Grrl Power #612 – Thunderbirds are go!
When I started the comic, I kind of scattered the ranks around the characters because I didn’t really understand what all that stuff meant. To me, military ranks always seemed like leveling up at your job like you’re playing Call of Duty. I was genuinely blown away when learned the difference between commissioned and non-commissioned. Like, why does anyone not want to be an officer? I know you have to meet certain requirements like some higher level education, but being a Lieutenant has to be better than being a private, right? If for no other reason than there’s like 10,000 fewer people than can boss you around on your base. I’ve always had a pathological aversion to authority, so maybe it’s just me.
Sure, I’ve seen movies and TV with people of different ranks doing stuff, but usually it’s all in service of a larger plot and it’s just one guy barking orders down the chain. They rarely show the stuff that each rank actually does, (at least never in the shows I’ve ever watched) because 90% of what you do in the military is probably super boring. Stargate SG-1 didn’t exactly focus on what a Lance Corporal or a 2nd Lieutenant spends all day doing.
Anyway, since I made Anvil a sergeant, I figure she ought to be seen bossing the troops around a little bit. I’ve definitely seen that in shows, so I’m sure I’m right on the money with that.
I don’t know why I named the teams Alpha and Delta instead of Alpha and Beta. I guess mostly because Delta sounds cooler than Beta, plus, Alpha and Beta sounds like sociological categorization instead of military squads. You got to call them something, and Maxima vetoed Alpha and Kumquat.
Unrelated side rant: I need to make a 3D model of Maxima’s gun, because I’m no good at drawing them, and I idiotically designed hers a little too complicated for me to draw from a lot of different angles. I started doing it once, but like a dummy, the first thing I tried to do was the rifling inside the barrel. That was not in my 3D modeling 101 skillset. I could make a barrel with little fins running along the inside, but as soon as I tried twisting one end, the middle part pinched in like I was twisting up a towel. The problem with 3D programs is there might be one checkbox that fixes that problem, but if you don’t know the exact solution, you could spend 20 hours experimenting and googling for answers and watching youtube tutorials before figuring it out. Even then, if you do find the answer, the version of the program you’re using might be different from the guy who made the tutorial, and the checkbox is in a different place now, and there’s another 20 minutes of figuring it out.
The long and the short of it is that 3D programs are completely unintuitive as far as I’m concerned. I think part of the problem with them is their UI is made by programmers and not people who are actually good at UI. The other problem is there’s so much crap you can do in a 3D program that a layer, and brush palette and a color picker like in a 2D paint program isn’t going to cut it. There are probably better solutions than what’s in most 3D programs, but there’s probably not any great ones.
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Rather than a 3D model of her gun, you might want to make a 3D model of Max’s face/head. That would be useful for lighting tests and reminders of what makes her features distinctive from say, Sciona. You’ve expressed concern about her features drifting sometimes. Having a fixed model – be it digital or physically sculpted – might be a real comfort. A model that’s take expression morphs would be even more useful.
As to the gun… I think the rifling of the barrel would be about the single least important thing to set up, since it’s only relevant in a tiny number of view angles/use cases. Eyeballing that and filling it in by hand during the drawing step after getting digitally assisted inspiration the general geometry of the weapon seems like it might be more consistent with the art style anyway.
I’ve wanted a 3D model of Max’s head for a long time. There are women’s heads in various places online, but they never look like her, but I think a gun would be easier to model than a good face, as long as I stay away from the advanced stuff like rifling.
I commend you both on avoiding the term for statues depicting the head and shoulders of Maxima. I would also assume that Deus would say he’s after the bust without any hindrance of any format. So go for broke and just admit you want Maxima’s bust.
It is breast not to say such things, if you don’t want a supersonic golden streak flying at you!
take a look at Poser, there’s a few people in that art program that could probably do the job
If you put up a character turnaround of her, and a turnaround detail of her head, there’s probably a bunch of people on here that’d be willing to do ‘fanart’ models- myself among them. Same with the gun. Give me some size details and a good side/top/front view, and I’d see what I could make for you.
I’d have a crack at this too. Though honestly the shiny gold skin texture is something I’ve tried a couple of times and it always looked terrible.
Instead of modeling something new, go with old and modify. I thought of the old Vietnam era M16 with the grenade launcher assembly. Chop it to a large pistol with the magazine as always, maybe give the grenade assembly a cylinder and 5 or 6 shots of whatever shells Max has now. As it stands it appears to be a one shot and reload system!
hear hear, the weps in the original Star Wars movies were mostly WW2 guns with doodads stuck on here and there, and at least one of the lightsaber hilts was made from an old camera flash thingie, which has pissed off a lot of collectors of WW2-era guns and those flash thingies cuz Star Wars fans buy em and then chop em up to make their blasters and lightsabers
Now I feel the urge to buy up such lightsabres and blasters and reforge them into a katana.
No point having a useless prop when you can have a nice historical, functional, weapon.
Actually, someone did make a lightsabre katana
Ever watched “Blake’s Seven”? Take a good look at the Liberator :D
Props don’t count. I would want a fully-functional weapon.
You asked about a ‘sabre-katana, and that is not a prop, it’s a fully functional katana
The reference to ‘The Liberator’ was in what they used to make the model
I was all about melting down props and turning them into a real katana. I was mirroring the destruction of WWII antiques to turn them into toys.
A good soldier/sailor=Does the job
A good NCO=Figures out who does the jobs/Makes sure their done..
A good Officer=Figures out the next job.
Obviously this ain’t dogma…but it gives you a rough guide for how it works.
