Consolidated Army

Themiclesian Army
震旦兵, tjelh-tanh-prjang
Army flag
Founded	time immemorial
Current form	1921
Service branches	Consolidated Army Reserve Army Territorial Forces Militias
Headquarters	Admiralty Building №323 Drjang-'an Rd., Kien-k'ang, TJ-N 101992
Leadership
Secretary of State for Defence	Trjang K′ljam-tje (張謙之)
Chief of Army Staff	Rêi Ghwralh (雷煥)
Manpower
Military age	20-59 18 with parental assent
Conscription	not in effect
Reaching military age annually	(2017 est.)
Active personnel	151,000
Reserve personnel	102,300
Deployed personnel	12,200
Expenditures
Budget	OSD$19.5 billion
Percent of GDP	1.17%
Related articles
History	History of the Themiclesian Army

The Themiclesian Army (震旦兵, tjelh-tanh-prjang) or Army (兵, prjang) is a group of four military services responsible for military operations on land. The Army currently employs over 250,000 career officers and men, of whom just over 150,000 are in the Consolidated Army; the remainder, the Reserve Army. Statutory conscription is not currently in force, though it may be activated by government order. The Army's civilian staff have been transfered to the Ministry of Defence since reforms in 1970.

The Army is subordinate to the Under-Secretary of State for the Army, who in turn is responsible to the Secretary of State for Defence. The ranking professional officer is the Chief of Army Staff. It is currently most focused on land defence against Maverica, which is perceived as the greatest threat to Themiclesian security; it also participates in international expeditions and peacekeeping. Most forces meant for external deployment are organized in brigades for flexibility, though they also retain divisional identity in case conscription is imposed.

The Army permits and encourages female service, and there are no roles (other than certain medical ones) that categorically exclude females. Despite these measures, women have yet to appear in a handful of positions. As part of a pan-military effort to combat sexism and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the Army has also appointed investigators to suppress those problems. Themiclesian soldiers are amongst the more well-paid in Septentrion, leading to a mildly competitive recriutment scene. Currently, military age is 20 years; it is an offence to lure or compel a person under that age to join the military.

Name and structure

The name "Themiclesian Army" is an exonym applied by foreign states to the land forces of Themiclesia, which is simply called the "Army" domestically. Historically, foreign authors much more typically used the term (and its Sylvanate equivalent Exercitus Thimiensis) to refer to the Meridian and Columbian Colonial Armies and the Themiclesian Marines. The domestic, militia-based force was left unnamed for centuries. Though some authors consider the militia deprecated during this era, A. A. Ascott asserts that the state machinery to assemble militiamen into a functional force was "absolutely functional" and calls it the "unprefixed army", i.e. the principal army of the nation. As Themiclesia's military activities were conducted by the Navy and Colonial Army, which were controlled by the Ministry of Commerce (Maritime Ministry from 1701), the Ministry of War, which controlled only the domestic army, was nicknamed the "Ministry of Orderly Peace" (尚書治部). This suggests that Themiclesians were aware that the Ministry of Commerce was, effectually, a war ministry, while the nominal Ministry of War was best for maintaining the militia mainly as a census tool and disincentive for unauthorized migration.

By statute, there is no single organization called "the Army". Instead, it refers to military organizations or militarized portions of civil administrations that answer to the Secretary of State for War. Since military bodies cannot exist independently of civil administration, all bodies that comprise of the Army are legally subordinates or portions of some civil administration, though its identity is immaterial to modern Army operations. For example, the Department of Granaries, which manages the Army's food supplies, is a directorate of the Great Granary, which is a subordinate of the Inner Administrator (who is otherwise the magistrate of the Inner Region and has no military functions); despite this, its operations are solely controlled by the Secretary of State for War, and thus it is deemed part of the Army. This divorce of statutory organization and lines of authority is the result of operational adjustments over centuries for convenience and economy. Of the three conventional branches of the armed forces, this situation is the most apparent in the Army. According to A. A. Ascott, writing in 1901, an "monumental edifice of patches and bandages prevents the Army from disintegrating, into its hundreds of components", and according to M. N. Horniths "the components have multiplied since Ascott's authoritative reference on the Themiclesian military."

The Shinasthana glyph prjang (兵, "military") depicts two hands holding an axe. What is notable is that this was not a battle-axe, rather a wood-cutting axe. Philologists address this counterintuitive fact that the glyph was created when levies dominated military activity. Levies would have been armed with their work tools, such as wood-cutting axes, in lieu of weapons. Indeed, glyphs representing true weapons, such as the battle-axe (王, 戉), have been used to write concepts such as kingship, which some scholars have considered elucidating of the nature of kingship in archaic Menghean society. Even the Tribunes were called ngwjat-ngrjah-dzrje′ (戉御事) in the most archaic Themiclesian inscriptions, for which some scholars suggest that the law-interpreting administration may once have been a military body, or even elite warriors. In Themiclesian discourse, it is far more typical to refer to an army raised for a specific objective (like East Expedition Army in the Prairie War) rather than the army as a whole, as for most of history nothing except the portfolio of the War Secretary defined the Army as an institution.

