The men

8.1. Every crewman has seven traits — nerve, composure, awareness, intelligence, discipline, aggression and sociability — one job skill, and a bio: name, age, hometown, and a line of background. Rosters are generated from the distribution for the type of soldier. A green 1942 draftee sits in the middle of every trait and low in every skill; a veteran, enemy or later, is steadier, more aware and more disciplined, and far more skilled at his seat; a seasoned crew has fought before, and its profile is the midpoint of the two. A campaign’s men are raised green; a skirmish or an authored scenario may name any of the three. Ages are 18 to 22 for privates and corporals, 20 to 26 for sergeants.

Each man has one quirk, drawn from a fixed table at his making from what he already is — his name, his town, his age and his sociability. It carries no number and changes nothing in the simulation; it is how the language model plays him, on the net, on the intercom and in camp.

A disciplined commander gives directions as bearings; the rest say north or south-west.

8.2. The lieutenant in tank one has wounds and nothing else. His nerve is the player’s.