And keep in mind that with a new relatively small organization like this….its kinda katy bar the door on regs really. They can write their own since they are new…..and since they are small…there is probably a lot more overlap than in larger units….it gets worse because they are civi and mil sooo….meh just take the time out to write YOUR regs really….that way they are consistent.
Lies.
There are no good NCOs. They are all motherless, sadistic demons spawned from the darkest recesses of Hell, unleashed Earth to inflict suffering upon poor, hapless E1s.
*unleashed upon Earth stupid typo demons
Thats what I said….a good NCO….8-P
He he he.
And God help you if you mess up how the one in the trades has the workshop’s supplies set up :P
Don’t forget the coffee. Never mess up the coffee.
Hey! Sadistic demon I may have been, but I had a mother!
:-D
And get back to our secret Antarctic base. I have rounded up 1,500,000 new recruits for you to whip into shape!
Are those recruits made up with these guys or these guys?
Wow. What NCOs did you serve with? Sure, I knew a couple like that (and a couple who were blithering idiots), but most were decent people.
There’s a reason NCOs get surly when young privates call them “sir.” They don’t want to be associated with those officer types, they work for a living.
That reminds me of the hilarious Sgt Arch Dornan from Fallout 2. He REALY didn’t like being called “sir”.
https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Rex-Machina-254074351
Oh darn, wrong link. Here he is in his screaming glory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkKkHmFOfKE
It may not have been the right link, but the most recent comment (Aug 4, 2017) has a couple of hilarious videos linked. In addition to your correct link, that is.
My drill sergeant used to say this whenever some noob called him sir.
“I push people not paper! Now drop and give me 50!”
In my multi-service tech school as Air Force one of our favorite hobbies was addressing Army Sergeants as “Sir.” The newer they were the more upset they would get.
The Air Force treats it as a term of respect for anyone; enlisted or officer, superior, or subordinate.
You also enjoy (almost) implying that you worked on Air Force One. ;-)
ba-dum-tsh
Of course, the other branches of the service would dispute that the Air Force works.
Hell I’ve been tempted to dispute that the Air Force is military!…..But then I’ve had an AF Major try to get me to call him by his first name sooooo……
Air Force are weird anyway. At the time that I was stationed at Elmendorf AFB, zoomies addressed every NCO as sergeant regardless of rank (except E-9, which were called “Chief” for Chief Master Sergeant). It bugged our Marines to no end because they are particular about addressing people by their exact rank, except for Gunnies (Gunnery Sergeants) and Gunners (Chief Warrant Officers). And while I cared enough to learn all of the AF rank insignia and the corresponding titles, they did not extend me the same courtesy.
Particularly aggravating was when called a Sergeant I would explain that I was in the Navy and the correct form of address was Petty Officer. And later the same person would call me Sergeant. Aargh! Also annoying was that when walking past junior zoomies they would frequently salute me because they mistook the crow on my cover (a silver eagle above the chevrons) to mean I was a Colonel.
UGH try dealing with a Senior Airman who is convinced he doesn’t have to listen to “another E-4” when you’re Petty Officer Third Class.
Interesting that despite her ‘recruit’ status, Maxima still thinks enough of her powerset and problem solving abilities to put Sydney on the ‘front line’ Alpha team despite her rough edges.
Then again, Sydney -is- the focus of the comic, so having her do the equivalent of ‘waiting on the bus’ isn’t in DaveB’s best interests.
Somebody remind Sydney of two things? The last threat on this level the team faced was Kevin, and he was ignoring Sydney. And the last time Sydney faced Sciona.. Sciona killed her without breaking a sweat.
From my limited experience and what I have herd elswhere, thats is more common in combat arms units. When things need to get done, its about who can do the job, not who has the rank. I remember one time when one of the lowest soldiers in my unit was giving a class on the 50cal machine gun to a class of people higher rank than him. He had an NCO for support, but he was giving the class, why, because he was a gun nut and knew just about everything there was to know about the weapon. His NCO’s job was to prepair the class material and teach him how to give a class.
That’s like when the Navy decided that I needed more math schooling. I was very weak in basic math, but when it cane to doing Algebra, trig, and calculus I ended up teaching the course.
Yea, elite units, especially smaller ones, have little need to follow rank protocol. Various irregular combat units in WWII had small teams with individuals who’s ranks varied from private to major or even colonel. And very often the ‘senior’ officer would just be one of the team grunts. If there was someone more suited to command in the specific circumstances, they were the ones calling the shots, with no quibbling.
Plus, such units usually arose because of some catastrophic situation, where they were the only resource available. Made up of whoever happened to be in the area at the time. Hence the mismatch of ranks and skills. Even if they did have some elite trained individuals amongst their ranks. So quite a suitable comparison for the odd mix of individual talents and powers of a super team.
One does find unusual groups in forward deployment. I’m a civilian, have always been a civilian, but I’ve had NCO’s in my shop in Iraq, who’d “take direction” from me. I can’t give orders to them, technically, but their Captain was just across the hall, and she sure could. If you get the picture.
It’s kind of astonishing when you think of the level of skills available in a typical brigade. It isn’t on the records, but every one of them has people who can do carpentry, welding or metal repair, make do with stuff you just don’t see as valuable, etc. And there’s always somebody who can do a really good barbq. That’s an absolute necessity.
Not to mention make a concealed still.
Sydney has also only been in Archon for less than a month
As others said, she was chosen for this task because there is no one else who can get Alpha Squad on site faster
Not to mention Sydney’s almost supernatural ability to stick her nose in to trouble before anyone else notices the trouble. Better to have Sydney chase after trouble than have trouble chase after Sydney!
Yeah, if there’s trouble to be found, Sydney will find it :D
Nononono.
Max didn’t put Sydney on Alpha team.
Max made Sydney Alpha team’s bus driver.
