Werewolves in the military

[Terastas]

lol why would a werewolf join the army?

Why would a sane man join the military?

Same thing, really.

For pride (either in one's self or in one's country), to acquire skills, to get money for college, to see the world (I know two guys online, a medic and a mechanic, that have at one point or another lived in all the hot European vacation spots), to learn how to use some "nifty toys," etc.

And for the werewolves, that thing we mentioned earlier about proving their good intent.

[Fyriewolf]

i agree w/ ya Aki, I mean isn't a werewolf the same difference of an insane man just werewolve have fur and insane man just has hair on the head (they didn't rip their hair off their scalps).

[Fyriewolf]

ohhhh and may somebody goe on to my thread* Members of a Pack* ?
Please.

[Moonstalker]

The first thing you'd see happen is those five star old farts (the ones that treat war like a John Wayne movie) talking about segregating werewolves from the military the same way they try to keep gays out. To the opposite effect, I think private contractors would see lycanthropy as a performance booster. That said, the first werewolves in the military I believe would be mercenaries.

I don't think a private contractor would hire someone just because he has lycanthropy, but I definitely think they would encourage their operatives to acquire lycanthropy. With advanced training and lycanthropy, said mercenaries will excel in the field (think Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction with the infinite health cheat). Following the success of the mercenaries, the military might offer some of their special ops the chance to be given lycanthropy. Then following the success of the special ops lycanthropy program, similar offers of infection would be enacted by the four major branches of the military (army, navy, air force, and marines). At the same time recruits are given the option to acquire lycanthropy, that's when lycanthropes will start getting accepted into the military.

I know what would happen when someone spots the were in the army. They would start some kinda "supersoldier program" and soon there would be thousands of these superhumans. I dont think they would start to produce werewolves directly but with some genomic mapping they would most likely invent serum. Serum or some boost that gives the soldiers increased powers, senses and fast healing.
Taking weres in the troops would be too obvious, someone would soon start to look into it and reveal everything. Imagine if someone starts to spread rumors about strange beasts in the night, attacking the enemy soldiers.

Perhaps someone would notice the troops getting better in the field but leaders can always say that they train their forces so well and they have better technology and other stuff

[Rhuen]

seems we have two main camps of thought on this.

The Hyper Police/x-men esque camp of super-humans needing to prove themselves but might become segrigated.
&
the living weapons camp (like Project Metal Beast).

any other ideas that don't fit into these two groups?

[avogadro522]

New ideas you ask? Alright then, how about this:
What if the army doesn't even bother with making an effort at werewolf soldiers? We keep talking about werewolf soldiers as if they become ultimate weapons for war in the new milenium, but how can we be sure of that?
If you're only a werewolf for one night of the month than are you really that strategically valuable over other soldiers? Yes on that night you are, but missions and unexpected circumstances don't always revolve around the lunar cycle.
I guess I can see the use of individual werewolves in different situations, but an entire division? Thousands of newly converted werewolves? I'm just not convinced that the investment of time and resources to significantly change the army structure would yeild extremely noteworthy results.
Now, if lycanthropy could be used more often, or if it also enhanced general abilities even while human, then yes I could see it becoming a worthwhile tool. But without those factors I just don't see the point of waking a major effort to harness the power of werewolves for the good of organized warfare.
As for segregation, well I'm just not sure what would happen there. The military still gets wigged out by homosexuality, I don't know how lycanthropy would compare in terms of soldiers' reactions.
Sorry for a cynical response, but I think there are more possibilities here than integration or special ops.

[Aki]

lol why would a werewolf join the army?

Why would a sane man join the military?

Same thing, really.

For pride (either in one's self or in one's country), to acquire skills, to get money for college, to see the world (I know two guys online, a medic and a mechanic, that have at one point or another lived in all the hot European vacation spots), to learn how to use some "nifty toys," etc.

And for the werewolves, that thing we mentioned earlier about proving their good intent.

Which was my point. They could join for all the same reasons as anyone else.