History

Formation of the modern Army

Main article: Pre-modern army of Themiclesia

While the Army traces its roots to the very founding of Themiclesia in the 200s, its modern structure only evolved in the 1700s and 1800s. In the latter half of the 18th century, Themiclesia suffered multiple defeats at the hands of less organized adversaries, yet her land forces at the same time consumed as much as five-sixths of the government budget. The reforms that led to the modern Army sought to eliminate waste and adopt Casaterran paradigms. The officer corps and especially the officer academy were, after 1823, at the forefront of the reforms, having been trained in an extremely liberal (for military institutions) academic environment where officer candidates were encouraged to discuss various Casaterran thoeries and create appropriate ones for Themiclesia. Many early officers believed their primary duty was to prevent the Army from being as wasteful and disorderly as before.

19th century

The 19th century saw many shifts in paradigm that would give rise to the modern army, but few major one were achieved at the end of the century. The War Secretary oversaw a multitude of militia regiments, ethnic-minority volunteer corps, professional units, and civil authorities of various sizes and specializations at the beginning of the century, and largely the same at the end. Arthur Ashley Ascott described the 19th century as a century of small, intellectual, and material reform, since Conservative politics severely hampered any large-scale and structural reform in the army. Despite this, Liberal governments have founded a number of new units and support organizations with progressive functions. Some of them were placed under the central civil service, while others were mandated to local authorities to maintain, with central supervision, and under a mixture of central and local funding. Some had military functions but civilian staffs, or a mixture of military and civilian staffs, or they answered to multiple authorities depending on statute. Yet as new departments were founded and old ones not abolished, jurisdictions became fractured towards the end of the 19th century. This created a need for a competent and active War Secretary to administer the 400–500 organizations under his portfolio. In 1873, Prime Minister Lord T'jang-mjen proposed to appoint staff officers to assist the War Secretary to carry out his duties, but this plan was terminated due to a prorogation.

While this situation would not be fundamentally altered until the Civil and Military Services Segregation Act (1915), the non-integration of the army also impaired Parliament's ability to examine spending on them effectively. Liberal parliamentarians thought this threatened Parliament's overseeing the executive, but Conservatives were more concerned about a coherent army posing institutional threats to the supremacy of the Civil Service. As a result, Conservatives supported any Liberal initiative to create new departments but resisted any to do away with them, claiming that abolishing them would reduce the size of the Civil Service. They also opposed any effort to clarify or create new lines of authority, preferring all military activity to be confined to existing lines of authority in the Civil Service. Lord L'ong-mjen, prime minister in 1880, questioned the Conservative dogma of approving all spending on the civil service, which they dominated, and opposing all else. Nevertheless, so that the institution functioned, military officers in disparate departments used their student fraternities to present a more intelligible view of the organization to Parliament, in an era when military officers were regularly summoned before the houses to answer for their expenses.

By 1880, the number of departments under the War Secretary had grown even further, but the council of leading officers held at the Army Academy permitted a degree of internal cohension that was agreeable to both Liberals and Conservatives, the latter finding it non-threatening. This council was only called for the annual budget instrument, but through it and standing fraternities other agreements were also reached. In the 19th c., the Capital Defence Force and South Army developed relatively modern structures, since they were situated in areas where security concerns were more pressing and troops more concentrated, which fostered a more regular relationship between the authorities that were statutorily separate. In 1890, Themiclesia had the aforementioned two forces plus another ten independent professional regiments (three infantry, two cavalry, two artillery, and three others) that were separately administered, in professional forces. While the Liberal government wished to "make a consolidated army" out of all of them in the final decade of the century, their plans were flustered by a 18-year-long Conservative government under the Lord of Snur-lang and Lord of Krungh, both of whose governments believed further reforms were unnecessary.

