DBWI: So I'm off to join the Honourary Byzantine Legion

[Wolfhound]

I'm fed of the weather in Britain, I havn't been able to get a job since University, and the British Army pay is abysmal. I'm off to go and join the HBL, you know, the section of the Byzantine army for foreigners, where you can work your way towards citizenship.

Hopefully I'll get posted in Anatolia, Greece, Syria or Egypt, not somewhere like Georgia or the Crimea - then I will have just swapped one set of bad weather for another.

Anyone else ever considered joining?

 

[The Red]

I've considered it in the past but with the United Federation of Rus making so much noise I wouldnt want to be in the army right now.

 

[Wolfhound]

The Byzantines have the equivalent of the Rus' entire Federal armies based in the Crimea, however that doesn't take into account the Ukraine State Armies. Still, I can't see the Rus beating the Byzantines off the Baltic any time soon, all this take of them wanting a Warm water port is just scaremongering I think.
They're still angry the Byzantines took Astrakhan and shrugged out of the Caspian as well.

 

[The Red]

The Byzantines have the equivalent of the Rus' entire Federal armies based in the Crimea, however that doesn't take into account the Ukraine State Armies. Still, I can't see the Rus beating the Byzantines off the Baltic any time soon, all this take of them wanting a Warm water port is just scaremongering I think.
They're still angry the Byzantines took Astrakhan and shrugged out of the Caspian as well.

Regardless of an assured Byzantine victory in the long term I wouldnt put my life on the line for either side.

 

[Wolfhound]

I guess, but the Whig Government is reducing unemployment benefits, so either I go to India, Jamaica or America for a tiny wage, go to the Byzantines for 5 times as much or starve.

Or If I'm lucky get a job in the coal mines...
With a university Education I could potentially become an officer in the Byzantine Army, I hear they're much more meritocratic than this country's army.
I can't afford the fees to go to Aldershot college, so officerhood in this army would require years of service, and based on the wages it simply isn't worth it.

 

[historygarde]

I'm not sure......

If you get assigned to one of Byzantium's Middle Eastern holdings, you might end up the victim of a suicide bombing as the Islamic Brotherhood has been waging a seemingly never ending jihad against Byzantium with the unofficial support of the rogue state of Arabia.

Of course, the Byzantines ARE getting tired of Arabian Supreme Cleric Osama Bin Laden constantly badmouthing them and funding Islamic terrorism in the Middle East while running Arabia as a theocratic dystopia so it just might be worth joining the Honoruary Byzantine Legion in order to play a role in shutting Bin Laden up once and for all.

(OOC: I'm assuming that the Muslims exist in this timeline and that the extremist element is waging the latest of a long line of failed jihads against the Byzantines for controlling parts of the Middle East. As for Arabia, it's a theocratic dictatorship similar to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.)

 

[Nikephoros]

I'd fully recommend it. I ended up being posted in the Saxon Guard.(Descended from the Varangian Guard)

Led the attack into Iraq. Took Baghdad and held it for twenty days before the rest of the army caught up.

Actually made some friends amongst the Caliph's Guard. The Caliph offered his daughter to me, but I had to refuse. A Saxon must remain celibate during his first term of service (Six years)

 

[Wolfhound]

Wow, Pretend-Muslim Vassal's daughters! You've convinced me!

I signed up yesterday in reality, I'm going to Crete in 5 days to train for 3 months, then I'm getting posted in New Crete (OTL Peurto Rico) for a year. Never thought I'd get posted in the Western Hemisphere, I forgot the Byzantines had a colony there.

 

[Nikephoros]

Wow, Pretend-Muslim Vassal's daughters! You've convinced me!

I signed up yesterday in reality, I'm going to Crete in 5 days to train for 3 months, then I'm getting posted in New Crete (OTL Peurto Rico) for a year. Never thought I'd get posted in the Western Hemisphere, I forgot the Byzantines had a colony there.

Good luck. When you are in Crete, apply for the Saxon Guard. The pay is about one and a half times better than the rest of the HBL's divisions. Trust me, you don't want to end up in the West. While it is WAY more peaceful there, it is still largely a disease-ridden hellhole. I wouldn't recommend it. Of course, that was a few years ago. Rumor is they actually have expanded the colony's greatly.

 

[Wolfhound]

Good luck. When you are in Crete, apply for the Saxon Guard. The pay is about one and a half times better than the rest of the HBL's divisions. Trust me, you don't want to end up in the West. While it is WAY more peaceful there, it is still largely a disease-ridden hellhole. I wouldn't recommend it. Of course, that was a few years ago. Rumor is they actually have expanded the colony's greatly.

Really? Apparently you Saxon's don't go out West, and my uncle, a gold prospector for the British-Philadelphia Mining Company told me that the carribbean Islands are as you say...

I may sign up, apparently the only qualification is English language.

 

[Nikephoros]

I may sign up, apparently the only qualification is English language.

I don't know why though? Learning Greek is a requirement while in the guard, so why is English required? It wasn't when I was joining. Perhaps they want to make sure that only "Saxons" join the Saxon Guard?