[Zombie]

If you have the streotypical ideal werewolf (better speed, higher stregnth, incredible endurance and hieghtened senses at all times) serving in your squad or as your battle buddy, wouldnt YOU want then to have your six when engaging the enemy? When lead starts flyin`, you have to have somebody you can count on, and they have to have as much confidence in you (and it must be well-founded trust) as you have in them. Like I said before, If someone can run 12 miles (we had to road-march 12 to graduate Inf school) with a full load (75-220 lbs) in their first week, you can bet that they arent going to have any problems with fatigue and lack of fitness. They will be able to do everything faster, harder, and be just as brutal when fighting the enemy. A well-functioning fireteam is enough like a pack with a leadership structure. Any advantages a soldier has could/should be exploited.

-Zombie

[Terastas]

I know what would happen when someone spots the were in the army. They would start some kinda "supersoldier program" and soon there would be thousands of these superhumans. I dont think they would start to produce werewolves directly but with some genomic mapping they would most likely invent serum. Serum or some boost that gives the soldiers increased powers, senses and fast healing.
Taking weres in the troops would be too obvious, someone would soon start to look into it and reveal everything. Imagine if someone starts to spread rumors about strange beasts in the night, attacking the enemy soldiers.

That's what would happen if lycanthropy came with more undesired effects than perks; some arms producer or pharmaceutical company would try to isolate and study the werewolf virus and either negate any of the negative effects, or observe the positive effects at work and try to replicate them.

Although assuming werewolves have revealed themselves to the public to the point that it would be debated whether or not werewolves should be permitted to join the military, the "werewolf brigade" would only have to remain top secret during the trial run.

[avogadro522]

If you have the streotypical ideal werewolf (better speed, higher stregnth, incredible endurance and hieghtened senses at all times) serving in your squad or as your battle buddy, wouldnt YOU want then to have your six when engaging the enemy? When lead starts flyin`, you have to have somebody you can count on, and they have to have as much confidence in you (and it must be well-founded trust) as you have in them. Like I said before, If someone can run 12 miles (we had to road-march 12 to graduate Inf school) with a full load (75-220 lbs) in their first week, you can bet that they arent going to have any problems with fatigue and lack of fitness. They will be able to do everything faster, harder, and be just as brutal when fighting the enemy. A well-functioning fireteam is enough like a pack with a leadership structure. Any advantages a soldier has could/should be exploited.

-Zombie

That is exactly what I'm saying, the usefullness of werewolves in the military depends entirely on whether or not the benefits of being one are available at all times or limited to the lunar cycle. I'm only a skeptic about this because it depends on the nature of lycanthropy itself, it doesn't inherently bring benefits with it. This is especially true if these soldiers lost their self control while transformed, or if the transformation itself is just extremely brutal to the human body. I just wanted to put it out there that it wasn't as simple as werewolve entering the military meaning automatic bonus for all, it depends on a lot of other factors, like what people have brought up before about whether werewolves are still hidden at the time of this debate or if they've gone public.

[Rhuen]

The biggest factors I can see are

Human form effects: if its no different than Jon Talbot then no benefit at all.

transformation times: if its any time like modern movies perhaps, but lunar cycle and only at night transformation are limited, especially if they have no control as to when they will transform.

Control in the beast state: an out of control killing machine would only be useful as a secret weapon deep in wilderness combat. More control for missions, but level of control seems for most to correspond to extent of power in the beast form and again usefulness. Much like a person having an andreline rush, want more strength you sacrifice self control.

the beast state: becoming a hulk like muscle beast or at least able to knock a car over and leap over the height of a human may be useful but what if it just becomes a wolf? or a wolfman type werewolf?

Weaknesses: as in harm by silver, not harmed by silver, could be killed by normal means, ect... If its an out of control psycho beast and can be killed with enough bullets or big enough ones then it may be useful for a short time as a weapon to distract the enemy from the real target or demoralize them until its either killed or wounded to the point it flees battle.

