Well first the House itself is not in direct control of the regiments. So if some regiment CO and a few others make a regiment and then fill it with newbies and let them do all the heavy lifting, i do hope the newbies will be smart enough to go find a more suitable team to play for.
Reality is the only people what can do something about those types of CO's is the players themselves. Without members those CO's wont go anywhere. And can forget about any House recognition in award ceremonies. No bling bling for them
I know what you mean about it looking a bit daunting, i have been in that position myself years ago when i joined the House on MPBT: Solaris. And even wondered how far i could go. From my own experience its best to describe the House as a meritocracy.
Once you rise in rank you will find that a shift starts to take place in your job skills. As a simple soldier you need to know how to follow orders, thrust that your lance leader and company leaders know what they are doing. You only have to be good at driving your mech and your role in the lance/company. When you become a lance leader your not just driving your own mech but are also responsible for those other 3 guys and lead them well so they make it to the end of the round. Your not just driving and following orders, you are also expected to do some thinking on your own there. Up to Company commander, its going to get more funny, got your own lance and 2 more you have to direct. And slowly people skills are creeping in, more people around, heads bounce, and your they guy who has to keep the team running smoothly. Getting people trained, know who are weak in certain area's etc. Battalion CO's same but more management. While the poor Regiment CO at the time has most paperwork. All the way up the ladder it becomes less important to be a hotshot top mechwarrior, and more and more important that you have good management skills. It also shifts from Tactical to Strategic.
A good CO will keep track of his people, and ideally keep a record. That way its easy to keep an eye on people who got the right skills, who could be asked to take a position in the House.
Going a bit hypothetical here. Ideally we would have 1 or 2 training regiments, with some good trainers from the regiments of the AFFS. Maybe on some rotation basis. Where regiments could send the newbies for basic training. Maybe have a treaty with the other houses to set a few planets aside where we can pit our training regiments against each other. That way they wont have to face elite troops on their milk runs, and learn the ropes.
So from that you go back to your regiment and there you will have to make a name for yourself. Learn from your lance leader see what he does, learn from the mistakes, remember what works and what doesn't. In time you get your chances to lead and when you do well people will notice and your CO might make you an lance commander. Do well and eventually you will make Company CO.
These mid level jobs, the Company CO and Battalion CO are interesting places to be, there you will need a wide array of skills to be successful.
Eventually maybe you become CO when the current one does not want the job anymore, or maybe the CO was asked to fill a House position or maybe he just went back to being a mechjockey, Or maybe you go off and make your own regiment.
But your ambitious and you want to become a House Officer. Several ways lead to New Avalon. Your prowess with the tongue and pen might be known and you get asked to hold a position, or maybe your Regiment CO pointed at you when we where casually discussing the need to fill a position. In a small community it might be easy to know everybody but the larger it becomes the more important it will be to have some record keeping. Do a good job, and who knows maybe you get selected as the next House Leader or House XO
End hypothetical.
How big we need to setup is all in the cards, when we get a more clear picture what we need we will need to get everybody at the table to make some hard plans. Although it does not hurt to thing through some scenarios, or bring up the past a bit
Personally i do not care where people come from, new, old, mpbt, mw4, boardgames, musical, as long as they are good at what they need to do. House Davion is not there for itself, but for the community.
Okay last one to get to Sian will pay drinks in Skippy!