 December 22, 2011 - 10:53pm | Blackwater (aka, Academi) is the largest military in the world outside of the U.S. military and is a whole lot scarier. But check this out, of all the more than a hundred links I've posted on Facebook, this is the first one I have EVER had to do a security verification for on FB. That is f'n scary. Does this remind you of any particular organization in Star Frontiers? View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 December 23, 2011 - 7:17am | Perhaps its time we explore themes concerning private armies; Galactic Task Force or Merco holding a government hostage. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 23, 2011 - 7:41am | A few things one private armies have been part of SF since the inception with the Corporate War. SF being the more kid friendly RPG did not explore the whole "War as a Fun Backdrop" theme to much. Next the US military is the Sixth largest in the world outnumbered by (in order) China, India, North Korea, South Korea, and Pakistan and the US military is downsizing. Academi is the largest private military which the US State Department contracts with. (There are two others) Ever wonder why one part of the government doesn't use the actual military and feels the need to hire a much more expensive force to be mostly a guard unit. If you think that is a little strange try a search of US (or whichever government you like) and the military/police forces they employ. While you expect the City of Los Angeles to have a large police force they actually have two with overlapping jurisdictions (they are the Police and the County Sheriff) OR that the US Forestry Service has a police force complete with SWATs team because you know those bear and wolf gang wars are completely out of control. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
December 23, 2011 - 2:53pm | I actually meant concentration of mobilized military (Military outside its borders.) Also Blackwater is not the most expensive. It is actually more affordable, because they don't have to worry about bloated defense programs with corporations padding the bills. They also pay for their expenses with for-hire training services and other programs. Their budgets are in the hundreds of millions for a military that is 1/100 the size of Amerca's hundreds of billions of dollars military. In fact the total overall spending on Blackwater from the beginning is only $1 billion dollars, whereas the total overall spending for the U.S. military in the same time is in the trillions of dollars. A lot of jurisdictions have two overlapping police forces in the same way as L.A. My city does. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 December 23, 2011 - 1:28pm | I wouldnt call this scary, it is worth concern and attention but not really that scarry. It's also not all that new as the artcle suggests. In the United States own frontier days three private "armies" wandered the western U.S. dispensing their own justice with impunity...Wells Fargo, Pinkerton, and the Marshalls (while sanctioned they were not recognized by most local law enforcement as legal or ethical). Privatized military operations have always been a part of the larger picture or warfare. What is the scarry part is a government (please don't get me wrong, i am not opposed in anyway to ours but want to give some examples of really scarry things) that passes laws without a vote (i.e. obama care) puts guns in the hands of illegal criminal organizations (i.e. op linebacker and op. fast & furious) and conducts war without actually declaring a war. Now those are some really scarry things. |
December 23, 2011 - 1:32pm | Us gun nuts really do love the forrest, that is true. After all thats where nature is too. |
December 23, 2011 - 2:38pm | Multiple overlapping police jurisdictions is nothing new. Local police and county sheriff is fairly common. Some places would have no police without the county sheriff. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 23, 2011 - 2:50pm | Us gun nuts really do love the forest, that is true. After all that's where nature is too. I should hope you're not the type of gun nut I'm referring to. The kind that forsakes the world because they're afraid the government is going to come and take their guns away.View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 December 23, 2011 - 5:00pm | Us gun nuts really do love the forest, that is true. After all that's where nature is too. I should hope you're not the type of gun nut I'm referring to. The kind that forsakes the world because they're afraid the government is going to come and take their guns away.You mean they aren't? I can stop burying them in the yard behind the house? |
