non-combat life

[eskimo]

what do u think a typical non-combat day is like when you are one of Alexander's soldiers? and what would a typical day on the move be like?

[marcus]

A long, hard walk in some pretty inclement weather (either very hot or very cold); probably not really enough food (which by now you'd be used to); dekarchs shouting at you because you're lagging behind; other officers exhorting you to make a greater effort; no time to stop, and no inclination to look at the environment you're marching through; just enough time to erect a tent, eat some food, dig a latrine trench and do your business, before collapsing into a sleep that's probably 2-3 hours too short before you have to get up and do the same thing over and over again.It makes you look forward to the next fight, because it breaks the tedium, and because you're so fed up with the incessant marching that the one thing in the world you *really* want to do is to kill a few barbarians, lots of barbarians ... because it's *their* fault you're here in the first place ...

[yiannis]

I can see some parallelism with the way US troops are treating Iraqis.
These soldiers are not having a good time there either:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4474715.stm

[rollsrite]

hi, really enjoyed your ideas about non combat life. and rightly so.. i can only imagine how tired and bored all the normal everyday wear and tear a soldier went thru. seems like a real job though and you had to be really fit. no wonder when the soldiers got a chance to bust loose they did conquer, rape and pillage.boredom from everyday life and orders to move it up a pace and keep going, give them hell and all that stuff. it's only thru atg amazing charisma that the soldiers really stuck to him... of course the booty didn't hurt either. tina rollrite