New Alduria

[Aquinas]

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[maxington]

In what has been described as a new dawn for the nation, Nixon Clemens has handed over power to
Malcolm Turner, former Mayor of Kimberly, who navigated the centre-left progressive party to a 
landslide victory in the snap federal election. In a changing of the guard which was extremely swift for
many, Turner assumed office after he was officially sworn in by the Governor-General Sir Adam Been. 
Hours later, a federal cabinet was announced: of its 18 members, 6 were untested politicians, some from the
left-wing backbenches and some technocrats. From the offset, there was a change in the atmosphere. Clemens
who had once maintained the stipulation that New Alduria should become a republic had locked horns with 
Governor-General Been since he entered office in 2018. However, Turner reassured the Governor-General that
if such a decision were to be made by the government, it would be done through a democratic referendum. The
change not only marked the return of socialism and liberalism to the government, but also the beginning of a new
era of development for the nation. Austerity imported from Luthori had seriously damaged the state's ability to 
serve the people and has worn out the nation. Turner's promise of re-energising the economy was a major selling
point in his campaign for many who had become disenfranchised by the previous conservative government's seemingly
endless rounds of austerity measures and bleak promises that said austerity would have ended by 2024. 

His pledge to create employment and reorient the model of the economy, particularly appealed to the middle class 
which had been the hardest hit by the austerity measures imposed by the previous government to impose fiscal
targets. With the votes counted from the federal election, the Progressive Party was shown to have captured 42%
and 256 seats, more than doubling its presence in the 610-seat parliament. The National Party won 30%. 
Furnished with a majority, Turner was able to form a government upon the request of the Governor-General. 
The new cabinet will be sworn in tomorrow, with Turner stating that intends on jumping into action immediately. 
Turner stated that he intends on boosting support for start-up firms and other medium sized corporations. 
He also stated that intends on meeting with various economic advisory boards and intends on forming the economic
development board with the sole purpose of implementing economically sound policies in-order to reorient the
national economy. The economist and former mayor of Kimberly who was responsible for instilling a major 
growth period for the city, which saw it propel itself to become of the major financial centres of the eastern 
hemisphere, has viewed himself as widely reformist and valuing education alongside other principles of society.
Congratulatory messages poured in for the politician who had been viewed as the "dawn of change" in New Alduria.

Despite promises by the previous government to pull-back on austerity measures once re-elected, Turner refused to
make pre-election promises he could not keep. He stated that whilst he intended on diversifying New Alduria's 
industrial strategy, he stated that if a situation should arise that he is unable to, it is likely to endanger employment
in the sector which has found itself to be a major GDP contributor in the past 30 years. Turner noted that economic 
strategy and policy in New Alduria always had to include the industrial sector, particularly mining and natural gas. 
New Alduria maintains major reserves in bauxite, zinc, lead and coal. The exportation of these products to other 
nations have allowed for the nation to experience large amounts of economic development. It is said that it is because
of the developments in the bauxite and coal industries that Kimberly saw its economic development skyrocket as 
foreign banking firms moved to the nation to invest in the lucrative industrial practices. 



Chief of Defence of the NADF, General Mark Royce announced that after consultation with the Minister of Defence
 and the Prime Minister, he would be leading a massive overhaul of the New Aldurian Defence Forces, in a move that would work
towards reversing decades of mismanagement and incompetence in the Defence Forces. It has long been debated that within the
New Aldurian Defence Forces exists structures which have proven to be inefficient as it pertained to the development of the NADF
as a serious military force. General Royce, who had been recently appointed to the position of Chief of Defence of the New Aldurian
Defence Force (the highest ranked commissioned officer in the defence forces), stated that he had been applaud by the lacklustre state of
the New Aldurian Defence Forces after decades of neglect and mismanagement from various governments and his predecessors.
Royce is a career general educated in the NADF Academy for Military Studies. General Royce stated that the New Aldurian 
Defence Forces had an obligation to defence within the region and had to maintain its position in the region amidst mounting
uncertainty in the neighbouring state of Noumonde. 

Royce's first round of reforms come in the form of battle group reorganisation. Currently, with the modernisation of the defence
forces, the need for a robust system of administration as it pertained to battle formations was needed as a means of ensuring the
continuity of order within the Defence Forces. Royce's reforms will be mainly focused on the Army, whereby
he intends on ushering in new battle formations in the form of rapid response brigades, QRF Divisions, etc. Although the reforms
are aimed at battle groups, they will place an extreme emphasis on the officer's corps. The conflicts in other regions revealed the need
for a major revamping/reorganisation of the armed forces in favour of junior officers and decentralised military decision-making
and removing the sentiment that Command and Control elements are in place to micro-manage the affairs of the squad/platoon. In a
modernising armed force command, control and communications; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance disciplines must be
exercised by commanders within the New Aldurian Defence Forces.

Our armed forces cannot advance unless we come to the realisation that we have to move as a team.
Warfare is a sympathy of perfectly timed moves, and strategically important pauses. If we are to
push the notion of modernisation within the NADF, it is imperative that we target our modernisation
efforts on the officers, and squad elements before we seek to advance any further cause in the name
of modernisation.

To this end, in-order to satisfy the needs of a performance-capable armed force, the New Aldurian Defence Forces must make moves
necessary in championing the sentiment of more professionally trained young officers as a means of promoting teamwork and
competence at the squad level and thus removing the centuries old tradition of command posts being given to the most loyal
instead of the most qualified; expand military education in the fields of command and control, infantry warfare disciplines
including squad and platoon tactics, mountain warfare tactics, arctic warfare tactics, desert warfare and urban warfare tactics.
By extending officer competence in these disciplines the New Aldurian Defence Forces develops a competence-driven command and
control structure capable of achieving any military objective and introduce competence in the highest echelons of the armed
forces. The spirit of the unit is set at the top. When the leadership of an armed force display a complete lack of concern for
the welfare of its soldiers such attitudes seep through the ranks reaching to the squad/platoon in some cases. To that end,
General Royce stated has stated that New Alduria has a long way to go before it can be considered a serious military power.