Prairie War

Main article: Themiclesian invasion of Dzhungestan

The Prairie War is the first major conflict that involved the Army after the 1791–96 war in Maverica. In 1926, Dzhungestani cavalry crossed into Themiclesia to raid copper mines that lay just across the border; after a few months of copper extraction, the Army was ordered to repel the Dzhungestani cavalry. The invasion was repulsed in 1926 but recurred in 1927. Under foreign abettance, the governemnt planned to take the Dzhungestani capital city, in hope of forcing negotiations to prevent future incursions. The Army leadership informally regarded this as an opportunity to test the efficacy of the new tanks procured from the Organized States only a few years before, though this was not presented as such to the government, since the War Secretary recently said in parliament that the Army will "not fight a war to use a weapon". To lead this expedition, the Eastern Expedition HQ was established in Feb. 1927, later taking command of the 12th, 15th, and 21st Infantry Brigades, the 3rd and 7th Cavalry Wings, and the newly-formed 101st Motor Chariot Wing (later renamed to Armoured Brigade in 1930).

Dzhungestan's defence forces failed to repel the Themiclesian invasion, despite much effort and some appeals to other states. Dzhungestan's capital city, Dörözamyn, fell only two months after the border was crossed. However, the Army broke into the capital city to find the administration fled, with only the Khan's under-aged nephew. Presenting the nephew with the draft treaty, the nephew declined to ratify. The Themiclesian government was entirely flustered, and management of the desired treaty was returned to the Foreign Office in May, 1928. Slightly later, the Prime Minister retired, provoking a cabinet reshuffle that pushed the foreign secretary into the premiership. The new PM then ordered the Army to pay, out of its own pocket, for some infrastructure improvements in Dörözamyn, hoping, on the one hand, to persuade the absent Khan that Themiclesia had no ambitions in the wealth or land of his state; on the other hand, if the Khan were to persist in exile, the improvements would lend political credit to the nephew, who could be expected to be amicable towards Themiclesia. The Army was unhappy to pay for these projects, but the War Secretary was sounded out as the next Foreign Secretary, garnering his enthusiasm to follow the PM's scheme.

Structure

Leadership

Like the navy and air force, the army is subordinate to the Secretary of State for Defence, who by political convention both makes defence policy and approves specific ordinances that apply to the army. His principal assistant relative to the army is the Army Secretary, though ministers and under-secretaries of state in the MoD may participate in army administration and supervision, with his instruction. The professional head of the MoD is the permanent secretary, who is usually confined to civilian administration but has much influence over the forces as well. The professional heads of the army are the Prolocutor of the Consolidated Board, the Colonel-general of the Reserve Army, the Marshal of Territorial Forces, and Prefect-General of Forces (for the militias). All four members are represented on the Ministerial Council, along with the heads of the navy and air force. Within the Consolidated Army itself, the Consolidated Board or Board is the governing authority; the Army Secretary sits on this board, which consists of the same four officers and other staff officers.

Branches

The army consists of four primary branches, largely defined through the Army Acts of 1921. The Consolidated Army is the main standing army, and the Reserve Army functions as a training organization for reservists and has numerous domestic security duties. The Territorial Forces are an umbrella organization for the units pledged by ethnic and cultural groups, mostly residing in the north and east, under Themiclesian authority. These units are placed under a separate organization due to some treaty limits on their operations agreed upon between Themiclesia and these groups, which retain a significant degree of autonomy. The militias are traditionally under the jurisdiction of the prefectures, though this has, to a large extent, been subsumed by the Ministry of Defence.

Within the Consolidated Army, there are a number of combat and support branches. In the past, the support branches have been highly autonomous, co-ordinated by statute, through the civil service, or the Secretary of State for War to support of field formations. The Consolidated Board has acquired authority over these departments subsequently and gradually replaced civilian officers with military ones to improve control, with the Secretary of State's permission. In the mass mobilization of the Pan-Septentrion War, most departments (such as medical, convalescence, field transport, river transport, railways, manufactories, etc.) lost their autonomy, since demands placed on them outpaced their ability to react. Today, the service branches are more salient as professional specializations rather than separate departments.

