Death of the Modern Military Pt.1

June 12, 2040:
"What Happened to the Enlisted Man?"
An Investigative Report
By: Jonathan Frog
"When the fighting it was over
And the flag of truce was raised
The leaders ordered the firing to cease
All Ireland stood amazed." 
- PaddyReilly
Whatever happened to the little soldier boy when machine took up arms over the traditional soldier?
At the height of the Resource Wars even countries that traditionally stayed away from armed conflict had standing drafted armies. This is a fact that we, in the modern era, tend to purposely forget and overlook. In World War 1 and 2 the drafted men were able to come back to their countries and become members of society, using skills and trades learned on the front line to create careers and lives for themselves. The soldiers of the Resource Wars were given quick and dirty training with advanced weapons as part of mechanized infantry, thrown on the front line and not given any other real skills besides how to fight. Is it any surprise that in the years following disarmament and the passing over of civil defense to computers and machines the world has seen a huge influx of these men and women into mercenary and soldier of fortune groups?
The fact is first world nations during the Resource Wars very quickly required large standing armies. With the amount of saber rattling, veiled threats, and open hostilities occurring as the nations jostled for the last remaining drops of oil, water and natural gas, a quickly trained yet efficient soldier had to be created. And they were created, in droves.
It was all well and good. Many of these countries (with France, Italy and Spain being particularly hard hit) had been deep in economic recessions with unemployment reaching up to 30-35% in some cases. Being able to take all those young people and give them a tin hat and a gun meant that they were taking potential criminals or social service candidates' off the street. 
The problem was when the war was said and done. All those young soldiers, trained efficiently and effectively had no war to fight, and with global disarmament and a general apathy and dislike of warfare distilled into the populace, the chances of another conflict on a world scale was unlikely. So they left. They traveled into the old Bloc Countries, into the Middle East and the destabilized areas of Pakistan, India, and all the traditionally fun hotspots, formed up nice little groups and began shooting each other for money.
These are jaded and bitter men and women who feel like their countries used them, and abandoned them. The officers of the various armies found employment in private military or security firms, mercenary groups, off-world private security, and of course some drifted into a life of organized crime. 
The rank and file? They're still in the trenches and were never really given a way out.
Category:Resource Wars
Category:Mercenaries