tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post7812259395787165655..comments2024-03-29T02:47:44.652-05:00Comments on Future War Stories: The Barracks: Super SoldiersWilliamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-65106665740474843772022-06-26T18:23:52.679-05:002022-06-26T18:23:52.679-05:00You should read the Cobra books. Almost none of th...You should read the Cobra books. Almost none of the Cobras are from Terra, rather from colony worlds. Once the war is over, the implants are gimped as much as possible, but can't be removed without killing them. Hence, they're discharged when the war is over and their enlistments are up, but some aspects of the enhancements can't be turned off. It's a commentary on the reintegration of U.S. servicemen trying to reintegrate into society after Vietnam.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-61533644225780128512018-04-15T02:12:54.422-05:002018-04-15T02:12:54.422-05:00Man, I didn't know Soldier was connected to Bl...Man, I didn't know Soldier was connected to Blade Runner until someone made the connection between Todd's service record and the 'Tears in the rain' speech. Pretty cool if you ask me. Solder is a guilty pleasure of mine. I also liked Enterprise the best out of all the STs.Relicchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01407243922196520949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-84564620037801830292015-03-12T10:34:12.689-05:002015-03-12T10:34:12.689-05:00That was one of the elements I enjoyed about HALO:...That was one of the elements I enjoyed about HALO:Reach and the SPARTAN-II unit seen in the cutscenes in HALO Wars. I like the angle of your short story.Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-77773778935542765142015-03-12T03:10:22.896-05:002015-03-12T03:10:22.896-05:00Necro-commenting...but whatever. A common theme w... Necro-commenting...but whatever. A common theme with SF super-soldiers is seeing them as 'lone warriors', who can fight incredibly efficiently on their own against larger numbers of enemies. However, modification or augmentation to allow better teamwork would be almost as effective, if not more so, in most combat situations. In one of the short stories I'm working on humanity is forced to use child soldiers to fight off an alien invasion - similar to the SPARTAN program, but without actually medical alteration, only mental conditioning. After the war humanity fought amongst itself, and the children were considered more dangerous than conventional soldiers because of their perfect coordination and teamwork.Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13534610668635337473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-10441617500839366632015-01-24T17:49:27.902-06:002015-01-24T17:49:27.902-06:00I really miss Enterprise, and I blame the Trekkie ...I really miss Enterprise, and I blame the Trekkie fans that bitched about for the cancellation of the series BEFORE we got to see the Earth-Romulan War. Strikeforce Morituri was one of my favorite Marvel comics, some excellent work there. As soon as I can get the money, I will be buying the entire series and forging an Forgotten Classics blogpost! Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-45443196818904495592015-01-20T23:36:00.130-06:002015-01-20T23:36:00.130-06:00Cool, someone else who digs Enterprise. Also, mad ...Cool, someone else who digs Enterprise. Also, mad props for the Strikeforce. Man, I miss those comics, dark stuff that, but oh so awesome. Craig A. Glesnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06696516342754954732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-77510529182515499632014-04-17T22:51:15.879-05:002014-04-17T22:51:15.879-05:00The most ive experienced is similar to todd from s...The most ive experienced is similar to todd from soldier. Raised from birth like myself in combat and military doctrine ,mixed martial arts etc. I havent seen mutants so to speak. But i have seen perfection as far as our own dna and so on. There was no ritual abuse either with our class we just didnt know anything else. I mean we were taught about life through tv and books and internet i suppose what outsiders know as the real world. I saw salt and thats similar to how we viewed the outside world through media. But im sure they are working on it genetic manipulation i mean. Some do have psychic and psycho kinetic function but i dont. Three in my class were psychic and 1 out of 40 were psycho kinetic. He moved things like pencils and books but nothing like cars or trains that i ever saw. We didnt have numbers we had names and im joshua. We live ordinary lives among you. We are the shadow warriors. But you can spot us cause were always alone and a bit awkward at least i am. I get lonely alot but i cant help it. Anyway neat stuff.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-61597046741934279352013-12-11T18:11:30.739-06:002013-12-11T18:11:30.739-06:00This was an awesome reading! Thanks a lot. This was an awesome reading! Thanks a lot. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-17124383477446993942013-11-01T07:30:43.115-05:002013-11-01T07:30:43.115-05:00Glad FWS can be of some help! If you need anything...Glad FWS can be of some help! If you need anything more, let FWS know, and good luck! Thanks for reading and commenting! Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-73093647705651006852013-10-31T17:16:29.095-05:002013-10-31T17:16:29.095-05:00I've been working on a story about Meta-humans...I've been working on a story about Meta-humans vs Powered Armored soldiers that I hope to one day turn into an FPS. I wanted to say thank you this blog post and all the ideas of MSF it brings together!