Tolwyn's Stars

Wedge009

Wedge009

Rogue Leader
I'm just curious: what was Tolwyn's motive for becoming a Space Marshal? It's been stated several times that Tolwyn gave away stars for combat positions. Would being a Space Marshal also keep him from the front lines? In the losing WC4 ending, he's on the bridge of the Vesuvius/St Helens taking a command role, so why aren't full Admirals not allowed combat positions?

Seems ironic for a Rear Admiral to be at the 'front', doesn't it?
 
Space Marshalls can do whatever they want and answer to not many, and with Marshal Law still up he wouldnt have to answer to anyone. Bainbridge was often at the front during the war, like in End Run.
 
That would be martial law. :)

I can understand that Space Marshals can do what they want, but why should Tolwyn need to take grade reductions to stay at the front? And what Admiral was Bainbridge?
 
Marshal, martial, i already typed it once, then lost my mind. Technically higher ranked admirals have more responsibility than lower ranked admirals who are in charge of a group of ships, while others are in charge of groups of groups, I guess Tolwyn wanted a more hands on, direct approach. And Bainbridge was in charge of all the Confederation armed forces from the beginning of the war til he died during the false truth.
 
I want to say he was but im not sure if that was even the term for it yet or what they used in the books.
 
Banbridge was a full Admiral -- there isn't *always* a Space Marshal... they're like five star generals, a fairly rare rank that's usually *not* held.

He was always a high ranking admiral, but never the full commander of the navy -- Space Marshall Gregarov and Admiral Noragami both commanded the navy during Banbridge's tenure.
 
Useless trivia -- in the US armed forces 5-star ("Marshal")
rank is only given in wartime, so as to save embarrassment
when an American officer (e.g. Eisenhower) has to command
a 5-star officer from another nation (E.g. Montgomery --
wasn't he a field marshal at some point?)

When this does not apply, 4 stars are as high as one
can go, although the 5-star rank is still technically on the books.

We call 5-stars "General of the Army" "Admiral of the Fleet"
etc., supposedly because it was originally proposed
as "Field Marshal", but the US Army chief of staff at
the time was one George C. Marshall. He didn't care for
"Field Marshal Marshall" so the title was amended to
"General of the Army".

Makes a good story anyhow -- I saw it on Usenet, so it
must be true! :)

Respectfully,

Brian P.
 
Originally posted by pendell

Makes a good story anyhow -- I saw it on Usenet, so it
must be true! :)
Click to expand...

Are you saying that I can make 648,322 dollars by working at home in ten days, guaranteed?!
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF

He was always a high ranking admiral, but never the full commander of the navy -- Space Marshall Gregarov and Admiral Noragami both commanded the navy during Banbridge's tenure.
Click to expand...

I thought both of them died at McAulliffe
 
N... no, they're not even mentioned at McAuliffe <G> Noragami was killed in the bomb plot in '68, and Gregarov would have been discraced in Pilgrim Truth...
 
Yeah, that bomb in '68 sure helped weed out Tolwyn's competition. He had nothing to do with it, and never would have wanted it to happen, but in a perverse way fate smiled on him that day.

As for Tolwyn's motivation to become Space Marshal... The Kilrathi were no longer a real threat and neither were the Border Worlds, but from that position he could make a case for the BW being a threat and help move his plans along. Without any direct oversight (yes the legislative branch [the executive seems to have faded quite a bit since the false peace] did have authority) but as was discovered in the US Iran-Contra scandals, it is fairly easy for people high enough up to keep things hidden form a body like that. At least for a while. As Space Marshal, Tolwyn could divert equipment, people, etc to his cause and as long as he chose people wisely and wasn't sloppy he was able to get away with it. They miscalculated with Eisen and Blair, though. Tolwyn figured that if Blair could destroy an entire planet, to save humanity, he might be able to take what Tolwyn saw as the next step.
 
I guess i was thinking about Admiral Long and Admiral Nagomo. :)<shrug>

On a side note, why is it that whenever someone disagrees with something thats been said, they have to stutter or release some air first before they can commence with the disagreeing?

Which is really odd since we're not talking, we're typing.

[Edited by Supdon3 on 04-13-2001 at 01:45]
 
Concerning Tolwyn's trading of ranks:
He was a Rear Admiral in Wc3, right? Isn't that a little low for someone being in charge of such a largescale project as the Behemoth? I am not too familiar with the responsibilites of the ranks in the military. Is it possible for such a "low" rank to be in charge of such projects?
 
I mentioned this elsewhere, at the time of the project, I believe Paul Tibbets was a Colonel at the time of the Manhattan Project. Granted it wasn't the same scope as the Behemoth, but I think Rear Adm. would be sufficient for that kind of project.

Tibbets took over a B-29 bombardment squadron, the 393rd, in its final stage of training, and Wendover Army Air Base located on the Utah/Nevada border were selected by Paul for "starters". The 393rd was fully equipped and the base had a fully manned "housekeeping" group. Wendover was isolated but close enough to Los Alamos to work together. The Salton Sea was an ideal distance for bombing practice. Then on December 17th, 1944, formal orders were issued activating the 509th Composite Group, consisting of seven subordinate units. In March 1945 the First Ordnance Squadron, a unit designed to carry out the technical phases of the group responsibilities, became part of the 509th. The personnel count now exceeded 1500 enlisted men and some 200 officers. Then, quietly, the group started moving overseas to Tinian Island in the Marianas chain. Tibbets was in charge of things outside of Los Alamos.
 
So it is possible. But that Colonel was he really responsible for the whole project, as Tolwyn was for the Behemoth, or just responsible for finding and training a crew who was willing to use the project? Then he would be more like Blair...
 
Originally posted by Mekt-Hakkikt
Concerning Tolwyn's trading of ranks:
He was a Rear Admiral in Wc3, right? Isn't that a little low for someone being in charge of such a largescale project as the Behemoth? I am not too familiar with the responsibilites of the ranks in the military. Is it possible for such a "low" rank to be in charge of such projects?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. ISTR that the military person in
charge of the Manhattan project was Brigadier General
Groves (O-7 rank). In fact, I believe he was promoted
to BG while running the Project -- before that I believe
he was just a Colonel.

Although my impression was that Tolwyn was not so much
the project's administrator as it's Godfather -- the
person who demanded it be done and got the resources
to do it. In which case, O-8 rank is rather low --
Rear Admirals have pull but not *that* much pull.
Unless he has friends and influence due to his
war record far beyond his titular rank ..

Respectfully,

Brian P.
 
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