Learning to Wage War: Lessons of the Bear Cavalry
Day 672, 03:56
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Published in USA 
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by
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by Silas Soule
Learning to Wage War: Lessons of the Bear Cavalry
For your reading pleasure, here's some of my personal observations on the SFP's Bear Cavalry.
First things first..
* A big shout-out to the 50 or so damn fine e-citizens who joined the Bear Cavalry over the past few weeks...
RWARRRR!!!!, y'all! You rock!
Mega-thanxxxxxxxx also go out to...
* The dozens of citizens, both in the eUSA and abroad, who've inquired about the Bear Cavalry
* All of you who've showed your support in various ways
* Our friends and fellow fighters in the other resistance organizations
* Those in the US Military and the US Government who encouraged our efforts
* Those in the international socialist movement who've done the same
Of course, the wars to drive the occupiers out are not over.
*Russia and Hungary still occupy some states. France is stirring up trouble too. And who knows when, or if, the Little Emperor Who Couldn't will finally sell his parent's house to try to take down Florida.
I'm sure that the SFP Bear Cavalry fighters all look forward to continuing to lend their efforts, both behind enemy lines and on the home front, in coordination with other resistance orgs and with the regular military, in recovering all lost territories.
But with Colombia having been pushed back to its own borders, and with eAmerica and her allies with the initiative, this seems like an appropriate time to reflect on what the Bear Cavalry is (and isn't), on what it's accomplished, some of it's strengths and weaknesses, a little bit on how it's similar to and and different from other resistance organizations, as well as what might come next.
Do they really ride bears into battle?
Of course they do! Ursa Fi!
For those who don't know, the SFP Bear Cavalry is a citizen-based paramilitary sponsored by the Socialist Freedom Party. It was founded, during the darkest days of invasion and occupation, for several reasons, including:
* To lend the collective resources of the SFP Commune system to the war effort
* To provide a school of war where players could rapidly gain military experience
* To have some fun participating in resistance wars, something many of us had not done before
* To experiment with the mechanics, the politics and the social aspects of a citizen-based patriotic militia
The SFP Bears were not the only such citizen militia group to be formed during those days. Some were sponsored by political parties; others came together as completely independent organizations.
From the political ranks: The Sons of Liberty rose up from the Libertarian milieu. The US Workers Party spawned the PWNED organization. The Umbrella Party opened up a fighting unit. And The Unit emerged from the Conservative Party.
Among the groups and individuals: Tireless operator SPCSedlak organized Free Phoenix Black Ops. Tenacious Lefty From Mulberry St. brought forward the P.O.T.A.T.O.E. organization, with its formidable Templar Knights. eNOVA focused some of its considerable organizing skill, under Teucer's leadership, to sponsor an Armed Forces project. The Terrorists emerged to terrorize PEACE. And that happy warrior, Cynic Grim, put together a war chest to support the resistance.
From the US government and military: The Joint Chiefs and President Emerick reached out and helped to point the militia groups in a strategically useful direction. Josh Frost played a key role in getting the groups communicating more effectively with each other.
Noteworthy among the international left have been: the International Brigade of the Wokers Militia, who continued their principled struggle against all forms of imperialism; and Juan Pablo Arboleda and other militants of the Communist Party of Colombia, who have stood up to firestorm of criticism at home for pointing out that PEACE GC sought only to use Colombia as a pawn in an imperialist war.
The Bears have attracted a wide variety of players from different backgrounds, from socialists to conservatives, from battle-hardened veterans to energetic new players. Many have stuck with the Bears. Some graduated to join or return to the regular military. And some fought with the Bears for a while, then moved on to other pursuits.
No, really, do they actually ride bears?
Yes, but only California bears!
The SFP called the Bear Cavalry together on a non-partisan basis of unity.
The only requirements for joining are to agree to work at an SFP Commune company in order to maintain a supply line, and to follow orders of the Bear commanders and quartermasters. The Bears have been self-sufficient, relying primarily on the Party's network of Commune companies located in occupied and liberated US regions, as well as in the Urals in Russia, to supply guns, food and moving tickets to its fighters.
