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War on Mars. What should a Martian Soldier have? Does the lower gravity make it easier for him to wear ballistic armor? How about the necessity of wearing space suits? What do you envision they typical Martian army unit looking like?
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Im not exactly sure that we can call war a civilising act or even a culture still it is something that has to be thought about.
As long as Mars is as it is and the atmosphere is almost nonexistent then Marsian soldiers will be tied to a place to resupply there air and to get out of there suits. Though with the reduced gravity a Marsian soldier can carry a lot more equipment and of course larger weapons they will need that base to function.
Armoured warfare will be important to Mars where soldiers tied to APCs where they can resupply and to having armed vehicles to defend these APCs.
With the increased capability of robots, mars may well have armies of automated soldiers certainly they have distinct advantages over humans.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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They'll need bodybags. Space-age bodybags, you know, the expensive ones.
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It will look alot like the feudal warfare of Medieval Europe. A mix of open field (armored) cavalry with mechanized infantry based around defensable positions were supplies can be safely stashed and heavy doses of seige warfare around naturally fortified domed settlements.
"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane
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Good grief.
You know, this sort of thing turns a lot of non-advocates off. I've heard too many people say "What's the point of colonizing the Moon or Mars or whatever, if it's going to be the same human problems there as here? Besides, we've got enough problems here."
Maybe humans on Mars could be genetically modified to NOT be war-like.
Or they could read Carl Jung's ideas on "Propitiation to the god of war" (I started a thread by that name in this folder quite some time ago).
As much effort, time and trouble it's going to take to make Mars even halfway comfortable in living, it'd certainly behoove humans to AVOID war there as much as possible!
We're so spoiled by this our home planet; we've been rippin' around getting away with all kinds of crap for centuries because we're native to this place. Mars likely won't be as "forgiving." That fact alone might do humans there a lot of good...as in mind your p's and q's, try to get along.
Anyway, let's focus on the positives. War...sheesh.
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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If we want a Mars without war, we have to be realistic about it, we need a governing authority that can impose the rule of law, and these consideration on how war is fought on Mars will still have to be considered. Hopefully war will be between the Government and an insurgent group rather than between two governments, as the later would be much more deadly. There is no gene that makes up not get along. As long as their are more than one intelligent human being their will be conflicts, and the more colonists we send to Mars, the greater the chance that those conflicts will be expressed through violence. The only way to keep the violence down is to suppress it with a governmental force that has a preponderance of weapons. If we take the idealistic point of view and not bring weapons, then when the populations is big enough people will make weapons locally and attempt to seize power by force and impose their will on others through threat of violence. It best to have an established government from the get go, and make it a democratic government that to leave things to chance based on who can build weapons first.
Lets say eveyone agrees to go disarmed, then the more people we sent to Mars, the more likely it is that someone will try to violate this agreement and try to build weapons so he can force his will on others and gain political power. If there is no armed authority to stop this, it will go on unchecked and Mars will break up into waring factions. We cannot leave human nature behind when we bring humans with us. The option to use force to get one's way will always exist, the purpose of government is to make that option of using force to be an unattractive one.
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You can't deny human nature.
"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane
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Dust will be important in Martian wars. The bases of operation must be completely hidden by Martian dust. Perhaps explosives in near by areas will be used to create a dust smoke screen. The bases should be mobile as well.
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Dust will be important in Martian wars. The bases of operation must be completely hidden by Martian dust. Perhaps explosives in near by areas will be used to create a dust smoke screen. The bases should be mobile as well.
A based obsured by dust would suffer the same disability.
"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane
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You can't deny human nature.
Don't have to deny it, but why encourage the bad aspects? Rape, murder and spousal abuse are also aspects of human nature. Should we encourage those too?
Accentuate the positive.
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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But don't ignore the negative!
If you don't want people who rape, murder, and abuse their spouses, you want an authority to call upon that can do something about the situation, someone to hunt down the rapist, bring him in, and if he resists, use force against him, even lethal force if necessary, but the rapist must be stopped. You can have a community that agrees to live in peace with each other, but it only takes one criminal to ruin the situation. Most people who are raped are raped by someone they know. You may feel safe with someone until you get to know them better.
We don't encourage rape if we prepare for the possibility that someone may try to rape someone else. If we are prepared to deal with it, we can stop the rapist and deter other would be rapists, if we do not deal with the subject and assume everybody's going to be civilized, then the opportunity will only enourage someone to commit rape just like they did on Pitcarn Island recently. I hear the British had to ship in a judge and build a jail where none existed before simply to deal with that case.
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Frankly, in the early stages there will be little incentive for war. Colonists will have little in the way of extra resources, and probably won't even be able to reach another colony, let alone engage them.
If you are looking at government as a way to avoid war, then I think that you are looking in the wrong place. Almost every war in human history has been waged by a government. By putting one government in place and hoping that the only war is that of an insurgency doesn't seem an improvement. Civil Wars and insurgencies are often some of the bloodiest conflicts.
Human beings really aren't as warlike as some people think. The main reason we fight on Earth is because of
1) Limited resources
2) Differences in Belief
3) Manipulation by those who stand to gain by our fighting
Frankly Martians will have to focus on their survival and making environmental improvements, possibly for generations, before can think about diversions, especially those as costly as war.
We're all children of sci-fi media, but when you analysis the costs and benefits to Martian colonists, there is little to gain and much to lose by going to war. I doubt we'll see a martial Mars.
The foot soldier is becoming less relevant on the modern battlefield. Especially with the conditions present on a Red Mars, you would see far more technologically driven conflicts. A handful of missles launched at a dome would probably prove enough to cause depressurization, and everyone in that enclosure would die. If we do someday see a war on Mars, it will likely be fought by unmanned drones, and communications/electronic jamming. An EMP near a colony could easily shut down life support and communications.
Those who engage in war on Mars will likely decimate themselves, which is why war won't be a major problem in the early stages. If Mars reaches and Earth like environment, then you may see levels of conflict that resemble those on Earth.
Actually if you look at the numbers from the last century. You are 4 times as likely to die by the hand of your own government than by that of a foreign agressor. That figure reflects the folly of rallying behind a government out of a desire for security.
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