Thrashian Imperial Army
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| Imperial Army | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 359 YBCE ~ Present |
| Country | Thrashia |
| Allegiance | Imperial Throne |
| Branch | Army |
| Role | planetary assault, planetary occupation, protect vital national interests, and fulfill national military responsibilities |
| Size | 500,000,000,000+ (active), 1,000,200,000,000+ (reserve) |
| Motto(s) | 'Gloria Exercitus Et Imperii' |
| March | Imperial March |
| Equipment | Thrashian Imperial Army Equipment |
The Imperial Army is the terrestrial component of the Thrashian Imperial Military. The men and women that have served within the Imperial Army since it's inception have served with distinction and honor for centuries. There are three primary components that make up the Imperial Army: the Clone Legions, the Stormtrooper Corp, and the Imperial Army; although the latter most is also referred to as the 'General Army' or 'Regular Forces'.
Role
The operational goal and purpose of the Imperial Army is surface superiority during instances of ground warfare, and are equipped with the means of seizing and defending a planet. While the Imperial Navy controls space and the Stormtrooper Corps leads assaults and established bridgeheads, only the Imperial Army is capable of deploying the heavy equipment and of sustaining the long operations required to gain control of planets. As such, the Army encompasses various infantry, armored cavalry, special forces, artillery operators, engineers, scouts, and drivers that can number in the tens of trillions. This also means that while they are capable of decisive planetary operations and sustained surface superiority, it takes longer to deploy their specialized formations and heavy equipment than other branches of the Imperial Military. In particular this pertains to the Imperial Regulars.
Aside from this, the Army also has the role of eliminating military threats to the established Imperial political order on planetary surfaces or other inhabited complexes. If on an enemy planet, the Imperial Army is to engage and defeat any local military force that is capable of resistance, in order to ensure the transition of control of the planet towards the Empire. The Army when engaged in operations could expect support from the Imperial Navy during the initial drop phase, which included suppressing fire against particularly hard or well-armed targets, as well as "force reduction attacks" meant to destroy enemy assets capable of interfering with reorganization after the drop. The Army during later phases of an operation is also allowed to pre-plan for orbital bombardments on specific targets. If the operation proved vital enough, the Army will work together with naval units on the ground to provide fire support upon being called upon.
The Imperial Army's tactics had emphasized demoralizing the enemy, specifically through the use of overwhelming firepower to leave them shell-shocked and helpless in the face of a massive, numerically superior frontal assault. This has been changing to a more fluid, maneuver-based method of warfare. The Imperial Army had emphasized the frontal assault as the centerpiece of ground warfare, which drove the development of massive walkers like the AT-AT, which could use its immense height to deliver overwhelming firepower against targets from far outside the range of most artillery or ground vehicles. Repulsortanks and other such repulsorlift vehicles, which had supposedly been considered better suited for "mid-intensity" combat, such as urban warfare and fast-moving campaigns in grassy or forested terrain, were brought back into vogue. The age of ponderous, massed walker assaults is considered a thing of the past. Such tactics are only employed on technologically backward worlds where the native population may be easily cowed by a show of such force.
Organization
The highest organizational body of the Imperial military is the Imperial Army High Command, which is largely ceremonial and composed of courtiers from the Imperial Court. Below this is Army Sectorial Command, the organizing body of senior Generals that directed all operations of the Imperial Army, led by the Army Chief of Staff. Army Sectorial Command oversees all aspects of the Imperial Army and operates and commands the ground battles, and anything within the Imperial Army's jurisdiction, coordinating the war effort of the Thrashian Empire. Beneath the ASC is the Legion Command, Stormtrooper Command, and Army Command; each of which is charge with overseeing their particular slice of the Imperial Army's over all structural pie.
