Seems to be a cross-over of BOLO's & Hammer's Slammers going on here.
Definitely seems like it, or an inspiration of an officer by the Hammer's Slammers stories (if nothing else, the presence of a major character in those stories with his last name would catch his interest). It's a delightful addition and this reader is looking forward to more installments.
Addendum: If you go by
Cross the Stars, a novel set in the Slammers universe after Alios Hammer has become president of Friesland, Danny Pritchard is his political heir apparent. So, yeah, I can an officer with the last name of Pritchard taking quite an interest in the tools of the Hammer's Slammers universe. Oh, and
Cross the Stars is an excellent story in its own right, inspired by
The Odyssey as David Drake admits freely in his introduction to the definitive volume published by Baen.