Rise of the Argentine Empire

Of the nine instructors in this military exercise, Saint Hérse was the only one appointed to the staff department. This was related to Saint Hérse's low education level, and it meant he had little prospect of promotion in the future.

However, Saint Hérse was now highly regarded by Commander Thompson. Coincidentally, the City Defense Force was being reorganized according to the Ministry of Defense's requirements, and a new staff department was established. Thompson simply transferred Saint Hérse over.

The job duties were quite suitable for Saint Hérse, as an important task of the staff department was to create army training plans. Saint Hérse could be considered an 'expert,' especially since his training plan had defeated the scientifically trained National Defense Force.

The other eight instructors all had at least a university degree or military academy graduation. People in the staff department, unless they could be promoted to the position of chief of staff, mostly just went through the motions. Those with ambition would still want to become officers with real power, where promotions would be faster. These clerical personnel were mostly looked down upon by future officers with real power. The staff department was very suitable for people with little ambition who occasionally slacked off, which was the reality in Argentina.

Being promoted to the staff department was already an over-the-top promotion for Saint Hérse, who hadn't even graduated from middle school. This promotion was entirely due to Colonel Thompson's intention and was issued by the newly established Infantry Brigade Headquarters.

Under the instructions of President Perón, the Argentine Ministry of Defense was preparing to reorganize the national army. For the City Defense Force, this meant formally reorganizing the Córdoba City Defense Force into the Argentine Army's Eighth Infantry Brigade, consisting of two infantry regiments, with a total military strength of 6,000 personnel. The 1,000 National Defense Force personnel who had been transferred were divided into two groups of 500, which were dispersed and integrated into the First and Second Infantry Regiments respectively.

This was also an attempt at military reform in the Argentine army, the first step towards modernization, which seemed to have both advantages and disadvantages.

First, the bad. This military reform led to a significant increase in the number of Argentine troops, with the number of first-level military units increasing from 80,000 to over 100,000. The amount of military spending would increase significantly, as the City Defense Force was originally funded by local finances.

Local city defense forces throughout the country were mostly incorporated, in addition to the Córdoba City Defense Force, and the northern border provinces formed army armed forces, with the total number of army personnel exceeding 100,000.

The advantages were that it took the opportunity to strengthen centralization, reduce local pressure, and bring local military power completely into the national military system. The incorporation work was also conducive to long-term domestic stability and breaking up separatist forces. Although Argentina had done a good job in this regard, including not dividing by race, listing all as white, and prohibiting black immigration, the only downside of the immigration policy was that although the country was relatively stable, the population growth was too slow, far less than neighboring Brazil and northern Mexico.

However, after the Perón government stepped down, this policy was abused for encirclement and suppression. Argentina's combination of military and government was not very reliable.

With the new staff department established this time, Saint Hérse was valued by Colonel Thompson. In addition, the Argentine combat army valued officers' backgrounds, so Colonel Thompson specially brought Saint Hérse to the newly established staff department after much consideration.

One of the Ministry of Defense's reform regulations was that Argentina's military service would also be changed from conscription to compulsory military service. This would greatly expand the army's source of soldiers. The number of people like Saint Hérse who were 'drafted' into the army would decrease until it disappeared, which was a huge social progress.

However, there was also a problem: the quality of the all-volunteer soldiers was uneven. Without screening, all sorts of people were put into the army, and the new compulsory service only required one year of service.

Army management was still lax, military thinking was backward, and training intensity was very low. In fact, most soldiers were probably not as good as the original system, after all, the gauchos on the prairie had good physical fitness and performed relatively well in service.

Perhaps when Mrs. Thatcher heard that the Argentine army had occupied the Falkland Islands, she might have been stunned, after all, the negotiations were going well, and the British were preparing to let go. World War I brought Argentina back to its original form, like an old proverb, 'The donkey of Guizhou has exhausted its tricks'.

Of course, although the British won this battle, it also caused the British to lose a lot of status. It can be regarded as a defeat without defeat. They can safely be the little brother of the Americans.

I thought for three days and three nights, and I still couldn't figure out why he wanted to fight us.

The enemy not only did not surrender, but also tried to resist,

Under the guidance of the young lady at the army front desk, Saint Hérse came to his work post, located in the second row of the staff department. It was a cubicle with Saint Hérse Cohen's nameplate already hanging on it.

Saint Hérse glanced around. There were currently seven or eight people in the staff department, mostly lieutenants and second lieutenants. There seemed to be a captain whose age could be Saint Hérse's father. Most of the others were around thirty years old. Saint Hérse seemed to be the youngest.

These people looked like they came from army clerical positions. The reason why Saint Hérse could tell was not for any other reason, but because of their thin bodies, which made Saint Hérse, who was quite strong and well-proportioned, feel like he could take on five of them without any problem.

Most of the people in the staff department didn't know each other and were sitting properly at their workstations, acting as small staff officers.

Everyone was just sitting there, adhering to the principle of 'say less, do less wrong'. Saint Hérse didn't say anything either, and just sat there quietly. The table was clean and empty, with nothing else on it.

"If I had a computer, it would be just like when I was working in my previous life," Saint-Hesse blurted out this thought, knowing that such conditions probably wouldn't be widespread for another forty or fifty years.

