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I continue to be fascinated and mightily impressed by the Roman Army. It just amazes me how intense the training and daily life of a Roman soldier was. Miles of marching and then other physically intensive activities such as construction after that. I can only imagine how many calories they must have burned doing all that.
I didn't watch it all, but I take exception to a number of points raised by the narrator. He states all legionnaires carried and used the sling. There is no proof of this. Vegetius states in his writings of the 4th century that legionnaires were trained in the sling. He does not state that they carried them into battle. When I was in the army I was trained with the M60 machine gun, but I never carried one or fired one except on the range.
Rome made little native use of missile troops -- it was not their way of war. They didn't train a quarter of their men to be archers, either. A Roman citizen was almost always a heavy infantryman. Light troops were auxiliaries, who were non-roman citizens skilled in missile weapons -- especially Syrians, Cretans Thracians, and inhabitants of the Balearic Islands. Funditores were slingers and sagittarii were archers.
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