First off forgive my sloppy post I just got off 20 hour shift and kinda tired grammar/spelling errors abound.

My ideals are intended to make the life of a grunt in this wonderful mod more meaningful and to give the player some grander sense of direction once they have hit the highest tier in the army. So here goes...
1) Actively build support for player with current army's troops via nightly campsite sessions, tournament winning, possible mini-mods, high charisma stats and or leadership/persuasion skills add additional modifiers to these activities.
2a) Commander Mode* (Battlefield mode) Player gradually gains a following of loyal troops among the army's that he servers in during battles troops might stay near the player during the fighting and even listen to orders from the player. The second type of troop the player would encounter are the troops placed directly under the players control and a higher rank tier via there commanders or lords. Some sort of color coding text for the troops would help the player figure out the loyal followers in the army and another color for the troops in there direct command. Limits would probably need to be set on how many of the loyal troops actually followed player commands in battle since to many of the followers listen to the player over there lord it might get messy. A handful would definitely give the player the feel that they have buddies watching there back in battle.
2b) Captain Mode* (Map mode) At high nuff rank and having served with an army long nuff for a lord to trust a player and there fighting skills a lord might offer a Captain commission in the army. This would allow a player to form a smaller picking/scout/patrolling force separate from the main force. Main goal would be to take the smaller faster force and scout around the main force seeking out enemy's to engage and to keep pinned down till main force can catch up to fight. A number of side quests can probably be given to the player from this mode. This mode would limit access to the main army's troops for the player but increase the odds that the player would gain the loyalty of nearly all troops assigned to him for the duration of the Captain assignment. Having the player break away from auto movement mode that the current mod has would probably help the play shoot out ahead of main army to engage enemy army's or run off to do the lords quests.
3) Random player events. Lord sees you as a son he never had and offers to adopt you. (Total War inspired) Sponsorship to join a Elite knight order while still serving with current lord. (Get a set of knightly gear you can use at whatever current standing is in army, I would figure this to be a high rank type event)
4) Player missions in lords name.
" Raid Enemy Fort to rescue family member with handful of troops in aid"
" Patrol Lords lands in Captain mode"
" Raid enemy villages for your Evil lord"
" Stand in as Lords Champion at tournament/duel session"
" Escort Lords trade merchants as part of the merchants group"
" Defend lords villages/fort/towns when enemy's near by"
" Train local village/town/fort militia forces for your lord with some sort of final test battle"
5) Allow player to earn lords trust to become a personal adviser. Should be allowed to do this only with one lord one time.
6) Lord Sponsors player for lordship and offers small retainer of troops from personal army to get started.
7) Option to betray lord by defecting after a defeat to join winning sides army instead of become prisoner. Probably be a major blow to lords rep and/or faction player is leaving behind. Given title by faction defected from "So-N-So the betrayer" and so forth refereed to in conversations with that factions lords then on. Never again trusted by that faction etc...

Build rep with different lords by serving in there army's once player reaches a top rank.
9) Lords keep track of who you served with. And may turn down your offer of service if you happened to served with a Lord they happen to hate. Fearing your there to spies on them and/or cause trouble among the troops. You'll be forced to pick who to server more carefully.
10) Army's player served in will have a following of troops that would join the player once they rebel or become a lord of the realm. Longer the player served in each army more troops that they would have influence over.
11) Rebelling players might even be able to topple a lord from his army if that player served with that lords army long nuff to effective convince most of that lords army to over throw there lord and join forces with player as some sort of rogue army.
12) A player who became a lord might receive a influx of troops from a lord who left the faction that the player had server under at an earlier time.
13) A player who has server with several army's might randomly open an event to form some sort of elite knight order or fighting force that will from then on join the player whenever they join a new army and have that force controlled Solly by the player during battles
I think these ideals not only would breath more life into the daily grind of being a solider, but add dimension to the later game when the player is attempting set themselves up as a lord and/or king. Building a following while serving many different lords could be a very good option to kingship using this wonderful mod as the foundation.