TNL 52 – War Part One

"Raidon!"

It's early in the morning when Gareth finds Raidon.

"Raidon, we have a problem. We have found more than enough recruits, but we have problems with the harnesses. It seems like not all parts fit well together. It will take a while before everyone has a fitting harness. Calvus and I are already working on it, but it will be another day or two before we have most of the harnesses in working order."

"A few days doesn't matter. We also started without harnesses, so the new recruits can as well. Don't worry about it. What I'm more interested in is how you and Calvus are doing with your blacksmith training?"

"That's going well. I completed my first knife. Calvus has helped me, but next time I think I can do it myself. Fortunately, we have more than enough weapons. They still make them almost as good as they used to, and we got a lot from the regular army. However, the harnesses are a different story. That may take a while."

"How long is a while? We don't have years before we're needed at the front."

"I'm starting to understand the theory, but there's a lot of testing and practicing involved. I only just learned how to fix broken pieces."

"Fix you say? You can do something with the pieces that broke?"

"I certainly can. I can repair all the parts made by a priest. At least, if they're not too battered. This morning I repaired a helmet that had been smashed with a big club or something. Parts of armor are as soft as wrought iron in the hands of a priest, although for others they are so strong that they can ward off blows from swords."

That same night as Raidon goes through the unit book, he notices that Gareth has been promoted! I haven't seen him with his armor on for a while because of his new position, but he has been given the double arrow of a sergeant. That must mean that it goes well with his training, Raidon thinks.

The next day it appears that Gareth's promotion is not the only one. Brandon comes in and tells it right away:

"Raidon! I made it. I made it to the captain's rank!"

Brandon proudly shows off his triple arrow.

Raidon gets up. "Brandon, that's great news! That means we are on the right track. But it's a good thing we can work together better now than we did in the beginning, don't you think?"

"Yes, quite a bit. Back then I couldn't stand you!"

"And look at us now. Both captains in our own army!" Then Raidon gets serious again. "Now that we have enough people and you have been promoted, it is also time to look together at how we are going to organize everything."

"I agree with you. If you don't mind, I'll stay here to staff the base. The last time and especially the days that you were traveling, were quite an experience for me. I don't think I would mind doing more of the administrative side of the military. I think you're cut out more for the action. Don't you think?"

"Hmm, I have to think about that for a while. But basically, I think you're right. You are an excellent leader yourself, but if you keep things in order here, I can focus on the war. It could work. Let me sleep on it for a night. Who knows, maybe I'll come up with another idea."

Raidon uses the rest of the week to train Brandon. As commander of the whole of the New Legion, Raidon has for some time had many more administrative tasks than it takes to command a just a platoon. Fortunately, Brandon has already learned a thing or two as commander of the garrison in Aran. Brandon soon has mastered most of it and it becomes clear that this is indeed easier for him than for Raidon. In the old days, they would probably have both had a very different continuation of their duties. Brandon would have probably ended up in the staff building and eventually rose to commander of a fort or naval base. Raidon would have been more in the field, probably at the forefront of the battles and eventually led his own legion.

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Now that he can alternate the administrative tasks with Brandon, Raidon has much more time for the training of the recruits. That is why he can often be found on top of the gatehouse. From this high place he has a good overview of the recruits who are busy with their exercises outside the walls.

The recruits outside the walls are practicing their formations, in squads and in platoons. From above, Raidon can give tips afterwards to the sergeants who lead the exercises. Morris, who as a manager supervises all groups at the same time, often comes to have a chat when Raidon is standing on the gatehouse.

When Raidon, two weeks after Brandon's promotion, is looking from the top of the gatehouse, he is very impressed. Although the new recruits have only been training for a few weeks, there is already a clear progress to be seen. Not only do the recruits no longer get in each other's way, they have even mastered some of the basic formations well. As Raidon watches, he sees one of the practicing platoons switching from a formation in marching order, with four soldiers side by side, to a defensive formation in a circle with all the shields pointing out continuously.