If you make it into the Guard, I will consider assigning you to my unit, but no guarantees.

 

[Axeman]

You byzantine infidels are all the same. Soon as the Lahkmids did many years before to your once fearful Sassinad enemies we shall sweep from the sand with the help of our brothers in Dongola and Cyrene and grind you into the dust, just as the dust you have exiled us too Byzantine scum!

 

[Germaniac]

I have to say, the vast amount of new recruits from foreign nations is a little frightening to me. I have served as an officer in the Roman Empire proudly but, while the manpower has been a plus, the quality of our Army has deteriorated. Just a month ago I was promoted to captain and assigned to lead a company of the Byzantine Foreign Legion, or as we call it the Phoideratoi. These troops are so disorganized and rowdy that they are near uncontrollable, I never want to have to lead them against the Persians or heaven forbide the Russians.

 

[Wolfhound]

I have to say, the vast amount of new recruits from foreign nations is a little frightening to me. I have served as an officer in the Roman Empire proudly but, while the manpower has been a plus, the quality of our Army has deteriorated. Just a month ago I was promoted to captain and assigned to lead a company of the Byzantine Foreign Legion, or as we call it the Phoideratoi. These troops are so disorganized and rowdy that they are near uncontrollable, I never want to have to lead them against the Persians or heaven forbide the Russians.

Really, I thought they had the same training regimen, and actually had more restrictions. Along with having to pass a series of academic and intelligence exams that the Regular Army doesn't, and having to learn a second language (Greek) most of the time. From what I heard and inferred the HBL was somewhat of an elite disciplined unit.

 

[Falconier111]

Really, I thought they had the same training regimen, and actually had more restrictions. Along with having to pass a series of academic and intelligence exams that the Regular Army doesn't, and having to learn a second language (Greek) most of the time. From what I heard and inferred the HBL was somewhat of an elite disciplined unit.

The Saxon Guard unit here in Trebizond is kind of both. As far as I can tell, we're individually better trained and equipped than most other Byzantine army units, but we tend to have more discipline problems. Also, most of the officers in my unit speak excellent English, whereas I can speak very little Greek, though we do have to know some basic commands in the native language. This is just my first year serving, so I don't know if this is the situation elsewhere, but that's what it's like up here.

 

[ray243]

Too bad few foreigners got into the elite Italian or Greek Legions.

Would love to see those imperial Guard's training in Rome, where they are given some sort of traditional training(whatever that means) and scared duty to protect the founding place of the Roman empire.

 

[Wolfhound]

The Saxon Guard unit here in Trebizond is kind of both. As far as I can tell, we're individually better trained and equipped than most other Byzantine army units, but we tend to have more discipline problems. Also, most of the officers in my unit speak excellent English, whereas I can speak very little Greek, though we do have to know some basic commands in the native language. This is just my first year serving, so I don't know if this is the situation elsewhere, but that's what it's like up here.

I just read a National Broadcasting Service report about HBL units in Africa being little more than brigands at times, so I think it varies from unit to unit and station to station.

 

[Nikephoros]

Too bad few foreigners got into the elite Italian or Greek Legions.

Would love to see those imperial Guard's training in Rome, where they are given some sort of traditional training(whatever that means) and scared duty to protect the founding place of the Roman empire.

Bah! Those are merely ceremonial units! They care nothing for having the best recruits. What matters for them is your "Latin Heritage" While the Saxon Guard is limited to those who know English, we teach enough to get by.

The Saxon Guard unit here in Trebizond is kind of both. As far as I can tell, we're individually better trained and equipped than most other Byzantine army units, but we tend to have more discipline problems. Also, most of the officers in my unit speak excellent English, whereas I can speak very little Greek, though we do have to know some basic commands in the native language. This is just my first year serving, so I don't know if this is the situation elsewhere, but that's what it's like up here.

Well, that is to be expected. The Saxons are more of an unconventional unit than any other unit. We were dropped near Mosul, and made it on foot to Baghdad way before the Imperial Cataphracts.

I just read a National Broadcasting Service report about HBL units in Africa being little more than brigands at times, so I think it varies from unit to unit and station to station.

Well most units in the HBL (We don't call it that in the Empire) are little more than hired warbands. The Saxons aren't actually a part of it, we merely recruit from it.

 

[Wolfhound]

Bah! Those are merely ceremonial units! They care nothing for having the best recruits. What matters for them is your "Latin Heritage" While the Saxon Guard is limited to those who know English, we teach enough to get by.



Well, that is to be expected. The Saxons are more of an unconventional unit than any other unit. We were dropped near Mosul, and made it on foot to Baghdad way before the Imperial Cataphracts.



Well most units in the HBL (We don't call it that in the Empire) are little more than hired warbands. The Saxons aren't actually a part of it, we merely recruit from it.

In that case I'm definately joing the Saxons. I don't want to be associated with anything like the 'British Expedition Force' over here. A force of 60 German 'soldiers' massacred a tribe of Sotho in British South Africa two months ago, the Sotho were arguing with them...in English, a language none of the Germans spoke. They're a disgusting joke.