Combat Branches	Native name		Insignia	Colour	Function	Founded
Palace Guards	衛	gwrjaih	Wall and gate	Reddish-grey	Palace guards (infantry)	inherited
Capital Defence	中	trjung	Wall and gate	Reddish-grey	Capital Defence Force	inherited
Infantry	外	ngwadh	Sword and spear	Reddish-grey	Infantry and certain types of special forces	inherited
Cavalry	騎	gjar	Horse	Silver	Mostly confined to aides-de-camp and batmen	inherited
Field Artillery	砲	p'ruh	Cannon	Light maroon		inherited
Aerial Artillery	弋	legh	Rockets	Pearl		1935
Field Engineers	工	kong	Mallets, cogs	Muddy green		1889
Armoured	輕車	tsjêng-k'lja	Chariot	Grey	Tanks	inherited
Aviation	空	k'ong	Jets	Sky blue	Air support	1926
Digital	數	srok	Vacuum tubes	Black, neon blue	Hackers, virus design	1969
Support Branches	Shinasthana		Insignia	Colour	Function	Founded
Quartermaster	營	gwrjêng'	Books	Black	Keeping supplies	inherited
Medical	醫	'je	Almonds	White	Treating the sick and wounded	inherited
Veterinary	獸醫	sljuh-'je	Fruits	White, green	Treating animals	inherited
Engineers	匠	tsjangh	Cogs	Gold	Military infrastructure and development	inherited
Pharmaceutical	藥	ngljawk	Herbs	White, grey	Procurement of medicine	1872
Convalescence	護	ghoh	Beds	White, blue	Care for recovering individuals	1890
Civil Affairs	書	st'ja	Pen	Knife and pen	Public and external relations	inherited
Field Transport	重車	trjungh-k'lja	Wheels	Red	Road transport	1920
Railways	鐵路	lhik-ragh	Railway tracks	Maroon	Rail transport and railway infrasturcture	1928
Military Police	直史	drjêk-srje’	Dove	Green, grey	Maintenance of order and investigations	1899
Judicature	推	hljui	Balance	Green, blue	Adjudication	1901
Training	教	krawh	Swords	Blue, silver	Training and civil defence	1972
Ordnance	彈	danh	Hexagon	Violet	Ordnance	1857
Logistics	後	ghoh'	Tree	Dark grey, blue	Logistics	1910
Intelligence	間	krên	Eye	Black	Intelligence-gathering	1930
Royal Signals	中都	trjung-ta	Elephant	Rainbow	Music, communications	inherited

Other facilities

• Army Academy, where Army officers are trained.
• Army Officer Training School, where non-commissioned officers are trained.
• Army Preparatory Centre, where volunteers are introduced to the Army and receive rudimentary training.
• General Army Hospital, the Army's hospital; has a number of branches.
• Army Museum Management Board, manages the Army's numerous museums and has custody over valuable Army artifacts.
• Army Veteran Guidance and Support Board, assists veterans to re-integrate into normal society and help prevent and cure, on a less intense level, PTSD.
• Ombudsman's Office, manages public complaints.

Formations

The Themiclesian Army, at its inception in modern form, designated regiments as the basic administrative and operational unit. Brigades comprised two regiments, while a regiment contained four battalions, each of four companies. This structure remained largely static until the outbreak of the Pan-Septentrion War. Increased staffing prompted the Army leadership to introduce divisions composed of two brigades and additional artillery and aerial units in 1935. These divisions were temporary in nature, though their use would persist for more than two decades. Larger units, such as the corps and field army, existed for shorter intervals in pursuance of ad hoc objects but disappeared no later than 1948. As conventional war abated, the regimental system resurfaced, and brigades again assumed the place of the largest peacetime formation, and brigades retain this place in at least a titular aspect today.

Over 90% of the Army was demobilized between 1947 and 1949, leaving 16 brigades consisting of mostly volunteers; these were compressed into 14 in 1952. Prior to the war, each infantry brigade had 32 companies of riflemen; due to casualties, the average brigade by 1940 had shrunken to around 24 companies; rather than consolidating the formations, the Army elected to follow the international trend of the triangular division by skipping one brigade and place 48 companies in three regiments under one division, which, after their dissolution, left the newly-restored brigades with fewer than two pre-PSW regiments under it. At this stage, the regiment evolved towards an administrative unit, while the brigade became more operation-oriented. Into the 1960s, most brigades had three battalions rather than two regiments. Though the communist takeover in Maverica and Menghe alarmed Army leadership, which was then pursuing further economies in personnel, the government took the view that only the Air Force could defend the country against the hypothetical threats; hence, in the 60s, the Army did not increase in size by any significant amount.

The détente between the first and second worlds, consummating in the 70s, allowed the Army to streamline itself further. In 1970, the Army possessed sixteen brigades; in 1979, there were but eleven remaining, and they survive into the present day.

• 101st Mechanized Infantry Brigade (T'ing-tju, available to GA), Adventurers
• 109th Mechanized Infantry Brigade (Kraw-tju), Wraiths
• 401st Armoured Brigade (Tuan-ning, on duty with GA), Fulminators
• 402nd Armoured Brigade, Wind Riders
• 405th Armoured Brigade, Raiders
• 542nd Mixed Brigade (Krong-ning, with both Infantry and Palace Guards units), Guardians of Peace
• 651st Airborne Infantry Brigade (Kwang-'an, on duty with GA), News from Above
• 652nd Airborne Infantry Brigade, High-fliers
• 701st Mountain Infantry Brigade, Unflinching Conquerors
• 704th Mixed Infantry Brigade, Marines
• 710th Mixed Infantry Brigade, Light of Justice

Though the number of brigades have decreased, the total number of troops have not decreased by the same margin. Realizing that in manpower it could not compete with potentially inimical states in its periphery, the Army invested heavily in more specialized units, such as independent rocket missiles, mountain infantry, special, aviation, potamic, digital, and rapid-response forces. These are "non-divisional" troops in the sense that they do not belong to any single brigade and probably cannot achieve larger objectives alone, though co-operation between them and their "divisional" comrades is expected and anticipated by internal policies. The pursuit of a "well-rounded force" is the explicit dogma in the Army currently, one which takes into account environments and resources that foreign policy has made available and makes the most effective use out of them and domestic resources.