December 23, 2011 - 6:01pm | Gun experts agree, the first thing you do is confiscate all the guns. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 24, 2011 - 12:18am | muhhhhuuuhhahhahaah. I mean eh-hem, I don't fancy myself as any kind of extermist but I do know a few simple truths about the world. 1. Criminals will always have guns, they get them anyway they like - thats why they are criminals. 2. Criminals don't care who they hurt to get what they want, thats why they are criminals. 3. Gun control only serves to keep guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, criminals and "evil doers" will get ahold of guns even if they were illegal to own - thats why they are criminals. 4. Some people are just born bad, grow up bad, or choose to be bad - thats why they are criminals. 5. Police are great, unfortunately...if you don't have a sworn officer of the law living at your home or nearby you will have to wait for them to come rescue you should a criminal decide its your day to be their target. In most cases, by the time the police get there to help you, its far too late. So I guess you could say I am for every able bodied and mentally sound person, who chooses to do so, should have the unimpeded right to own a firearm of their choosing. Its funny you look at England, all the police have is night sticks and criminals have all the guns. The millitia movement, I am not a fan of, not on principle but on the often extremist stance they take. The idea is based on our constitutional rights but alot of the militia groups that grab the headlines in the news interpret that line in the constitution in some pretty radical ways. But I have to admit, if crap ever hits the fan, if you have a local militia at least you know where there would be food supplies and possibly protection against bandits and looters. I might consider forsaking the world, though not to protect my gun rights, I might just forsake it because I cant stand all the idiots in it.  hehehehe I am my own kind of gun nut |
December 24, 2011 - 7:28am | Every Swiss citizen between the ages of 18-50 are required to have a military weapon and a certain amount of rounds in their house. (I heard that but haven't confirmed it yet) at any rate can you guess what the rate of house break in's are annually? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 24, 2011 - 7:59am | It's a thin line between proud patriot and paranoid psychotic. In reality, this is how the Tory's and many of the fence riders of the American Revolution viewed the patriots. In that case, the crazies were right (for the most part). I was personally invited to attend some "manuevers'' of the Mich. Mil. about 15 years ago. I wanted so badly to join them in the woods of the U.P. and actually might have just for curiosity's sake if it wasn't for the surety of being put on an FBI watch list. I worked with a guy who was not a member, but a friend. He helped in ordinance training. Perhaps not a stable individual but a heck of a fun guy to hang around with for a few hours a day. Kind of like Woot, I suspect.  |
December 24, 2011 - 12:43pm | I have met a few right minded (no pun intended) millitia members who had their heads on straight and were simply interested in protecting their families or communities and exercising their constitutional rights in a very very literal word for word interpretation of those rights. Well good for them standing up for something, so long as they dont hurt anyone or excede their law given rights then I wish them peace and the best of luck. I have also met the other variety, and concur that those folks are a little too crazy or extreme to be playing army (especially ones that never served or have any idea what that means). As a certified martial arts instructor with 30 years of experience I have been approached by both kinds of groups both in Michigan and in Arizona and have declined instruction in both cases, Mainly because I don't teach groups who want the training to further political agendas , I teah individuals who want to learn to protect themselves and their families. I do respect their desire to defend their communities, homes, and loved ones. But the truth of the matter is if their extremism or passion crosses the line of the moral or legal rights then they become criminals too. But if they obey the law and don't infringe on others rights then more power to 'em. |
December 24, 2011 - 12:48pm | looks like the battery on my wireless keyboard crapped out . so iam using rhe windows on screen one. Anyway, i wasn't trying to rant there, just sharing my opinion on the subject. u guys know i love y'all in a non-prison cell-mate kind of way.  |
December 24, 2011 - 8:18pm | One thing that is often lost is that the Militia (underground one not the ones who guard the planets) are mostly used as stupid goon cannon fodder because they are just bigoted rednecks afraid of the commies with a megalomaniac for a leader. Now if they could be presented as a serious threat enemy perhaps used by the Sathar without their knowledge than I could get behind using them. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 December 25, 2011 - 9:54am | @jedion357 accurate enough for government work... ~90% of the Swiss Armed Forces are conscripts - are considered professional soldiers by training and experiance - of 19 to 34 (in some cases up to 50) years of age. Under a feudal(i.e. organized anarchy) militia paradigm, soldiers do keep their own personal equipment, including all personally assigned weapons, at home. