Switzerland Will Have a National Army

Day 2,915, 09:33 • Published in Switzerland Switzerland • by Rican

.




Introducing...

...the awe inspiring Top Secret Drum Corps.
open this YouTube video

Dateline : Wednesday November 10 (Day 1086)
Location: Federal Palace, Bern, Switzerland
Reporter: Colonel George Armstrong "Old Man" Custer





This will be so "tl;dr" that I'll do well to cover most of the bullet points in this edition of your Swiss Armed Forces News. Further editions of this paper will follow, please open your ears and open your minds and try to keep up.

First, for those who may not know me, let me introduce myself. I am George Armstrong Custer, an eRep player since Day 492, having spent nearly all of my game in the military. I started out in the US Army, earning my way through the ranks from buck Private to 2Lt as head of Army Intelligence, then Major as the first Quartermaster General of the Army, and eventually to Major General, third in rank behind the Commanding General and the Executive Officer of the Army. After eleven months in the USArmy I took a vacation, a month with the Elite Australian Drop Bears. Then returning to the US, I served with the National Guard while as President of the American Military Party, and was elected to three consecutive terms in Congress. I then transferred to the US Cavalry where I currently serve as Senior Officer of Public Relations.
Last month I was here in Switzerland to cover Party President of the Swiss Liberal Party when your President Jimakos-Thess was impeached and left the country, I left after the Party President election October 15 but have kept a finger on the pulse of Swiss politics.

I have been asked by your newly elected President, Paul Proteus, to help develop a National Army for Switzerland. I proudly accepted this challenge, then learned just what I was up against.
I am beginning to get a full understanding of how Switzerland is so very politically divided, to such an extreme that there are two complete sets of Organizations, Banks and Forums, which are activated and mothballed as one side or the other gains power.
I fully understand that the faction who was in power up to last week does not want a National Army, the primary reasons being that it would be small and ineffective and that it might attract military aggression.
I respectfully disagree.



A National Army of 20 to 30 Soldiers
Actually, it is absolutely true that a Swiss Army would, indeed, be ineffective. This country has, I'm told, maybe 50 active players-- the rest are inactive, dead, or multis. I honestly expect to build an Army of twenty, maybe thirty, tops. This will not be a threat to anyone. This Army will not be able to defend Switzerland from foreign aggression. Those are very nice goals for armies of large countries with active populations-- to be a serious threat, to kick such ass that enemies think twice about invasion. Not here. Not happenin'.
More on this later, I promise.

However, a National Army would serve other purposes.
Let's have a few of those bullet points, here..

● Citizen Recruitment
● Player Retention
● National Morale
● Economic Stimulus
● International Respect

As I said at the opening of this piece, there is just so much to cover I'm not even going to try to do it all in a single article. My intention today is simply to bring this to you, the Swiss People, that you are going to have a National Army.
It will be a Swiss National Army, absolutely non-political. There will be no politics discussed in the forums or IRC channels, this Army will follow the orders of the President of Switzerland no matter who that is or what Party he represents. This Swiss National Army will not be disbanded and resurrected like the country's Bank and Forum and other operating systems with every shift of political power. This is the Swiss National Army, of and for the People of Switzerland-- all of them no matter their political views.

Digest that, my friends.
One Swiss National Army, of and for the People of Switzerland-- all of the People of Switzerland.

I will be serving as your Commander, with the military rank of Colonel. My Co-Commander is Colonel Rowan Quigley, who will introduce himself in a subsequent article in this series.
We are developing a Google Form which we hope to have ready for tomorrow's edition of this Swiss Armed Forces News, which will ask general questions about your interest and availability to participate in your National Army-- this will not be a formal Application Form, but a tool to help us better understand your wants and needs as citizens and potential soldiers.

While I've been writing this piece Col Quigley has published an edition of this newspaper.
[SAF Orders] - Day 1086 [Lower Saxony and Bremen, Germany] is more typical of what you will see in this Swiss Armed Forces News, a daily Department of Defence Orders Relay for Swiss civilian fighters.
When the Army is formed, its fight orders will be separate and private, classified and secure.




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



... and has been re-published here for your nostalgia/amusement.


:::