In the Bretonian Parliament

[bluntpencil2001]

A middle aged man, the reasonably well known Arthur Caithness, stood to speak, being a representative from an interest group to be effected by the motion, which had taken on the supposedly temporary name of 'the Bowex Fringe' as it had rapidly become something akin to a political party.

"Milords, miladies, as you well know, I myself fly cargo and supplies or the war effort on a large scale between Leeds and New York. With the funds and produce gained, I have made every effort to fuel our gallant Armed Forces, and shall continue to do so, since I don't want us to end up flinging around raw fish like those beady-eed pancake faces."

He paused for a moment to let his tasteless vulgarity set in. It was surprisingly well received.

"Now, there is talk of conscription and press-ganging civilian pilots. This is, frankly, ridiculous. For one thing, it would devastate morale.

I know that from back in my days as a young whippersnapper, when I'd fly as a rowdy hotshot escort fighter pilot. We'd been fighting some large Corsair contraption, and it would've ripped us apart, it, in spite of being some dirty Hispanic tool-box shaped rust-bucket, with admittedly clean windows, though, being far too big for our snubfighters to tussle with.

Now, I believe my story has a point... yes... the engines and shields on the blighter gave out. Turns out her engineering crew decided that being forced into their job wasn't their cup of tea, aye? They skimped on training, and panicked in battle. Press-ganged their own boys, you see?

Anyway, you will now be wondering my own suggestion on how to provide pilots for our forces.

The answer, if one speaks to the Armed Forces recruiters themselves, is...

Nothing.

Recruitment is at an all time high, and has even had to be temporarily closed. Men and women from all walks of life rush to defend Bretonia's rights and freedoms. Take that freedom away, and you'll lose this powerful support!

Now, I might be a rude old bugger, by I know that it isn't the fault of our brave pilots, or even our industry and output that is causing us to suffer daily embarassment at the hands of the sushi-arsed noodle-suckers. I would suggest that our current strategies and tactics are the problem.

We don't need more production, or more pilots, we need a more efficient use of them. Make less do more.

I have prepared a proposal for more efficient training regimes for pilots if the representatives from the Forces don't take offence?"

Of course, the proposal had already been handed out, Caithness being very bloody offensive in general. It appeared that those with combat experience in the Bowex Fringe had contacted a circle of experts in the Forces, and had come up with a draft suggesting which areas of training should be most heavily focused on by pilots.

Discipline seemed to be top of the list together with small group unit tactics, as well as extensive training against certain classes of vessel. All in all, it wasn't terribly radical, but it was a good assessment.

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