Military Procedure in WC

[criticalmass]

Somewhat unrelated to another thread, I was wondering if we could get together to put some things straight (or maybe someone has done the work already, and can just point me into the right direction).

I was wondering about military procedure in the Wing Commander universe the other day. I see structures closely resembling the U.S. forces, and in discussions we mostly take it for granted that the structures we have today are being followed in the future in the same way.
But call me a deluded European, but somehow this doesn't quite fit. The Confederation is a democratic republic originally uniting Earth's nations and forming the military forces as a joint operation.
So can we assume that U.S. procedures and protocols were just accepted as standard for global/universal operations?

Or maybe to start a notch further down, what do we know about Confec procedure?

 

[Aplha 1-1]

I had always assumed that given Confed's history and founding in Sol that it would be a collection of ranks and terms from all the major powers at the time "meshed" together.

 

[Dahan]

I would agree with Alpha as I would assume the military from all the other nations would have formed together into one military unit??

 

[DyNaMiX]

I would agree with Alpha as I would assume the military from all the other nations would have formed together into one military unit??

Then it'd make more sense for the Space Force to NOT use Army ranks.. :/
The rank isignias would have to change a little as well. The US Army has their stripes upside down. :S

 

[Youngblood]

I have to admit the wing commander thing had me for a while as "wing commander" is an officer rank in the Royal Air Force

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Well, I found your problem:

The Confederation is a democratic republic originally uniting Earth's nations and forming the military forces as a joint operation.

We don't know anything like that about the Confederation -- just that the Confederation came out of a need to defend humanity's interestellar outposts.

 

[Dahan]

I have to admit the wing commander thing had me for a while as "wing commander" is an officer rank in the Royal Air Force

It is also a rank within the Royal Australian Air Force mate

Well, I found your problem:


Quote:
The Confederation is a democratic republic originally uniting Earth's nations and forming the military forces as a joint operation.


We don't know anything like that about the Confederation -- just that the Confederation came out of a need to defend humanity's interestellar outposts.

Loaf do we have any canon, or semi-canon material that might share some light about the beginning of the Confederation or how far can we go back in information wise??

 

[Edfilho]

Those damned Yankee imperialists forced everyone to use north-american ranks! oh, wait, we don't know that...

Well, LOAF is right, we don't really know its history. Maybe the US was the first country to form its own Space Navy/Force, and later it became the Confed's Space Navy/Force. Maybe the US won WW7 and all the other countries are just territories. Maybe the UN became the world's government and decided to use north-american ranks. Maybe there was a global vote and people liked the north-american ranks better. Maybe it was all a marketing campaing. Maybe it was a marketing campaing gone bad...

We really don't know.

 

