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Kerbfleet: A Jool Odyssey-END OF CHAPTER 21! (and hopefully not so many talking heads in 22!)


Mister Dilsby

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5 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Just to confirm, Sarge did get a promotion off-camera. I was going to do a whole thing where Val says he's been doing such a good job with the probes she's going to give him a field promotion, he freaks out because he thinks it'll be a commission to Looty and he doesn't want to be an officer, then everyone's happy because it's just a more senior NCO grade. But I decided that would all take too long, so here we are! Rocketry Sarjint is of course the Kerbfleet equivalent to a USMC Gunnery Sergeant. (No word on whether they'll start calling him 'Rocky'. I sure wouldn't!)  

OK, speaking from someone who spent almost 3 years stationed with a bunch of crazy infantrymen, I have two comments:

1) This is hilarious!!!  And so on point!!!  :D

2) My guess is the crew would only call him "Rocky" behind his back, and when he is far, far out of earshot!  :wink:

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32 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

OK, speaking from someone who spent almost 3 years stationed with a bunch of crazy infantrymen, I have two comments:

1) This is hilarious!!!  And so on point!!!  :D

2) My guess is the crew would only call him "Rocky" behind his back, and when he is far, far out of earshot!  :wink:

I guess that's the only time they would play this, then?

 

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Well, that's my day made, another update and ... almost there.

Nice to get another quick "roll call", a good way to introduce the promotion too.

As for Jeb, clearly the long wait hasn't changed him one bit since jumping up and down over getting to launch the M7 from Eve.

Edited by AkuAerospace
Removing "sign off"
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1 hour ago, Just Jim said:

2) My guess is the crew would only call him "Rocky" behind his back, and when he is far, far out of earshot!  :wink:

In my experience, Gunnery Sergeants in the fleet (as opposed to bootcamp) prefer to be called "Gunny".  By this point in their careers, all the daily, hands-on, direct dealings with the troops are filtered through 2 layers of junior NCOs and and 1 of SNCOs before it ever becomes the gunny's problem.  Thus, the gunny tends to have sort of an uncle-nephew relationship with the troops.  Which is good because the Gunny has to devote most of his attention to the proper, fatherly upbringing of the young lieutenant nominally running the whole show.

Now, in bootcamp, gunnies naturally go all "Full Metal Jacket" but that's a different job.  There, they have to be the evil step-dads.  

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22 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

In my experience, Gunnery Sergeants in the fleet (as opposed to bootcamp) prefer to be called "Gunny".  By this point in their careers, all the daily, hands-on, direct dealings with the troops are filtered through 2 layers of junior NCOs and and 1 of SNCOs before it ever becomes the gunny's problem.  Thus, the gunny tends to have sort of an uncle-nephew relationship with the troops.  Which is good because the Gunny has to devote most of his attention to the proper, fatherly upbringing of the young lieutenant nominally running the whole show.

Now, in bootcamp, gunnies naturally go all "Full Metal Jacket" but that's a different job.  There, they have to be the evil step-dads.  

The closest equivalent we had would be a first sergeant being called "Top".  I believe it was because of the fact they were the highest ranking NCO in a company, and a commanders right hand.  But I found where I was stationed it was about a 50/50 thing.  Some loved it, and didn't mind a bit.  But a couple others hated it with a passion, and God help anyone who made the mistake of calling them that.

As for bootcamp... that was a whole other nightmare.

Which brings me back around full circle and on topic....

Hey @Kuzzter... if Kerbfleet and the Kerbulans have a sort of military structure... do they also have some form of bootcamp??? 

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5 minutes ago, 0111narwhalz said:

Yeah...It's run by their parents!:sealed:

Yeah, my dad would throw his boots at me quite frequently.  He also taught me how to swim.  That was so easy once I got out of that sack full of bricks :D

 

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12 hours ago, waterlubber said:

Why does Kerbfleet even have a military infrastructure? (i.e navy, etc.)

I suppose for the same reason civilian airlines, merchant and cruise vessels do in our world; running a ship requires coordinated effort, lives are at stake, and so it's absolutely necessary for there to be a command structure that defines everyones' jobs and makes it clear who's in charge in a crisis.

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32 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

I suppose for the same reason civilian airlines, merchant and cruise vessels do in our world; running a ship requires coordinated effort, lives are at stake, and so it's absolutely necessary for there to be a command structure that defines everyones' jobs and makes it clear who's in charge in a crisis.

This also makes sense if the two are indeed parallel opposites.  If the Kerbulans are highly militaristic, which they do appear, then Kerbfleet would more likely resemble the command structure of a civilian ship, like you point out. 

Even in the various Treks, Starfleet had a very military like rank structure, but was a peaceful organization.  It seems canon enough.

Edited by Just Jim
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3 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

I suppose for the same reason civilian airlines, merchant and cruise vessels do in our world; running a ship requires coordinated effort, lives are at stake, and so it's absolutely necessary for there to be a command structure that defines everyones' jobs and makes it clear who's in charge in a crisis.

Over in the fire department, we have a paramilitary chain of command which even uses some military rank and unit names (private, sergeant, lieutenant, and captain, company and battalion).  But instead of taking lives and breaking stuff, our job is saving lives and breaking stuff.  Which, now that I think about it, sounds very Kerbal :)  But anyway, despite not fighting with badguys if we can at all avoid it, the job still requires making snap judgments with life-and-death consequences, ordering subordinates into dangerous situations, and willingly accepting such orders.  IOW, the vast bulk of the time, we have all the elements of a battle in play except an intelligent, actively aggressive enemy, but the utterly implacable Laws of Physics, Chemistry, and Thermodynamics have an evil mind of their own.

So basically, we need to have a military mindset and command structure to win our battles.  I'd expect Kerbals, no matter how peaceable, would naturally evolve a paramilitary command structure for any dangerous enterprise.  Just because nobody's shooting at you doesn't mean you can't get killed.

 

2 hours ago, Just Jim said:

This also makes sense if the two are indeed parallel opposites.  If the Kerbulans are highly militaristic, which they do appear, then Kerbfleet would more likely resemble the command structure of a civilian ship, like you point out.

Which is why the Circus, even though not a military organization, relies on "driving" skippers "bucko" mates, and flogging :)

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I wonder what Val has on Bill to keep his loyalty.  Whatever it is, it must be fairly compelling.

Much better than a hull breach in any case.  I'm sure the entire crew would agree.  Except for Dilsby, of course.  :)

Happy Concerned Nervous Anxious Frightened landings!

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6 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

IIRC from the Star Trek episode where Evil Spock had a goatee, Evil Kirk had a device in the ship that vaporized his enemies.  Does Evil Val have that, too?

A Tantalus Field

And I would assume someone has one...  :0.0:

Edited by Just Jim
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19 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

IIRC from the Star Trek episode where Evil Spock had a goatee, Evil Kirk had a device in the ship that vaporized his enemies.  Does Evil Val have that, too?

 

17 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

A Tantalus Field

And I would assume someone has one...  :0.0:

Yes, Val has it.  Bill runs it for her, just as Kirk's concubine ran it for him in 'Mirror, Mirror'.

In 'A Jool Odyssey' it's in the form of Bill's ability to edit the persistence file.

edit:

I just saw the new thread title.  Very funny!  :D

For posterity I'll quote it here: He's nothing if not 'persistent' ...literally!

Happy landings!

Edited by Starhawk
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