Organization

Ranks

Main article: Rank and insignia of the armed forces of Themiclesia

Uniforms

Though dress uniforms vary by regiment and branch, attire for field work has been standardized; insignia are found as patches and other ornaments over an eronomic uniform designed to enhance physical performance. Camouflage patterns are altered based on expected terrain.

Dress uniforms are issued by regimental (for combat units) or departmental (non-combat) authority and reflect the looser organization prior to the Army Acts (1921). Themiclesian military uniforms formerly conformed to civilian standards of formality. When Casaterran-style uniforms were first issued in 1807, to the Royal Guards, uniform designers provided a tailcoat, worn with waistcoat and knee breeches for official activity, though this varied drastically from regiment to regiment. Some specified trousers rather than breeches, and others did not provide a formal coat at all, due to costs. Following Casaterran fashion, a knee-length frock coat was introduced in the late 1820s, first in the Capital Defence Force then to most professional regiments. Militias that did issue uniforms did so inconsistently. The frock coat was preferred for day activities due to its length, providing more warmth and cover; the tailcoat was promoted to full-dress status in some regiments, worn at evenings, and withdrawn in others. This did not apply to cavalry units, where tailcoats are worn at all times. In larger forces such as the Capital Defence Force and South Army, regimental insignia were applied on waistcoats, while the overcoat is uniform; the same is true in the Marine Corps.

Army uniforms entered a period of stagnation between 1860 and 1920, as civilian society adopted black as the sole colour for formal occasions. This occurred under the influence of fashion at Queen Catherine's court in Anglia (r. 1837 – 1901). Brightly-coloured overcoats thus gave way to darker ones, and insignia were made less prominent. Waistcoats then became more ornate to compensate for the loss of distinctiveness. Lapels saw some changes during this era: old-fashioned frock coats normally had wide, open lapels, not always to be buttoned together, but under foreign influence, some units adopted closed-lapel frock coats, particularly the South Army. This obscured the waistcoat, which bore regimental insignia, and was not welcome for all. Towards the end of the 19th century, military uniforms varied only in neckwear, cut, lapel pins, pleating, and colour within a narrow range that would be acceptable in civilian society. While the Themiclesian Air Force adopted a closed-lapel frock coat in imitation of the Anglian Royal Army, the TAF ultimately became famous for loud blazers as a less formal but more expressive alternative. Such blazers, bearing unit emblems and other honours, became standard at inter-service sporting events, where pride in one's service was acceptable in public. After Catherine's reign, expressiveness returned to civilian fashions, while allowed regimental blazers to be adopted as day wear without social backlash.

Policies

Time and date

The official language of the armed forces, as a whole, is Shinasthana, but there are common exceptions to this rule. In the Army, after several costly and fatal misunderstandings ensued between Themiclesian and Columbian units during the PSW over telling time, it was made mandatory in 1942 to specify time in the 24-hour clock. This guideline governs all punctual time (in the sense of specific times of day) but not durative time; under it, what would have been specified as "Hour C, 4 Ticks" became "0400". In spoken form, this was read as "four-o'clock, zero minutes" during the 40s through the 50s. Furthermore, there was some confusion in the early stages over how general this principle was, and in some cases, the public opposed this change as it made delivery times less transparent. In 1951, it was further decided that the rule to use "numeral time" extends only to internal documents and verbal communication.

Date was somewhat less of an issue, since both the Themiclesian and the Gregorian Calendars have been used in parallel for some years prior to the PSW. This is particularly true in the Army, which interacted with the Columbian Marine Corps frequently between 1920 and 1929; letters between them specified dates in the Gregorian Calendar, though their drafts still bore the same dates in the Themiclesian one. Into the PSW, Army leadership decided that dates should be specified in both calendars for maximal clarity, and equally that conflicts with existing events (especially ones recurring based on the Themiclesian Calendar) would be more apparent. Hence, Jan. 1st, 1943 would have been recorded as that and as "17th Year, 11th Month, 56" (永康十七年十一月己未). Other differences between Themiclesia and the OS (and other Allies) in specifying dates abated to the credit of Under Secretary of State for the Army, who vehemently objected to any dissention from the ranks to halt the use of the Gregorian Calendar.

