graymask1120
SOC-9
This was originally posted to the Traveller Mailing List in 2006, and was written before I bought GT/IW.
It is presented here in its original form......
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Combat Equipment Kit of the Ziru Sirka Infantry
By Michael A. Cessna<graymask1120@yahoo.com>, 2006
Introduction
The Ziru Sirka was the first starfaring race to establish faster-than-light travel since the Ancients destroyed themselves. The Ziru Sirka stood for several thousand years by establishing and maintaining a rigid, jobs-based caste system, but one of the less well known aspects was their equally rigid equipment standards. The Ziru Sirka found out what pieces of equipment worked for a given job, then produced it as a standardized design on a thousand worlds, and almost never modified it.
On Earth, very few people were satisfied by the status quo. Locked in on a single world, countries, companies and individuals competed constantly, always experimenting, changing and "tweaking" products and services. While this had certain benefits, it also meant excessive waste and huge duplication of effort.
As a consequence, during the early period of the Interstellar Wars, when forces from multiple Terran states invaded a Ziru Sirka world it was not uncommon to find the various forces using different weapons and equipment, as well as different radios; often, the various forces could not even communicate effectively, due to a lack of a common language!
It is little wonder that many of the surviving notes and journals of Ziru Sirka field officers are somewhat wild and disjointed, speaking of multiple races invading their planet(most Terran armies of the period wore signifcantly-different uniforms). Indeed, until well into the Fourth Interstellar War, many Ziru Sirka officers were convinced that they faced several different space-faring races rather than one.
In contrast, Terran forces never knew what to expect when hitting a defended Ziru Sirka world: either the defence would be poorly-led, and result in a walk-over, or it would be competently-led, resulting in a long slug-fest, as Ziru Sirka infantry units hung on for extended periods, drawing on long-cached supplies.
This article will explore one aspect of that logistical base: the standard personal infantry kit. This is important because these items were so well made, and were made in such quantites, that intact and usuable supply caches may still be found throughout the 3rd Imperium's territories to this day.
The Kit
The ZS infantryman of 2200AD(Terran calender) was little different from his Terran counterpart of the preceding one hundred Terran years.
He was equipped with a 6x50mm semi-automatic rifle [1], firing a 100-grain projectile from a fixed, 10-round rotary magazine fed by 10-round charger clips through a chrome-lined barrel from a roller-locked breech. The "iron sights" were graded to 1000 meters. A bayonet with a fine, 10cm blade was stored by folding underneath the barrel.
The only cleaning tools typically included were a braided cord, roughly 1.3 meters long, which included a wire brush (this cord was capable of completely cleaning both barrel and reciever in one stroke), and a small brush with plastic bristles, closely resembling a Terran "toothbrush" -- clear evidence of the "form follows function" theory of parallel development.
Made of exceptional-quality materials, the rifles were molecularly stabilized after manufacture via a simple heat-treatment process that extended barrel life to over 100,000 rounds. Even today, more than three thousand years after the Ziru Sirka's fall, properly-stored examples of these weapons are still fully-functional and capable of being used on the modern battlefield.
The rifle came with an integral sling, and had a rail system on the receiver to allow for the mounting of various optical packages. There was no provision for rifle grenades in the Terran sense, although various types of hand grenades were issued in time of war.
Integral to the system was a load-bearing harness similar to the late-20th Century (Terran) "ALICE" modular system, with velcro-analog pockets running up the front straps, each containing two 10-round charger clips. Attached to the back and shoulder-blade straps was a large, flexible water bladder with a capacity of about four litres; again, a similar Terran analog existed, universally called the "Camal-Back". Drinking was accomplished via a tube that could be hung over either shoulder; it included an attachment allowing it to be used with a chemical-protective mask.
There were four large pouches on the belt itself, all fully detachable and adjustable as necessary. Each pouch could carry either five 10-round charger clips, or two 20-round box magazines(ZS light-infantry support machine guns used both 20-round box magazines and 100-round disintegrating-link belts) [2]. These pouches also had attachment points for hand grenades of varying sizes.