Imperial Army Regulars
Beneath the Army Command, the ranking organization that oversees the non-clone and non-Naval elements of the Imperial Army, are several branches and suborganizations that help to define and enable the Imperial Army to carry out it's duties. They are as follows: Acquisition Command, Air Defense Artillery Corps, Armor Command, Civilian Affairs, Information Operations Command, Strategic Intelligence Command, Chemical and Biological Warfare Command, Public Affairs Office, Finance Corps, Infantry, Logistics, Operations Research and Analysis Command, Inspector General, Army Intelligence Corps, Medical Corps, Military Police Corps, Psychological Operations Command, Infantry, Quartermaster Corps, Special Forces, Ordnance Corps, Transportation Corps, Signal Corps, and Simulation Operations Command.
Operational Unit Structure
Major Generals Everywhere
There are far more corps HQs than there are corps. This represents an abundance of more than pleasant jobs for officers, some of whom are perhaps less than brilliant officers but have requisite time in-service; the corps HQ is the basis for the Imperial Garrison. The Empire requires garrisons to be organizational focal points for rapid mobilization. Realizing that, in a crisis, units may have to be sent from many parts of a sector, or across sectorial lines, the Army wanted HQs in place which could take command of all these separate parts.
As Imperial doctrine currently holds that a corps is a sufficient force to retake almost any planet, corps HQ are set up as the basis of Imperial garrisons. As garrisons also have diplomatic, trade, and research functions, additional tech, medical, science, and diplomatic service personnel are assigned to them. These are nominally outside the major generals' command, but reality often puts the general in charge.
The typical military contingent that is at any garrison is at the regimental level, most often with four battalions mixed in a way which is optimum for the world on which the garrison is situated rather than following a rigid ORBAT. A battalion of stormtroopers, one of AT-STs, and two battalions of heavy armor is a popular configuration for the typical garrison. Garrisons do not always have access to the latest TIE fighter models, but must content themselves with whatever a wise commander can scrounge.
Most Imperial Army Regular units can be operationally divided into the following components from smallest to largest:
- Squad (8 troopers): A squad includes a sergeant and a corporal.
- Platoon (32 troopers): A platoon consists of four squads, commanded by a lieutenant and a sergeant-major.
- Company (128 troopers): A company consists of four platoons, led by a captain.
- Battalion (512 troopers): A battalion consists of four companies, led by a major. The battalion is the minimum deployment for an army group operation unless stormtroopers are included in the deployment.
- Regiment (2,048 troopers): A regiment consists of four battalions, led by a lieutenant colonel or colonel.
- Battlegroup (8,192 troopers): A battlegroup consists of four regiments, led by a high colonel or brigadier. The battlegroup is the standard deployment for major Imperial Army offensives. Battlegroup is an Imperial designation that replaced the old Republican designation of division.
- Corps (32,768 troopers): A corps consists of four battlegroups, commanded by a major general. A corps is deployed as a unit for major planetary operations.
- Army (131,072 troopers): An army consists of four corps, commanded by a general.
- System Army (as many as 383,216 troopers): A System Army consists of between one and three armies operating in the same system, and is largely a bookkeeping designation, not an operational unit.
- Sector Army (as many as 1,572,864 troopers): A Sector Army consists of between two and four systems armies, and is commanded by a marshal or grand general
The above represents the Imperial Army's basic requirements for those unit compositions, though conditions on the ground may vary -- as well as the fact there are a myriad number of organic units that are attached or detached at the behest of High Command at any particular point in time.
Sub Organizations
Acquisition Command
An organization which includes civilians, officers, and NCOs. The Acquisition Command is composed of army officers who serve in acquisition, a specialized form of product development, fielding, and support and Noncommissioned Officers who specialize in contracting, program management and purchasing. The entire command is involved within what is deemed the 'Acquisition Process':
Acquisition Life Cycle
- Materiel Solution Analysis
- Technology Maturation & Risk Reduction
- Engineering & Manufacturing Development
- Production & Deployment
- Operations & Support
Acquisition Command coordinate with the Imperial Research & Development Center when it comes to the early stages of product analysis and risk assessments. It is common for major industrial concerns to coordinate their production and engineering teams with the Acquisition Command members, helping them to try and get an idea of where the Imperial military is thinking of future weapon system development.