Language

As Themiclesia began intensive contact with the Organized States in the late 1800s, it quickly became necessary for officers of a comparatively junior grade to communicate with counterparties speaking Tyrannian, the official language of the Organized States. This was not a serious problem, as the Officer Corps were taught by a selection of lecturers who spoke different languages; most officers there graduating knew at least one or two Casaterran language, if only because otherwise he would not have been able to understand the lecture material. But many officers commissioned in 1936 (under conscription) were unable to communicate in any foreign language, severely hampering their ability to engage alongside Casaterran and Columbian allies. In redress, the Army created a new (now defunct) branch dedicated to translation; members of this branch enjoyed privileges from menial tasks, in return for translating Tyrannian and Rajian information for the unit commander. In principle, any unit larger than a company had one such functionary, and divisions and corps typically had multiple.

By the middle of the century, and in combination with mandatory Tyrannian courses in primary and secondary education, a considerable portion of the Army was conversant in Tyrannian. Given its international currency and ubiquity in literature pertinent to equipment and theory, Tyrannian terminology littered the Army's documents to such an extent that translating them was found uneconomical. In 1952, it was decided that Tyrannian proper names and technical terms would thence appear in the original language, since some officers complained that translated terms made less sense or were more ambiguous than the original, which is most likely found on the physical item anyway. In 1957, the Army further proposed that all communication should be in Tyrannian.

Salute

As inherited from the unreformed Army before the 19th century, Themiclesian soldiers did not render any salute to officers or enlisted men. The justification whereof was that salutes constituted a superarogatory requirement on those who have committed with their lives to defend the country.

夫求人之死不索尊，竭人之力不責禮，故古者甲冑之士不拜。

Pja gju njing tje sji′ pje sak tsun, grjat njing tje rjek pje strêk ri′, kas ka′ tja krap lrjuh tje dzrje′ pje prodh.

One does not demand obeiscance from another whom one has required to die, or impose ceremonies on another whose strength one is to exploit; therefore, in ancient times men in armour do not prostrate.

This remained the situation even after the Casaterran-staffed officer academy formed. In 1842, the 2nd Regiment of Foot, then commanded by Colonel Rik Miaw, became the first formation to adopt a Casaterran-style salute, modelled after the Tyrannian Army. Miaw himself studied in the Kingdom of Tyran and later mediated the tenures of several Tyrannian lecturers at the officer academy. The 14th Regiment of Foot, which was heavily under Sieuxerrian influence, also adopted the salute in 1851. However, the use of salutes largely fell to the individual commander, and many regarded it as unnecessary or foreign. Throughout the 19th century, salutes were offered inconsistently; however, it should be noted that records indicate that a shallow bow from the neck was still usual, if only social etiquette demanded it towards a superior.

At the end of the Macmillan Mission in 1930, the OS advised the Themiclesian Army, which was consolidated into a single command structure only several years before, to adopt the salute. For various reasons, its implementation was delayed several times, and ultimately the outbreak of the Pan-Septentrion War prevented many units from becoming accustomed to it. The dispersal of the pre-war officer corps to lead new formations further diluted any desire to see its immmediate implementation. Rajian and Tyrannian units fighting in Themiclesia observed the inconsistency in saluting and nicknamed Themiclesias' the "non-saluting army". During the war itself, conscripts were trained with such haste that the Ministry of War ordered any "non-combat instruction" to be delayed in favour of combat training. After the war, the Army endured two extensive war crime trials between 1947–49 and again in 50–51, resulting in yet further delays to necessary changes. Finally, in Dec. 1951, the Ministry of War ordered non-saluting regiments to adopt the Casaterran salute. At this point, 22 regiments emulated the Tyrannian Army salute, 10 regiments the Sieuxerrian Army salute, and 18 regiments the OS Army salute; newer regiments adopted the OS Army salute. Hence, in the modern day, different units practice slightly differing salutes.

Gender equality

Main article: Women in the Themiclesian military

Historians have noted that, as far as surviving laws and regulations indicate, nothing explicitly prohibits females from serving in the Army; however, custom has generally been of the same effect in limiting female participation. Most importantly, females from military households were required to take care of agricultural work and tend after children when their husbands were called away, in the unreformed Army (to 1801); some argue that, since these roles were crucial for the maintenance of a functional force, these women can be regarded as being part of the Army, and indeed their were regularly in contact with the military authorities. Others argue that, since the military households were under the portfolio of a minister other than the one responsible for combat branches, they should not be regarded this way. Still others believe this dispute is pointless because the Army was not a monolithic statutory organization until 1931.

