Officer-cadet (Dirigent Mercenary Corps) [Paperback]

Rick Shelley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dirigent Mercenary Corps | Publication Date: May 1, 1998

Bestselling author Rick Shelley brings readers an explosive new series of future warfare. Lon Nolan, a young soldier expelled from Earth's prestigious North American Military Academy on trumped-up charges, is seeking to prove his worthiness in the Dirigent Mercenary Corps, where the bloody craft of battle has been refined into an art.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Ace; First Edition edition (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441005268
• ISBN-13: 978-0441005260
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #782,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good tactical fun, not much tech, July 28, 2000

By 

Mark Butler (Antioch, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Officer-cadet (Dirigent Mercenary Corps) (Paperback)

I purchased this because it was one of those "others who bought this book also bought" links so I thought I'd give it a try. Its got goods and bads but overall a easy-to-read enjoyable book.

The people are decently done and the hero, Lon is not a cardboard cutout invincible no-fear type...he worries about things, gets sick, etc.

The scenario is pretty small, essentially a couple of armies running around in a section of forest, skirmishing and encountering each other. No big complex story here. The battle descriptions are well done, and I felt like I was really in the thick of it. There wasn't an inordinate amount of acronyms or tech talk.

The biggest dissapointment I had was the technology. Perhaps it was because of coming from another series with more advanced technology, but I was surprised at the tactics and tech involved. It read pretty much like something from the Vietnam war, Although they were never described I got the impressions they were shooting M-16's. The smell of gunpowder and fixing of bayonets seemed out of place 800 years from now. The most sophisticated weapon wasa grenade launcher..there was mention of "beamers" but nodescription and only some of group had them for an unknown reason. They were nearly overwhelmed by rebels with bolt-action hunting rifles! Perhaps because they were mercenaries rather than an army, but the background tactics seemed poor, there was little arial recon, no landing zone, they were constantly running out of ammo because they couldn't land the shuttles, they had no machine guns, no tanks, no powered armor, no armored vehicles except some shuttles that could deliver a bombardment but couldn't handle a handheld rebel rocket. An awfully primitive-sounding elite merc army of the future.

On the plus side, the lack of tech meant that you are right there as they creep through the forest waiting for a sniper to put a shot through you...and this part of the story is where it really shines, following along as the squad creeps toward a suspected enemy position, our hero wondering if he will wilt under fire,etc.

All in all a good read, just don't go in expecting cool high tech weapons or a big complex story.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Long Job Interview, March 9, 2003

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Officer-cadet (Dirigent Mercenary Corps) (Paperback)

Officer-Cadet (1998) is the first novel in the Dirigent Mercenary Corps series. Lon Nolan is willingly expelled from the North American Military Academy on trumped up charges, but pursues his military vocation among the DMC.

In this novel, Lon becomes an Officer-Cadet in the Second Squad, Third Platoon, A Company, Second Battalion, Seventh Regiment of the DMC. He will be nothing but a glorified grunt until he has survived combat; after that, he will be either discharged or given a commission. In the meantime, he being rotated around the various staff positions when not training with the rest of his unit.

After a few months, Second Battalion is sent on contract to Norbank to put down a rebellion and to train the colonial militia. The available intelligence is woefully inadequate and, after arrival, found to be very much out of date. The rebels have obtained military grade weapons and are resolute but relatively unskilled fighters. The colonial militia is greatly outnumbered, poorly armed, and besieged in the capital city, so they expect the DMC troopers to do most of the fighting. The DMC, however, concentrates on training the available colonial manpower to beef up the city perimeter and to support any offensive initiated by the DMC.

The Third Platoon has made initial contact with the Norbanker HQ in the city and therefore is tasked with bringing out a company's worth of barely trained men to rendezvous with shuttles outside the city to obtain their arms and equipment. The rest of the battalion creates a diversion as they are brought out. At the LZ, the battalion provides a quick briefing on using the weapons and then moves further away from the city. There the battalion digs in for a while and provides the Norbankers with two hours of concentrated training on their weapons and simple tactics. The intent is to infiltrate the Norbankers back into the city that evening, but enroute the battalion gets into a firefight with the rebels forces.

This novel is about ground combat in the colonial worlds of the 29th century. It is relatively low-tech compared to the military forces of Earth and the older colonies of that period and the DMC space forces function primarily as transportation and overhead intelligence.

Recommended for Shelley fans and anyone who enjoys ground combat in a SF setting.

-Arthur W. Jordin

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light military SF reading, July 3, 2000

By 

Michael L. Dennis "mitchdennis" (West Des Moines, IA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Officer-cadet (Dirigent Mercenary Corps) (Paperback)

Need a break from complex plots, political intrigue, and hundreds of characters? Still want to read about SF military training and campaigns?....Try this book. A definite quick read, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless.

One thing that seemed refreshing was the focus on ground warfare...flanking, intelligence/counter intelligence, and just plain luck. Made the novel tie into current and historical battling (civil war, vietnam, desert storm). The projectile-type weapons (few lasers, etc), however, seemed a little odd for a 29th Century military unit.