[Harry_Osborn]

Most likely the military would be freaked out about what they are; hence not letting them enroll in it. One simple reason for them not getting in the military would be that people fear them, and what people fear and don't understand they either destroy or shun them, either way they treat them poorly. I mean if you look back in history with the segrigation of the African Americans and how big of a deal that was and how poorly they were treated even when enrolled. That was just due to skin color, picture that abut 10 or more times worse because the wolf is by many people regarded as a dangerous beast hence why they were almost hunted into non-existence. Having someone seem to appear part wolf and such and go through a body transformation like that would really not be excepted by most (in my opinion as seeing how humans have acted in the past with discrimination to Africans)

All in all the conslusion is that if they did get in they would probably be treated really bad. I like wolves and I like werewolves and that was a good question so I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad. But alas looking back at history I don't think it would be excepted; history does repeat itself as do actions. Sorry if this post or idea didn't make much sense. Hope you could understand what I ment.

[Aki]

Most likely the military would be freaked out about what they are; hence not letting them enroll in it. One simple reason for them not getting in the military would be that people fear them, and what people fear and don't understand they either destroy or shun them, either way they treat them poorly. I mean if you look back in history with the segrigation of the African Americans and how big of a deal that was and how poorly they were treated even when enrolled. That was just due to skin color, picture that abut 10 or more times worse because the wolf is by many people regarded as a dangerous beast hence why they were almost hunted into non-existence. Having someone seem to appear part wolf and such and go through a body transformation like that would really not be excepted by most (in my opinion as seeing how humans have acted in the past with discrimination to Africans)

All in all the conslusion is that if they did get in they would probably be treated really bad. I like wolves and I like werewolves and that was a good question so I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad. But alas looking back at history I don't think it would be excepted; history does repeat itself as do actions. Sorry if this post or idea didn't make much sense. Hope you could understand what I ment.

The difference here, is that people regard Blacks as "inferior". Y'know, stupid and such.

I'm sure a general would see the upsides to lycanthropic warriors. Not simply the abilities granted to them, but the fear they generate.

I mean, afterall, that's part of the reason weapons like the flamethrower came to be. Comparitively, the flamethrower is a poor weapon against others, with a maximum range of 200 feet and ammo that isn't easily replaced, as well as being noisy and very, very visible.

But it instills fear into the opposition. Soldiers see that tongue of flame lash out like the breath of a dragon and know that should they be hit by that, it's not going to be pleasant.

Likewise, a werewolf would be much the same. Their wereform may not be as useful in some situations, but the howling alone will unnerve the opposition. Seeing them rush forth, perhaps supplemented by enemy fire, will only further scare them s***.

The difference between black people and werewolves is that one was viewed as inferior and discriminated against. The other however, is a feared beast - a legend come to life. And exploiting that can be very useful. There's no psycological warefare to using people of a certain skin color (aside from shaming the foe, should the foe lose to a group they discriminate against), but there is to howling fanged monstrosities.

Hell, might even scare your foes into wasting lots of money making silver bullets and such. Of course, that would require no werewolves dying or severly wounded, or no enemies living to tell their superiors that they can be killed conventionally.

[bar1scorpio]

In the PitW-verse, one in every 1000 humans is actually a lycanthrope of some kind. Most young male wolves have alot of aggression to deal with, and military service may be seen as a way to work that out outside of the confines of their home Pack, and in a constructive manner.

Given that werewolves have existed for centuries, hidden from the rest of society, there would already be older lycanthropes in the officer classes when a teenaged wold signed up. They'd be shuffled around into groups of other werewolves initially, to avoid exposure.

Once you step off in Iraq though, there are no gaurantees. You figure there might be a few lycanthropes on the other side as well, but somehow, Jacky always seems to come away with barely a scrape. Either those insurgent snipers are all off their game, or St Michael is personally redirecting all those headshots to 'just a flesh wound'.

[Anubis]

I should explain how the werewolf in my fiction work with the military.

In the world of RABID (which i spent a better part of a year trying to write) Werewolves or the Ry'ou (It's what they call them selves) Allied with humanity for the first time in the American revolutionary war. In exchange to help the Americans fight the British, they get protection from the public ignorance. They were extremely effective so humanity didn't dare lose this asset.