After the Army reforms began, females have been employed in producing supplies and medicine, but they were not accorded military rank or part of combat formation. In 1918, females were accorded rank in the Convalescence Service, the Medical Corps, the Corps of Communications, and the Paymaster-General's Corps. Female commissioned officers were first appointed in 1934. During the PSW, one unit was formed out of women serving in clerical positions and saw combat in the defence of Drjang-'an in 1939–40, but the name of their unit, "Brigade of Righteous Women", suggests that their enlistment was extraordinary and impermanent. In 1950, the Supreme Court, with 16 justices in banco, issued a per curiam opinion, stating that there was no legal objection to women serving in the Army. The Army's chief attorney argued that such a decision may cause "untimely disturbances" within the ranks and asked for leave to appeal the decision; the Supreme Court refused leave, making the ruling absolute. The Army further appealed to the Chancery to arrest the Supreme Court's decision, on the grounds of "equity towards the security of the nation for the temporary delay in inclusion of females in the Army for the development and provision of more adequate preparatory measures". This case was found without merit in 1952.

Currently, the 1950 decision is upheld by the legal system and requires the Army to permit qualified women to "have the opportunity and choice, as much as the one of the other sex", to serve in any position. This decision does not require the Army to establish units of mixed gender, and, while mixed-gendered units do exist, the Army has regarded them as somewhat experimental and not ideal for implementation across the entire service, citing fiscal burdens of providing adequate, gender-specific facilities, such as separate lavatories and baths. For highly elite units, for which candidates of any one sex are not numerous enough to form a functional group, exceptions exist; this is the case in the 16th Special Operations Unit, Digital Corps, where nine women and eight men work together.

Sexual orientation equality

Historically, the unreformed Army did not have prejudices against any sexual orientation, since this reduced the number of soldiers fit for service. This paradigm is in common with broader Themiclesian culture, which does not discriminate against homosexuality, though open displays of any form of sexuality was deemed indecent.

Equipment

Rifles and Machine Guns

Name	Origin	Type	Cartridge	Photo	Notes
C24-25	Eisenmaat	Rifle	tba		Used by some active units and some reserve units.
C24-30	Eisenmaat	Rifle	tba		Used primarily by units stationed in the Eastern Desert and some reserve units.
C25-30	Reberiya	Rifle	tba	File:FN SCAR-L - FN SCAR-H.jpg	Currently employed in the 4 of 9 brigades that compose of the active force and some reserve units.

Culture

The Themiclesian Army enjoys worldwide renown for its meticulousness in not only operation but as "a form of orthodoxy", which the service is keen to maintain. Precursors to the current condition may have originated as far back as the reforms in the early 19th century. Prior thereto, soldiers had a social status lower than "decent" commoners, conditioned by historical factors and social stigma. Soldiers were conscripted form a pool of hereditary "military households" prohibited to seek other profession or migrate. When that was lifted in 1801, a small group of soldiers remained in service and were protective of their newfound status as "decent" individuals. A culture of "sensitivity and due care" towards the expectations of wider society, avoiding previous errors, developed around this nucleus, lasting to this day and becoming the norm.

A second source of influence on the Army is the new officer corps, which graduated from the newly-established Army Academy. These officers typically had learned backgrounds and possess the qualifications as high-ranking civil servants, a far more prestigious career choice at the time. At the time, the atmosphere of the Army Academy did not differ by much from contemporary universities; cadets, like university students, listened to lectures, published articles, and were assessed by each other. Though ostensibly part of the government's plan to lend prestige to the military by including men of reputation, the Army between 1830–1900 possessed the same cultural such as that of the civil service. In combination with the care and attention with which the enlisted men upheld themselves, the Army developed a very prim, conscientious image. The quirks of the Army has often led to inter-service rivalries or comparisons that have fed many a entertainment.

Uniforms

The Themiclesian Army is noted for its wide variety of uniforms, though its uniformed history is shorter than many Casaterran armies. Before 1800, virtually all units simply wore civilian clothing, in the militias or under the central government. Prior to the PSW, each prefecture issued uniforms to its own militia units, and these were, by and large, not standardized, save for most being in the Casaterran style by 1880. There could even be considerable variation within each prefecture's militias, as new units were created and granted new designs. Each department of War Ministry that controlled its own troops also followed this rule, issuing distinct uniforms for both support and combat branches. The semi-independent Capital Defence Force issued one uniform for its infantry units and another for its cavalry units. The ceremonial Capital Chariotry was the only one not to have issued Casaterran-style uniforms by 1900. The units of the Royal Guards were treated likewise, each palace's troops possessing distinct uniforms. This situation would persist to the early 20th century, when an Illustrated Reference to Military Uniforms was published by the War Ministry to document all of the Army's uniforms, which numbered 284 styles as of 1915. Hence, in contrast with most armies, the Themiclesians distinguished branches and units through entirely different uniforms, rather than badges or insignia. Rather than considering this a source of inefficiency, the War Ministry considered it a measure to develop unit cohesion and pride.