Some individual members and supporters have also contributed from time to time. The international Workers Militia generously contributied some weapons when they could -- a demonstration of workers solidarity that the Bear Cavalry returned by participating in the heoric, if unsuccessful, "Operation Fire Spark" uprising against the Russians in Occupied North Korea.
Successes
The existence of the commune network, as well as the organizational ability of the veteran SFPistas, gave the Bears a quick start. This led them to be able to play a signficant role in "Kansas I", the first major resistance war initiated by US forces that drove out the Russian occupiers.
As the front-lines shifted and the Bears grew larger, they heeded the request of the JCS to support the firght at home by re-organizing into two Brigades. The Workers Brigade continued its work abroad and behind enemy lines, preparing for and participating in Resistance Wars, while the Lincoln Brigade returned to Florida to fight in regular battles. The Lincoln Brigade quickly grew into two Columns and has proved its mettle as a reliable combat unit following DoD orders on the home front.
But when a sudden call came down to launch surprise resistance wars against the Colombians, the Bears were ready once again with forces and supply lines to support a Colombian Special Force located in Andina and Cundiboyacense. They fought in "Kansas II" and helped the effort to push the Colombians out of Texas and New Mexico. It was also fun to discover that the Bears had a surprising number of Spanish speakers who could participate effectively in the propganda wars in the Colombian press.
At the same time, the Workers Brigade deployed additional forces to e-Spain to stand by in case Florida was attacked. In that situation, international solidarity came through once again, as our anarcho-syndicalist brothers and sisters in Spain's Bloque Obrero party quickly opened up spots in their commune network to Bear Cavalry fighters.
Roses
Overall, the Bear Cavalry has been a success, meeting or exceeding its goals:
* The Commune system has proven to be effective in being able to support autonomous resistance fighters. Even if managing all the twists and turns of occupation and liberation have kept Osmany Ramon and Thomas Jefferson11 up very late some nights!
* Players with little or no previous military experience have learned how to lead, how to organize, how to build up and distribute supplies, and have learned an enormous amount about the mechanics of eRep war in a very short time. The camaraderie of a relatively small group has encouraged a high level of mentoring and discussion via the SFP forums, IRC chats and personal messages.
* It's been a ton of fun! Maybe even too much fun. ( Personally, I got so involved that I had to pull back and let others step forward so that my family wouldn't think I'd left them and my other RL obligations wouldn't completely fall apart!
* Politically, the Bear Cavalry expereince has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that a US citizen can be both patriotic and internationalist in their outlook on the game. It's also shown that eRep players can socialize on a world scale on the basis of principled anti-imperialism. For example, the Cavalry's overall Division commander is Australian; militants from the UK and Latvia have joined the militia; we've made new friends in Colombia and elsewhere... and we've shown our erstwhile Russian opponents that California Bears can be just as fearsome as the Siberian variety!
Thorns
It hasn't been all roses, of course. A sober assessment reveals a few thorns to watch out for:
* The Commune system is not for everybody. As militia member John Clancy recently pointed out in his newspaper, nobody gets rich working in a Commune. It's a trade-off, for sure, between working for the common good -- in this case, being able to arm and maintain several fighting units -- and acquiring personal gold.
* Non-partisanship means not everybody has the same viewpoint... and that's fine. For example, once the battles shifted more towards the home front, it was clear that many non-SFP Bears wanted to be on the front lines, while the more long-term Commune-ists saw more strategic value in continuing to work producing iron in Russia, even if there was no RW fighting going on at the moment. Re-organizing into the Lincoln Brigade and the Workers Brigade provided a way to do both.
* Communications among autonomous groups was difficult to get underway. Several attempts at creating collective resistance forums had somewhat mixed results. In the end, direct communications via PM's, along with a few scheduled conference calls and scheduled chats seemed to work best.
* Guns are precious and don't drop from the sky. While the Bears have been successful at maintaining a steady rate of weapons production, it's not always been easy to keep everyone well-informed about where those weapons come from. And that reality can cause some consternation when people are eager to join in a battle.