If Alpha team is John McClane, then Sydney is Argyle stuck sitting in the limo in the parking garage.
Do you really belief that Sydney is gonna wait in the limo and that Maxima didn’t count with her help beyond transport duty?
That is no more likely than Peggy not picking up her sniper rifle, once the osprey is parked.
Transport detail is just for how the team gets to its destination. Once there their duties may change. Or they may not, if in hot pursuit. Or if Maxima wants the engines running, ready for a fast evac. With Sydney having the advantage that she is the transport. So does not have to wait outside with it.
I’m not SURE what Max is thinking, but it might well be something along the lines of, “Sydney still lacks the discipline to be a good choice for a front-line engagement,” and she wouldn’t think that about Peggy. Or maybe she’s not thinking that about Sydney, I’m not sure. Point is, she wasn’t actually placed in Team Alpha.
(And yes, I could TOTALLY see Sydney obliviously goofing off and playing around with her bracer’s features, like Argyle with the car phone, while a bunch of stuff happens in the background. Assuming she didn’t know that stuff was happening and wasn’t in a sulk or got distracted from her sulk over being left behind.)
…. on the other hand, maybe Max is thinking, “I better always field the only person in Archon who LITERALLY LEVELS UP so she doesn’t miss out on XP.”
well, sydney is kind of powerhouse (supershield, teleportation, clairvoyant sight, long range dmg type magic to name few and possible hundreds of yet to unlock super powers)
Not only did Sciona kill Sydney without breaking a sweat, but IGetStronger could have also done so. Sydney placed herself in a position where quite literally her only option was to say “Please don’t kill me.” And only because IGetStronger isn’t quite the homicidal maniac that Sciona is* did Sydney manage to walk away from that encounter with a win notched on her belt instead of being removed in a body bag.
* He was completely willing to kill Maxima based only on the fact that she could kill him in the future if she engaged before he managed to power up to his final form first. That same logic should have seen him either kill Sydney out of hand or at least render her hors de combat when she interrupted his fight aura.
Sydney and Kevin made a connection, before he even had his reveal. He was actually rooting for Sydney and hoping that she would make it through OK. So he did not want to kill her and had no pressing need to do so.
Huh? His failure to kill or at least disable Sydney was the first step in his being presented with the choice of surrender or die. He was quite willing to kill Maxima, so we can see that he was able to think logically in that case and also that he wasn’t above killing or maiming to accomplish his goals. Only author interference (as in handing IGetStronger the Idiot Ball) made him all squeamish all of a sudden when a small love tap like he gave to Telekinesis Man (Vector? It’s been a while…) would have allowed him to continue carrying out his plans.
At the time when he had the opportunity to kill her, Vehemence did not consider Sydney to be a threat. The only offensive capability that she had used was her tentacle. Which was useless against Vehemence.
And by that stage he did not care that she had blocked the aggro aura, he had already built up enough power to feel invincible.
Plus, even when he was attempting to kill Maxima, he indicated that he had not intended to kill anybody. But that she was being too dangerous (or words to that effect).
Yes, afterwards he would have seen Sydney effectively organising the fight against him. But by that stage he no longer had the ability to engage her.
I am very sensitive to heroes who only survive situations because they have been granted unjustified immunity by the author. It bugs the heck out of me, to the extent that I will stop watching a movie.
In that situation though I do not think you are calling it fairly. Sydney and Vehemence built up a rapport, and the choice not to kill her felt emotionally true to me.
The other thing is that, unlike Sciona, Vehemence does not get his kicks out of killing people. It is just violence that he craves. The dead cannot provide that. Whilst the violence he provoked was easily enough to endanger life, had that happened it would have just been an ‘unfortunate side effect’.
The very fact that they had such a big fight, with deadly energies and missiles flying around, yet nobody was killed, I view as being a good indicator that Vehemence had set the Aggro Aura dial to be strong enough to incite extreme violence, but not a murderous rage.
Shadow Boxer just being someone who was probably already high up on the scale to start with.
But he likes violence. You seem to agree with that assessment. And Sydney instantly turned that off. People started apologizing and stopped fighting immediately after Sydney blocked his aggro aura. Killing her or knocking her out would have allowed the violence to continue.
The unconscious also can’t provide that, and yet IGetStronger had zero qualms about knocking out Vector(?). And he was planning to kill Maxima. So your theory about him only wanting violence has a few gaping holes from canon in it. And again, if violence was his goal, then reestablishing his aggro aura should have been his highest priority. And to accomplish that he would have had to kill or at least disable Sydney. Which he didn’t do. Because he was holding the Idiot Ball. When you say that a character wants a thing but their actions do not support the goal you are assigning to them, there are two explanations: You’ve picked the wrong goal, or the author is not correctly representing that goal. I think you’ve picked the right goal. Which leaves…
Oddly enough most people do not enjoy killing folks they like. No matter how much you insist that he should do that, it is not in his character.
And there was no need to knock her out, because, as I stated, the amount of violence already committed had sufficed. Once you are feeling satiated there is no overriding urge to carry on eating.
Both killing Sydney or knocking her out would end the repartee that he was enjoying. So whilst what you are saying would make good tactical sense, it does not correspond with the emotions shown, which were a greater driving force.
Vehemence did not like Vector. He was a useful tool. However Vehemence was contemptuous that he had allowed himself to be so easily manipulated. Killing him would negate any option to use him in the future, or provoke him into a fight, at some later date.
Whilst keeping him conscious now could allow him to interfere with Vehemence’s plans, given that he was a figurehead for the mob. Giving him too much scope to throw a spanner in the works, once he realised that he was no more than just a pawn.
