February 6, 3031 Battle Technology Weekly News In ancient Terran times, the city-state of Rome built itself an empire. It lasted almost 800 years. At its largest, it covered two thirds of the known world, imposing within that territory the Pax Romanum, the Roman Peace. Under threat of most deadly destruction, no region could make war on another. No other nation dared to begin a war with Rome. The few tribes that fought did so as a last-ditch measure to avoid being absorbed by Rome. The founders of this state were two brothers, children cast out by their kin who were nursed and raised by a wolf. A statue to this wolf, Rhea by name, stood in the Roman Forum until Rome fell. Throughout the centuries, the legend persisted of lost children who were raised by wolves, raised as their own. The children were said to become more than human, gaining the power of the fighting animal without losing their loyalty or their humanity. Kipling's Jungle Book made popular the wolf-boy Mowgli, influencing the founders of today's Explorer Scout movement. So there is a precedent. In the 31st Century, if you wanted to raise your child to be like a wolf, which wolf would you choose? No question. You'd choose Jaime Wolf of Wolf's Dragoons. The Fourth Succession War left thousands of children orphaned. Some of these, like the fortunate children orphaned by biological warfare on Northwind, belonged to a large, close clan which took them in. But for the majority there were only impersonal agencies. Even on the richer planets, those agents were strained to the limit. Heartswere wrenched dailyasthe InnerSphere grew all too familiar with orphaned children grubbing in garbage dumps. Can you see the pieces of the puzzle taking shape? Remember that Wolf's Dragoons had lost five of their six regiments to Takashi Kurita's bloody vendetta against them. After peace was signed they began a far-reaching plan of long-term recruitment. Very long term recruitment. It began with the children who were dependents of fallen Dragoons, but soon Wolf's agents (some of the best-known MechWarriors in the Inner Sphere, people whose reputations even an illiterate child might know) were sweeping the rubble-warrens of bombed-out cities, collecting children from overstrained child welfare agencies, adopting any child old enough to lisp the word "yes", when asked if it wanted a better life. Normal recruitment has raised the Dragoons' numbers to three battalions. By 3050, the Dragoons will have fifty to a hundred new personnel trained specifically to their specs, children who were cast out by their kin (the adults of the Inner Sphere). And nurtured into a healthy adulthood by wolves. We heard no objections to our printing this story about the Dragoons recruiting children. We got no static about quoting Natasha Kerensky. But a routine follow-up story several years laterwas instantly censored. While Wolf's Dragoons haven't got the support of a government agency, a visit from two hard-eyed individuals in black and red with wolf's head patches on their shoulders has enough clout to ... well, if somebody gave you the choice of killing a routine story or getting onto the Dragoons' enemy list, how long would it take you to make up your mind? Uh huh, that's about how long it took us. Even more mysterious; early in 3051, a Major Lilith Long sent us a note on Wolf's Dragoons' letterhead. "If you want to print that story about our schools, now would be a good time. It might even do some good." BattleTechnology may back down once in a while, but we aren't stupid. Somewhere in this story is information that Wolf's Dragoons wants somebody to have. So although the story is a decade old, we're reprinting it. Battle Technology Weekly News, January 10, 3039 In the early 3030's, a large amount of nonsense was generated about Wolf's Dragoons' recruitment of war orphans to raise as members of the unit. Morgan and Salome Ward Kell of the Kell Hounds took their young son Phelan for several long visits to the Dragoons' planet of Outreach. Prince Victor Steiner Davion spent a highly publicized fourth summer there in the care of the Dragoons' childhood professionals while his princely parents toured Outreach's facilities, sometimes being absent for days on end. After that stamp of approval, much of the outcry died down. With scandal quenched, the public soon lost interest. We here at BattleTechnology thought you might like to see how the Dragoons raise children in wholesale lots. An anonymous source employed by the Dragoons gave us a look at their ambitious training program. Andolina Montoya, a child psychologist from the Savonburg Universities, analyzed the data for BattleTechnology. "For much of their development these 'Young Wolves' lead similar lives to any other children in the Inner Sphere. They go to school for five hours a day, learning math, history, languages, spelling, the sciences ... they tussle with each other on the playground and gripe about their homework. If their physical education classes are more martially oriented than most children's (how many 12-year-olds do you know who can field strip, clean, and reassemble a personal weapon in under twenty minutes?], shouting at play they look like ordinary happy kids." "The obligatory courses in Tactics, Technical Skills, and Moral Philosophy in the early teen years, the survival and self- reliance classes which follow them, are all innovations which could be found in one utopian academy or another." "There is one feature in the Young Wolves' training which is unique to the Dragoons. Remember, we are talking about hundreds of orphaned children, many of him couldn't even remember how it feels to be part of a family. The problem: how to simulate the necessary socialization process of belonging to a family? The brilliant solution of the Wolf's Dragoons' team is an artificial family called the 'Sibling Company'. Each group of fifty children has its own barracks, play area, school, and training course. They meet with other groups of children at the central library and entertainment facilities. Each Sibling Company has round the clock coverage by the 'parent' teams which will remain with them throughout the growing process, thus giving stability and continuity in adult role model relationships as well as 'brothers' and 'sisters' to share that growing with. Each Sibling Company is encouraged to invent and to celebrate traditions of its own." The child psychologists of Wolf's Dragoons are to be congratulated on their achievement. We here at BattleTechnology look forward to a new generation of welladjusted Dragoons. Back to BattleTechnology 17 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com