ive been playing for a couple days but i have no clue how to get standard bearers or trumpeters or bards or any of those support people, the best ive managed is to save some from imprisonment and hire them.
These are not player held units, especially the standard bearers, you have to recruit from what you capture or let your companions use the captured banners like the Lannister Red Cloak Knights do. Trumpeters and such can join your party from random events as you travel around the map.
so like manually equip the banner item to a companion?
and what if i capture a vale standard bearer and i'm the north and i recruit them from the prisoners pool, will they apply the benefits for my army?
From what I can tell, the banner is the item with the moral bonus attached so they should work for you. I manually equip my companions with them to use as a lance, then order side arms for them to switch to swords after making it into the enemy archer line.