Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 197 Militia Training
For the young people in Rostov, it was a great honor to be a member of the defense force.

The planet's population is mostly composed of Ecclesiarchy pilgrims and criminals transferred from the Penal Planet, while the ruling class is a collective of retired Astra Militarum soldiers.

Therefore, they have a strong cultural atmosphere of dedicating themselves to the emperor.

Joining the Astra Militarum is undoubtedly the best way to dedicate oneself to the Emperor. At least for the ordinary people of Rostov II, this is the best way for them to dedicate themselves to the Emperor.

However, Rostov II was not qualified to provide the Ministry of Military Affairs with Astra Militarum troops in the past, which forced a large number of young people of appropriate age on the planet to join the defense forces as a second choice.

However, the defense force is also constrained by the planet's economy and cannot expand on a large scale, which leaves a large number of young people with no way to serve their country.

But now that Chen Xi has succeeded as governor, Rostov II is not only qualified to recruit the Star Army, but also has the capital to expand its military. So when the defense army recruits new soldiers, the young people who are eager to join the army almost crowd the recruitment office.

Even so, when the five regiments of the defense force were fully recruited, there were still ten times more young people of appropriate age eager to join the army and become the sharp blades in the hands of the God-Emperor to pierce the enemies of the empire.

This was very obvious to Paul.

As a retired veteran of the Defense Forces, Paul clearly feels that he is very popular and respected by young people in the neighborhood recently.

Every now and then a young man would find him, sometimes taking out a bottle of Second Best or a few protein bars and trying to get close to him, hoping to find a way through him to join the defense force.

Paul did not directly refuse. After all, it was good to want to serve the empire, and these young people could not be neglected.

But he had no such channels to insert people into the defense forces, nor did he have the authority to do so, even though he was a spy for the Governor's Office.

But spies need to hide their identities, and doing certain things in a high-profile manner is equivalent to exposing their identities as a foolish act.

However, after Paul reported the incident, he was approached by a former comrade in the SADF.

"Dimitri? You are a second lieutenant now? You were promoted so fast!" Looking at the lieutenant rank on his comrade's collar, Paul showed an envious expression.

Hearing Paul's envy, Dimitri patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "If you are willing to stay in the army, you can also get promoted to second lieutenant now! The Military Affairs Department has recruited the elite of three regiments, and the Governor's Office has expanded it by five regiments. The defense force is now in great need of veterans.

All of our fellow alien hunters have been promoted to lieutenants, and the luckiest ones are now captains!

As long as they complete their military academy training, they can become majors when they graduate!"

Dimitri said this, looking at the mechanical prosthesis installed on Paul, and couldn't help but sigh. He said with some regret: "It's just that you are stubborn. If you were willing to stay in the army, maybe you would have a higher rank than me now!"

"So what? I'm already disabled. Even if I get prosthetic limbs, I'm not useless anymore, but I can't go to the battlefield anymore." Paul shook his head, not feeling any regret. "A soldier can't go to the battlefield? Are you insulting me? Staying in a training camp and training those new recruits? This kind of retirement life doesn't suit me. I don't want to be a burden to the defense forces for the rest of my life."

Hearing Paul say this, Dimitri didn't say anything else, but patted his shoulder again, then took out a bottle of Amaze from his pocket.

"Amazec? It seems that your lieutenant's salary is very generous!" Paul saw this bottle of good wine that they had never dared to think about in the past, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

Pulling out two glasses from the corner, Paul and Dimitri sat down at the small table and each poured a glass. "One for the dead," Paul raised his glass, clinked it with Dimitri's, and then poured the wine into his own mouth.

Dimitri also said: "To those who did not survive."

Thinking of the comrades who died on the battlefield, neither of them said anything else.

The casualties of the Rostov Defense Force have always been low. After all, they were only fighting some rioting criminals or gangsters. Even if the defense force's equipment was not very good, there would not be any major casualties.

But after Chen Xi arrived, the intensity of the war they faced was suddenly raised a lot.

Although Paul and Dimitri are both surviving alien hunters, they know clearly how cruel the alien hunter assessment is through their own experience.

Every time at least half of the people could not come back, the casualties were simply tragic.

Not to mention that later they faced the attack of the alien army. The battle became more intense and they also lost more good comrades.

Dimitri said that all the alien hunters of the same period as them were promoted to lieutenants, which actually indirectly illustrates the heavy casualties.

Because only when there are huge casualties and the army is replenished with a large number of new recruits will veterans be promoted on a large scale to make up for the lack of officers.

The two chatted for a while about their time in the army, and then Paul asked Dimitri why he came. "Okay, I know you didn't come to me for a drink, so just tell me what you want."

"Well, it's the situation you reported. The Governor's Office and the Defense Force discussed it and felt that it was not a good idea to just leave these young people alone, so they hope that retired veterans like you can organize them." Dimitri said simply.

"Organize, form a gang?" Paul couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Obviously this was not the result he wanted.

It can be said that gangs have existed since humans were still on Holy Terra. They have never been absent in the 40,000 years of human history.

For the current empire, the existence of things like hive gangs is simply too common.

And don't look down on them. The hive gangs in the 40k era are not the small thugs in the 3k era. There are real talents among them.

For example, one of the Necromunda hive gangs is a source of troops for the Astra Militarum, and chapters such as the Imperial Fists often recruit from these hive gangs.

This also led to the fact that many Space Marines in the chapter were ghost-fire boys who joined gangs when they were young.

But for Paul, he really didn't want those young people who were eager to contribute to the empire to become a group of gang members.

"No, according to the explanation of the Governor's Office, it should be called the militia reserve." Dimitri shook his head and took out a booklet from his pocket and handed it to Paul.

Paul took it and saw the words "Militia Training Manual" written in large letters in High Gothic on the cover.

(End of this chapter)