* Weapons distribution is a form of democracy in action. Having an "no elites" policy towards weapons distribution is appealing to many and it helps to counter-act the fact of limited resources. Keeping to their collectivist orientation, the Bear Cavalry distributes weapons fairly and evenly to columns heading into key battles. The newest member gets the same number and the same quality of weapons as the oldest veteran.
Comparisons and Observations
* In short, a citizens' militia, however well organized, in unlikely to have a huge influence on military events on its own.
* But tt's also been very interesting to have this opportunity to observe the different types of militia organizations, each with a somewhat different approach, and see how together they can be quite effective. For example....
** The Bear Cavalry has shown that it can move quickly due to their good internal communications and steady supply lines. But even if they were to all fight with Q1 weapons (the level of production supported by the Commune) and starting at 100 wellness, they'd do a little under 20,000 in damage over 10 fights. Respectable, certainly, and great for opening up a battle, but unlikely to be the decisive factor against a strong enemy.
** The Templar Knights of P.O.T.A.T.O.E. put a focus on fighting with the highest-quality weapons. An awesome force in a battle, to be sure, and could be decisive in the final moments. But maybe more difficult to keep supplied and perhaps too reliant on the generosity and willingness of individuals to spend RL cash to be a sustainable model over the longer term?
** eNOVA seems to rely primarily on in-game donations. Even joining the organization costs 5G. This approach filters out less experienced players, perhaps, which can be good or not-so-good depending on your goals. Fom a socialist perspective, this layers on an undesireable "class" element to participation. And it likely requires a good deal of politicking in order to keep the fund-raising working, which can be tiresome.
** The Umbrella organization, somewhat similar to the Bear Cavalry, operates its own network of companies, giving it a steady source of resources for organizing its military effort and perhaps a similar ability to engage in autonomous military activity, particulary resistance wars. The distinction, in this case, is probably political more than anything else. People may (and certainly do!
I couldn't honestly say that any of these approaches is "right" or "wrong". After all, it really is just a game.
And drawing these distinctions is certainly not meant to be a criticism, by the way, only an observation. For example, the Bear Cav has, in fact, coordinated in battle with Umbrella and The Terrorists. My point there is simply that it's been easier to coordinate with groups whose purpose and goals were very clear, and whose language was not so gruesome.
In the end, there can be little doubt that the most successful military impact of the resistance organizations so far has been when all worked together in synch with the US and allied military forces. The biggest win for the Bear Cavalry, in my opinion, has simply been to make playing the game more fun!
For your reading pleasure, here's some of my personal observations on the SFP's Bear Cavalry.
First things first..
* A big shout-out to the 50 or so damn fine e-citizens who joined the Bear Cavalry over the past few weeks...
RWARRRR!!!!, y'all! You rock!
Mega-thanxxxxxxxx also go out to...
* The dozens of citizens, both in the eUSA and abroad, who've inquired about the Bear Cavalry
* All of you who've showed your support in various ways
* Our friends and fellow fighters in the other resistance organizations
* Those in the US Military and the US Government who encouraged our efforts
* Those in the international socialist movement who've done the same
Of course, the wars to drive the occupiers out are not over.
*Russia and Hungary still occupy some states. France is stirring up trouble too. And who knows when, or if, the Little Emperor Who Couldn't will finally sell his parent's house to try to take down Florida.
I'm sure that the SFP Bear Cavalry fighters all look forward to continuing to lend their efforts, both behind enemy lines and on the home front, in coordination with other resistance orgs and with the regular military, in recovering all lost territories.
But with Colombia having been pushed back to its own borders, and with eAmerica and her allies with the initiative, this seems like an appropriate time to reflect on what the Bear Cavalry is (and isn't), on what it's accomplished, some of it's strengths and weaknesses, a little bit on how it's similar to and and different from other resistance organizations, as well as what might come next.
Do they really ride bears into battle?
Of course they do! Ursa Fi!
