The emperors never liked the governors to remain anywhere for too long, as they would start to settle down and perhaps less taxes would find their way back to Rome, as a rising power base was often expensive to bank-roll. Armies could be bought if the purse was big enough and the promises were realistic propositions. Most governors remained in post for three or four years, moving onward and hopefully upwards at the whim of their emperor.
I shook my head, as although these details were important, they did not really affect my plans. I had to focus on those aspects that I could deal with, and Roman politics was something way out of my league, for the moment.
I had the ten men on a fitness assessment programme, just to get a feel of the current fitness levels within the ranks. That way, none of us wore uniform and armour. Stripped down to the bare essentials, the only difference was gender, and as Iona and I were the only females, I think the men felt they’d drawn a cushy number. Until, that is, they lagged behind us on a ten mile run while carrying a pack of rocks on our backs. Iona struggled a bit, but with my help and encouragement, she kept up with me all the way.
Over the next couple of weeks, their initial disdain turned to slow respect and latterly to a degree of loyalty and pride. We were so different and so innovative that they saw that this was a unit worth belonging to.
I was grateful when the tailor sent word that he had finished producing our first patterns of uniform, as I wanted to move on in the training, and I wanted to look the part, and appearing like a bedraggled whore so that the recruits dribbled whenever I was close to them was not my idea of instilling sound military discipline.
“I’m not sure about these,” the tailor said as I walked into his little shop.
“You don’t have to be, but I do.”
“Why green?”
“What colour are the grass and the trees?”
“Ah.”
The Roman armour essentially was divided into two types: enlisted men and officers. The officers wore flashy breastplates carefully measured and then beaten into the shape of the wearer, before being highly polished and adorned. The other ranks wore bands of metal joined in such a way to give flexibility and movement as well as protection.
Leather was used as a backing and inside the helmets to ensure a snug and comfortable fit. The armour and helmets were heavy, so the men would often march great distances without it, having wagons bringing the equipment close behind them. However, if unexpected attacks could be possible, they had to march in full kit, which required a high level of strength and stamina to endure for the long periods that might be foreseen.
Personal weapons consisted of the short stabbing spear designed to work from behind the shields, and a short sword to cut, hack and stab as a secondary weapon. There were archers, javelin throwers and longer spear carriers that all had their purposes.
My uniforms and equipment reflected the unique nature and envisaged functions of the recon unit.
Green tunics and pants as camouflage, the standard legionaries’ sandal (with hobnails for grip) with the leather strapping wound up the leg as support. The Romans just did not make good boots, but with soft buckskin socks up to the knees, the combination was as effective and comfortable as good boots. They were also as waterproof, perhaps a little better, as there were no lace holes. There was an advantage that over soft ground, the hobnail sandals could be lost and the buckskins were soft, silent and left less tracks.
Armour is always a compromise. The heavier the armour, the better the protection, but limited the durability and flexibility of the wearer. The lighter the armour, then the wearer was more capable of long durations and enhanced physical activity, but would be less well protected.
I had to assess as to the positive and negative aspects of the whole situation. Firstly, by examining the job description, I knew that heavy armour was going to be a complete waste of time. Firstly, if the unit was to be fast and effective, then the minimum armour was the order of the day. Also, if the wearers were to be women, then both body-shape and strength were factors.
There were three choices of steel armour; plate, straps or mail. Plate was expensive, heavy and inflexible. Straps required fitting and riveting. Mail was flexible, but was hard to make, liable to decay badly in damp conditions (like the British weather) and could be heavy. Mail was fine against one-to-one sword hacking, but pretty useless against penetrative strikes, such as sword thrusts, javelins and arrows.
I came up with a new compromise that I had worked on with the tribeswomen. Using leather jerkins, I instructed the armourer to sew metal strap sheets over the shoulders and on central front and rear torso, allowing complete freedom of movement and bringing the weight down considerably.
The existing helmets, which normally had neck protection and filets of metal covering the cheeks and side of face, were designed for set pieces with infantrymen facing infantrymen. In these sort of confrontations, usually conducted behind walls of locked shields, most of the action consisted of hacking or slashing with swords, or thrusts with the pilum (spear).
I had to consider the type of engagement my troops were likely to face. Wherever possible, I wanted to avoid set pieces, so it had to be light, capable of protecting the head from injuries, such as those sustained from falling off a horse as well as from falling rocks and arrows.
Stealing an effective design from more modern history, I designed a helmet more like the current US pattern, which in turn owed its design in no small part to the latter part of WW1 and WW2 German army helmet design. It was sufficiently similar to the current Roman design, but far less fiddly.
This was an effective design in several areas: it kept the rain off, it protected the neck and also by having a slight peak, it kept the rain and what little sun sneaked through out of the eyes. With no adornment, it was easily covered in green cloth or netting to render it camouflaged. Once the shape was created, then the leather internal band and chin straps were riveted into the inside. With four basic sizes, each taking adjustable bands, this kept the cost and manufacturing process down.
In the place of a legionary’s shield, which was cumbersome, heavy and restricted one arm, I simply had filets of metal on leather straps designed to be strapped to both the forearms, so the arms could be used to fend off blows while keeping two hands free to strike back or otherwise work reins or carry equipment. The straps covered the backs of the hands, a very important and vulnerable area for archers and those on horseback.
I could not imagine these troops getting into a classic infantry combat situation deliberately, so they needed all their wits, speed and skill to do their job and escape.
Weapons were bows, of a similar design to the English Longbow, but shortened to be suitable for women and so as to be used from horseback if necessary: short swords, and what looked like commando daggers. All our metal weapons were smoke darkened so as not to be too obvious.
Topped off with a green cloak, that doubled as a blanket, sleeping roll, ground sheet or even a stretcher with the addition of two poles or spears; the result was an uncanny replica of twentieth century soldiers, without the firearms, of course.
We had yet to recruit any females, but I at least, had a pattern that the armourer and tailor could start creating the necessary equipment so that once recruited, they could be issued with it quickly.
Iona and I tried on our sets.
I had to smile, for I swear that as soon as Iona stood there in her finery, she seemed to grow in stature and strength.
“That looks good,” I said, meaning it. “Comfortable?”
“Very.”