A fifth pouch, usually worn in the small of the back and roughly three times the size of the ammunition pouches, usually contained various mission-specific items; in some units, it contained personal items not subject to inspection by the unit commander.
The ZS infantry uniform was tailored for a specific world, but was usually either a base-brown or a base-green colored one-piece coverall with large "cargo" pockets on the outside of the thighs and upper arms. All of the coveralls inclued internal pouches for ballistic armor inserts; a vest made of carbon-fibre-thread reinforced ballistic cloth and a helmet of the same material completed the personal armor package. These were issued as necessary, but were not typically included in supply caches.
This kit held true for an estimated 80% of ZS infantry units. Certain elite units, like the "Shirsar'Ni" (the word means both "scout" and "hunter" in Galanglic), and the "Luukimik'aa" (lit. "Assault Fighter") units used different weapons and equipment; this was deemed acceptable in spite of Vilani conservatism, because the ZS recognized the need for certain units to perform special functions, thus requiring special equipment.
As deployed, the Kit was usable with no modification by the vast majority of humanoids within the Ziru Sirka.
When the Terrans began capturing ZS infantry supply depots, they found that a complete set of load-bearing equipment - complete with a basic load of ammunition, including four unloaded 20-round magazines(8 charger clips of ammunition were included separately, to eliminate spring tension) - and a field-stripped rifle were usually packed into a single, hermetically-sealed polyethylene bag, packed five to a case (a "nekari"). These cases were made of an impact-, fire-, explosive- and solvent-resistant polypropolene/ballistic plastic analog.
When the Terrans asked for the name of an individual kit, they were told "Gushirer"; as there was not a direct analog word in English (the most important predecessor to Galanglic), the word was accepted until a officer with a PhD in English history referred to it as a "stand of arms", after a term used to descibe an equipment unit containing a flintlock musket, bayonet, cartridge box and their associated straps and sling, dating from the early days of that regime on Terra.
Ever after, the ZS infantry kit was called a "stand of arms" or simply a "stand" by the Terrans.
It is presented here in its original form......
**************************
Combat Equipment Kit of the Ziru Sirka Infantry
By Michael A. Cessna<graymask1120@yahoo.com>, 2006
Introduction
The Ziru Sirka was the first starfaring race to establish faster-than-light travel since the Ancients destroyed themselves. The Ziru Sirka stood for several thousand years by establishing and maintaining a rigid, jobs-based caste system, but one of the less well known aspects was their equally rigid equipment standards. The Ziru Sirka found out what pieces of equipment worked for a given job, then produced it as a standardized design on a thousand worlds, and almost never modified it.
On Earth, very few people were satisfied by the status quo. Locked in on a single world, countries, companies and individuals competed constantly, always experimenting, changing and "tweaking" products and services. While this had certain benefits, it also meant excessive waste and huge duplication of effort.
As a consequence, during the early period of the Interstellar Wars, when forces from multiple Terran states invaded a Ziru Sirka world it was not uncommon to find the various forces using different weapons and equipment, as well as different radios; often, the various forces could not even communicate effectively, due to a lack of a common language!
It is little wonder that many of the surviving notes and journals of Ziru Sirka field officers are somewhat wild and disjointed, speaking of multiple races invading their planet(most Terran armies of the period wore signifcantly-different uniforms). Indeed, until well into the Fourth Interstellar War, many Ziru Sirka officers were convinced that they faced several different space-faring races rather than one.
In contrast, Terran forces never knew what to expect when hitting a defended Ziru Sirka world: either the defence would be poorly-led, and result in a walk-over, or it would be competently-led, resulting in a long slug-fest, as Ziru Sirka infantry units hung on for extended periods, drawing on long-cached supplies.
This article will explore one aspect of that logistical base: the standard personal infantry kit. This is important because these items were so well made, and were made in such quantites, that intact and usuable supply caches may still be found throughout the 3rd Imperium's territories to this day.