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-66295198241200405482013-10-29T03:35:49.957-05:002013-10-29T03:35:49.957-05:00Excellent post. I was checking constantly this web...Excellent post. I was checking constantly this weblog and I am <br />impressed! Extremely helpful info specifically the last <br />phase :) I deal with such info a lot. I used to be looking for this particular information for a very <br />long time. Thank you and good luck.<br /><br />My weblog; <a href="http://www.ukkitchens.co.uk" rel="nofollow">kitchen equipment</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-14508216488746023672012-12-28T15:33:06.671-06:002012-12-28T15:33:06.671-06:00A good and fair point, the real monsters are not t...A good and fair point, the real monsters are not those that swim the icy waters of Loch Ness or walking the dark woods of the Pacific northwest, but in the heart of man...Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-39226541431087992912012-12-25T21:32:57.774-06:002012-12-25T21:32:57.774-06:00Creating super soldiers would be a mistake for any...Creating super soldiers would be a mistake for any goverment,so maybe just like Star Trek and Blade Runner warned us perhaps,humanunity is doomed to face it's own monsters coming out of the R&D military labs until the sci-fi cursed earth becomes true.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-75145671307063558622012-11-14T09:34:20.923-06:002012-11-14T09:34:20.923-06:00Yeah, the Battle-Droids are NOT Terminators! Impla...Yeah, the Battle-Droids are NOT Terminators! Implanting your super-soldiers with a nanomachine that could end any type of Cylon revolt would be tricky if they or any political group learned of it and used it against the government.<br />Thanks for reading and commenting!Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-63710544340046889782012-11-13T09:33:29.853-06:002012-11-13T09:33:29.853-06:00In regard to a super-soldier (or robot rebellion) ...In regard to a super-soldier (or robot rebellion) it would make sense to enable some sort of kill option in your soldier slaves so if they do revolt you activate it and they all die, problem solved (assuming it works.) Of course you may not want to do that because if your enemy finds out your soldiers have a ‘suicide switch’ then they could wipe out your army by activating it themselves.<br /><br />And regarding Anonymous' comment regarding the Star Wars battle droids, from what I can remember from the films (been a few years since I've watched any of the prequels) they fight in rather rigid formations, not that difficult to program I would imagine. Thomasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-53143664658682543762012-11-05T11:23:43.619-06:002012-11-05T11:23:43.619-06:00Hehe...good point!Hehe...good point!Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-5825864949961472822012-11-04T14:48:49.727-06:002012-11-04T14:48:49.727-06:00Hey, in Metal gear Solid 4, shouldn't the guy ...Hey, in Metal gear Solid 4, shouldn't the guy who shits his pants count as a super soldier....i mean, he is with the patriots who took nano-techs and such while he was a normal human and managed to work at their pace....i mean even if he didn't take the implants and wasn't like warhammer 40k.....but come on, he is bad ass too.....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-23538669635172629522012-09-25T08:55:08.303-05:002012-09-25T08:55:08.303-05:00Yeah...I've nearly been hung at ST cons for sa...Yeah...I've nearly been hung at ST cons for saying that. Too many Trekkies say that DS9 was the best future war ever done. That is so wrong it gives me hemorrhoids! Sometimes I think that the overzealous fans of ST and SW actually hurt their beloved program. Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-53110517631565094482012-09-24T03:41:15.114-05:002012-09-24T03:41:15.114-05:00Cap is an interesting exception to a lot of what d...Cap is an interesting exception to a lot of what defines a super soldier. He is physically at the peak of human ability, but he also has an extraordinarily strong set of values that has caused him to disobey orders on many, many occasions (if you haven't read it the Marvel Civil War is a good example).<br /><br />I do agree that Enterprise was one of the better Trek show; I was just surprised to see that anyone agrees. The pilot episode was just awesome, but I don't think it ever lived up to its expectations. DS9 was my favorite, but I struggled with so many fluff episodes in the middle of the Dominion War.Cowboy Yogihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16233090604810578381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-43725565293158003342012-09-23T14:53:30.532-05:002012-09-23T14:53:30.532-05:00I do not have a good excuse for not putting Captai...I do not have a good excuse for not putting Captain America on the list. I never was into superheroes, and have not seen the latest film, so I felt very unqualified to speak about, especially when compared to some other sites. Upon review, I would have removed Wolverine as well, because I did a terrible job of it. <br />To me, ST:Enterprise renewed my love of Trek, before Captain Archer and company, I had disavowed Trek after the bad job they did of the Dominion War and the abortion that Voyager was. Once I witness Space:Above and Beyond, I was done with Trek. For some reason, Enterprise really spoke to me and the way they presented the early years of Starfleet was done so well. To this day, Enterprise is the only Trek series I still watch. I really wished fans had believed in it more so that we could have seen the Earth/Romulan War. Pity. I vexes me that the J.J. Abrams Star Trek was praised and was successful, leading me further to the conclusion that my ideas about Trek are not in keeping with the majority of trekkies.<br />Thanks for reading and commenting! Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-64648565409505733092012-09-23T14:43:50.057-05:002012-09-23T14:43:50.057-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-84296732920729453062012-09-22T22:15:35.528-05:002012-09-22T22:15:35.528-05:00Enterprise is the best Trek ever?
