060: Eighth Army

May 16, 2022 – 3 minutes read – 442 words

The Kingdom Army has historically had seven armies.

The First through Third armies protect the Royal Capital and maintain internal security for the Kingdom.
The Knights of the Royal Guard are a regiment of the First Army.

Then there are the border armies.
The Fourth Army guards the Eastern border, the Fifth Army is the Western border, the Sixth Army is the Southern border, and the Seventh Army guards the Northern border.

The border armies are responsible for the upkeep and staffing of forts and fortresses in their area and the defense as well as security of the border regions.
Nobles with lands in border areas will assist with their private armies as necessary.

The three central armies are commanded by the General and two Lieutenant Generals.
For instance, Lieutenant General Simon is the leader of the Second Army.
The border armies are commanded by Lieutenant Generals and Major Generals.

The new Eighth Army is different.
The day-to-day commander of the “Mobile Brigade” is a Major, who is overseen by Lieutenant General Simon, the head of the Second Army.
This odd arrangement was done to satisfy rules about Army titles.

Since the Army’s size is only a brigade, it’s an Army that is serving at the King’s discretion.
If I do well, the Army’s size will increase, perhaps to the size of the other seven armies.
The current size is small, but there’s a strategy to it.

The Eighth Army is expected to regularly move through forests, so it was important to primarily bring on personnel who are able to ride running dragons.
There was only one battalion’s worth of available soldiers who were able to meet this requirement.
That group is supplemented by a supply unit that uses horses and carriages.

Due to those requirements, the Eighth Army is at the scale of a brigade for now.

I wanted to make the training strict, to ensure the quality of soldier is high, so I created the Patrick Boot Camp.

I trained the soldiers in how to use even muddy water to slake their thirst, how insects could be a source of calories, and how to stay focused on the task at hand even through exhaustion.

Some say Eighth Army soldiers have a thousand-yard stare.
I issued them special weapons and took them through an intensive training regimen.

A year after it was founded, the Eighth Army, the Rapid Deployment Brigade had undergone thorough training to be ready for it’s first battle as a behind-enemy-lines unit.

I’m known as a boss that imposes outrageous training on my subordinates with a smirk, the Grim Reaper Patrick.

I’m a little worried about my reputation.