It's ok, we don't have enough rifles for all those men in the first place :^)
If the current factories can't support 6k men training semi-regularly, they certainly won't support 30k, and with 60k in wartime we may as well arm them with pikes.
I know that the mortars aren't popular, but I've gotta give it a shot
[X] Plan: Forlorn Hope
-[X] Emergency Purchase (3-Month Investment. Variable delivery time. Can be selected multiple times.)
--[X] 250 Brandt Mle 27/31 81 mm mortars
-[X] Enlarge the Army
-[X] Institute conscription (6-Month Investment)
--[X] Semi-annual conscription of 5,000 new soldiers, serving for a two-year period including training followed by four years in the "short notice" reserve, for a total strength of 20,000 active soldiers and 40,000 reservists.
--[X] The enlarged force is structured into brigades of three regiments (one active service, the other two reservists). Each regiment is structued after the current organization of the 2nd 'Kismayo' Regiment, except the AT/AA battery is moved to the battalion level (as in the 1st 'Reewiin Guards' Regiment) and a headquarters unit is provided to each battalion once sufficient officers are available.
[X] Plan: Making Boolit
-[X] Expand Production: 6.5x50mmSR (6-Month Investment.)
-[X] Enlarge the Army
-[X] Institute conscription (6-Month Investment)
--[X] Semi-annual conscription of 5,000 new soldiers, serving for a two-year period including training followed by four years in the "short notice" reserve, for a total strength of 20,000 active soldiers and 40,000 reservists.
--[X] The enlarged force is structured into brigades of three regiments (one active service, the other two reservists). Each regiment is structued after the current organization of the 2nd 'Kismayo' Regiment, except the AT/AA battery is moved to the battalion level (as in the 1st 'Reewiin Guards' Regiment) and a headquarters unit is provided to each battalion once sufficient officers are available.
Debating between 5,000 soldiers per recruitment cycle serving for 2 years, or 6,700 soldiers serving for 1.5 years. Conscription is likely necessary to hit our targets, and if we can add enough benefits to serving (I know providing a limited education as a bonus has been thrown about), then it'll hopefully not be unpopular in the long run.
Edit: Actually, if we are conscripting people, we might need to bite the bullet and introduce supply companies at this point since there won't be as many people able to act as porters for the army?
Veterinary units also.
Not sure on term lengths; a year of training, then a year of active service? Vaguely recall reading something about too-short conscription periods leading to incompetent troops.
Loose thoughts on conscription and recruiting/unit structure.
Regional units (ex. Bur Gaabo recruits going into the Bur Gaabo division(s)) come with a degree of esprit de corps built in, but inherit demographics, biases & grudges accordingly and risk turning into ready-made regional armies in event of civil war.
They also come with the "Pals Battalion" problem where if a unit takes heavy casualties, a town could find itself hollowed out in a single battle.
Reewin has been noted to have issues with ethnic and regional division; assuming conscription is actually fair, IE not disproportionately recruiting poor or minority citizens or allowing wealthy ones to buy their way out, mixing recruits up and running them through military training and giving them a good faceful of glorious modern pan-Reewin nationalism could break down those barriers and create a sense of national solidarity in The Youth Of Today.
Though depending on which political party puts its hands in the curriculum, that might or might not be a good thing.
Equally, it also means the sons of the Great and the Good would have to mingle with unwashed southerners and possibly even call them "sir", which I'm sure would go over like a lead balloon. But having the country rip in half at the worst possible moment because ethnic issues were allowed to fester wouldn't be much good either.
Even without ethnic restrictions, officers and technical roles are likely to end up being dominated by wealthy coastal Somalis just by default of those being the most educated population. But as has been mentioned, the military can be a source of education in its own right...
-service guarantees citizenship?-
So even if a volunteer structure could keep working fine, conscription could be a worthwhile institution for political reasons.