For those who don't know, the SFP Bear Cavalry is a citizen-based paramilitary sponsored by the Socialist Freedom Party. It was founded, during the darkest days of invasion and occupation, for several reasons, including:
* To lend the collective resources of the SFP Commune system to the war effort
* To provide a school of war where players could rapidly gain military experience
* To have some fun participating in resistance wars, something many of us had not done before
* To experiment with the mechanics, the politics and the social aspects of a citizen-based patriotic militia
The SFP Bears were not the only such citizen militia group to be formed during those days. Some were sponsored by political parties; others came together as completely independent organizations.
From the political ranks: The Sons of Liberty rose up from the Libertarian milieu. The US Workers Party spawned the PWNED organization. The Umbrella Party opened up a fighting unit. And The Unit emerged from the Conservative Party.
Among the groups and individuals: Tireless operator SPCSedlak organized Free Phoenix Black Ops. Tenacious Lefty From Mulberry St. brought forward the P.O.T.A.T.O.E. organization, with its formidable Templar Knights. eNOVA focused some of its considerable organizing skill, under Teucer's leadership, to sponsor an Armed Forces project. The Terrorists emerged to terrorize PEACE. And that happy warrior, Cynic Grim, put together a war chest to support the resistance.
From the US government and military: The Joint Chiefs and President Emerick reached out and helped to point the militia groups in a strategically useful direction. Josh Frost played a key role in getting the groups communicating more effectively with each other.
Noteworthy among the international left have been: the International Brigade of the Wokers Militia, who continued their principled struggle against all forms of imperialism; and Juan Pablo Arboleda and other militants of the Communist Party of Colombia, who have stood up to firestorm of criticism at home for pointing out that PEACE GC sought only to use Colombia as a pawn in an imperialist war.
The Bears have attracted a wide variety of players from different backgrounds, from socialists to conservatives, from battle-hardened veterans to energetic new players. Many have stuck with the Bears. Some graduated to join or return to the regular military. And some fought with the Bears for a while, then moved on to other pursuits.
No, really, do they actually ride bears?
Yes, but only California bears!
The SFP called the Bear Cavalry together on a non-partisan basis of unity.
The only requirements for joining are to agree to work at an SFP Commune company in order to maintain a supply line, and to follow orders of the Bear commanders and quartermasters. The Bears have been self-sufficient, relying primarily on the Party's network of Commune companies located in occupied and liberated US regions, as well as in the Urals in Russia, to supply guns, food and moving tickets to its fighters.
Some individual members and supporters have also contributed from time to time. The international Workers Militia generously contributied some weapons when they could -- a demonstration of workers solidarity that the Bear Cavalry returned by participating in the heoric, if unsuccessful, "Operation Fire Spark" uprising against the Russians in Occupied North Korea.
Successes
The existence of the commune network, as well as the organizational ability of the veteran SFPistas, gave the Bears a quick start. This led them to be able to play a signficant role in "Kansas I", the first major resistance war initiated by US forces that drove out the Russian occupiers.
As the front-lines shifted and the Bears grew larger, they heeded the request of the JCS to support the firght at home by re-organizing into two Brigades. The Workers Brigade continued its work abroad and behind enemy lines, preparing for and participating in Resistance Wars, while the Lincoln Brigade returned to Florida to fight in regular battles. The Lincoln Brigade quickly grew into two Columns and has proved its mettle as a reliable combat unit following DoD orders on the home front.
But when a sudden call came down to launch surprise resistance wars against the Colombians, the Bears were ready once again with forces and supply lines to support a Colombian Special Force located in Andina and Cundiboyacense. They fought in "Kansas II" and helped the effort to push the Colombians out of Texas and New Mexico. It was also fun to discover that the Bears had a surprising number of Spanish speakers who could participate effectively in the propganda wars in the Colombian press.
At the same time, the Workers Brigade deployed additional forces to e-Spain to stand by in case Florida was attacked. In that situation, international solidarity came through once again, as our anarcho-syndicalist brothers and sisters in Spain's Bloque Obrero party quickly opened up spots in their commune network to Bear Cavalry fighters.