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Switzerland you may consider this rumour confirmed...  Note: The Swiss Armed Forces is not the only feudal militia or compulsory civil-service based military service in the world... just one of the most recognized and organized neutral sovereign armies, with a global record of trustworthy activities to afford them respect on all sides of a conflict. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_countries_by_gun_ownership By no surprising coincidence, this chart matches closely(-though not exactly) with other countires operating cynosure prototypes of similar standing militia armies. Poking around into all the countries represented in the list, will provide plenty of prototypes. id est- higher on the chart you go, the closer cynosure to the prototype you will find operating in that country's domain, however, all these countries have standing militia policies. exempli gratia- The United States has had rocky politics in regard to a Federal Militia, but individual State Governments; such as Texas, California, Virginia, Ohio, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, And the Dakotas - are frequently given to excersise their own interpretations... and some recognized Federal Militia groups do exist legally, while Italy's Voluntary Militia for National Security - or Blackshirts, are another example... though Italy ranks low on the list. Oh humans!!  We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
December 25, 2011 - 9:54am | Hard to imagine a vrusk as a red neck. Have to assume that with the plethora of vrusk pirates and criminal organizations that they'd also have to non government sanctioned militias. I'd expect more effecientcy out of the vrusk with this. I imagine that a mixed race militia aught to have a different social dynamic too. Also if this is the Frontier like America was 200 years ago then lots of communities will field a local militia to deal with local problems. I would guess that these militias would be like those of 200 years ago and far more serious about it than your average red neck org of today I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 25, 2011 - 10:04am | hmmz... The Vrusk Independent Frontier Militia Extremist... interesting role archetype, indeed... can you say "High-Tech Red-Neck?" or "Red Volunteer Army Ant?"Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
 December 26, 2011 - 7:02am | Gun experts agree, the first thing you do is confiscate all the guns.
Exactly, and this is the root cause behind opposition to all the "lists" that the government wishes to enact. You know the lists I speak of: gun safe owners registration, CCW permit holders, all sorts of fronts that make public information as to "where the guns are". Lists that become useful to only two categories: police states and criminal shopping lists. You really don't want either of them getting your goods, and at this point I'm not sure which is worse. |
December 26, 2011 - 11:17am | Going in another direction Redneck is a term used by those not of that classification to describe "others". Consider that you have your sophisticated city dweller living in an apartment and working at a job moving up the corporate ladder and spending weekends doing exciting things like rock climbing. Meanwhile your typical redneck farmer is a small business owner often employing a dozen or more people some regular most seasonal who owns several thousands of credit if not hundreds of thousands of land, buildings, equipment and inventory and spends weekends hunting or at church. Of course we have many exceptions but in general it is best to look under the surface rather than at Hollywood stereotypes. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 December 26, 2011 - 5:01pm | Hard to imagine a vrusk as a red neck. Have to assume that with the plethora of vrusk pirates and criminal organizations that they'd also have to non government sanctioned militias. I'd expect more effecientcy out of the vrusk with this. I imagine that a mixed race militia aught to have a different social dynamic too. Also if this is the Frontier like America was 200 years ago then lots of communities will field a local militia to deal with local problems. I would guess that these militias would be like those of 200 years ago and far more serious about it than your average red neck org of today I can see militias as a natural development of the Vrusk. As the hive system dismantled there were the soldier vrusk that were displaced in politics but yet necessary. These vrusk would easily transition from hive controlled to corporate controlled organizations. In the hives they served as police/security/military, then they reorganized in the corporate system but retained their roles. I even see them specializing more in the corporate system. The hive system had many militaries, each loyal to their hive. Then the hives cease as corporations and boards of directors take over. The corporate system is an