Air Defense Artillery Command
The Air Defense Artillery Command is a branch of the Imperial Army that specializes in anti-aircraft and anti-orbital defenses. They are intrinsically linked to Garrisons and the refinement of Air Defense operations and deployment. They are responsible for overseeing the operational use of such weapon systems as the v-150 Planet Defender Ion Cannon, XX-10 Turbolaser, and the w-165 Planetary Turbolaser Cannon.
Armor Command
Under the command of the Chief of Armored Forces, the Armor Command oversees the training and operational use of armored forces, including any mobile or mechanized infantry formations. While it does not execute any actual battlefield command of armored forces, it is charged with inspecting armored forces and analysis of battlefield reports involving them. Development of new doctrine and the study of battlefield techniques developed by armored soldiers in the field is of primary concern for the Armor Command staff.
Civilian Affairs
According to the Imperial Army High Command, "The force that the Army employs to compete and win within the population is Civil Affairs." With their knowledge of governance and diplomacy, Civil Affairs soldiers are the principal experts in assisting a commander on the conduct of civil-military operations, and the sole force trained and tasked to conduct Civil Affairs Operations. All Active Component Army Civil Affairs personnel are Special Operations Forces-qualified and as such undergo rigorous assessment and selection, followed by extensive training in foreign languages, advanced survivability skills, and negotiations techniques in order to operate autonomously as a small team, in any kind of environment, to achieve strategic end states. A Civil Affairs Team of 2 to 4 soldiers will often be the only Imperial military personnel in on an entire planet, working for the Imperial ambassador or local authority as well as their military chain of command.
The fundamental role of Civil Affairs forces is to build networks of formal and informal leaders to accomplish important missions in diplomatically or politically sensitive areas. Civil Affairs operate as reconnaissance elements within the population, performing their core task of Civil Reconnaissance. Civil Information Management, Helping to provide Foreign Humanitarian Assistance, and Nation Assistance. They achieve effects by conducting Civil Engagements, applying knowledge of governance, economics, and politics to affect human behavior in the context of military operations or in support of strategic objectives. This in-depth nature to their operations has meant that many Civilian Affairs soldiers often either transfer into CA from the ISB, or from CA to the ISB. They often coordinate with the Imperial Security Bureau on internal security matters
Information Operations Command
Information Operations (IO) is a category of direct and indirect support operations for the Imperial Military. By definition, "IO are described as the integrated employment of electronic warfare (EW), computer network operations (CNO), psychological operations (PSYOP), military deception (MILDEC), and operations security (OPSEC), in concert with specified supporting and related capabilities, to influence, disrupt, corrupt or usurp adversarial human and automated decision making while protecting our own." Information Operations (IO) are actions taken to affect adversary information and information systems while defending one's own information and information systems.
Strategic Intelligence Command
Provides decision makers (i.e. ground commanders) with strategic all source intelligence assessments and estimates at the theater, plans, coordinates and manages the tasking of intelligence collection assets, as well as the analysis, integration, processing, production, dissemination and utilization of strategic intelligence information.
Chemical and Biological Warfare Command
The Chemical and Biological Warfare Command (CBWC) are the branch of the Imperial Army tasked with defending against chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and non-linear experimental weapons. And although it officially does not profess to exercise the use of such weapons, neither has the Imperial Army refuted or denied the possibility of using such weaponry against an enemy combatant. They also develop doctrine, equipment, and training for CBRN defense which serve as a deterrent to any adversary possessing weapons of mass destruction.
