>Garreth Martin:
>
>>If
>>adulthood begins young, like between 14 and 16, and life expectancy
>>is between 30 and say 50, probably the bulk of combat troops are
>>going to be young adults;
>
>Those kind of life expectancy figures are life expectancy
>_at birth_ and include the high rates of infant mortality.
>To illustrate how they work: if a village has a life
>expectancy of 40 years and 50% of the newborns die before
>their first year - the remainder of villagers will live to
>an average of _80_ years.
>
Bah! This is one of those statistical misconceptions that always annoys me.
Peter is right. Consider: The Roman Empire recruited soldiers on the strength of a land grant after 25 years in the legions. If most people in your society don't survive a peaceful sedentary life past 35 (as I've seen argued, though not here) then who'll ever be attracted to a dangerous life on the frontier with a promised reward only a very few would ever collect.
And the legions didn't have Ernaldan and Chalana Arroyan camp followers.
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