Here and there a recruit is a little slower than the men next to him, and immediately a squad leader is on his skin. Raidon thinks he recognizes Sergeant Ice in the middle of the formation. Especially the strict posture with his arms crossed is recognizable.

"If Ice continues like this, his men will be even faster at changing formations than our experienced soldiers," Raidon murmurs to no one in particular. He looks up in surprise when he hears a voice behind him.

"I'm afraid those recruits down there are already faster than the first group I trained," replies Morris, who has been looking diagonally behind Raidon for a few minutes.

"Why that, Morris?"

"Sergeant Ice has his men tightly under control. I think he'll use every minute he can find to get his recruits to practice even harder. As a result, I think his men are the furthest of all new recruits."

"Even then, they're just recruits, Morris." Raidon hits his open hand with a fist. "We are real soldiers."

"You may be real soldiers, but when do you have time to keep up with your skills? The only exercises I see the 'real' soldiers doing are weapons exercises. But practice in squads and platoons? You haven't done that since training camp."

Raidon is starting to get a little uncertain now.

"Do you think so? That we've slowed down, I mean. I know we haven't done any exercises as a platoon in a while, but that's because everyone is so spread out. Only the garrison of Aran is the size of a platoon, and even there they can't get everyone practicing at the same time."

"That's what I mean. You are so busy at the moment that those exercises have been pushed to the side." Morris shrugs. "As soldiers, you will still be in great shape, though. I'm just afraid that you won't be able to work together as easily if you don't figure out a way to get everyone to practice a little more often."

"I think you're right, Morris. I'll think about how I can solve that problem."

The conversation with Morris made Raidon think a lot. He was firmly convinced that he and his men constitute the most fearsome army in the country. But thanks to Morris, that belief has taken a big dent. Unfortunately, Raidon is unable to come up with a solution.

After spending a week pondering the problem, Raidon decides there is no simple solution. Until enough recruits are promoted to increase the numbers, it is not possible to involve the smaller groups of soldiers in the practice. Once the recruits get that far, it becomes a high priority to create a fixed training schedule for all locations where soldiers are stationed.

However, it will be a while before the recruits are promoted to soldiers. The original training Raidon and the others received took months, which is much faster than would have been the case in the past. In the old legions, it took an average of a year for recruits to reach the point where they could be incorporated into a legion.

That this is not the case now is partly due to a weighted training regime, but mostly because they are simply desperate. At any moment the war might start for the legion and then they need all the soldiers they can get.

The training of the new recruits of the New Legion is progressing well. Thanks to a practice regimen that Raidon and Morris have devised together, the focus of the training is mainly on the combat skills. Reading and writing is currently of secondary importance. Raidon really feels the time pressure to get the recruits ready for battle.

Within a month, Raidon feels that the first recruits, pretty much all the recruits who train under Sergeant Ice, are far enough along with their training to hold their own in combat. If Raidon's suspicions come true, the first of them might be promoted any time.

This’ll mean that Raidon and Brandon will have more and more troops at their disposal in the coming period. To respond to this, they already make a roster for all posts with an optimal crew, while enough soldiers remain available to form a full company.

A company in the New Legion consists of five platoons, or two hundred and fifty soldiers. However, this is the number in peacetime, since in a war there are always soldiers injured or on missions.

Raidon tries to gather enough soldiers to take the full five platoons, led by the five sergeants of the platoons, Ice, Mateo, Owen, Liam and Mark. Most of these will consist of untested soldiers, since there is only about one and a half platoon of soldiers who have fought against the pirates.

Some of these 'veterans' stay behind at the various locations to ensure that everything runs smoothly there. In practice, it means that in the company only the squad leaders and sergeants have experience. That amounts to thirty veterans. Raidon has decided that he wants to take away another twenty experienced soldiers to help the newer soldiers.