> Part of what makes for a "competent" officer core is the civilian
>leadership. The Cromarty administration was expecting war, and preparing
>for said war, back when Elizabeth was a princess.
> The problem in this current go round was that the "competent" officers
>were put on half-pay, because the High Ridge government didn't like the
>military, saw no real need for the military, and to be blunt, were
>incompetent in regards to things military themselves. E.g. Houseman, the
>economic expert in the original mission to Grayson, discounted several
>centuries of Grayson/Masada conflict as an absurdity, and that Grayson and
>Masada were obviously meant to be trade partners. That same obstinate
>insistence on ignoring reality, or 'worse' filtering it through their own
>perceptions, underlay the entire High Ridge administrations leadership's
>view of the universe. They are smart, ergo they are right, and the
>universe must be as they understand it.
> So they down size the military, beach the more "militaristic" members
>of the Navy, promote those with a proper understanding of political
>realities, and wind up with commanders who are not expecting war, are not
>planning for war, and consequently when war comes to them, having no plans
>to improvise from, fight stupid. Worse, send the competent officers under
>them out with no forethought. Pushing baby ducks into a pond full of Saber
>pike, I believe is the expression.
>
> That said, even if the Manticore Government had had a change of heart,
>and sent out fully competent officers and staffs, with enough time to get
>everyone up to speed with some 'realistic' battle plans (even if the battle
>plans were based on the situation at the time of the cease fire), the
>Manties would still have gotten rolled over. But they might have been able
>to take a few Haven ships with them, rather than "lead with their face" as
>a friend described his losing style in a competition. E.g. Sidmore
>Station. Had not Honor reinforced her command with her "other navy", she
>would have been as much toast as the forces which were rolled up.
>
>tschus
>pyotr
>
>
Pyotr, good stuff.

I've never really understood the High Ridge government and what their
driving motivations were. Oh, some characters, like Reg. Houseman, are
understandable, but I've never really understood High Ridge and his other
highest level cronies.

And I don't really understand Janacek either. Why does he seem to have this
unending hatred or jealousy against good military leaders? What is his
problem?

About the only thing I can see is that they're all a bunch of power-hungry
types with no real agenda beyond gaining and keeping power.