Roses
Overall, the Bear Cavalry has been a success, meeting or exceeding its goals:
* The Commune system has proven to be effective in being able to support autonomous resistance fighters. Even if managing all the twists and turns of occupation and liberation have kept Osmany Ramon and Thomas Jefferson11 up very late some nights!
* Players with little or no previous military experience have learned how to lead, how to organize, how to build up and distribute supplies, and have learned an enormous amount about the mechanics of eRep war in a very short time. The camaraderie of a relatively small group has encouraged a high level of mentoring and discussion via the SFP forums, IRC chats and personal messages.
* It's been a ton of fun! Maybe even too much fun. ( Personally, I got so involved that I had to pull back and let others step forward so that my family wouldn't think I'd left them and my other RL obligations wouldn't completely fall apart!
🙂
* Politically, the Bear Cavalry expereince has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that a US citizen can be both patriotic and internationalist in their outlook on the game. It's also shown that eRep players can socialize on a world scale on the basis of principled anti-imperialism. For example, the Cavalry's overall Division commander is Australian; militants from the UK and Latvia have joined the militia; we've made new friends in Colombia and elsewhere... and we've shown our erstwhile Russian opponents that California Bears can be just as fearsome as the Siberian variety!
Thorns
It hasn't been all roses, of course. A sober assessment reveals a few thorns to watch out for:
* The Commune system is not for everybody. As militia member John Clancy recently pointed out in his newspaper, nobody gets rich working in a Commune. It's a trade-off, for sure, between working for the common good -- in this case, being able to arm and maintain several fighting units -- and acquiring personal gold.
* Non-partisanship means not everybody has the same viewpoint... and that's fine. For example, once the battles shifted more towards the home front, it was clear that many non-SFP Bears wanted to be on the front lines, while the more long-term Commune-ists saw more strategic value in continuing to work producing iron in Russia, even if there was no RW fighting going on at the moment. Re-organizing into the Lincoln Brigade and the Workers Brigade provided a way to do both.
* Communications among autonomous groups was difficult to get underway. Several attempts at creating collective resistance forums had somewhat mixed results. In the end, direct communications via PM's, along with a few scheduled conference calls and scheduled chats seemed to work best.
* Guns are precious and don't drop from the sky. While the Bears have been successful at maintaining a steady rate of weapons production, it's not always been easy to keep everyone well-informed about where those weapons come from. And that reality can cause some consternation when people are eager to join in a battle.
* Weapons distribution is a form of democracy in action. Having an "no elites" policy towards weapons distribution is appealing to many and it helps to counter-act the fact of limited resources. Keeping to their collectivist orientation, the Bear Cavalry distributes weapons fairly and evenly to columns heading into key battles. The newest member gets the same number and the same quality of weapons as the oldest veteran.
Comparisons and Observations
* In short, a citizens' militia, however well organized, in unlikely to have a huge influence on military events on its own.
* But tt's also been very interesting to have this opportunity to observe the different types of militia organizations, each with a somewhat different approach, and see how together they can be quite effective. For example....
** The Bear Cavalry has shown that it can move quickly due to their good internal communications and steady supply lines. But even if they were to all fight with Q1 weapons (the level of production supported by the Commune) and starting at 100 wellness, they'd do a little under 20,000 in damage over 10 fights. Respectable, certainly, and great for opening up a battle, but unlikely to be the decisive factor against a strong enemy.
** The Templar Knights of P.O.T.A.T.O.E. put a focus on fighting with the highest-quality weapons. An awesome force in a battle, to be sure, and could be decisive in the final moments. But maybe more difficult to keep supplied and perhaps too reliant on the generosity and willingness of individuals to spend RL cash to be a sustainable model over the longer term?
** eNOVA seems to rely primarily on in-game donations. Even joining the organization costs 5G. This approach filters out less experienced players, perhaps, which can be good or not-so-good depending on your goals. Fom a socialist perspective, this layers on an undesireable "class" element to participation. And it likely requires a good deal of politicking in order to keep the fund-raising working, which can be tiresome.
