Here comes an old froggy
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 5:22 am
It was in 1948, just three years after the end of WW2. I was 11 years old and was selected to enter a military school created by the French Air Force, whose goal was clearly training officers for the third round of the Franco-German confrontation.
OSC does not give many details about daily life of pupils in the Battle School, but I can remember what it means for children separated from their families to be faced with military discipline and ongoing competition while trying to achieve personal autonomy.
From the first pages of Ender's Game, I found incredible the age of six assigned to the characters. So I read this book by viewing Ender and his classmates as preteens. I saw later in the first released images of the film that such is the age of its actors.
After being a carrier pilot in the French Navy, I was involved in development of tactical training tools, which leads me to become a simulator designer. Another experience that made me appreciate the second part of the book.
Im now a father and grand-father of children driven by video games. I have on my desk a picture I took of one playing on a computer with his nursing bottle near the keyboard. I agree that no adult can compete with their tactical reflexes ... although it will still be an adult as Mazer Rackham to support the strategic management of an army.
Finally, being concerned with the history and future of our world, I am amazed at the prescience of OSC. In 1977 ( 28 years before 9/11 ) how could he conceive an alliance of nations united in a rather totalitarian military-industrial organization with the sole purpose of destroying the world of a so-called aggressor with which it does not seek to intercommunicate? The Cold War remained cold because the West and the Soviets met, discussed and spied. What about now?
Regarding my " Ecole des Pupilles de l'Air " ( School of Air Pupils ), its organization evolved while Germany and France have realized they were no longer the center of the world. The old warriors who have been our first instructors were gradually replaced by conventional teachers. Today it is only a reputable academy whose students always wear an uniform, but a minority will later serve as military.
OSC does not give many details about daily life of pupils in the Battle School, but I can remember what it means for children separated from their families to be faced with military discipline and ongoing competition while trying to achieve personal autonomy.
From the first pages of Ender's Game, I found incredible the age of six assigned to the characters. So I read this book by viewing Ender and his classmates as preteens. I saw later in the first released images of the film that such is the age of its actors.
After being a carrier pilot in the French Navy, I was involved in development of tactical training tools, which leads me to become a simulator designer. Another experience that made me appreciate the second part of the book.
Im now a father and grand-father of children driven by video games. I have on my desk a picture I took of one playing on a computer with his nursing bottle near the keyboard. I agree that no adult can compete with their tactical reflexes ... although it will still be an adult as Mazer Rackham to support the strategic management of an army.
Finally, being concerned with the history and future of our world, I am amazed at the prescience of OSC. In 1977 ( 28 years before 9/11 ) how could he conceive an alliance of nations united in a rather totalitarian military-industrial organization with the sole purpose of destroying the world of a so-called aggressor with which it does not seek to intercommunicate? The Cold War remained cold because the West and the Soviets met, discussed and spied. What about now?
Regarding my " Ecole des Pupilles de l'Air " ( School of Air Pupils ), its organization evolved while Germany and France have realized they were no longer the center of the world. The old warriors who have been our first instructors were gradually replaced by conventional teachers. Today it is only a reputable academy whose students always wear an uniform, but a minority will later serve as military.