Public Affairs Office
Public Affairs is a term for the formal offices of the branches of the Imperial Military in general, and the Imperial Army in particular, whose purpose is to deal with the media and community issues. The term is also used for numerous media relations offices that are created by the Imperial military for more specific limited purposes. Public affairs offices are staffed by a combination of officers, enlisted personnel, civilian officials and contract professionals. Public Affairs offices play a key role in contingency and deployed operations. The typical Public Affairs office is led by an officer who is in charge of planning, budgeting for, executing and evaluating the effectiveness of public affairs programs, and provides public affairs advice, counsel and support for commanders and senior staff members. Extensive use of HoloNet media personalities and cooperative programs with them is a standard mission for the Public Affairs Office.
Finance Corps
The Finance Corps is responsible for financial operations, most notably payroll and resource management. It isn't widely known, but speculation among the officer corps has it that most officers who do not display useful talents for command are shunted into the Finance Corps for "safe keeping".
Infantry Command
Much like it's brother command, Armor Command, the Infantry Command oversees the various types of infantry soldiers within the Imperial Army and seeing to it that they are satisfactorily trained, equipped, and maintained in conjunction with other branches of the Army. There are innumerable types of infantry within the Imperial Army, with equipment suited to a wide range of terrain and environment types. The doctrine and operational methodology to approach each of these situations is what Infantry Command predominantly concerns itself with; as well as the brainstorming of new asset infantry usage. An example of a newer, non-traditional infantry specialization that was developed by Infantry Command would be the H.O.P.E. troopers: High Orbit Precision Entry. All infantry within the Imperial Army receive specialization and unique training via the offices and personnel of Infantry Command.
Logistics Command
The officer-only Logistics branch of the Imperial Army was introduced as part of the creation of a Logistics Corps encompassing the three long-established functional logistics branches of Quartermaster, Ordnance, and Transportation. All Active and Reserve Ordnance, Quartermaster and Transportation Corps officers who had completed the Logistics Officer Career Course at the Imperial Academy or earlier versions of an advanced logistics officers course were transferred to this new branch. This move changed the multifunctional logistician program into an Army basic branch. Logistics officers maintain their regimental affiliations with their prior (secondary specialty) branches, but now come under a single unified command structure. The unification of command and responsibility for logistics between the older three branches (Quartermaster, Ordnance, and Transportation) has helped to streamline their operations and better fulfill the requirements of the Imperial Army at large throughout the galaxy.
Operations Research and Analysis Command
Operations Research, or the application of scientific methods to management problems, is not a new concept. ORAC provides the Army uniquely skilled officers -- problem solvers -- who produce analysis and decision support products to underpin critical decisions by leaders and managers at all levels of the Imperial Army. These officers recommend potential solutions for complex strategic, operational, tactical, and business issues. The most common applications of ORAC are: the application of statistical theory and sampling theory in systems development and testing; the application of inventory theory and forecasting techniques in determining demand and establishing procurement levels, procurement quantities, and lead times for major and secondary items; network analysis and transportation models for evaluating supply routes in operations plans, and for project time and cost analysis; simulation and game theory in testing operational plans; and cost benefit analysis in evaluation of competing systems. ORAC provides a sort of think tank for the Imperial Army in all of it's endeavors.
Inspector General
In the Imperial Army, an inspector general leads an organization charged with examining the actions of a military organization or military contractor as a general auditor of their operations to ensure they are operating in compliance with generally established policies of the government, to audit the effectiveness of security procedures, or to discover the possibility of misconduct, waste, fraud, theft, or certain types of criminal activity by individuals or groups related to the agency's operation, usually involving some misuse of the organization's funds or credit. The Imperial Army Inspector General is appointed by Imperial Fiat, chosen from a list of candidates provided by recommendation from Imperial High Command. It is sometimes, though not always, the case that an IG is appointed from a different branch of the Imperial Military to inspect or otherwise investigate a second, separate branch -- thus ensuring no conflicts of interest.
Army Intelligence Corps
The primary mission of the Army Intelligence Corps in the Imperial Army is to provide timely, relevant, accurate, and synchronized intelligence and electronic warfare support to tactical, operational and strategic-level commanders. The Army's intelligence components produce intelligence both for Army use and for sharing across the national intelligence community, predominantly the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB).
