At 14:06 -0700 on 11/19/02, Mike Diehl wrote:
It's probably partly historical as well (meaning there used to be a good reason). Think about a large conscript army, basically completely undisciplined by todays standard. Very poor communication, so the officer core on site has nearly complete autonomy. Killing a large piece of that officer core could very well remove any constraints on the soldiers behavior. Next thing you know the orderly army has turned into a marauding barbarian horde. That's not good for either side.The british got VERY upset with us because of a tendency to shoot officers which was considered very bad "form". I believe it was common practice to hang anyone found armed with a rifle for what amounted to war crimes. But again, very poor rate of fire kept them from replacing the smoothbore.This probably stemmed from the aristocratic culture of the times....?
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Kevin Elliott <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ICQ#23758827
