How we cite our quotes: (Scene, Line numbers)
Quote #1
RECRUITER: How can you muster a unit in a place like this? I've been thinking about suicide, sergeant. Here am I, got to find our commander four companies before the twelfth of the month, and people round here are so nasty I can't sleep nights. S'pose I get hold of some bloke and shut my eye to his pigeon chest and varicose veins, I get him proper drunk, he signs on the line, I'm just settling up, he goes for a piss, I follow him to the door because I smell a rat; bob's your uncle, he's off like a flea with the itch. No notion of word of honour, loyalty, faith, sense of duty. This place has shsattered my confidence in the human race, sergeant. (I, 3-13)
How's that for an opening line? The recruiter not only expresses an extreme dislike for the lower classes, from which he's supposed to recruit new soldiers; his story about getting tricked by a potential recruit demonstrates the military's lack of power to control the local populace completely.
Quote #2
SERGEANT: You pulling my leg? I'll knock that sauce out of you. S'pose you know you got to have a licence.
When Eilif claims he's part of the Finnish regiment in Scene 1, the sergeant doesn't buy it. He's pretty sure Eilif doesn't have the papers to prove it. But what's more important here is the threat of violence. Following up rules with a threat of violence is the prerogative of military power in Mother Courage.
Quote #3
RECRUITER has taken Eilif by the arm and is leading him away up stage: Ten florins bounty money, then you're a gallant fellow fighting for the king and women'll be after you like flies. (I, 323-325)
It's not all about guns and tanks, folks. Military power is portrayed here not just in terms of force, but also in terms of economic power and the ability to bestow prestige. Maybe that's why Mother Courage calls war a "trade" (I, 158); soldiers are trading their lives for the promise of things like money and women.