Medical Corps
The Imperial Army Medical Corps (or MediC for short) is a staff corps (non-combat specialty branch) of the Imperial Military Medical Department (IMMD) consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an M.D. or a D.O. degree, at least one year of post-graduate clinical training, and a state issued medical license. It is composed of physicians representing all the specialties and subspecialties of civilian medicine. They may be assigned to fixed military medical facilities, to deployable combat units, or to military medical research and development duties. They are considered fully deployable soldiers. The Chief of the Medical Corps Branch (under the Imperial Military's Human Resources Command) is a colonel and the senior-most Medical Corps officer in the Army is the Imperial Army Surgeon General, a lieutenant general.
Military Police Corps
The MPC is the uniformed law enforcement branch of the Imperial Army. Investigations are conducted by Military Police Investigators or the Imperial Army Criminal Investigation Command (IACI), both of which report to the Provost Marshal General, the ranking commander of the MPC. Imperial Military Police units have combat zone responsibilities in addition to their law enforcement duties. These responsibilities include mounted and dismounted patrols, response force operations, area damage control, route reconnaissance, cordon and search operations, critical site security, and convoy and personnel escorts. Operationally, these duties fall under the "security and mobility support" discipline of the Military Police Corps.
Psychological Operations Command
A branch which works in tandem with, but separate from, Information Operation Command the Psychological Operations Command is a more narrowly focused branch. Psychological operations (PSYOP) are operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.
Their primary purpose is to induce or reinforce behavior favorable to Imperial objectives. They are an important part of the range of diplomatic, informational, military and economic activities available to the Thrashian Empire. They can be utilized during both peacetime and conflict. There are three main types: strategic, operational and tactical. Strategic PSYOP include informational activities conducted by Imperial government agencies outside of the military arena, though many utilize Imperial Military assets. Operational PSYOP are conducted across the range of military operations, including during peacetime, in a defined operational area to promote the effectiveness of the senior operational commander's campaigns and strategies. Tactical PSYOP are conducted in the area assigned to a tactical commander across the range of military operations to support the tactical mission against opposing forces during wartime.
Special Forces
Special Forces, the nominal and rather mundane name under which they operate, are a special operations force of the Imperial Army that are designed to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counter-insurgency, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, information operations, counterproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and security force assistance. The first two missions, unconventional warfare and foreign internal defenses, emphasize language, cultural, and training skills in working with foreign troops. Other Special Forces missions, known as secondary missions, include: combat search and rescue, counter-narcotics, hostage rescue, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, information operations, peacekeeping, and manhunts. Imperial Commandos are, generally speaking, the troopers that are most identified as being part of this branch of the Imperial Army.
Simulation Operations Command
Simulation Operations Command Officers specialize in creating realistic simulation environments where army leaders plan, train, test, and experiment in support of readiness, modernization, and enhanced decision support. They are the Army’s experts at translating complex concepts into viable readiness and modernization solutions by leveraging new and emerging technologies. Simulation Operations Officers are highly effective at planning, preparing, communicating, and executing simulation support at the tactical, operational, and strategic level. It is not unknown for officer of the Imperial Simulation Operations Command (ISOC) to work concurrently within the Infantry, Armor, or Special Forces command branches.
Ranks
| Officer Ranks | Non-Commissioned Officer Ranks | Enlisted Ranks |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Marshal | Warrant Officer | Trooper 1st Grade |
| General | Sergeant Major | Trooper 2nd Grade |
| Major General | First Sergeant | Trooper 3rd Grade |
| Lieutenant General | Sergeant | |
| Brigadier General | Senior Corporal | |
| Colonel | Corporal | |
| Lieutenant Colonel | ||
| Major | ||
| Captain | ||
| Senior Lieutenant | ||
| Lieutenant |