Let us not forget they had a lot of experience not needing to take their missions seriously. The line, “Is this going to be a stand-up fight, or another big hunt?” not only gave all the crypto-fascist, Heinlein-fanboys a boner, but it also told us these were people who’d never seriously been challenged in a fight. They broadly knew their jobs, even Hudson, but this was the first time most of them had needed to perform under extreme pressure in circumstances their training hadn’t covered. Plus, the mission was horribly undermanned because Burke needed it to be in order to work his angle. A battalion of these same bozos, instead of one short platoon, would have had the numbers to absorb losses while learning what they were up against and adapting appropriately. Even our little squad of surviving goofballs got their shit together by the end, though circumstances were beyond their brutally reduced numbers by then.
These are good points! Someone else also pointed out to me that the reason the company doesn't send in a group of kick-ass androids is because androids are expensive, whereas the shitkickers in the marines are ... easily replaced.
Let us not forget they had a lot of experience not needing to take their missions seriously. The line, “Is this going to be a stand-up fight, or another big hunt?” not only gave all the crypto-fascist, Heinlein-fanboys a boner, but it also told us these were people who’d never seriously been challenged in a fight. They broadly knew their jobs, even Hudson, but this was the first time most of them had needed to perform under extreme pressure in circumstances their training hadn’t covered. Plus, the mission was horribly undermanned because Burke needed it to be in order to work his angle. A battalion of these same bozos, instead of one short platoon, would have had the numbers to absorb losses while learning what they were up against and adapting appropriately. Even our little squad of surviving goofballs got their shit together by the end, though circumstances were beyond their brutally reduced numbers by then.
These are good points! Someone else also pointed out to me that the reason the company doesn't send in a group of kick-ass androids is because androids are expensive, whereas the shitkickers in the marines are ... easily replaced.