Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-94.8.59.184-20140809221526/@comment-73.165.21.136-20151109005025

I'm not quite sure why everyone hates, or at least dislikes, Ironwood. Out of all the people working with Ozpin, shouldn't he be the most qualified person to deal with the White Fang and security?

Lets actually think about their respective occupations. Qrow, Glynda, and Ozpin are all Huntsmen by trade. This means they recieved Huntsman training and do Huntsman things e.i combating the Grimm. Ironwood is a soldier, as well as being in charge of a proper military. He almost certainly recieved training in combating other people. Armies specialize in fighting other humans (or Faunus).

So why are Huntsmen butting in on something they are not remotely qualified for? I mean, Huntsmen spar and train with each other, but actual counter-terrorist manuevers are simply beyond their training. Besides the actual sparring, RWBY does not learn about fighting other humans, or dealing with an actual human enemy beyond dealing with your average street thug.

As for Ozpin's qualifications, we can theorize about his history or his experience, but from what we actually know, he is simply an aging Huntsman that doesn't understand the value of a background check. After all, Cinder and her squad are blending in easily as Haven students, and Ozpin doesn't pay attention to the fact she appears significantly older than anyone else? Or what about Glynda? She fought Cinder one-on-one, and still has no idea what she looks like. I appreciate it would have been hard to see someone's face while they are on a moving airship, but not recognizing her clothes? Or her fighting style? That is enough to bring into question her ability to make decisions.

I know that Rooster Teeth is trying to make Ironwood seem like another uneducated Army guy that has an mindless impulse to send in the troops, but really, shouldn't he be the one making the appropriate calls?

As for the meme that Ironwood is invading Vale, that just doesn't make sense. From what we can see, the White Fang's activities in Vale are growing with each passing day. I would argue that Vale is actually at war with the White Fang, due to the robot rampages, gunfights, and robberies. And Vale is losing. Vale's police department is hopelessly outclassed, and they have no standing military. Even the Huntsmen, who seem to handle a lot of White Fang activity despite not having requisit training, are not able to keep up. They only stopped the Breach of the Grimm because Team RWBY just happened to patrolling that area, and because RWBY is made up of the protagonists of the show.

We don't know what the White Fang are doing in Atlas, but the military at least seems to have some ability to handle the situation. The people in charge of Vale recognize that Ironwood has the expertise (in theory), the manpower, and the technology to effectively combat the White Fang.

Even if Ironwood is mistaken, foolish, (the villain), or naive, of all the people involved with dealing with the White Fang, he should be the most well versed in handling human enemies.

It's nice to think that the Huntsmen are way more qualified than the Atlesian Military, but there is no reason to assume this. From what we actually see (and bear in mind, the real facts matter here, assumptions do not), Ozpin is some old man with no specific experience, Glynda is an angry, powerful school teacher, and Qrow, the cool new guy, appears to be some drunk, unkempt bastard that picks fights with rich people.