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Zacapine Army
𐐏𐐰𐐬𐐿𐐨𐑆𐐿𐐯 𐐞𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐹𐐨𐐷𐐬𐐻𐑊 Yaoquizque Zacapiyotl
Active	Since 1904 (1904)
Country	Zacapican
Type	Army
Role	Land warfare
Size	150,000 total  ∟ 50,000 combat arms
Part of	Zacapine Armed Forces
Commanders
Commander-in-Chief	Zianya Xcaret
Secretary of Defense	Chicacua Xiomara
Chief of the General Staff	Nezahualcoyotl Amanaztli
Army Chief of Staff	Hladimi Qalchic

The Zacapine Army (Nahuatl: 𐐏𐐰𐐬𐐿𐐨𐑆𐐿𐐯 𐐞𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐹𐐨𐐷𐐬𐐻𐑊, Yaoquizque Zacapiyotl) is the consolidated land warfare component of the Zacapine Armed Forces, encompassing the professional contract soldiers and the Republican Guard forces of each Zacapine constituent republic. Together with the Air Force, it is overseen by the Homeland Defense Office of the Secretariat of Defense. The Zacapine Army is comprised of 50,000 full-time soldiers organized into 10 brigades which make up the standing army, as well as the 100,000 gendarme Republican Guards subordinated to the Army command structure. Although the Zacapine military is empowered to raise conscripts from the civilian population for service, this power has not been used since the last general mobilization in 1935. All active duty servicemembers of the Zacapine Army including the standing army as well as the Republican Guards are volunteers.

The geography of Zacapican is a major influence on the doctrine and organization of its armed forces, especially the Army. A majority of the country's interior is covered by hills and mountains, which has historically made maritime travel and communication the lifeblood of the major civilizations of the region. This condition is even more extreme in the north of the country. The northwest is dominated by the Mixtepemec mountains and the northwest by the Tlaltenantli mountains. The lands between these two mountain ranges comprises the arid plateau of the Xallipan Republic. Of these, the Mixtepemec range is generally impassable except through a handful of narrow mountain passes, while the geologically older and more weathered Tlaltenatli range and the Xallan desert represent less daunting and somewhat permeable barriers to overland travel. Nevertheless, the difficulty of moving large contingents of troops presents a serious geographical challenge to any army aiming to conduct operations in the north of Zacapican. The north presented a serious challenge to the further expansion of Aztapamatlan across Oxidentale from the 13th century onward, a challenge daunting enough to shift the focus of expansion to a costly colonial campaign in Malaio. Since the fall of Aztapamatlan and the rise of modern Zacapican, neither the Zacapine Army nor any foreign military have attempted to cross the interior of south Oxidentale with a full-scale invasion force, despite multiple armed conflicts affecting the region. Instead, warfare in the Oxidental hinterlands has taken the form of small scale border skirmishes, limited incursions and mountain warfare.

The organization and doctrine of the Zacapine Army is adapted to the geographic realities of the border regions of the north. The sole strategic function of the Army in the broader Zacapine military strategy is to guard the border. Expeditionary ground combat duties are taken up by the Navy's Infantry Corps, and most offensive operations are dismissed out of hand by military planners because of the terrain and the military history of the region. The Army can therefore afford to specialize into the narrow operational parameters of warfare in the north of Zacapican. The soldiers of the standing army are expected to undergo rigorous mountaineering training and high altitude acclimatization. The vehicles and other equipment of the Army are specially designed for operations on the rough terrain and difficult conditions of the border regions. The level of specialization allows the combat arms of the Zacapine Army to be effective in their area of focus despite being relatively small in size and operating off of a limited budget.

Organization

Republican Guard

The Republican Guards are subdivided into the nine different organizations each attached to one of the Zacapine constituent republics. Their primary function is to act as the paramilitary police force and highest law enforcement body within their respective republics, as well as a ready force to be deployed in response to natural disasters and other emergencies. As a result, they interface regularly with other agencies of the Zacapine government such as the CETZ or the offices of the Public Safety Secretariat, and are only nominally part of the Secretariat of Defense and the Army during peacetime. Because the Republican Guards are military policemen rather than combat soldiers, they military utility is somewhat limited. Guardsmen are only trained in small unit tactics and lack experience coordinating with other units in any sort of combined arms operation. The Republican Guard are primarily issued pistols as a service weapon for police work, with only tactical units being trained on a wider variety of small arms. As a result, the main military function of the Republican Guard in case of a war on the mainland to to provide rear area security and to organize light infantry units together with mobilized civilians. Republican Guard combat units would lack many of the skills and training needed to preform field operations and so would ideally be deployed to hold defensible positions such as urban areas from enemy attack.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 of the Republican Guards are considered to be ready reservists, meaning that they could be mobilized and trained up to act as reinforcements for the main Army brigades or form entirely new Army units in 2-4 weeks. This subset of Guardsmen are those who have completed various tactical training courses or may be serving in their Guard's tactical unit for hostage rescue and other special police operations, giving them more experience with a variety of firearms and combat situations that make them more suited for rapid induction into the Army's combat arms. The ready reservists of the Republic Guard are intended to act as an potentially vital pool of reinforcements to draw upon for the period of several months that would be required to fully induct completely untrained civilians into the Army after the outbreak of a war and the issuing of a general mobilization order.