So, again, this works. Vehemence was ensuring that events played out the way that he wanted to. One individual providing extra violence makes little difference to that, but the same individual rallying opposition to Vehemence could prove inconvenient.
And people wonder why I love Kenya/Anvil. Tall, beautiful, could probably dead lift me easily, and knows how to take charge.
and rich! don`t forget rich!
By leaving Beta and Gamma open, Maxima has left herself some room. Too many people Go with A/B, but then realize that there should have been some space between. Who’s to say that once in the field, Alpha team doesn’t need to split up? So now you have Alpha and Beta, and still have Delta intact and with a logical group code.
There is also the disinformation angle to consider. If you are ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’ then the enemy knows you have two teams and may not have more. Whereas if you are ‘alpha’ and ‘delta’ then they may assume you are a four team unit*, again with the possibility of more. At the very least you are limiting the amount of information which can be inferred, from the names, in any intercepted or overheard communications.
* Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta. Not following A,B,C,D but (relatively) coincidentally having the same number for D/Delta.
This thing is why the first Navy Seals team was called SEAL Team 6 and not SEAL Team 1:
https://www.history.com/news/the-birth-of-seal-team-six *
Yea, I can see how the enemy might be wary of Walrus teams and Killer Whale teams too.
Incorrect. SEAL team Six was NOT the first SEAL team.
The linked article does confirm that there were two other teams already in existence, at the time that Seal Team Six was formed (and even more previous to that). Whilst the article does not mention the various teams names, I presume that they were not “Seal Teams One and Two”, but probably had some macho code names.
So, whilst you are perfectly correct, the general point that the “Six” was chosen as misinformation for Moscow is also true. The name did not correspond to the number of teams. And is confirmed in the article as being the usual belief for why that name was chosen.
You give us waaaaaaaaay to much credit….”macho code names” pffft.
Remember behind every Military Organization….there is an extremely unimaginative bureaucracy.
It’s fairly common to name teams for dis-information purposes, I vaguely recall a doco I watched about the formation of the British SAS in WW2 and I think their first company was called “I Company” thus any intercepted comms would imply there were at least 8 other companies (A thru H).
“Halt, who goes there?”
“I company. Who are you?”
“U friend.”
“How do I know that? You sound like a bloody foreigner!”
Yep it’s to mess with the usual solution to the German Tank Problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem
Interesting dilemma. On the face of it, reading that, one would hope that NATO suppliers are required to produce non-sequential part numbers, in the event of a future major war.
However, on the other paw, there is the convenience of sequential numbers in the event of a product recall (typically for “parts between S.N. X and S.N. Y”) or maintenance notes for when part designs are modified.
I bet the latter wins out. The peacetime convenience outweighing wartime counter-intelligence needs.
If I remember correctly they tried to do both by just skipping large swaths of numbers. So while there may be a recall for SN between M and T there are no serial numbers between T and W.
Do not talk to me about that. Not when I’ve had to take inventory.
Heh, youve got a lot to learn about the military Dave. If youve got a chance to do a little research you might visit a local Natl Gaurd unit if there’s one in your vicinity. Im sure they’d be willing to share their experiences and info with you.
I love Sydney getting the business from Anvil, she often forgets that she’s in a military unit because Max gives her a certain amount of leeway due to circumstances mostly but also because of a bit of preference for her.
Ive been using Sketchup and 3D Warehouse (which has free Sketchup models) to draw things I find difficult from certain angles like guns and cars (I suck at drawing cars without assistance). Sketchup has a free version and I highly recommend it. Its also great for doing a quick and dirty perspective layout for perspective.
Yaknow if he has one nearby a Coast Guard Unit would probably be best since they also split military and police duties like ARCHON.
Mmm. Good idea. Looking at their organisational structure, they don’t appear to differentiate between their police and military roles. So presumably anybody could be called upon to act in either role, depending on their present duties.
Which make sense. You don’t want to limit your ability to respond to a crisis affecting one aspect, but not the other, through having personnel who do not feel that such is within their operational mandate.
Most of their operational structure is navy oriented, so not particularly pertinent, but the interesting aspect is their regional organisation. Which may help when Dave deals with where Archon may set up bases other than their HQ.
And Rescue. Coast Guard does Rescue as well, which Archon will probably be called upon to do before too long.
I would agree that a little bit of research would be helpfull as a guide. You do not have to mimic any othe rmilitary, especially since different militaries can have vastly differant structures. Even units within the same military can be structured differently depending on what they are doing. Special operations type units can become more about skills than rank, with the only factor rank plays is who is the team leader for the field team and leadership progression when the leader is absent. SG1 consisted of 2 officers and 2 civillians. I got the impression that most of the SG teams were made up of officers in that show. Most black ops and such seam to be made up of either officers or high ranking NCOs.
as been mentioned before, ArcSwat is in a unique position, much like SG1, in that thier a specialized field responce unit made up of members from differant militaries. Halo has already proven her capabilities in the field and Max has done enough testing of her skillset to know some of her strengths. This give Max greater options than she had before, especially from the sounds of it, they only have 1 osprey to work with. The assignments do make sense.
Or he could rely on the military experience among his readers… I, myself, have a little over 28 years in the Army as Infantry and Military Police, with smatterings of Supply, Communications, Indirect Fire (mortars) and small arms repair (Armorer).
In the military for example, the letter “B” is pronounced Bravo for example. That in itself is easily fixed… just do a search for Military Phonetic Alphabet and you’ll get the modern version. (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot…) Hotel, Alpha, Lima, Oscar… Mike, Alpha, X-ray, India, Mike, Alpha. =)
True he can rely on that but its not really the same as talking and interacting with a military unit. Which is what arranging a visit with a unit would also help with.
