@sharkman6
I have a question:  exactly what is a Spartan Knight and the Knights course?

At first I thought all soldiers were referred to as Knights and the course was a combination boot camp/AIT etc all soldiers went thru.

I'm getting the impression it's more of an advanced finishing school, like Ranger training or similar.

ALSO:
Have you read David Drake's original HAMMERS SLAMMERS?

He had a writing technique where, between chapters, he would present "interludes." These were short breaks from the main plot, but presented relevent social, economic or technological aspects of his universe.

I mention this because I think it would complement your story very well and also your writing style.  It would definitely increase your word count

Example: one addendum might cover the Knights and the Knights course in further detail; one might review major events of the collapse; another might cover the Morning Stars and the space program; the political system inside a militacracy, etc.

I, for one, am very interested in this world you've created, and would love to learn more about it.

Iirc, the knights course was described pretty well in "Spartans last march".

yes, towards the end of the story. He writes about the course and the Colonel's son making his way through the final test.

I think the question is, do all the Spartans go through this training or just the elite few?

I assumed all.

Chapter 11 is up.  Just after the break, same as SOP.

I'll address the Knights Course in a later post.  But the short answer is no, not every Spartan goes through it.

Thanks, and thanks

Chapter 11.  Click To View Spoiler

That would make sense as a story arc.

The father leaves New Sparta, goes on a suicide mission into Gomorrah, and kills everybody.  His son goes from Gomorrah back into the Emerald City... and kills everybody.

He did go on the mission so that his son wouldn't have to fight his fight.

You've been doing a great job filling us in on the politics in New sparta.  I hate it though because the politics in your emerald city are too similar to the real one. (I don't really hate your version though, because there is still hope for it. LOL).

I really liked New sparta early in the last book, but it's probably been sliding this way since "The Hammer" was tramping around stoving in hippie skulls.

The Knights Course is an elite school in New Sparta.  Not everybody goes into it.  The overall idea goes like this:  All Spartans are generally bad asses, but some some Spartans are badder asses than others.  Thus, major characters like The Colonel, or his son, Lefranc and the rest of the crew are tougher hombres than your average Spartan.  The Knights Course itself is, as I imagine it, a lot like Ranger School or the Marines' Infantry Officer Course (IOC): On the surface its about light infantry tactics, but at its core it is a leadership school.  Students would learn all the ins and outs of operating as an infantryman, but over the course of the year they'd also learn things like foreign force advising and unconventional warfare.  Like Ranger School, they'd be taught to operate behind the front lines with limited resupply and logistics.  Along with the real world inspirations, the Knights Course was also inspired by Stephen King's Dark Tower series and the training the main character goes through.  The Gunslinger, Roland, was trained to be a warrior, but he was also trained in diplomacy, leadership and UW.  As an aside, some of you may have found some "Gunslinger" Easter Eggs in The Spartan's Last March.

One of the classic questions when it comes to giving soldiers advanced training like this is: Do you A) keep them in specialized units, or B) spread them out amongst the rest of the force to bring up the total quality of the force overall.  Field Marshal Slim, who operated with the Chindits and Merrill's Marauders, wrote that he preferred option B.  I'd say that today the U.S. military is all about option A.  Regardless, in New Sparta they choose both.  The Long Range Group (which Lefranc was a part of) and the other numbered groups are made up almost entirely of Spartan Knights.  Other Spartan Knights would get spread throughout the force.  Lions was a Spartan Knight, but he's working as aide to the Chief Marshal.  The Colonel was a Knight, but at least at one time he was commanding a regiment.

The Knights Course would also be open to all ranks and military occupational specialties.  An infantryman, or a combat engineer (Christian) could get in, but so could say a truck driver or a bulk fueler (Provided they met the minimum qualifications).  A truck driver might go back to a truck company and just beat the hell out of all his fellow truckers, or he might get assigned to one of the numbered groups.  Once upon a time I know of a Force Recon unit that went to Iraq.  The Marine there who saw the most action on that deployment wasn't one of the operators, but a 7-ton driver.

The Knights Course might be the sexiest Tier 1 school in New Sparta, but it isn't the only one.  Robins went through his own crucible.  While Colt and the other were challenged physically, Robins was challenged academically, writing doctoral level theses on Carl Von C, and Mao's principals on guerrilla warfare, developing algorithms to run wargames, memorizing the consumption tables for a BCT on the march.  Part of the inspiration for Robin's course was the section in, "Starship Troopers," where Rico is working towards his commission and starts getting academically crushed.  Robins might be short one arm, and he might not be a Spartan Knight, but he didn't just bounce off the back of the turnip truck.

Hope this broadens the aperture.

Thanks for that.  

Awesome, thanks

I saw a thread in GD that reminded me of this story.

Here's a pic from "the bay" in our current world and time.



