Day 1140 - Swiss Congress Does Nothing; Swiss Army Does Not Exist

Day 1,140, 13:15 • Published in Switzerland Switzerland • by Switzerland Armed Forces


Dateline : Monday January 3 (Day 1140)
Location: Federal Assembly Building, Bern
Reporter: Colonel George Armstrong "Old Man" Custer


Congress in Session

Hard at Work as Always

The Swiss Congress of November, and December, and now January, has failed to bring about the necessary change to the Swiss Constitution to make the Swiss Armed Forces a legitimate and permanent part of the Swiss government.


The Base is Closed

At one point critics of the very existence of a Swiss Army referred to this organization as "a militia," "a group of enthusiasts," and even "Custer's private army."
Of course I strongly disagreed. After all, this Army is being assembled of Swiss citizens of every political Party, including people I'd publicly opposed in the media on political matters. Even the citizen who said the things above joined the Army! We were going to show Switzerland and the world that the Swiss people can, indeed, unite for our common cause, respecting each other as soldiers even as we continue to debate each other in politics.
And we did do exactly that. The Swiss Army gathered many more applicants than had been predicted. Even as some players were banned from the game and others dropped from training for simply failing to communicate, two Training Groups have produced over twenty active soldiers.



The Swiss Army produced soldiers. It demonstrated that politically diverse Swiss citizens could unite under a common banner for a common cause. Its own structure placed civilian leadership at the top, as partners with its military leadership. On these points, the Swiss Army has been a success.
But without the full support of the Swiss government, without developing the Legislative structure to make the Swiss Armed Forces a legitimate and permanent part of the national government, the Swiss Army was indeed a private militia. Switzerland does not need another in a succession of fly-by-night politically or personally biased private militias; Switzerland needs a properly authorized national army whose sole loyalty is to the nation itself. We did our part.

Congress didn't turn us down after thoughtful Discussion, Proposal and Vote-- Congress simply failed to act at all. On this point, Congress failed the Swiss Armed Forces, and in doing so the Swiss Congress has failed Switzerland.




A Final Address to the Soldiers of the Swiss Armed Forces.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every citizen of the New World who expressed interest in joining the Swiss Armed Forces by filling out the Application Form. Critics, those in opposition to the very existence of any form of military in Switzerland, said the people would not be interested at all-- they were wrong.
Most who applied were accepted. Due to the international nature of Switzerland and its people, players having traveled around, doing business and making friends in many different countries, membership criteria was simply that the applicant hold Swiss citizenship. No minimum military strength was required, we welcomed "total n00bs" in keeping with the Army's expressed purpose of serving as a player recruitment and retention tool for the government.
Training centered around the one simple concept of Communication. Soldiers who failed to "Echo" too many Training Orders were dropped. All it took to graduate was to patiently stick it out, pay attention, and respond to Orders. As the Army and the nation develop, more training would be offered to all soldiers.. but just "pay attention and respond appropriately" would be quite sufficient for now.
We managed to pull off a few sporadic "coordinated attacks" in small groups, but the erratic availability of battles and our wide range of our RL time zones made it difficult. I especially commend those soldiers who did go the extra mile to find a fighting buddy and perform that assignment, and credit the others for trying.

On this day, even as we shutter the doors and chain the gates, I hereby graduate and congratulate the recruit-trainees of Training Group Two.
Following is a complete list of Swiss Armed Forces Training graduates, and their present Swiss Army ranks, as we deactivate the unit.

George Armstrong Custer Colonel, Commander of the Army
Paul Proteus Private First Class, retired
Rowan Quigley Lt. Colonel, Executive Officer, retired
ZrtX (ios) Captain, Elite Tanks Platoon (not activated) Commander
francio223 Private First Class
F4uc0n Corporal, Intelligence Unit trainee
Pascal Couchepin Lt. Colonel, Executive Officer
Luka Tomasevic Tomas Private First Class
denis schwarcneger Private First Class
spqr roma Private First Class
Dr.Pain Major, Deputy Executive Officer / Minister of Defence
Kishvier Private First Class
Rican Private First Class
Tahera Private First Class
Penguin4512 Private First Class (retired)
16holo Private First Class
serban_b Private First Class
Jonah Steele Private First Class
Fear Malice Private First Class
Ghostbiker Private First Class
Jimony Private First Class
Rocky841 Private First Class
If I have listed your rank or status incorrectly, please send me a game mail and I will Edit accordingly.
Please do not clutter the Comments section with Edit requests.

A Final Salute

07, Soldiers of the Swiss Armed Forces

Thank you all, fine soldiers one and all, for your service.
Thank you for your faith in your country, in this project, and in me.

I look forward to the day when Switzerland is ready to have a national army, when its Congress is ready to pay attention and do its job, because when that time comes we will have one hell of a good start of properly commissioning the Swiss Armed Forces.
When.. not if but when.. the Swiss Armed Forces is properly authorized it will be reformed more in the image of the RL Swiss Guards, sporting the new uniform avatar designed by MoD Major Dr.Pain.
Until then, soldiers... play hard, play fair, and fight the good fight.
Until then, Switzerland, I leave you with "Custer's Mantra" from my own newspaper:

What kind of game do you play, what kind of players do you like to align yourself with?
What kind of leaders do you want, what kind of leadership do you expect of them?
What kind of country do you want to "live" in and play for?

The Swiss Armed Forces now stands down, it is deactivated.



George Armstrong Custer
Colonel, Swiss National Army -|- Editor, the Swiss Armed Forces News
Captain, US Cavalry -|- Editor, the Cavalry Saber
Crabby, Old Bastard -|- Editor, Custer's Stand
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