Glasic Defence Force
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The Glasic Defence Force (Glasic: Fórsaí Cosanta de Tír Glas), constitutes the military of Tír Glas, within it are the Army, Air Force, Naval Service and their associated Reserve Forces.
The Supreme Commander of the Defence Force is Queen Jane I, All officers of the Defence Force hold their commission from the Queen, but in practice the Minister for Defence acts on the Queen's behalf reporting to the rest of the Glasic Government. The Minister for Defence is advised by the Defence Council consisting of officers from each branch of service as well as members of the civil service and the Minister of State
| Glasic Defence Force | |
|---|---|
| Fórsaí Cosanta de Tír Glas | |
 Flag of the Glasic Defence Force | |
| Motto | Gníomhais, Ní Focail Deeds, Not Words |
| Founded | March 3rd 1902 |
| Current form | May 12th 1960 |
| Service branches | Glasic Army Royal Glasic Air Force Royal Glasic Navy Royal Glasic Naval Fusiliers |
| Headquarters | Joint Forces Headquarters Avallone |
| Leadership | |
| Supreme Commander | Queen Jane I |
| Defence Secretary | Sorcha Collins |
| Chief of Defence | Enda Byrne |
| Personnel | |
| Military age | 16-55 Years Old |
| Conscription | No |
| Available for military service | 26,126,400 males, age 16-49 (2015), 27,215,000 females, age 16-49 (2015) |
| Fit for military service | 20,901,120 males, age 16-49 (2015), 21,772,000 females, age 16-49 (2015) |
| Reaching military age annually | 306,990 males (2015), 332,560 females (2015) |
| Active personnel | 460,400 |
| Reserve personnel | 489,600 |
| Deployed personnel | ~79,500 |
| Expenditure | |
| Budget | $195,080,000,000 |
| Percent of GDP | 3.33% |
| Industry | |
| Domestic suppliers | List
|
Role
The Glasic state has since its inception held a long-standing policy of non-intervention outside of its immediate sphere of influence of Vinya, despite this Glasic military capabilities remain robust, centring around the instability of the Vinyan continent and protection of the Queen's dominions. Tír Glas has however a long history of involvement in overseas peacekeeping and law-enforcement operations. Functions of the Glasic Defence Force include:
- Defence of the Glasic state and overseas territories against armed attack
- Assisting the police force, (an Garda Síochána) in time of civil unrest and strife
- Peacekeeping, crisis management and humanitarian relief operations in support of the Vinyan Union and other NGOs
- Policing the Glasic EEZ including fisheries and resource protection
- Civil contingency operations such as repatriation of expatriates, maintenance of essential services, search and rescue and seaborne rescue
Organisation
The Defence Force is organised under the Chief of Defence (as of 2019, Admiral Enda Byrne CSMD, supported by Deputy Chief of Defence Major General Ardál McKenna CSM. The force consists of the Permanent Defence Force (PDF), which is a standing force and provides the main capability for military operations, and the Reserve Defence Forces (RDF) which support the PDF as necessary.
The PDF is organised into a triad of service branches: the Army, the Naval Service, and the Air Force. The RDF may be further subdivided into a Primary Reserve (PR) and a Supplementary Reserve (SR); the Primary Reserve comprises former members of the Permanent Defence Force, while the Supplementary Reserve recruits directly from the civilian population
A reorganisation of the RDF in 2010, referred to as the "unified force concept", has resulted in units of the RDF being embedded within units of the PDF, rather than existing entirely in parallel as a separate reserve force; this moves away from the traditional view of the RDF as a fourth arm of service of the Defence Force.
Army
As of mid-2017, the Army had approximately 297,550 active personnel, with 392,460 personnel in the Army Reserves. Organised into four corps, two PDF and two RDF additionally there is the Glasic Home Guard which provides a provincial brigade (Essentially a yeomanry) to each federal province as well as a battalion to each county.
The two-on-two-off corps structure envisages distinct operational areas of responsibility for each of the corps. III Corps is nominally responsible for the southern provinces of Tír Glas, XIV Corps is responsible for the eastern coast of Tír Glas and permanent commitments to the Vinyan continent XVI Corps is responsible for the northern provinces of Tír Glas whilst XVIII Corps is responsible for western coast.
In addition to the main fighting corps there are multiple specialist corps, each designated as either combat, combat support or combat service support. These include entities such as the: Joint Forces Medical Corps, Royal Logistics Corps and Royal Signals Corps. A Corps Director and staff are provided to each of these to coordinate requests for purchasing of equipment, executing specialised training and other activities.
The Glasic Army is equipped with a plethora of broadly modern equipment from a variety of supplies, both domestic and foreign.
Distinct from the regular army is Special Operations Command, comprising of eight Special Assault Groups, six Specialised Infantry Battalions (military advisors), the Army Ranger Regiment and the Special Operations Support and Sustainment Regiment (SOSR). These form the bulk of the special forces of Tír Glas. Of the eight units two of them specialised in particular schools of warfare. 14GFS specialises in Arctic and mountain warfare, whilst 63GFS specialises in jungle warfare.
