Iuthia
18-12-2003, 13:15
One of the Definitions of Institutionalisation: Subject to the deleterious effects of confinement in an institution.
Institutionalisation, it’s a big word and it’s commonly thought of when talking about mental institutes… the normal example being that someone has been confined to a mental institute where their mental state may be stabilised but the effects of being confined to one place can in itself cause problems.
Let me explain. If you are kept within a controlled environment (such as a hospital or under mental care) for long periods of time you get used to being within a controlled environment, it’s harder to leave the institution the longer you have been in. Often the real world will seem intimidating to you, you will have more trouble understanding it and understanding real people, relationships will be more problematic and getting a job will be harder… basically, the longer you are kept within an institution the more out of touch you will become, the weaker the person the more likely that you will never be able to become normal again.
So how does this affect your military personnel? Yeah… that’s right, institutionalisation isn’t limited to your physically and mentally sick, it will happen to anyone who is taken out of the real world and placed within a controlled environment, such as the military… sure, you may let your people leave once in a while, but for most of their career they will be living in that institute, training in an environments controlled so you will be able to train efficiently.
Don’t believe me? Look at retired army veterans, a lot of them are reasonably ok… maybe a little odd, but they have managed to get to grips with the world outside of the military… but what about the ones who didn’t? You’d be amazed how many veterans went on to be homeless, living on the street… it’s happened in real life and it still happens, they are supported the best that people can manage if they are lucky but it’s almost scary to think that some of them never quite got back into the real world.
You also find that those who manage to stick the military for 2 years like the contract said often find that they prefer to stay in the military, a quite a few of them leave but the connect is there.
So ok, that’s looking at the normal model for the military, but what if you went further and forced all of your people to serve a period in the military… well to be honest, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue providing it’s not for too long, something like 2 years can be ok… though they may leave a little confused when they try getting a job in the real world. But what about 5 years? I’ve seen nations do it and it can be pretty harsh… but the worst possible case is when you are dealing with children…
We’ve all heard of the idea that if you train a child to be a soldier all his life that they become some kind of highly trained force… it makes sense really, but the worst case I’ve heard in NS is someone who actually puts all their children in a form of boarding school (i.e. they can’t go home after school, they live there) and then trains them in martial arts and meditation as well as teaching them normal education… now those kids are going to end up a little odd when they leave, but it was made worse by then putting them into the military for 5 years.
Of course, I’m hardly an expert… but I feel that it should be taken into the consideration that the more harshly you train your people to be great military material, the worse they will be for civilian life, which is the life they use to get you your economy.
Institutionalisation, it’s a big word and it’s commonly thought of when talking about mental institutes… the normal example being that someone has been confined to a mental institute where their mental state may be stabilised but the effects of being confined to one place can in itself cause problems.
Let me explain. If you are kept within a controlled environment (such as a hospital or under mental care) for long periods of time you get used to being within a controlled environment, it’s harder to leave the institution the longer you have been in. Often the real world will seem intimidating to you, you will have more trouble understanding it and understanding real people, relationships will be more problematic and getting a job will be harder… basically, the longer you are kept within an institution the more out of touch you will become, the weaker the person the more likely that you will never be able to become normal again.
So how does this affect your military personnel? Yeah… that’s right, institutionalisation isn’t limited to your physically and mentally sick, it will happen to anyone who is taken out of the real world and placed within a controlled environment, such as the military… sure, you may let your people leave once in a while, but for most of their career they will be living in that institute, training in an environments controlled so you will be able to train efficiently.
Don’t believe me? Look at retired army veterans, a lot of them are reasonably ok… maybe a little odd, but they have managed to get to grips with the world outside of the military… but what about the ones who didn’t? You’d be amazed how many veterans went on to be homeless, living on the street… it’s happened in real life and it still happens, they are supported the best that people can manage if they are lucky but it’s almost scary to think that some of them never quite got back into the real world.
You also find that those who manage to stick the military for 2 years like the contract said often find that they prefer to stay in the military, a quite a few of them leave but the connect is there.
So ok, that’s looking at the normal model for the military, but what if you went further and forced all of your people to serve a period in the military… well to be honest, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue providing it’s not for too long, something like 2 years can be ok… though they may leave a little confused when they try getting a job in the real world. But what about 5 years? I’ve seen nations do it and it can be pretty harsh… but the worst possible case is when you are dealing with children…
We’ve all heard of the idea that if you train a child to be a soldier all his life that they become some kind of highly trained force… it makes sense really, but the worst case I’ve heard in NS is someone who actually puts all their children in a form of boarding school (i.e. they can’t go home after school, they live there) and then trains them in martial arts and meditation as well as teaching them normal education… now those kids are going to end up a little odd when they leave, but it was made worse by then putting them into the military for 5 years.
Of course, I’m hardly an expert… but I feel that it should be taken into the consideration that the more harshly you train your people to be great military material, the worse they will be for civilian life, which is the life they use to get you your economy.