Board Thread:Manga/@comment-28980080-20170625174900/@comment-1327106-20170625215227

A rebuilt Survey Corps might have some greenies, but considering that they would be fighting a different kind of war against Marley than when they were fighting mindless Titans, it might not be a bad thing. New recruits with no preconceived notions of how to fight might adapt better (assuming they survive their first engagement). And the rebuilt Corps will probably have more than fresh recruits.

Going about things realistically, it's not just sheer numbers that the Survey Corps needs to rebuild, but also its leadership team. Not everyone in the 104th is cut out to be a squad leader (I think only Armin and Jean are) and you're not going to promote a newbie. So if I was someone like Zackly what I would do is transfer over a capable officer (or two, or three) from a different branch to provide that experience.

An outside officer would bring a different set of experiences with them, and be able to offer a different perspective for a kind of battle that no one inside the Walls is really prepared for. The veteran Survey Corps has combat experience, but they're largely used to fighting Titans instead of people, and aside from Levi and Hange, they only have a handful of assignments under their belt.

It probably won't be something that actually happens in the manga, but if, for example, some of the new Survey Corps members were veterans transferred from the Military Police, then they might bring some advantages because the average MP is more likely to have dealt with fighting other humans than the average Survey Corps member. The Anti-Personnel Squad might be gone, but other people from the First Interior Squad survived and there may have been capable non-boozers elsewhere in the Military Police. Marco wanted to get in for honest reasons, and Marlowe wanted to reform the branch, so an older version of someone like them would be an excellent asset. Perhaps they wouldn't be the best at combat, but they could bring a tactical perspective.