MP North – Team Structure
Some Team skill basics:
Skill name | (# = min number of personnel with skill)
- Boat handling | (2)
- Drive MPV | (2)
- First Aid | (2) ***One ‘Medic’ with a nursing or medicine degree
- Gunsmith | (1)
- Map Making/Reading | (1)
- Mountaineering | (1)
- Repair, Computers | (1)
- Repair, Electrical | (1)
- Repair, Mechanical | (1)
- Repair, MP Computers | (1)
- SCUBA – Basic Open Water | (2)
Using Doyle Hunt’s template as a basis there are a number of team member assignments that must be covered
- Team Commander
- Contact Specialist
- Communications Specialist
- Computer Specialist
- Engineer
- Natural Resources
- Economic
- Political
- Medical
- Security
Team Commander — Responsible not only for his own specialty, whatever that is, but also for making sure everyone else gets their jobs done. Assigns priorities and makes sure each team member has the necessary resources and manpower to do their jobs.
Contact Specialist — Should have good interpersonal skills, and a cover story that accounts for the “you’re not from around here, are you?” reaction that’s inevitable when meeting locals for the first time. Multilingualism is an asset. The only real restriction is that the contact specialist should not also be the Team Commander.
Communications Specialist — He’s the one who makes sure that the team members can communicate with each other and with Prime Base. When dealing with the locals, he’s the one who would recruit CB radio or Ham radio operators to form the core of a civil communications net. He’s also the guy who would set up a new Pony Express to get the mail through, or get the phones working again.
Computer Specialist — This is the team member tasked with collating the data gathered by the other team members and putting it in a form that can be transmitted to Prime Base. Also includes raping any existing computers found by the team of their accumulated data. In terms of degree fields, good for computer science or electrical engineering types. Should have a Morrow-issue laptop (or even palmtop, for nineties-era teams) computer to interface with whatever surviving computers might be found, together with the equipment necessary to kit-bash the hardware. Good hacking skills are a must.
Engineer — Evaluates bridges, buildings, etc. for structural integrity, and can recommend both field-expedient and long-term repairs. Should also have a working knowledge of combat engineering, such as the construction of field fortifications. Not only knows how to blow up buildings, but how to tear an unsafe one down with just a crowbar and hand tools so as to recover the most salvageable materials to build its replacement. This is the guy who knows how to get a wastewater treatment plant working, build a grain silo, use salvaged automotive tires to build a revetment for preventing streambank erosion, or turn pieces of a salvaged jet turbofan engine into a hydropower turbine.
Natural Resources — Depending on where the team is based, could be one of several disciplines… Geology for desert terrain or areas known for mining or oil drilling; agriculture, animal husbandry, or veterinary medicine for farmland; forestry for wooded terrain; biology, botany, chemistry, ecology, or zoology if none of the other specialties are available. The purpose of this specialist is to evaluate the natural resources of the team’s area to see what is available as raw materials, what it would take to extract them, what can be made from them, and the most efficient ways to preserve them in the case of renewable or degradable resources. Should have equipment appropriate to their particular specialty.
Economic — The purpose of this members assignment is to evaluate the manmade resources of the team’s area, with a specific view toward establishing trade between communities. Finds out who can make what, especially if they can make a surplus of a commodity that isn’t available elsewhere, and what it’s all worth in a barter economy. This is the one who knows how to get the farmer’s food to the town down the road where the plows are made, and get the plows back to the farmer. Also the one who negotiates for the team when the ration packs run out and they need to buy food. This is a very good position for the team’s contact specialist, since he can most easily play an itinerant trader.
Political — Either a political science major, sociologist, or in a pinch a psychologist. Looks at the political system that remains, if any, to see if it provides for the basic rights of its citizens and the basic services that a civilized community requires. Should be free of political bias toward any one political system, and willing to support any system that works, regardless of ideology. The political specialist is not only the person who helps organize free elections, but also the one who helps develop the volunteer fire department and the constabulary, and serves as a mediator in disputes between adjacent governments.
Medical — This specialist should have a fair amount of skill in treating injuries, wounds, and diseases, but in a Recon team he also has the responsibility for determining the medical requirements of a community, with regard to nutrition, hygiene, sanitation, control of disease-carrying pests, hazardous materials, trauma response, etc. This is the team member responsible for getting the local hospitals up and running, and for keeping the rest of the team healthy. At the same time, he would probably be working on setting up an incinerator for the town’s trash and testing the local water wells for contaminants. Not necessarily a doctor. Could also be a former paramedic or EMT, a nurse or dentist, or even an industrial hygienist or pharmacist. In a small team, could be a nonmedical type who just received basic Morrow Project first-aid training. In fact, this would be good collateral duty for a biologist, who could be expected to know something about medicinal plants.
Security — The military or police expert of the team, not only responsible for the team’s own safety, but evaluating communities in terms of the threat of civil unrest and outside enemies. Works with any surviving military or police assets. This is the team member who helps set up a militia, arranges convoy security for trading missions to neighboring towns.
Morrow Project North 