Oh and just so you know Dave for all the stuff we point out…you still get this more correct than 99% of the comics I’ve ever read which seem to think that the law, medicine, science, government and the military all behave however their latest plot point needs them to behave. So Bravo Zulu for that!
The only problem I see with this scene is that a deployment like this, responding to a dynamic situation, probably wouldn’t have started with a group briefing in the meeting hall. It takes minutes to get everyone together first, and this scene would be more typical of meeting for a planned op.
Instead here you’d have had a muster-alert through everyone’s collars, they’d get their orders to form on Sydney or Peggy for deployment while they’re still scrambling into uniform, and they’d get the briefing details above only once everybody’s flying out. Naturally that sort of thing would be part of their regular drills.
Of course that scene would have been much harder to draw. . .
I most situations probably, on the other hand if every one was already in the building, getitng them into the briefing room quickly would not be as time consuming. The briefing was reletively short and they did not take time to predress for field work before the meeting. Looks like they rushed in form where ever they were in the building and such. I would bet the osprey ground crew is already preping the bird for takeoff. Naturally since the briefing was short and intel light they would get updates on the move, especially as the situation is dynamic as mentioned.
All Sentinels to the Assembly Room!!!
*With Shell/Galatea goading the slow pokes*
You caught me re-reading Young Sentinels… That scene where Shell is yelling at Grendel is hilarious…
“You just killed a Def–1 alarm and you’re still NOT MOVING!!!” LOL
So, Sydney is going to be flying the Alpha Team around. Does this make her “Alpha Flight” ???
yes
Why be an officer? Another challenge; desire to advance. After 8 years on the flight line, E-6 Comm-Nav, OTS application included pilot section. Sure, I’ll apply… and hoolleee sh!t they said yes! Well, you can’t be a pilot with your face in a barf bag, so no. Either way, I couldn’t quit, so you fill out the career “Dream Sheet.” Eight years flight line maintenance experience on tactical, cargo, and helos should be a perfect fit for Maintenance Officer, right? Nope, admin… go live in the Orderly Room. I can laugh now. Supply Squadron on a flying training base. Irony is a bitch:)
The good thing tho was the Squadron Commander was a career supply weenie who had zero interest in the orderly room. I attached myself to the hip of our grizzled old MSgt First Shirt, and learned the squadron inside out. Met every NCOIC, learned the enlisted guys and gals by name; worked every fund raiser; and did every shit job the commander ignored. Weight management program anyone? Dorm inspections? Teaching a check bouncing young NCO how to balance a checkbook? Serving Article 15s and letters of reprimand? It took a while but one day a crusty old Chief didn’t call me Lieutenant, he called me Sir. I think he figured that maybe I had all my shit (finally!) in one bag.
In C battery, we had a Co who did care about the unit and such, and you reminded me of him. He wa sinfantry, knew shit about artillery. So he learned form his NCOs and let them do thier jobs while he did his. And he worked to get to know the unit and the people in the unit, even the lowly enlisted folk like myself. Wasn’t in long enought the make NCO or go officer, though I had thought about it. For the longest time I was of 2 minds about being an officer. Yes there are the perks and such, but there are also the responcibility.
Syn has’t played shuttle bubble since she got the rebreaher right? also she has the air orb now So in theory she dos’t need to make pit stops.. well I guess having to swap fly and air bals mid flight may not be plessent for the people traveling with her..
She has the rebreather; her passengers don’t. Given the two orb limitation, her pit stops have to be on the ground or unshielded in the air, so she either loses velocity or protection.
+1
Although Sydney could go on parabolic course, swap out the flyball for the air ball, to quickly refresh the air, then swap back quickly. Hopefully before loosing too much upward momentum, and starting to plummet.
But that is quite a sophisticated manoeuvre, especially if in or near commercial airspace. Being in a major city, at the moment, they probably start out fairly close to such. So it is unlikely that she would be allowed to do that, under normal circumstances. But responding to a high-speed incident, whoever is commanding the Alpha team may authorise it.
Probably whilst telling air traffic control to conduct emergency re-routing of any civilian traffic, from their path.
They use this way of flying it to train astronauts for zero-G,
for some reason the call the plane the ‘vomit comet’. : )
Point is they may be supers but airsickness can still affect them I think.
DaveB, I think a set of schematics for Max’s firearm might make a good vote incentive, and would also give those who can do the 3D work something official with which to work.
He he.
“Engage sergeant mode. Recruit to warp speed!”
Wouldn’t it be Bravo team, not Beta team, anyways? Beta is too easily confused with Theta, for instance, Bravo is phonetically much more distinct…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
…you can sing it to the alphabet song, though you lose the “now I know my ABCs” part to reciting the list itself, and end up having to append “yankee, zulu” to the very end.
Sooo For the most part military does not use the greek alphabet as call signs they use a phonetic alphabet that makes each letter easy to differenciate when speaking over radio (remember the old squaky walky talky) Just so you know here it is in quick form :
Alpha for A, Bravo for B, Charlie for C, Delta for D, Echo for E, Foxtrot for F, Golf for G, Hotel for H, India for I, Juliet for J, Kilo for K, Lima for L, Mike for M, November for N, Oscar for O, Papa for P, Quebec for Q, Romeo for R, Sierra for S, Tango to T, Uniform for U, Victor for V, Whiskey for W, Xray for X, Yankee for Y and Zulu for Z
It is easy to see why people get confused als Alpah, and Delta are from the greek alphabet. If you want you can use the greek letters and if you do I want to be in company PI (ummmm pie)
I’m old school (ie too much Band of Brothers and WW2 games):
Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, How, Item, Jig, King, Love, Mike, Nan, Oboe, Peter, Queen, Roger, Sugar, Tare, Uncle, Victor, William, Xray, Yoke, Zebra.
