How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse?

Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by areoform on Wednesday November 23, 2022 @12:03AM (#33715438)

> is the military hardened against deserters, starving soldiers, starving military families, and so forth caused by civilian infrastructure collapse? I doubt it.

That's where Article 90 of the UCMJ comes into play,

    Any person subject to this chapter who willfully disobeys a lawful command of that person’s superior commissioned officer shall be punished—

      (1) if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct; and
      (2) if the offense is committed at any other time, by such punishment, other than death, as a court-martial may direct.

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Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by gjsman-1000 on Wednesday November 23, 2022 @12:04AM (#33715447)

Right… but if a military base loses power, and the soldiers are starving, you may find that you quickly lose the ability to enforce the UCMJ effectively. And the moment you lose even a bit of control in such a situation, it will unravel potentially within hours.

The UCMJ works great when you can shame a soldier, have a Justice system to rely on, can seize assets or pay, have superiors in other states, and so forth. When it’s pandemonium everywhere… not much to keep it enforced especially when it gets really bad. The system works when a solider has something to lose… but when soldiers feel they have nothing to lose, heck, risk starving and actually losing more by staying…

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Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by parasubvert on Wednesday November 23, 2022 @12:29AM (#33715586)

I think you are overestimating the probability of a scenario where soldiers under duress will mutiny, rather than harden their resolve and commitment to the mission. We have both historical (Japan) and contemporary (Ukraine) examples of this.

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Re:How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse? by aeneasmackenzie on Wednesday November 23, 2022 @12:43AM (#33715670)

When this actually becomes a real possibility, it doesn't turn out that way.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragging

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