"What are "Invalids" in military terms?" Topic

And I don't mean The Walker Brigade from SNL!

Disabled veterans; Retired, medically?

Generally it refers to soldiers who are available for light duties say as garrison troops but are not capable of going out on extended campaign.

see attache link for details of the Invalid Corps during the ACW which was typical of these formations

link

A 'Dads Army' unit?

Arent they like the stomach battalion in the Wehrmacht in WW2, Walking wounded reservists, rear eschalon types

What Mapleleaf said.

During the 18th century a number of European armies maintained Invalid Companies as fortress garrisons. This allowed them to make use of trained soldiers who were no longer fit for field service. The practice also avoided paying the old soldiers a retirement pension, or turning them loose to beg.

You've heard of Les Invalides in Paris? The French had an unusualy advanced system for their day. Les Invalides was to shelter disabled soldiers who couldn't do garrison duty.

The Invalid Corps of the US Army during the Civil War was a version of this system.

HEIC Invalids were medically discharged veterans who were fully capable of performing light duties.

They garrisoned major fortressess, such as Chunar, and were able to serve on a gun crew, as long as they were supplemented by a few younger, stronger men. They held up quite well too.

Weaker men were given such duties as quarter/gate guards, night watch patrols and the like.

They were paid and treated well by the company throughout.

Consider them, the HEIC version of Chelsea Pensioners.

In a Civil War diary I read, the author was wounded in the leg at the Wilderness. He recovered but could not make long marches anymore. He was put into a Veteran unit that functioned as military police in Washington DC. One account started in what the editor noted was a red-light district in the capitol. The next page had been removed by razor or other sharp instrument. The next surviving page had a completely different story. The author also made charming watercolors in the diary. Can't recall the name, it was years ago when I worked for the NYU Library.

Actually a very timely question during the War on Terror. In the Napoleonic Wars, it meant companies of (relatively) old soldiers who were no longer capable of marching enough to keep up with the field armies, but were otherwise able to fight from static locations – fortified strongpoints, Fortresses etc. Their experience was retained in a capacity that matched their ability, thus concentrating deployable troops where needed.
Not really those housed at Les Invalides – they were more genuinely sick or disabled, the equivalent of the Royal Chelsea or Kilmainham Hospitals. I don't think they would have been expected to fight…Although from what I have seen of Chelsea Pensioners I expect they would have been queueing up outside the armoury in extremis!

At the height of the Cold War in the UK the concept was reintroduced with the Home Service Force, a branch of the Territorial Army Volunteer Reserve in which retired long service regulars would meet and train occasionally to keep their skills current, with a role of protecting key installations in the event of war, thus freeing mobile regular and reserve formations for Germany.

Given the decreasing level of military experience and footprint in some western countries like Australia, a concept that should be considered again IMHO…Long service Military experience is too valuable a commodity to disregard simply because someone is no longer fully deployable….

Hey Sparker
There is always the standby reserve. If you are on that, you can be used as and where required and you do not have to do BFAs or a wpn qualifier every year. And you do not have to be carried against a position. A much mis-understood and poorly used resource but I have been Standby Reserve since 1999 and am still serving after 42 years.
IMHO this is the Aust Army's Invalid corps. Agreed if you are not able to meet Medcat 3 then you cannot be used but there are a number of guys who are Medcat 2.6 who are still abe to contribute and do so.
regards

Bob

Thanks Bob thats good to know. I wish the RAN was as organised. Having retired from the Brit RN I tried to register with the RANR, just so they had details of my tickets and quals should things get really desperate, but no-one was interested, and I just felt I was being a nuisance.

But you never know how bad things could get, how much does it cost to keep a register of retired naval officers, and update them on procedures, the latest in STUFT regs, etc, annually for heaven's sake!

OK rant over – I'll get back in my box….