I came in to say this. The NATO speaking alphabet and the Greek alphabet only have “Alpha” and “Delta” in common. Using those two leaves it open which pattern is being used for names.
That said, I think “Golf Team” and “Mike Team” sound desperately uncool. Maybe skip those.
Any other Canucks reading that as Alpha Flight?
yo
Who would you rather be led by, Heather or Maxima?
*gets dressed in Mountie uniform, and casually saunters up, drawing in breath, to speak*
[thinking: mmm, maybe they will figure out that it is me?]
*hastily adjusts hat, and carries on walking past*
Alpha Flight didn’t wear Mountie uniforms.
Does that mean they were naked? :-O
Sounds like my kind of team!
*leaps into action*
at least one was:
Sasquatch
https://www.writeups.org/sasquatch-alpha-flight-marvel-comics/
Anyone else really confused by Anvil’s speech bubbles in the last panel not having the typical arrow pointing towards her? The fact it looked like her yelling at Syd in the panel should have made it obvious, but I’m ashamed to admit I spent a minute trying to decide if it was Maxima yelling from off panel or what until I read the commentary.
I didn’t. But agree that DaveB could do with putting a tail on her bubbles.
Slight minor art continuity error between the last three panels: panel four show five heads to Sydney’s right (with enough space for another five), butt panel five and six shows only three seats to Sydney’s right, and while five could imply everyone has bugged out and Sydney has started to fly, Anvil is clearly still seated as seen in panel six when she finally stands to apply foot-thrusters to Sydney’s butt
I think Sydney has overlooked the fact that just because she’s driving the limo, doesn’t mean she’s going to the prom. In other words, Maxima said Sydney will shuttle Alpha Team, not some other way around.
Odds are good, however, that Sydney is going to be dancing anyway.
There there Anvil no need for jealous outbursts.
Im sure you get on the Alpha team next time *pats on head*
*sound of arm breaking*
AAAAAHH!
FIVE
*holds paw up expectantly, tail wagging*
vomit, affects only really happen when you start to get 0G .
Sydney doesn’t have to hit 0G before temporarily dropping her shield .
she can move to a mild upward trajectory then drop her shield for a few seconds and put it back . The feeling should be something like moving in a high-speed elevator as it nears the top
Good points.
You’re only referring to the inner ear feeling of beginning a free fall. Sydney can fly at speed upwards of 400 mp/h. The feeling of the atmosphere at those speeds when she drops her force field would be far more substantial. Her only real option is to drop the flight ball for the air ball and then swap them back once the air is renewed. Dropping the force field ball at speed could literally be a death sentence to Sydney and anyone else who doesn’t have one or more shield symbols on their superpowers playing card.
Well spotted. I did not take in the mention of ‘shield’. My assumption, in the thread above, was that Halo would swap out the flyball, not the shield. There would be no need to go into a parabolic course if you still had propulsion, after all.
Still it would be workable if done at lower altitude and survivable speeds. Especially as the flyball does have protection against air-buffeting and bird-strikes.
The latter is not an option in these circumstances though, being in hot pursuit of a supersonic target. So your conclusions are perfectly correct.
Sydney, remember those stances, should you wish to show off your assets sometime. But aim for the penultimate panel’s expression, rather than the final one.
i phrased that badly.
basically I think it only truly feels bad when you are free falling downwards rather than freefalling afterwards
darn you AutoCorrect!
free falling upwards !
Depends on the person….I have an inner ear issue where I am fine for anything you want…..so long as you never turn me upside down, then I go down for the count.
It wouldn’t be team Beta, anyway, it would be team Bravo. Alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, echo, foxtrot, gamma, etc.
“Gamma” sounds cooler, but as far as I know “Golf” is still standard.
But Alpha Team and Bravo Team sounds much better than Beta Team.
Delta is way cooler though. It has wings. And does not imply second class.
Whilst delta does not have an association with ‘fourth rate’. Besides which, by the time you get to the fourth in a sequence, who cares? You are out of the medal positions.
In the original Olympics there was a fourth place medal Iron. But your statement still stands.
It (Bravo) is also more correct. The alpha used in military settings is from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo and so on) rather than the Greek alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon etc.)
I have had plenty of good NCOs, about half actually. The next fourth were okay, and the fourth after that were either incompetent or hostile or both.
You ever heard the saying (paraphrased) ‘If there is one asshole in a room, that’s the asshole. If everyone else in the room is an asshole, it’s actually you”?
Heh.
I’ve heard the ‘party’ version of that saying, “If you can’t tell who the drunkest person in the room is, it’s you.”
Hold on a second,
something just occurred to me about Cooteryl.
Regeneration,
Gun Nut,
Now has multiple personalities, one of which is a violent psycho, the other somewhat more reasonable but violent psycho has most of the body control…
He is a dime store Deadpool.
I guess he is, sort of. I’d prefer Wyrter though.
I’d imagine that there is a bravo and charlie squads, but there not combat squads. Bravo might be investigations oriented and Gamma might be personnel handling and control (prison transport).
Investigations are…Arc-Light? If memory serves? And security/containment falls under Arc-Aegis (again, if memory serves…)
Plus their apiarists and archivists fall under Arc-Hive.
i cant unlearn military phonetic shorthand, especially when someone over the phone spells phonetically wrong(to me). its alpha bravo charlie delta echo foxtrot golf hotel india juliet kilo lima mike november oscar papa quebec romeo sierra tango uniform victor whiskey xray yankee zulu.
it is not anna or betty or nancy or any other stupid name!
