Foriegners in the Army another take

[Anonymous]

I am curious as to what opinions are on this scenario:<br>
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Around 90AD a Barbar joins the auxillia and serves his full term with the goal of bestowing citizenship upon his progeny.<br>
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When he attains his citizenship his son joins the Army as a regular to again further his family.<br>
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Now, I know having a family was either discouraged, or not allowed depending on the time period, but was rarely enforced tightly.<br>
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First off I believe this a feasable scenario from what I have read. Does anyone concurr? If not, why not?<br>
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Next, if the local was from for instance Britain, how slim are the odds in reality of him staying on the island compared to being sent to say Judaea? I'm not neccesarily talking regulations, but actual practice that we know of, if at all.<br>
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If sent overseas, what would be the likeliehood of his ability to facilitate sending funds home?<br>
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Would it be likely that his son would be stationed in a local Legion? I say this realizing that he would quite possibly be sent elswhere later on, but I mean would he walk into camp and sign up with the legion at hand, or would he sign up and be shipped out immediately?<br>
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Lastly, does any of this make sense to anyone besides myself?<br>
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Cheers!<br>
Lee / Spurius <p></p><i></i>

[Guest]

Salve,<br>
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The odds of a unit composed of a new levy of native Britons would stand a good chance of being sent abroad, most notably to southern Germany where several units of Brittones are attested stationed along the <i> limes</i>, though they could even end up in North-Africa, where an inscription of a British unit has also survived. Recruits joining an existing formation could end up both near home or transferred away.<br>
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Recruits could join both local units and formations at far away locations. Soldiers with an <i> origo castris</i>, born at the camp, make up a considerable portion of the troops judging from inscriptions from the second century. These are generally assumed to be sons of serving soldiers. After enlistment troops could be posted away when the unit was transferred to another station or when the unit had to provide a vexillation of troops to beef up units stationed in other parts of the empire, either to bring troops up to full war strength prior to campaigning or to make up for losses after action.<br>
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Troops wrote home and kept in touch with relatives, both in and out of the army. Though I am not sure whether they send money home, there are several requests known of soldiers asking their relatives to send them money or goods (weapons, tools, clothing etc). Since the army was to a large extent a bring your own affair in the first centuries of the principate, a legacy of the militia origins of the imperial army, recent recruits would probably have lttile to save from their pay after deducting the costs of their equipment and anything they could provide themselves would not have to be bought.<br>
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Reading suggestions:<br>
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Davies, R., <i> Service in the Roman army</i> (Edinburgh 1989) 336p.<br>
Southern, P., 'The numeri of the Roman imperial army' in: <i> Britannia</i> 20 (1989), 81-140.<br>
Vittinghoff, F., 'Die rechtliche Stellung der canabae legionis und die Herkunftsangabe castris' in: <i> Chiron</i> 1 (1971), 299-318.<br>
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Regards,<br>
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Sander van Dorst <p></p><i></i>