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Are there references that would give a clue how a set of new recruits just graduated from "basic training" would have been integrated into an existing legion?
Would the newbies have been put under the wing of a veteran to help them learn the ropes as they fit into the organization?
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
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well I suppose (and see logical) that they will go into already formed contuberia and from day on that will be their family but some other smarther guys out there might confirm or not
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In Polybius' day soldiers were assigned to a unit when they were levied; under the empire didn't individual units handle training? It sounds a lot more like the old British system, where each regiment did its own training, than the modern American one where basic training and trade schools are centralized in a few spots and soldiers only go to their unit after they are trained.
Connolly pp. 217, 218 has a brief note but its not cited; I don't have Goldsworthy to hand.
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To clarify my unspecific question, maybe. I've read that soldiers were trained in all sorts of skills, and if by representatives of a particular legion, then they might know which cohort, etc., they would become members, of. If in a general area, then they would be sent, probably in groups, to one or more legions looking to bolster their ranks.
What I'm wondering is this, basically. No matter where they were trained in the many skills that were needed to be mastered by a soldier, the experienced soldiers would have things not trained no doubt, and it would be foolish to put a whole century of new recruits in one spot. Without the steady heads of the older soldiers who had seen this stuff before and could calm the first time combatants, that century would not stand well when put to the test. Seems to me that there would always be a mix of new replacements when that was needed, and veterans already enlisted. Maybe I'm not thinking clearly, but I can't find in my stuff much about that sort of thing. So, that's the question. How were the new troops integrated into an existing legion?
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