Other nation got in the act and after WW2 the newly established UN made the nations participating hand over their "wolf crops" to form RABID. ti fight the unnatural threats unleashed by Hitler's hunger for the occult.

Now every werewolf that joins the military of a country participating with the UN is transferred to RABID. The ry'ou live in communities near RABID bases like the town Glacier that is located near LUNAR Mt. a very important base. So it's easier to keep the ry'ou a secret. They are allowed to leave, but they stay to live as open lycanthropes with their own kind. also to get proper medical care since no normal hospital is not equipped to take care of werewolves.

how ever despite being allies, humans looked down on the ry'ou as animals and beasts for being wereolves and being too vicious with their enemies. So humans run ry'ou and they try to keep it that way out of fear what could happed if a ry'ou become master general of RABID.

the highest ranking werewolf is Anubis Garou a two star general (the main character) The top brass want him gone, but he's sort of a ledgend and highly revered in the ry'ou community, they are afraid to fire him, fearing the backlash amoung the ranks and the civilain wolf population.

[Zombie]

Anubis- a 2-star is a Major General. Its easy to remember the General Ranks. Be My Little General. Be, Birigadier (1-star) My, Major, (2-star) Little, Leutenent (3-star) General, General (4-star).

See? Easy!

-Zombie

[Anubis]

Anubis- a 2-star is a Major General. Its easy to remember the General Ranks. Be My Little General. Be, Birigadier (1-star) My, Major, (2-star) Little, Leutenent (3-star) General, General (4-star).

See? Easy!

-Zombie

I know that, most people don't know what a major general is.

I didn't really appreciate that criticism, it sounded a little condescending.

BTW you spelt brigadier and lieutenant wrong.

[Zombie]

Didnt mean to have it sound like that.
-Z

[Anubis]

It's okay

[Fyriewolf]

ok what is the diff in an insane man and an insane werewolf? i mean an insane man tries to kill everyone and an insane werewolf to me is the sme thing the only diff is that on has alot of fur and the other has few hair. but if they both joined the military then they can both come in handy. one can be a distraction while the other kills the enemies supplies. so back to my question what is the major diff in them?

[avogadro522]

ok what is the diff in an insane man and an insane werewolf? i mean an insane man tries to kill everyone and an insane werewolf to me is the sme thing the only diff is that on has alot of fur and the other has few hair. but if they both joined the military then they can both come in handy. one can be a distraction while the other kills the enemies supplies. so back to my question what is the major diff in them?

Honestly I've never heard of the military being too keen on the psychotic in general. It's hard to give orders to someone when they think their hair is full of snakes. The difference between them? Definitely more than just the hair.

[Rhuen]

ok what is the diff in an insane man and an insane werewolf? i mean an insane man tries to kill everyone and an insane werewolf to me is the sme thing the only diff is that on has alot of fur and the other has few hair. but if they both joined the military then they can both come in handy. one can be a distraction while the other kills the enemies supplies. so back to my question what is the major diff in them?

the difference.

Number of casualties expected.
Property damage.

[Fyriewolf]

wow i never really knew that there were that many major diffs in werewolves and an insane man.

[Rhuen]

Insane man: rambles madness and tries to attack people but can be subdued by one good cop so long as the man doesn't get a gun.

Insane werewolf: whole police department gets torn to shreds.

either way the military does have psychological checks in place so they don't hire psychos. Crazy people can't be trusted in combat situations as they might snap and turn on their squad.

[Aki]

Insane man: rambles madness and tries to attack people but can be subdued by one good cop so long as the man doesn't get a gun.

Insane werewolf: whole police department gets torn to shreds.

either way the military does have psychological checks in place so they don't hire psychos. Crazy people can't be trusted in combat situations as they might snap and turn on their squad.

Yeah. Likewise, they might do unpleasant and bad things to the locals, which can be pretty bad for your Army's rep.