Freethinker Royal Armed Forces

'Fortis cadere, cedere non potest'
File:Freethinker.png The Freestian Olympia
Founded	1660 (Colonial Militias)
Current form	1885 (SC)
Headquarters	Ministry of Defence, Navarre Joint Command Centre, Navarre
Leadership
His Majesty	King Percival IV
Minister of Defence	Sir Andrew Cunningham
Tribune Marshal of the Freethinker Commonwealth	Sir Stephen Bywater
Personnel
Military age	16-65 (human) 16 - Varied (Ghouls)
Conscription	Partial
Reaching military age annually	(12,400,000,000 (2012))
Industry
Domestic suppliers	FDI Group (and subsidiaries) Burnington Devon
Foreign suppliers	MAe Aerospace (Midlonia)

The military of the Freethinker Commonwealth is the Freethinker Royal Armed Forces, established in 1885 at the outset of Freethinker independence. Because the country is considered multitech, its armed forces have to undertake a wider variety of roles than most other nations, and as such tend to rely on smaller numbers of elite units rather than larger, more general-purpose formations.

The combat history of the Commonwealth is notably insular, fighting two large defensive wars against Midlonia, which still dictate much of Freestian defence strategy. The FRAF has also been involved in various civil conflicts and in putting down domestic insurrections. Its foreign involvement has been limited, and is generallly undertaken as part of a coalition.

Freethinker infantry regiments, comprised of the fearsome Ghouls and trained in the equally uncompromising Freestian Outback, carry a notable reputation internationally as some of the most capable, if brutal soldiers avaliable.

Introduction

The FRAF has five principal branches, though the byzantine layers of organisation and force loyalties tend to prevent any real alignment fully being bought into place, the Ground Forces, which generally controls all land forces, the Air Forces, which controls all assets which defend and project airpower including most static missile and AA defences, the Maritime Forces, which controls all maritime activity, the Celestial Forces with a mandate for exo-atmospheric operations and the Shadow Forces, which has overview of all internal and external intelligence assets.

The Freethinker Royal Armed Forces are generally considered to be a volunteer force at its combat edge, although many minor non-combat roles in some of the services are taken up by citizens completing their National Service. High fitness requirements mean almost all of the frontline infantry and marine units are ghouls rather than humans, though in the Armed Forces as a whole there is a human plurality.

Basic Structure

Military Branches:

• Ground Forces
  • Freethinker Royal Army
  • Freethinker Territorial Army
  • Freethinker Peacekeeper Corp

• Maritime Forces
  • Freethinker Royal Navy
  • Freethinker Royal Marines
  • Freethinker Coastguard
  • Maritime Auxiliary

• Air Forces
  • Freethinker Royal Air Force
  • Freethinker Air Defence Militia
  • Commonwealth Test Pilot School

• Celestial Forces
  • Freethinker Royal Celestial Navy
  • Freethinker Royal Celestial Marines
  • Freethinker Orbital Defence System
  • Freethinker Colonial Guard

• Shadow Forces
  • Commonwealth National Intelligence Organisation
  • Combined Special Forces Command
  • Network Intelligence Command
  • Freethinker Royal Military Audit Commission

Military Manpower:

• Age for Service: Humans: 16 years+, Ghouls: 16 Years+
• Active Military Personnel: ~183,000,000 (male and female, human/ghoul)
• Available Military Personnel: ~10,200,000,000 (male and female, human/ghoul; able-bodied and of military age)
• Military Trained Manpower: ~8,800,000,000(male and female, human/ghoul; compulsory National Service in military setting)

History

See Also: History of The Freethinker Commonwealth

Other (Non-National) Military Forces

There are a number of other military-level forces within the Commonwealth which are not technically under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence. These are listed below for completion of the general Freethinker military capability. These are either military or militia units

Provincial Forces

Roughly akin to the National Guard units of other countries, individual provinces or territories possess independent armed forces which function as the military of the respective subpolity. The Mainland provinces have a combined structure as listed below, the three Autonomous Provinces have their own equivelant uniformed services which function independently of the Mainland forces.

During times of national emergencies or crisis, and with the permission of the respective provincial or territorial governments, operational command of the provincial forces comes under the respective arm of the FRAF.

Mainland Provincial Forces

• Royal Riverine & Island Militia
• Freethinker Ground Self Defence Force
• Mainland Air and Observer Corp

Fargon Defence Force

• Fargon Ground Defence Force
• Fargon Naval Defence Force
• Fargon Aerospace Defence Force

Fortuna Defence Force

• Fortuna Ground Defence Force
• Fortuna Naval Defence Force
• Fortuna Aerospace Defence Force

Nova Olympia Defence Force

• Nova Olympia Ground Defence Force
• Nova Olympia Naval Defence Force
• Nova Olympia Aerospace Defence Force

Other Armed Services

• Outback Rangers - Ministry of the Interior Standing Reserve, provide Central Paramilitary/Militia support in unincorporated areas. Are attested constables with law enforcement responsibilities.
• Civilian Air Reserve - Civilian uniformed Air Patrol service
• Crown Free Legions - Independent militias based in the Outback regions.

Freestian Vampire Units

See Main Article: Freestian Vampire Nation

• The Syrens of the Spire
• Navarrok Guard

Mercenaries (Under Charter)

• Blackwatch
• Spireguard
• Core Group
• Outback Patrol Group

Operations

Operation Name	Operation Details	Deployed Forces	Partners	OpFor	Dates
In Scarlet Clad	Deployment of multi-service personnel to Crystal Spires as part of a multinational effort to control local environmental and development issues	2nd Expeditionary Battle Group 13th Expeditionary Battle Group	File:Freethinker.png The Freethinker Commonwealth	None	2013 (RL) - Ongoing
In Silver Clad	Deployment of Freestian Naval and Special forces to Malgrave for deterrence purposes	Force ZK	File:Freethinker.png The Freethinker Commonwealth Malgrave Kouralia	tbc	Jul 2013 (RL) - Ongoing