** The Umbrella organization, somewhat similar to the Bear Cavalry, operates its own network of companies, giving it a steady source of resources for organizing its military effort and perhaps a similar ability to engage in autonomous military activity, particulary resistance wars. The distinction, in this case, is probably political more than anything else. People may (and certainly do!
😉agree or disagree with the Socialist Freedom Party, but it's very hard not to know what the SFP stands for! Whereas there was some reluctance on the part of Bear Cav commanders to even communicate with a group as "shadowy" as Umbrella. To some extent, the same could be said of The Terrorists. Although in that case, it was more a matter of active disagreement with the tone and imagery of their propaganda.
I couldn't honestly say that any of these approaches is "right" or "wrong". After all, it really is just a game.
And drawing these distinctions is certainly not meant to be a criticism, by the way, only an observation. For example, the Bear Cav has, in fact, coordinated in battle with Umbrella and The Terrorists. My point there is simply that it's been easier to coordinate with groups whose purpose and goals were very clear, and whose language was not so gruesome.
In the end, there can be little doubt that the most successful military impact of the resistance organizations so far has been when all worked together in synch with the US and allied military forces. The biggest win for the Bear Cavalry, in my opinion, has simply been to make playing the game more fun!
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Comments
Ursa ftw!
To be fair we all don't ride California Bears. I myself enjoy, a beautiful Giant Panda from the Misty Mountains of China.
rawr
fun ftw!
Fantastic analysis. I especially appreciate your assessment of the project's effectiveness. In the end, Bear Cav may not be a model that can be applied universally (although I'd like to see it grow and find out!)
I do think there is more to learn about decentralized modes of military organization. Wingfield's article today has some interesting reflections on the diminishing returns of tanking past a certain level: http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/your-taxes-at-work-950373/1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/your[..]1/20
Perhaps the biggest lesson here is the importance of collaboration by disparate groups that may even be occasionally at cross purposes - something the RL French Resistance had to learn as well.
Beorn in the U(r)SA!
Go Bear Cav!
Well done, and excellent analysis.
Bear Cavalry and the SFP have done an excellent job organizing as an independent militia with a clear purpose and a common cause. Using the commune system to arm the workers is a clear example of how communism CAN be useful in eRep and frankly how we could have survived if Florida had fallen so many days ago.
I hope the SFP and other parties continue their independent militias as a way of organizing young players into fighting groups. With the TD backlogged and our training programs faltering, this is a great way to get young players involved while serving a vital national security purpose. Ursa Fi!
The Bear Cavalry has been a real inspiration but, if I may be so bold, I think you have under-estimated the power of SPF's ideology in the success you've enjoyed.
Free Market ideology is incompatible with commune production and collectivist logistics. Players without a sufficient commitment (or at least sympathy) to socialism are fall victim to the fetishization of monetary rewards and are tempted by higher wages from the market. If they mistakenly believe that they can do better on the open market (which is usually impossible under manu skill 5) then they may leave the communes and undermine the whole project.
The Bear Cavalry's success is in no small part a result of the ideologically dedicated vanguard provided by the SPF political movement. That core leadership, skilled and educated, has made the rest of the project viable and provided the training and communication essential to indoctrinating (I use the word in the best possible sense) new recruits.
That major eUS political parties like the AAP, USWP, LP, CP and UIP have been unable (or unwilling) to create militias similar to the Bear Cavalry is an indication that their free market/libertarian ideologies are essentially statist/centralist in military application and, frankly, a sign of their failure to demonstrate leadership and logistical competence.
...IMHO, of course.
@ John A Kelly, Sing It Sir!!!
I once tried to ride a Koala into battle. Then realised that it was a) far too small and b)not technically a bear....
Great article though. The Bear Cav has, at the very least, provided an on the run military education for myself, Ramon and Quinn at least, that's without even thinking about Zhao, Connors or Civil.
The fact that the military was not able to take on new comers has left a major gap that paramilitaries (especially Socialist ones) are obligated to step in. If the government won't, or can't, help out youngest and weakest, who else will?
Ursa Fi!
U can tell who we are by our nice logo
Yes I do ride into battle on my bear. Ursa FI!
Voted and Ursa Fi!