ever changing system of corporate controlling interests and loyalties. The soldiers naturally needed an organization to be loyal too and not all corporations maintained a function for them. Thus they gravitated to and were adopted by those corporations that developed a need for them. We often speak of the Vrusk corporations as raising all of their personnel from within their own employees. We typically think of the vrusk as born into his corporation. This is generally the case but as corporations expand and find that outsourcing does not fit their particular case then they hire skilled personnel to fill that function. Thus vrusk do change corporations on rare occasions. The function of security often conflicts with outsourcing models due to trade secrets and proprietary business practices. Thus forming private security forces within corporations for a division or project is necessary. The vrusk would be naturally very good at this and I see very experienced vrusk military/security contractors being hired into a company, forming the team(s)/militia and then when the function is no longer needed in the company they are disbanded. Oddly, I don't see vrusk as laying off their work force. I imagine that their society deems it proper for the corporation to sell their contracts off to another corporation. The vrusk solution to unemployment. I can even see vrusk companies that seek to buy employee contracts they find very attractive to resale. I think I have taken this thread on a tangent. Plug for the core four project. This makes a good thread topic for the core four project: -iggy |
December 26, 2011 - 9:53pm | Yeah, I'm not sure "redneck" is the correct term. There was a time when "redneck" only applied to Oklahomans, and was a derogatory term that simply meant uneducated farmers, not militia. In a similar vein, "hick" meant someone from Hickory Kentucky and implied similar aspects. "Good ol' boy" on the other hand, is appropos as it has always implied white racist extremist happy to give into a mob mentality, whether the term is used by everyone else or by the "good ol' boys" themselves. When a "good ol' boy" says "Oh, he's a good ol' boy", then there's no ambiguity about what that means. Semantics aside, Blackwater is not a backwoods militia, and therefore the comparison doesn't apply here. This is a paramilitary organization that is dangerous for a whole different reason. They can go in and take over any third world country they want to and win, then recruit more soldiers thereafter. They can stand up to any military in the world and hold out for years. In other words, they're too damned big and hold too much political clout. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
December 27, 2011 - 12:05pm | "Good ol' boy" on the other hand, is appropos as it has always implied white racist extremist happy to give into a mob mentality, whether the term is used by everyone else or by the "good ol' boys" themselves.
Really? Seriously? It has ALWAYS been implied?! I know I've been displaced from the South for a while, but I never realized history had changed since I left. I was born in Virginia and lived in Texas, Alabama, and South Carolina. During that time I saw every (former Confederate) State inside the Mason Dixon line. I moved from Montgomery AL to a small town in SE Wisconsin in 1977, and from there to Myrtle Beach a year later where a lot of our neighbors were good ol' boys. Montgomery was the least racist place I lived, and while there were mild tensions in Myrtle at the time (I went to a non-black school in a black neighborhood), I never heard the "N-word" used by any of the good ol' boys let alone by anyone at my non-black school in a black neighborhood. No sir, I first discovered that word from the yankees in Wisconsin who never stopped invoking it. From Myrtle we moved to Texas circa 1980, and from there to Las Vegas in 1983...which is where I started hearing the N-word again. I suppose the bullet point I'm making here is I honestly do not recall ever hearing the N-word uttered by anyone inside the Mason Dixon line, but heard it constantly outside that border. And considering the term "good ol' boy" originates from within said border, apologies if I can't give in to that twisted definition of "white racist extremists" and good ol' boys in the same "always" context as my real life experiences dictate otherwise. This former Southern boy raised among the associations and influences of many good ol' boys ended up married to a lady of color. Like I said, things may have changed since I left the South...but it certainly wasn't an ALWAYS context by any measure of the word. |
December 27, 2011 - 1:23pm | It seems my experience has been counter to yours. But seeing as Wikipedia's worst pejorative for the term is "cronyism", I suppose I can't back up my view. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