Also, where is ...Enterprise is the best Trek ever?<br /><br />Also, where is Captain America?Cowboy Yogihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16233090604810578381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-63172863057198889702012-09-12T16:49:06.970-05:002012-09-12T16:49:06.970-05:00Hi, William!! Yes, training is perhaps the most c...Hi, William!! Yes, training is perhaps the most critical element of creating a soldier, especially a super soldier. The human brain is not anything like a computer- it learns by reinforcing certain neural pathways, which can only occur with practice and training- so we will still have to train our super soldiers to fire a gun. Massive parallel-processing neural networks just don't behave like adding machines, which is all a computer really is. This is one aspect of creating a clone army that "Star Wars" got right- even with all that advanced genetic technology, Kamino still had to put their clone troopers through intense training, as we saw in "Attack of the Clones". I wonder about the droids, though- did they need to be trained in order to become good fighters? The terminators from Terminator learned as they went, like humans, that is what made them so dangerous. No amount of programming can hope to match the plasticity of a human brain or artificial neural network, but do such robo-soldiers need training like a human? I suspect so, but we never saw that in Star Wars.<br /><br />Christopher PhoenixAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-392163312468237922012-09-12T16:12:04.938-05:002012-09-12T16:12:04.938-05:00I thought about including the Mobile Infantry, but...I thought about including the Mobile Infantry, but I felt that FWS talks alot about SST, and that most of the MI in the book and films more common of standard soldiers than super-soldiers, partly because it seems that ALL of the MI are APS wearers. <br />Training is a critical part of any soldier's life, including super-soldiers, even if you make a SPARTAN_II in a tube, you still have to teach them how to fire the gun. If we could upload critical data, like Neo from the Matrix, than a super-soldier could come out fighting. That is one element that ST:DS9 failed to discuss with the Jem'Hadar. <br />That is a good point about super-soldiers being examples of the society that created themWilliamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218428427067689631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-726484495782035142.post-42681186773785143702012-09-12T02:00:48.055-05:002012-09-12T02:00:48.055-05:00Good post, William!! The term "super soldier...Good post, William!! The term "super soldier" is applied to many different kinds of improved soldier in SF, but the main attribute of super soldiers is that some sort of technology has been used to augment or even artificially create them. Cybernetics, genetic engineering, extreme training, and psychological modification are common techniques- and a super soldier program would probably use several of them, especially the extreme training. After all, it doesn't matter how strong your soldiers are if they are poorly trained. A single highly motivated, well trained human soldier could probably kick a poorly trained, ill mannered hybrid man-ape soldier's ass. :-)<br /><br />You should note that higher order traits like musical talent or kindness are not controlled by genes. For instance, the clones from "Star Wars" may have been engineered to have the potential to develop into good soldiers, but without extreme training and possibly even psychological modification, they won't develop into the Republic's feared Clone Army. Probably those who didn't make the cut physically or psychologically were rejected.<br /><br />Remember what happened to the Romans when they started recruiting and training barbarians to defend their borders? I can't help but think this might happen to a society that artificially creates "super soldiers" to serve in their wars. Once you have a whole army made of virtual slaves who have no connection to the society they serve, will they choose to rebel?<br /><br />We can't ignore psychological conditioning, either. A lot of what makes one soldier succeed where another fails are morale, training, and following orders. If you can condition soldiers so that they will not fear death, question orders, worry about when they get to go home, etc. then you may be getting a lot closer to an ideal soldier than just giving your soldiers bigger muscles would. <br /><br />I think that super soldiers- like any other soldier- will represent the goals and ideals of the country that created them. Oppressive governments will want unstoppable war machines who will not question orders or feel any empathy for their victims, just like Stalin's absurd man-ape hybrids were meant to be. A republican government like the U.S., on the other hand, wanted solder-monks who would apply psychological techniques- even hugs!!- to end conflict, using violence only as a last resort. These examples sound absurd, but they illustrate that different ideals lead to different ideas of what constitutes the "perfect" soldier. The Federation from "Star Trek" would probably recruit volunteers who wished to become super-humanoids and defend the UFP from the Borg and the Jem'Hadar and whatnot if the Federation wasn't so leery about improving humanoids. The Dominion created the slave-like Jem'Hadar. Still other different SF societies may have their own ideas as to what an ideal soldier would be, ranging from an augmented human (or alien!!) to complete speciation. This gives a SF writer a lot of leeway in creating super soldiers.<br /><br />Christopher PhoenixAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com