Home Service (Great Nortend)

His Majesty's Voluntary Home Service
Active	8 June 1936 —
Country	Great Nortend
Role	Civil and military defence

His Majesty's Voluntary Home Service, commonly known as the Home Service, is the voluntary land reserve force of Great Nortend, comprised of the Militia, Yeomanry and Auxiliary for the infantry, cavalry and service respectively. It is tasked mainly with the defence of the Erbonian Isles from enemy attack, insurrection, natural disasters and civil emergencies.

History

The Home Service first came under a unified command when the Defence of the Realm Act 34 Edm. IX was assented to. The Act combined the former locally raised militias, yeomanries and volunteer corps into the Home Service, which was placed under the command of the War Office. Later acts integrated the Home Service with the regular Royal Army by including Home Service battalions in the battalions of their sponsoring regiments.

Personnel

Home servicemen are drawn mainly from the middling classes. Most servicemen have civilian jobs along the lines of a yeoman farmer, shopkeeper, tradesman, teacher, clerk, salesman or manager. In rural areas, manual labourers also often join up in their youth, although they do not usually stay for very many years owing to the nature of their work.

Women may join the Auxiliary service as officers. They primarily are drawn from the middling class nursing, clerical, teaching or secretarial professions, and may service in non-combatant roles.

Home servicemen normally wear duty dress or field dress. Uniforms have shoulder patches with the words, “Home Service”. Field dress uniforms additionally have platoon, company and battalion patches whilst duty dress uniforms have arm-bands with the same information.

Home servicemen are paid according to rank and branch, starting at £1/11/- per full day, and up to 10 shillings per drill night for a private.

Requirements

A home serviceman is required to fulfil the following criteria to be eligible to join the Home Service.

• Full Erbonian subjectship.
• Between 17 and 50.
• Of sound and sobre character.
• Physically able.
• Military disposition.
• Of the Church of Nortend.

There is no maximum age limit for service; however, a home serviceman will be forced to retire or leave if he fails to maintain sufficient physical ability to service in the Home Service. A home serviceman must also fulfil his obligations to the Home Service.

Organisation

The Home Service is mostly organised at a local level, being tasked with local defence. Though Home Service battalions are included in the numbering scheme of regular Royal Army regiments, they are not under the chain of command of the regimental hierarchy except for certain specialised matters. Rather, they answer to regional County Head-Quarters (CHQ) and thence to General Head-Quarters (GHQ), which also commands the regular forces.