B as in betty? NO B as in bravo!
Ahh, that will help me learn it.
So your name would be “L, as in hotel, E as in yankee, O from Echo Echo Echo and N as in uniform”.
The last seems a bit dubious to me though. You sure that is right, as someone could easily misinterpret that as being an “M”?
hehe I learned the Phonetic alphabet doing Tech support. Primarily due to password resets and relating serial numbers and the like
Non-Commissioned
Private (E-1 – E-2) – Know Nothing/POS/really just starting out from Civilian to Military
PFC (E-3) – Just starting to learn they know nothing, starting to BE Military
Corporal/Specialist (E-4) – Heads now firmly dislodged by backside, mostly knows what their role is
SGT (E-5) – Starting Leadership, should know what their role is, knows what needs to get done, gets it done. Lower enlisted listen and come to.
Staff SGT (E-6) – Is basically in charge, lower enlisted hop to and listen. Knows what needs to get done, gets it done.
SGT First Class (E-7) – Full time leader, knows what to do, lower enlisted look to him for orders
Master SGT or First SGT (E-8) – Full time leader, usually has the ear of the lower Officers, Lower Rank Officers (the smart ones) will at times defer to what they say, if a First SGT can be referred to as “Top”
SGT Major/Command SGT Major/SGT Major of the ARMY (E-9) – IS basically GOD
Warrant Officers
W-1 – W-5
Most times are former enlisted who did NOT want to go commissioned but the job requires these Warrant Ranks (Chopper Pilots, some Nurses, Military Intelligence, Armored, etc..) Most of the time these soldiers were former enlisted and KNOW their SHITE.
Officers
2nd LT (O-1) – Know Nothings/POS/Dumb as Bricks – Recent College graduates who have been told they are now LEADERS…smart ones learn from the SGTs and above in their units to LEARN how to LEAD, LEARN their Roles, and ACTIVELY keep their mouths shut and learn.
1st LT (O-2) – starting to learn, starting to lead, think Corporal of the Officers
Capt (O-3) – Starting to Lead, knows their shite by now but still learning. Knows their roles, should be comfortable in making the decisions.
Major (O-4) – Is a Leader, makes the decisions, knows what to do and when. Knows when to listen to his enlisted leaders as well.
LT Colonel (O-5) – Is a Leader, makes the decisions, now involved in the planning of what needs to get done.
Colonel (O-6) – most often time IS THE LEADER in the Field. Leads from the front, know what to do and when.
Brigadier General/Major General/LT General/General/General of the Army (O-7 – O-10) – Leader behind the lines, very rare to see in the field, most often dealing with the Civilian leadership at home. Usually has a team of E-7s – E-9s and O-1s – O-4s assisting in job.
This is mostly correct but in the US Navy/Marines/Coast Guard the E-4 is an NCO position and is nominally starting leadership for those services. So is Corporal for the army. Specialist in the Army is still junior enlisted. The Air Force doesn’t NCO untli E-5.
I only went with Army, did not want to bog anyone down by doing all of the US Forces… Other than that, the fact that E-4 is a give away rank in the Navy/Marines/Coast Guard, I don’t normally count it as a starting leadership role.
I did 10 years USAF
then after 9/11 I rejoined the Military by going in the Army Nation Guard and did 6 years there with 2 years active Army
Got Medically Seperated
Met a TON of E-4s in all branches and the ones that CONSISTENTLY impressed me were the US Army and Marine E-4s. I think the Army and Marines just does the lower ranks right. USAF, once they get above E-4, they know what they are doing. Navy? It usually isn’t until E-5 that they START to figure things out. I suspect that life on (or in) the water does weird things to them. Ever see pics of their crossing the equator celebrations? Weird.
I’m reminded of one of Murphy’s Laws of combat “The most dangerous thing in the world is a Second Lieutenant with a map and a compass.” Seems to fit your rank descriptions :D
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo…..
“Able”
“Seaman Stains”
“Frankly Seaman Stains, I don’t give a damn!“
Roger the Cabin Boy…
I just though of this for some reason if the mass of tenticles sticks around it should be named dunwich.
Alpha team…Oh, bugger. She’s their Murdock, isn’t she?
“Howling Mad”, yes. Or at least close enough.
Who is Arc-SWAT’s Mr T?
…well in the original GP A-Team setup it was Pixel(B.A.),Krona(Faceman), Peggy(Only because she’s a pilot – as Murdock)+ Sydney(Hannibal). For the entire team- Anvil (B.A.), Sydney(Murdock!), coin toss between Hiro + Vance(Faceman),+Max as Hannibal…YMMV…
Nope, Les is Faceman (he’s actually modelled on Dirk Benedict)
“Like, why does anyone not want to be an officer? I know you have to meet certain requirements like some higher level education, but being a Lieutenant has to be better than being a private, right? If for no other reason than there’s like 10,000 fewer people than can boss you around on your base. I’ve always had a pathological aversion to authority, so maybe it’s just me.”
In all Services it’s very much the same as what R.A. Heinlein described for the Navy: You rise higher in rank, and at each step you hand away a bit more time and freedom to your duty. Finally, you become Captain, and sign off your duty watch in the Ship’s Log with the command “Call me at Any Time!” You are then, never really off duty. An the Army Colonel has always been treated as equivalent in cross-service rank to a Naval Captain.
Also, Sydney is particularly Max’ problem because Max, in effect, sponsored Sydney. Nobody else thought she was a suitable recruit, but Max was in a position to accept the responsibility of demonstrating otherwise.
Max is the commander of a unit which includes Sydney, because she accepted that responsibility. Max COULD have gone with the consensus – that Sydney needed some sort of containment, but wasn’t a suitable recruit – but she chose not to. Ultimately that’s why officers can resign, under certain circumstances, and privates can’t.