[Dahan]

~~~
The thought did cross my mind....yet I would not be surprised with the US of A being the first with this and with that.
But then is it really important to use proper military terms and procedures when discussing certain issues or even writing fan fiction? Not everyone is a military buff at least some people makes an effort to understanding them

 

[Bandit LOAF]

It is also a rank within the Royal Australian Air Force mate

It's also a position in the USAF.

Loaf do we have any canon, or semi-canon material that might share some light about the beginning of the Confederation or how far can we go back in information wise??

Not that I can think of offhand (though my head is full of poetry for a presentation tomorrow morning; ask me again on Thursday and maybe we can come up with a better history...).

The OOGWCP seems intentionally vauge on the subject: "The Terran Confederation was formed -- a loose alliance of colonies, planets and systems, each with their own autonomous government. The Confed was designed to provide economic support and a common defense between the interstellar outpsots of humankind. Even in those days of unprecedented cooperation between human cultures, Confed still maintained significantly mili-itary in function. Even in space, humans still disagreed -- sometimes violently. Confed was desigend to serve as a mediator and, if need be, an enforced in such conflicts."

A lot of things about Wing Commander do seem American -- the ranks, many military procedures... heck, a lot of the ship names: there's a Kennedy, a Lincoln, a Harrison, a Washington and so forth... even the capital in WC4 is literally the capitol building in Wasington DC.

That said, there's also things that *aren't* American -- there's plenty of ships with British names, and even a few German and Japanese ones.

As for proper military procudure -- I'd say it either both help or bog down a story. I personally don't enjoy stories where the writer spends a lot of time bragging about how well he understands how the modern army functions (on the other hand, I enjoy historical military analogues and in-jokes a lot -- so I'm happy to see the lost war orders or Chamberlain's idiotic callsign in the novels... so I'm probably not a great judge of what is and isn't horrible.)

That said, of paramount importance is getting your *Wing Commander* procedures and tactics and such right. We're a picky group and we'll know when you're contradicting a game, novel or sign painted on a truck to advertise a game.

 

[Dahan]

A lot of things about Wing Commander do seem American -- the ranks, many military procedures... heck, a lot of the ship names: there's a Kennedy, a Lincoln, a Harrison, a Washington and so forth... even the capital in WC4 is literally the capitol building in Wasington DC.

Which part in WC4 is it referred to regard the capital? You lost me there.
We never got a copy of the Terran Confederation Handbook in Australia, it was never released I looked around at ebay, amazon and there is little or none left of the wc books I am looking for...tis a pity

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Blair flies down the streets of Washington DC to the capitol dome the end of Wing Commander IV.

(It shows up in the losing endgame of Wing Commander III, too, where the Kilrathi blow it up.)

 

[Dahan]

Really?
I dont have the PC version of WV4, only on playstation, me thinks that I have play that again to have a look at that.

i vaguely remember see it in WC3 but have to replay the game to find it, or is there a video clip of it which I can download??

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I don't know about a video clip -- but I believe there's a picture on the back of the box.

(... it looks just like it does in real life, though.)

 

[Quarto]

That said, there's also things that *aren't* American -- there's plenty of ships with British names, and even a few German and Japanese ones.

There's also one or two Russian names (Tereshkova in SO). There would have been many more, had the list of Plunketts and Murphys appeared in an official product.

Anyway, didn't the Confed Handbook add some more information about the formation of the Confederation? IIRC, there was some stuff in there about Confed history in relation to the Pilgrim Alliance.

 

[Delance]

We don't know anything like that about the Confederation -- just that the Confederation came out of a need to defend humanity's interestellar outposts.

It's likely republic, since it doesn't appear to have a monarch. Originally, as you know, it was an empire. And since the senate has power and they vote for decision, it's probably a democracy.

 

[AD]

The OOGWCP seems intentionally vauge on the subject: "The Terran Confederation was formed -- a loose alliance of colonies, planets and systems, each with their own autonomous government. The Confed was designed to provide economic support and a common defense between the interstellar outpsots of humankind. Even in those days of unprecedented cooperation between human cultures, Confed still maintained significantly mili-itary in function. Even in space, humans still disagreed -- sometimes violently. Confed was desigend to serve as a mediator and, if need be, an enforced in such conflicts."

It sounds more like the UN (except with more actual power) than it does the US military.

And here's some pics of the capital from wc4:

 

[DyNaMiX]

I have to admit the wing commander thing had me for a while as "wing commander" is an officer rank in the Royal Air Force

And pretty much every other Commonwealth country. (Australia too as Dahan pointed out).

 

[AD]

And two more... note that the first of these two show the two landmarks in relation to each other

 

[Bandit LOAF]

It sounds more like the UN (except with more actual power) than it does the US military.

That's how the Confederation was *formed*, not how it is now -- it's roughly analagous to how the United States was originally formed.

And two more... note that the first of these two show the two landmarks in relation to each other

They look the same. The Smithsonian, however, has grown by leaps and bounds.

It's likely republic, since it doesn't appear to have a monarch. Originally, as you know, it was an empire. And since the senate has power and they vote for decision, it's probably a democracy.

We have a pretty good idea of how the government works in modern Wing Commander, though -- we see a popularly elected president, a single-house legislature and even a court system.