During the first (defensive) phase Pan-Septentrion War, the central government commanded the prefectures to recruit and train militiamen, to furnish troops to the central government. For these militiamen, their uniforms were, in general, hastily designed and made, as the prefectures could not have anticipated such a large demand for troops in such short notice. To enhance morale and show concern for their troops, prefectural governments often changed their militias' uniforms at unexpected times. While conscript soldiers were generally enthusiastic to receive new uniforms, many officers were not convinced that frequent uniform re-issuance was an efficient use of the prefecture governments' time and resource, though they did not voice these concerns with the government. These views are recovered from private letters between officers published after their deaths. The prefectural-issued uniforms often did not providing sufficient camouflage; in some regiments, there was little distinction between dress and combat uniforms. When commanders did complain, some prefectures such as Sngrên-′rjem issued camouflage Mackintoshes. In the worst cases of confusion, some units were attacked as enemies, confused for their uniforms that resembled those of the Imperial Dayashinese Army or Imperial Menghean Army. In 1939, the War Ministry obtained a statute requiring all soldiers to wear a centrally-issued olive-brown uniforms it designed, for combat. To circumvent legal problems, the new uniform was described in statute as an overcoat—to be worn over their existing uniforms.

After Themiclesia-proper had been recovered in 1943, the War Ministry called for volunteers (aged 18 and over) to join forces with the Hallians and Tyrannians to invade Menghe and Dayashina. Some were sent to reinforce the East Expedition Force, but most were placed into the newly-created South Expedition Army. As the latter was a force explicitly created by Parliament wholly under the War Ministry's direct control, logistical matters including uniforms were "not as nightmarish" as it had been with militia units. The War Ministry designed and issued the SEF's dress and combat uniforms, which became the most iconic uniform of the Themiclesian Army, or even all her armed forces, for the war, as portrayed in foreign media. This is attributable to its general issue (the SEF numbered half a million men at peak) and visibility during the occupation of Menghe. The uniform had summer and winter variations. However, its issue was limited to the SEF and was never extended to militia units, where were called home starting in 1944 to serve as rear-line units. Conversely, it was virtually carbon-copied by the ground forces of both the Navy and Air Force in 1945, with minor adaptations. This created the strange situation where some of the Navy and Air Force's troops were uniform with those of the Army, while the Army was itself not uniform, generating much confusion for Casaterran forces.

Challenges

Order of precedence (2000)

The following order of precedence was revised from the last version issued in 1951, to accommodate new units that have been inserted by order-in-council until then. The title of the list is officially "Order of Precedence of Other Bodies and Regiments" to include the traditional bodies such as Privy Chariotry and Gentlemen-at-Arms, which have at times appeared with the forces during the recent decades.

1. Privy Chariotry
2. Gallery Cavalry
3. Royal Guards
   1. Hên-lang Guards
   2. South Guards
   3. Middle Guards
   4. East Guards, Infantry before Cavalry, Cavalry before Artillery, Artillery before Engineer
   5. North Guards, in order of founding date
4. Capital Defence Force, Cavalry before Infantry
5. South Army
6. Capital Engineer Corps
7. Coastal Artillery
8. Prefectural forces
   1. Demesne forces of the Inner Region forces take absolute precedence
   2. In order of prefectural founding (where it can be ascertained); then
   3. Infantry before cavalry, cavalry before artillery, artillery before other combat units, combat units before support units; then
   4. Regular unit before reserve unit, reserve unit before pure militia unit
9. Territorial Rangers, in order of founding date
10. Royal Signals Corps
11. Royal Engineer Corps
12. Consolidated Army Infantry, in order of founding date
13. Department of Logistics and Transport
14. Receiver-General's Department
15. Paymaster-General's Department
16. Ordnance Department
17. Department of Barristers and Solicitors
18. Department of Physicians
19. Department of Veterinarians
20. Astronomy Department
21. Department of Civil Affairs
22. Metereology Department
23. Department of Commerce
24. Armoured Corps, in order of founding date
25. Convalescence Service
26. Civil Defence Service
27. Army Training Service
28. Aviation Corps
29. Digital Service
30. Army Intellgience Service
31. Consolidated Army Reserves
32. Army Academy, Student Body before Faculty, Emeriti before Current

See also

• Themiclesia
• Dayashina
• Yugoslovenski