Max COULD reverse her position, but it would be more difficult. Not impossible, because no selective, elite unit HAS to keep anyone it regards as unsuitable, but certainly more complicated than inducting her.
… I was always told that pretty much everything that walks, swims, flies or crawls in the US military is an officer of some sort, and that seems to sum that up.
The British Army ranks go private, corporal (one per section or squad, not always, commands about 4 others after 4-6 years service), sergeant (one per platoon, 6-8 years service plus some specialist ranks), Colour Sergeant (the most senior Sergeant in a given unit, or Company Sergeant Major if that unit is a company, although plenty of units don’t have anyone of that rank). The Regimental Sergeant Major is an appointment, not a rank, for a fixed term.
Warrant Officers (WO1 and WO2) are what RSMs or Colour Sergeants often become, or they may be senior technical specialists not holding command rank.
Officers (often known as “Ruperts”) are a rare and delicate life-form, it is the job of senior sergeants and WOs to ensure they sign things, don’t cock things up too much and live long enough to retire. Most corporals and below can go through service life without really having much to do with officers. The main thing is not to get a “keen” one, as this can only bring trouble.
On the Alpha/Delta issue, I would have figured Beta & Gamma teams are on standby for whatever emergencies might come up in the absence of Alpha. You don’t send your two best teams to deal with one problem unless that problem absolutely requires it. As for Delta, even your best will sometimes need backup, and having them close is a good idea.
I can’t help thinking that the best way to use Halo and Maxima as transporters is to build small single-seat lift-pods with windscreens, armour, parachutes, oxygen and a big old handle. Basically ensure that Halo isn’t the single point of failure for everything. That way Halo can use and swap off orbs without having to keep track of multiple responsibilities. Imagine her trucking up into a live situation with armour up, dropping the pods, then switching to the ppo. Or in a really bad situation, teleport out of danger.
On the 3d modelling front – most of the major programs have UI’s that are done by UI people, not programmers.
It really is just what you complained about – there are so many different commands that it’s hard to put them in a format that’s intuitive for people who haven’t had practice.
More than just that – there’s an underlying mathematical representation of the shape that you have to maintain within the program, and a lot of the things that you would try to do to a physical model don’t have a consistent way of being represented mathematically.
Trouble is you need to have somebody with clout, who pays attention to the users’ needs, and tells the team to strip out crap that isn’t actually required, no matter how flashy it is, and strip it down to something that is intuitive for people to use. That can still have complexity to it, just so long as the techniques used to invoke them are easy to figure out, as and when you need them.
As to the last, get better mathematicians. If a person can physically manipulate an object, in a desired way, there is a way of mathematically representing that. Even if you have to put them in a motion capture suit (or a virtual reality environment), where you can measure the things that they do. Then find a way to adapt that to a variety of different objects.
I agree that the art is working out how the user can activate that. But, if you are basing it on something that a person did, in the first place, then that is probably a good place to start looking!
If you are planning on going with other team names it would use the phonetic alphabet, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, etc… For example my company was Charlie and my job was a 31 Romeo 10 Papa. It is the military not a frat house with Greek lettering.
As for the ranks enlisted are more specialized in a field, they learn to be a soldier then learn a job. I did telecommunications while I was in. There were 3 different jobs in my platoon. A cable runner 31L, a switch operator 31F, and transmissions operator 31R. The officers didn’t know how to operate the equipment their job was more to see the bigger picture and plan.The 31F couldn’t do all of my job, I couldn’t do all of his job, and neither of us could do all of the 31L job. The officers couldn’t do any of our jobs.
As for a super powered military I don’t know how well that structure would work. Max does a crazy amount of fighting, in the real Army most officers wouldn’t do that. All that aside I love the comic and wait for each update.
Uhh … you were a pimp with 31 gigolos for 10 sugar daddies?
OK, you explained the former part in your next paragraph, but not the latter. And it still sounds like a weird job title. :-D
Its an MOS(Military Operational Specialty) # for ease of paperwork all jobs in the military usually have a code associated with them. Navy calls them different things….even grunts have an MOS (11B Infantryman)…He was a Transmissions Operator as a job in general. The 10P was probably a more specific or alternate duty he was trained for…ah 31R is Army Multichannel Transmission Systems Operator/Maintainer
I was always a bit bemused by the general alphabet salad that any sort of US military personnel seemed to attract. The British Army, from long experience, doesn’t tend to expect its squaddies to remember that sort of thing. “NATO equivalent ranks” are a blank page to most British servicemen, being the only long-service professional army in the European sector and having no useful knowledge of European languages tend to mean that the British are largely isolated within the command structure.
Technical roles are usually self-evident from their description, and if they are NCOs of any sort (which they usually aren’t) then they will simply be given that rank as a sort of bonus. No Tom expects to actually take orders from, say, an Armourer-Sergeant, although it is usually best to listen to whatever he tells you, because he undoubtedly knows something you don’t!
Same goes for officers. All sorts of strange things wear the three pips of a Captain, surgeons for example. Chaplains are often ranked as Captains, as are various technical specialists and boffins. It’s just a military convention so they get appropriate accommodation and can sign their own mess-bills, fill up their cars and don’t get ragged about (too much). Lieutenants are a bit of a menace, but a sergeant worth anything will keep them out of (too much) mischief.
Officers that matter start with the Major’s single crown, and again, any sergeant worth his salt with keep them away from his troops as far as possible. A Colonel in the actual combat zone, should be avoided as far as possible; they are about the most dangerous thing there, since they COULD be out of harms way but for some reason, aren’t..