The Kit
The ZS infantryman of 2200AD(Terran calender) was little different from his Terran counterpart of the preceding one hundred Terran years.
He was equipped with a 6x50mm semi-automatic rifle [1], firing a 100-grain projectile from a fixed, 10-round rotary magazine fed by 10-round charger clips through a chrome-lined barrel from a roller-locked breech. The "iron sights" were graded to 1000 meters. A bayonet with a fine, 10cm blade was stored by folding underneath the barrel.
The only cleaning tools typically included were a braided cord, roughly 1.3 meters long, which included a wire brush (this cord was capable of completely cleaning both barrel and reciever in one stroke), and a small brush with plastic bristles, closely resembling a Terran "toothbrush" -- clear evidence of the "form follows function" theory of parallel development.
Made of exceptional-quality materials, the rifles were molecularly stabilized after manufacture via a simple heat-treatment process that extended barrel life to over 100,000 rounds. Even today, more than three thousand years after the Ziru Sirka's fall, properly-stored examples of these weapons are still fully-functional and capable of being used on the modern battlefield.
The rifle came with an integral sling, and had a rail system on the receiver to allow for the mounting of various optical packages. There was no provision for rifle grenades in the Terran sense, although various types of hand grenades were issued in time of war.
Integral to the system was a load-bearing harness similar to the late-20th Century (Terran) "ALICE" modular system, with velcro-analog pockets running up the front straps, each containing two 10-round charger clips. Attached to the back and shoulder-blade straps was a large, flexible water bladder with a capacity of about four litres; again, a similar Terran analog existed, universally called the "Camal-Back". Drinking was accomplished via a tube that could be hung over either shoulder; it included an attachment allowing it to be used with a chemical-protective mask.
There were four large pouches on the belt itself, all fully detachable and adjustable as necessary. Each pouch could carry either five 10-round charger clips, or two 20-round box magazines(ZS light-infantry support machine guns used both 20-round box magazines and 100-round disintegrating-link belts) [2]. These pouches also had attachment points for hand grenades of varying sizes.
A fifth pouch, usually worn in the small of the back and roughly three times the size of the ammunition pouches, usually contained various mission-specific items; in some units, it contained personal items not subject to inspection by the unit commander.
The ZS infantry uniform was tailored for a specific world, but was usually either a base-brown or a base-green colored one-piece coverall with large "cargo" pockets on the outside of the thighs and upper arms. All of the coveralls inclued internal pouches for ballistic armor inserts; a vest made of carbon-fibre-thread reinforced ballistic cloth and a helmet of the same material completed the personal armor package. These were issued as necessary, but were not typically included in supply caches.
This kit held true for an estimated 80% of ZS infantry units. Certain elite units, like the "Shirsar'Ni" (the word means both "scout" and "hunter" in Galanglic), and the "Luukimik'aa" (lit. "Assault Fighter") units used different weapons and equipment; this was deemed acceptable in spite of Vilani conservatism, because the ZS recognized the need for certain units to perform special functions, thus requiring special equipment.
As deployed, the Kit was usable with no modification by the vast majority of humanoids within the Ziru Sirka.
When the Terrans began capturing ZS infantry supply depots, they found that a complete set of load-bearing equipment - complete with a basic load of ammunition, including four unloaded 20-round magazines(8 charger clips of ammunition were included separately, to eliminate spring tension) - and a field-stripped rifle were usually packed into a single, hermetically-sealed polyethylene bag, packed five to a case (a "nekari"). These cases were made of an impact-, fire-, explosive- and solvent-resistant polypropolene/ballistic plastic analog.
When the Terrans asked for the name of an individual kit, they were told "Gushirer"; as there was not a direct analog word in English (the most important predecessor to Galanglic), the word was accepted until a officer with a PhD in English history referred to it as a "stand of arms", after a term used to descibe an equipment unit containing a flintlock musket, bayonet, cartridge box and their associated straps and sling, dating from the early days of that regime on Terra.
Ever after, the ZS infantry kit was called a "stand of arms" or simply a "stand" by the Terrans.