Auro stared at the cube. Inside was recorded, so Buchanon had promised, all that any Fleet officer needed to know. It contained only two records, Allison’s Rules of Command and the Standing Orders. All, at least, he, would need to know to pass the lieutenants exam and make his brevet commission permanent.
Depressing keys on the side of the cube, the young officer began to study the text that hovered a foot in front of him. It was a page from the five-hundred-year-old classic guide to command that had been the final legacy of Admiral Allison, hero of the Cluster Wars and father of the modern Fleet.
To the recent cadet’s relief, he saw that he had finally gotten through Allison’s mathematical analysis of combat that had revolutionized war centuries earlier. Instead, Allison was now dealing with the softer issues of morale and medical support.
Admiral Dav Su Allison, retired
Rules of Command
14.246M3
Morale/Medical/Final Determinations
For Fleet personnel to function effectively in a combat situation, one where they have virtually no control over their own lives, it is necessary to give them as much control as possible of those factors that they can affect.
Perhaps the most significant factor that is within the control of combat personnel is their treatment in the case of severe or debilitating injuries. The wide variety of religions and life styles found with the Alliance further demonstrate the necessity of leaving life and death medical decisions in the hands of the personnel affected.
While, like many of the rules of war, to allow trained personnel to perish when they might be saved may seem wasteful, this is not the case. Analysis (see appendix 54) demonstrates that the improvement in functional ability of such self-determined troops far exceeds the additional losses likely to be incurred in any but the most desperate battles.