Around 9 o'clock, Commander Thompson, a colonel, arrived late, followed by someone who looked to be in their thirties, with the rank of major on their shoulders.

This person looked like a ruthless character. There was a small scar on the lower left side of their face, and their expression seemed somewhat effeminate.

The colonel saw Saint-Hesse standing straight and gave a look of acknowledgment. Saint-Hesse didn't quite understand, and then the colonel took the lead in applauding, a subordinate's self-cultivation.

"Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap..." Everyone gradually followed Saint-Hesse in applauding.

Commander Thompson pressed down with both hands, and the applause immediately stopped.

"Hello everyone, I am very happy that you can join the newly established staff department. The person next to me is your future chief of staff, Major Eureka Guilla. Let's applaud and welcome him..." Commander Thompson also applauded.

"Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap..." Another round of applause.

"Hello everyone, I am Eureka. You can call me Chief in the future. I used to be a staff member in the Ministry of Defense and served in the Marine Corps for three years," Eureka said with a faint smile on his face, which seemed a bit fake to Saint-Hesse.

However, he seemed to be quite capable. He was able to become a major at a young age and was promoted in the Ministry of Defense. Later, he remembered why he felt the smile was fake. The commander of the National Defense Forces stationed in Cordoba seemed to smile like that.

When Thompson left, he patted Saint-Hesse on the shoulder without saying a word, making the other colleagues a little jealous. This was the uncrowned king of Cordoba.

After Commander Thompson left, the staff department fell silent. Chief of Staff Eureka returned to the staff department and began to speak again.

"Hello, comrades, the main tasks of our staff department at present are to promote the transformation of the city defense army into an infantry brigade. This is also a change from a paramilitary force to a first-level combat force," which made sense and was similar to what Saint-Hesse thought.

"Currently, our city guards actually have multiple roles. They are both an army and a police force, and they are also responsible for patrols. The responsibilities are not clear," Eureka paused for a moment and continued. Saint-Hesse also nodded. The current city guards were almost like an urban management team, with all kinds of chaotic functions, and some even moonlighted as gangsters.

"We need to formulate a new training plan. This is one of our important tasks. At the same time, we must firmly grasp domestic and foreign intelligence, especially the espionage work in our province. Doing intelligence is also an important daily task of our staff department."

"If we are to formulate a training plan, we have a professional here, that is, the former instructor of the Ninth Battalion of the City Guards—Warrant Officer Saint-Hesse Cohen. The Ninth Battalion commanded by Warrant Officer Saint-Hesse surpassed all teams to win first place. This is also an important factor for our city guards to become the new brigade among the two local troops in the country. Everyone can communicate more with Warrant Officer Saint-Hesse when formulating the training plan." The others looked at Saint-Hesse, making him a little embarrassed.

"Thank you everyone, please take care of me in the future. I just did a little bit of work," Saint-Hesse gave a standard military salute.

"And intelligence acquisition is the responsibility of Captain Carmen Claude. Captain Carmen is experienced and has done a good job in intelligence work. He has made a great contribution and is good at intelligence acquisition and analysis."

"Thank you, Chief, comrades, please support me in the future," the captain, who was in his forties and had a standard military buzz cut, also gave a serious salute.

"The other work is to assist the logistics department in improving logistics. I hope that under the leadership of Commander Thompson, we can improve the combat effectiveness of our army, clarify our responsibilities, and create new brilliance!" Eureka encouraged everyone.

The staff department not only had these ten people in this office, but also another room with staff department personnel. Most of these people were recent military academy graduates who did not go to combat units, assisting the staff department officers.

Saint-Hesse also briefly met the other personnel in the office, including Second Lieutenant Erikson Maca, from the logistics department of the city guards, who was a little fat, and Lieutenant Loki Emaka, from the former intelligence department, who was also one of the only two people with a physique similar to Saint-Hesse, and looked very capable.

They didn't busy themselves with other things in the morning, but got to know the other people in the staff department.

At twelve noon, they went to the cafeteria for lunch on time.

The lunch was much better than the original barracks, both in terms of ingredients and taste. It was no longer the kind of mass-produced food. There were three dishes and a soup. Saint-Hesse ordered a braised chicken leg, a portion of lamb chops stewed with peas, and stir-fried kale with beef. There were also oyster soup and seaweed egg drop soup to choose from. The food in the original barracks was not fit for human consumption.

Saint-Hesse didn't stand out too much, of course, he wouldn't say too much either. He sat at a table with the people from the staff department and listened to them talk about things.

The food in the command headquarters is really good. No wonder the Argentine army's combat effectiveness is so poor. The logistics are not strong enough. They could clearly make it better to eat. Could it be that they are afraid that it will be too delicious and make the soldiers fat? It's not that there is no such possibility. There is so little training now. If they eat a lot and eat well, they might all become big fat people.

I don't know how much the army budget can be increased after it is changed to a military unit. This is also a big problem. The country's economy has grown a lot in recent years, but agriculture has declined a lot. The logistics in the war thirty years later were really appalling. The logistics support of the British Empire tens of thousands of miles away far exceeded Argentina's.

Of course, this matter is not something Saint-Hesse should worry about. Now Saint-Hesse is just a small staff member, at most putting forward his own opinions and insights. It would be great if they could be adopted.