Interpreting at Vindolanda: commercial and linguistic mediation in the Roman army.

A fragmentary tablet from Vindolanda (Tab. Vindol. II, 213) contains an occurrence of the verb interpretari (‘interpret’, ‘explain’, ‘mediate’) in an apparently commercial context, relating to the grain supply for the Roman fort. This usage is paralleled in a text on a wooden stilus tablet from Frisia in the Netherlands. ‘Interpreters’ and their activities make rather infrequent appearances in the Latin epigraphic and documentary records. In the Danubian provinces, interpreters (interpretes) are attested as army officers and officials in the office of the provincial governor. ‘Interpreters’, in both Latin and Greek inscriptions and papyri, often, however, play more ambiguous roles, not always connected with language-mediation, but also, or instead, with mediation in commercial transactions

The late Roman field army in Northern Britain? Mobility, material culture and multi-isotope analysis at Scorton (N. Yorks)

At Hollow Banks Quarry, Scorton, located just north of Catterick (N Yorks.), a highly unusual group of 15 late Roman burials was excavated between 1998 and 2000. The small cemetery consists of almost exclusively male burials, dated to the fourth century. An unusually large proportion of these individuals was buried with crossbow brooches and belt fittings, suggesting that they may have been serving in the late Roman army or administration and may have come to Scorton from the Continent. Multi-isotope analyses (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium) of nine sufficiently well-preserved individuals indicate that seven males, all equipped with crossbow brooches and/or belt fittings, were not local to the Catterick area and that at least six of them probably came from the European mainland. Dietary (carbon and nitrogen isotope) analysis only of a tenth individual also suggests a non-local origin. At Scorton it appears that the presence of crossbow brooches and belts in the grave was more important for suggesting non-British origins than whether or not they were worn. This paper argues that cultural and social factors played a crucial part in the creation of funerary identities and highlights the need for both multi-proxy analyses and the careful contextual study of artefacts.

Blue army : paramilitary policing in Australia

Examination of how Victoria's Special Operations Group and their tactics have contributed to the extraordinary number of police shootings in Victoria. Looks at how these tactics have been passed on to the ordinary police. Based on author's research into the paramilitarisation of the police. Exposes the risks of allowing Australia's police forces to move away from their original charter of keeping the peace with the use of minimum force. Author lectures in Police Studies at Deakin University. She has represented the families of several men shot and killed by police in the late 1980s in her work as a community lawyer.

Part-time research students: the`reserve army` of research students for universities

Over the past twenty years, in Australia, there has been a steady growth in the numbers of part-time research students. However, they have generally been invisible in government policy on research training, and have rarely been the focus of specific treatment in universities, where the full-time scholarship-holder is taken as the norm. Yet, these are people who often undertake their research in their workplaces on problems germane to their work. They do so with relatively less ‘drain on the public purse’ and they are well-placed to ensure their research has effect. This paper suggests that this ‘reserve army’ of research labour—part-time research students—could benefit from the integration of the perspectives that have driven other aspects of adult education with those, often economic rationalist perspectives, that have driven research training policy. In this way, government policy-makers may appreciate that this ‘reserve army’ provides good value, and universities may shape their research training policies and practices to provide support, infrastructure and supervision that matches the needs and contexts of part-time students, and which facilitates ‘technology transfer’ and links between universities and industries and the professions.

In her own right : women officers and equality in the Salvation Army

The nature of women's equality in the Army, during the 19th century, was unprecedented, and even today women can rise to positions of power and authority not easily equalled in the community. In the 20th century the principle of equality remained the same, but the practice did not. Any major turnaround in women's officership will require an orientation to first identifying and understanding the forces that effect women's advancement in the Army, plus the introduction of fairly exact and regulated remedial measures.

The Army and AirSea Battle

The AirSea Battle concept and the Joint Operational Access Concept provide clear indications of the character and purpose of US force development for at least the next decade or so. The strategic competition that underpins these concepts is real , important and accelerating - and is already impacting on Australia. The details of the AirSea Battle concept itself are not that important – all wars reflect their immediate strategic contexts and no forward- leaning concept is ever likely to pass into detailed war, campaign or operation planning. However, the view presented in the concept on the character of future wars between states is important and raises critical questions that need to be answered if Australian force development can claim to be rational. The ADF has a number of views of what ‘conventional’ warfare might look like, if we accept the view taken by AirSea Battle and the JOAC, most of them are wrong. For the Army the future described by, and partially shaped by US preparations for, AirSea Battle offer important signposts to future needs and to the nature of the future operational environment. These signposts don’t tell us what it will be like – simply what some of the influences driving strategic and operational systems seem likely to be. It remains for Army to decide how it should approach the challenges that these drivers will present.