Terran Military Question

[mr. peasant]

From Zero Hour:

Horner: I hate to ask, sir -- but is there a reason that convict's still on my bridge?
Raynor: Easy, Matt. Tychus is one of my oldest friends. He helped me out of a real bind a few years back. I owe him.
Horner: Well your friend has a criminal record as long as ...
Raynor: Mine?

Now, it could be that Matt simply has a problem with convicts being on his bridge (and doesn't mind them anywhere else)... but Raynor's reply is what stands out to me. Pointing out that Raynor also has a criminal record wouldn't really work as an argument unless it was guaranteed to catch Matt off-guard, which means this situation doesn't come up often enough for Matt to think about it. Which means convicts don't often parade around the Hyperion's bridge.

Now, that leaves us with one of two options. Either there are few to no convicts serving aboard the Hyperion (surprising, given Raynor's inability to cherrypick his staff), or Matt simply has no dealings whatsoever with the part of their crew that actually gets the jobs done (Marines, Pilots, etc.) which is also kind of surprising, but given the fact that I never saw a single Marine aboard the Hyperion that wasn't Tychus, maybe plausible.

Or, y'know, Option C which is that Blizz didn't really expect people to use that one conversation to figure out whether Raynor has convicts serving in his outfit, and if so what ratio of his outfit they make up...

Or... you know, maybe in the future, this is what they mean by 'don't ask, don't tell'.

[Lupino]

According to Blizzard, about 47% of Marauders had never been to jail.

Yet I am told all Marines are convicts.

In lore, is there a possibility that in the future we will be seeing more Terran military personnel that aren't from prison?

I this a dumb question?

*cough*

Marines are the first line of defense for Terran planets in the Koprulu sector. Under the old Confederacy, the majority of Marines were criminals or rebels who had undergone mandatory neural resocialization to ensure their absolute loyalty. This practice has been reportedly scaled back, but it remains common due to insufficient volunteers to serve in the military. The heavy armor worn by Marines is effective against small-arms fire and provides them with full life support and NBC (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical) shielding for operation in deep space and other hostile environments. Marines are armed with C-14 Impaler Gauss Rifles that fire 8mm metal spikes at hypersonic speeds.

Perhaps not a dumb question, but it tends to help if you, you know, try checking the source material first

But yeah, it'd be interesting for the games themselves to pick up on the "normal > resoc" theme going on in the novels. But then, most players just use Marines as dumb cannon-fodder in the first place, so Blizz might have to work a bit.