Things like this are why I think this story world are great.

I had to head south yesterday to do a family thing in Oregon.  As I was approaching the Columbia River, I couldn't help but remember"the Colonel's" crossing from the "last March".

OP, was the ferry crossing in the first book based on a real world location?  It seems like it was in the middle of nothing, so I doubt that it was where I crossed yesterday on I5 in Portland.(which is also becoming a little Gomorrah).  Also, was the bar from the beginning of that book based on a real place?  A sight seeing trip to real world landmarks from the book might make for a fun motorcycle trip. Lol

I realize I'm a day late on this one but a actually found the Spartans Last March thread after it was published and bought the book a couple years ago. Absolutely one of the best pieces of fiction I've ever readand some of the concepts in it are absolutely timeless analyses of the degeneration of society.

Glad to see there's a sequel.

The ferry crossing is completely fictional as is the bar in the beginning of The Spartan's Last March. I have traveled all over the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, Nevada and Northern California and lived in the two cities which figure most prominently in the story arc.  Many other places in the storyline are fictional adaptions of real places I've been to.  The place where the Griffins inserted Colt, Lefranc and the others is a real place I always stopped at when I made runs between San Fran and LA.

The homeless camps currently in Portland and Seattle are exactly how I imagine The Bay was right as The Colonel made his Last March.

When your ready for the motorcycle trip let me know.  I'll shoot you a map.

I haven't read through this just the first couple chapters. So maybe this has already been asked.

When is the book coming out.

Great question, but probably not the answer you want to here.

Hoping to publish in full spring next year.

you can get a regular fix between now and then by working through the rest of the author's stories.

The Sean bastle stories are every bit as entertaining as these ones.

Chapter 12 is up

FUCKI G AWESOME

Thanks for the update. Love reading these stories.

Chapter 12 part II is up in the original posts.

Who is going to own page 3?

I'm ready to see some political heads get lopped off.  Violently.

Chapter 13 is up

Thank you!

Aaaaaaaawesome sauce

That was a great chapter Sharkman!

Gorman's motives have been laid clear why he has been  such a scheming cunt.

I hate him even more now!

Really enjoying your work Sharkman!!!

Glad you are liking it.

Thanks for the update. More please.

"If you want blood, you got it."

ACDC

Chapter 14.1 is up in the original post.

Hell yes, the tension keeps building!

Thanks for the read. Waiting for another drop. Excellent story, enjoyed the first as well.

Thanks for the update!

absolutely loving it!

Glad everybody is enjoying it.  I enjoy writing it.

So, a bit of a rant, but a rant maybe tangentially related to the story.  So I'm at work a few days ago.  One of the folks in the office (retired military, now a national security GS), says, "We really need to conduct a surge in Afghanistan."  Naturally enough, we asked what he meant.  He proceeded to say that we never really gave the Afghanis all they needed to be successful to secure and run their country.  If we only gave them more money, more advisors, more soldiers on the ground, more equipment, more time... if only all of this, then Afghanistan would be a fully functional and successful nation.  His thesis was that we, the United States, never did enough to help the Afghanis.  They are the willing partners but we are not.

When it was pointed out that we've been in Afghanistan 17 years, with significant losses of both life and treasure, he countered that all that was proof that we just had not tried hard enough.

Life imitating art, and all that.

I disagree with him. We need to switch from "nation building" there and just focus on destroying terrorists.

We should engage in "nation building"...........

just as soon as we bury the very last corpse of the very last terrorist under a pile of pig guts!  Then, and only then, can we assist in setting up a proper republic in another country.  Unfortunately,  there would likely be nobody left in these dung heaps to govern or be a government.

The Colonel would approve of that course of action.

Sales of book 1, The Spartan's Last March, are just shy of 1000 copies.  I'd like to get this up over a grand by the end of the year.  So, if anybody knows of any other websites where I might post that in serialized form again, please send me a PM with your ideas.

Ready to buy this one already.

Last half of Chapter 14 up.

I think i've bought all that you've published.

Great work.

The .1 and .2 updates throw me a little bit because i have to figure out where the last chapter ended and the update begins.

Otherwise, fantastic writing. i can't wait to see how the Colt rises from the ashes

Same and same here.

After a guy is dead, he's free to do whatever he wants.

Good read. Thanks for the update. More updates please.

Chapters 15 and 16 are up.

Hell yes!  Thanks sharkman.

Awesome, thx for the update

One thing, the line in chap 16:

"The food must go to the trads," The Oracle chimed in

I think you meant the Oracle to say, "mods."

A double update? You spoil us

Great reads. The more the story goes on the more I hope the colt gets to look the chief Marshall in the face while he is digging the knife in deeper

Thanks for the editing assist!

Any chance we are going to see a story on The Hammer?