December 27, 2011 - 2:05pm | Well like I said, anything can happen in a 28 year span. I took a two week trip to Florida back in 2008 and didn't come across anything to counter my prior experiences. And I realize I can't compare two weeks to fifteen years either...but if anything there was a disdain for illegal immigrants during that brief span. But once again that isn't solely an inner-Mason Dixon issue either, we have that here in Vegas too. Consequently it's also not a racist thing either, despite some misrepresentations that may invoke such racisms, that doesn't make everyone who is against illegal immigrants a racist. But using a term like "always" is overly definitive and paints a generalized picture. Just because a white guy likes to hang out with other like minded individuals who prefer huntin', drinkin', fishin', hound dawgs, good lookin' wimin, and bat-outa-hell cars instead of working...that doesn't make them racists. We have plenty of guys here in Vegas, white or otherwise, who also prefer hunting, drinking, fishing, hound dogs, good looking women, and fast cars over work...the only difference is they don't speak with a twang so they're not called good ol' boys. At least that's what the definition of a good ol' boy was back when I was growing up. And skin color had nothing to do with it...this may come as a shock or dismay to some but we had black good ol' boys in the neighborhood too. Bottom line was back then if someone brought home a mess of fish or a freshly slain boar or deer, the whole neighborhood got together to cook, drink, miss work the next day, and otherwise act stupid together...like a buncha good ol' boys. Are there good ol' boys in this day and age that are racists? It wouldn't surprise me. But there are also many not-good ol' boys who are racists. Some of them are black. Some are brown. Some are yellow. Some are white and live outside the Mason Dixon line. The bottom line here is being a good ol' boy doesn't make a person a racist, it's being a racist that makes them a racist. |
December 28, 2011 - 8:45am | Ah Florida, I went to High School in Clearwater, Florida. That is right in the middle of Tampa and Saint Petersburg. Oh and Saint Petersburg is if not number one than at least in the top 5 cities with the most race related crimes in the country. But you can't judge an entire state as a whole. Anyone knows you go 20 kilometers outside of a city's border and unless your in a megalopolis you have entered an entirely different world. Pagan is the Roman word for country dweller. That is because while they were Romans too they were not considered very sophisticated and just good ole boys. Of course you see where the word Pagan is now. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
December 28, 2011 - 4:27pm | I conceded, Shadow Shack. Good point, rattraveller. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
December 28, 2011 - 6:43pm | Well everywhere I have been the only definition for "redneck" I have ever known or had confirmed is: "someone who works all day in the sun, and has a sunburn on their neck..." The Hollywood version is the one that has broadened the term to be "any uncouth man, from any lower-class neighborhood, with no work-ethic, and a near alcoholic(or worse) dependency, who relies on religion or philosophy only to suit a presumptuous superiority..." Location, demographics, personal beliefs, choices in food venue, choices in recreational activity, and general mannerisms... are not directly implied by the term anywhere other than from redefinitions of "others" who are not of the category... "good ol' boys" are usually referenced as the local 'dependable boys' (whatever the locals feel fits that criteria), that are not necessarily directly involved in any public service, and have a particular connection based on previous associations; in similar schools, jobs, and/or social venues - i.e. "the good ol' boy network"... and is rarely referenced outside of that fraternalistic paradigm. Where I referenced, in good natured jest, a Vrusk as a "Hightech Redneck" it would be the mentioned farmer-redneck owning/operating/or working on - some nearly self-sovereign farm in a remote location, just beyond normal jurisdictional limits, capable of fending off the larger agro-corp industrials - small enough to barely be considered a small colony at best... and likely highly supportive of the rights of a civil-defence militia, the rights to self protection, and the rights for a self-sovereignty of the 'manorial estate' politic. Blackwater is a militia, "backwater militas" were not in my comparison list while comparing the The Swiss Armed Forces to a theoretical Basic Militia Template... overall funding and intensity of training being the only notable differences worth mentioning. @iggy Well done there!! Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
December 29, 2011 - 5:49am | I like that comedian's definition of a red neck: "you might be a red neck if you use a shopping bag as luggage" and etc. "You might be a red neck if...." I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 29, 2011 - 9:37am | Ah Jeff Foxworthy my wife always gets his desk calendar with 365 "You might be a Redneck if..." Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