Air Force
The Royal Glasic Air Force is the air component of the Defence Force. Head-quartered in Galway, the Royal Glasic Air Force is the second largest branch of the branch of the Defence Force, with approximately 135,000 personnel, its primary roles are defined as:
- Direct support of the Glasic Army
- Direct support of the Glasic Naval Service
- Maintaining the security and sovereignty of Glasic airspace
Secondary roles include:
- Military aid to other government departments
- Military aid to the civil power
- Military aid to the civil community
- Training and logistic assistance to the civil power
The Royal Glasic Air Force is tasked with the traditional role of defending Glasic airspace; however, much like the Army it is increasingly being deployed to the Glasic dominions due to the increasing instability on the continent. The Air Force provides support to the Army and Naval Service, alongside non-military services such as Air Ambulances, VIP transport, and search and rescue (in support of Glasic Coast Guard search and rescue efforts). The Air Force's helicopters operate in a common pool alongside army and naval helicopters under the Joint Helicopter Force initiative.
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The Glasic Naval Service is the smallest branch of service in the Defence Force with some 119,000 personnel including the Naval Fusiliers. The Naval Service is tasked with patrolling Glasic territorial waters and EEZ as well as the Glasic Sea Conservation Zone. Additionally it has permanent commitments abroad to protect the freedom of navigation through The Maw and Skerries Gap as well as countering piracy and narcotics smuggling throughout the Irani Straits. The Naval Service comprises of the Royal Glasic Navy, Glasic Fleet Auxiliary and Glasic Naval Fusiliers Despite being the smallest of the branches in the Defence Force the Glasic Naval Service still dwarfs that of its neighbours in sheer size due in part to the requirement for multiple, permanent overseas detachments, as such the Royal Glasic Navy possesses a wide variety of vessels, totalling 200 ships either commissioned proper or as part of the Fleet auxiliary.
The primary role of the Glasic Naval Service is broadly defined “the defence of the realm”, secondary roles include:
- Fisheries protection
- Military aid to the civil power
- Military aid to the civil community
- Counter narcotics
- Counter piracy
- Maritime rescue and safety
- Pollution control
- Humanitarian aid and disaster relief
Reserve Force
The Reserve Defence Force (RDF) in its current form was established in May 2010 and comprises the Army Reserve (AR), Air Force Reserve (AFR) and Naval Service Reserve (NSR). The RDF is a part-time, voluntary component of the Defence Force in peacetime, supporting the Permanent Defence Forces (PDF) in its domestic roles and training alongside its professional full-time colleagues as part of the "Unified Force Concept" whereby RDF units are integrated with their PDF counterparts, coming under the one command. The PRF consists of personnel whom have already served in the Defence Force, usually for 3-5 years after their full term is up whilst the SRF draws straight from the civilian population, so called "weekend warriors". As of mid-2018, there were around 490,000 reservists between the PRF and SRF.
Defence Ministry
The Defence Ministry is responsible for a number of civilian agencies which operate in support of the Glasic Defence Force. Although civilian entities, they play a vital role in supporting Defence Force operations at home and abroad, and in certain circumstances are under military discipline:
- The Glasic Fleet Auxiliary operates 21 ships which are primarily replenishment and amphibious warfare vessels. It is manned by around 5,000 civilian personnel and is both funded and run by the Defence Ministry.
- The Defence Ministry Police Force operating alongside the Joint Force Provost Corps has an established strength of around 4,500 police officers who provide armed security, counter terrorism, uniformed policing and investigative services to Defence Ministry property, personnel, and installations throughout Tír Glas.
- The Defence Procurement and Sustainment Agency is the unified organisation for procurement and support of the Glasic Defence Force, it came into being on the 12th of September 2013 after the merging of the Defence Procurement and Defence Logistics agencies. It has a combined civilian and military work force of around 25,000 personnel. The DPSA is under direct oversight of the Minister for Defence Procurement, Sustainment and Technology.
- The Glasic Office of Hydrography The Office of Hydrography is the organisation within the Defence Ministry responsible for providing up-to-date navigational and other hydrographic data for both civilian and military requirements, it has around 1,500 staff and operates a mix of civilian and Fleet Auxiliary vessels.
Unification
National Defence Act (1960)
The National Defence Act of 1960 brought about the unification of the various branches of the Glasic Defence Force, the white paper preceding the unification laid out a framework to consolidate the duplicate forces into single arm-of-service branches e.g. the four commando forces would become a single unified service as the Naval Fusiliers.
The territorial forces were split into primary and a supplementary forces and the home guard became its own separate entity. The Coast Guard came into being as an independent entity within purview of the ministry of defence (previously it has been a branch of the coastal border force). Like the Fleet Auxiliary it is primarily manned by civilians. Once unified the Defence Force became a single entity separate and distinct from the Ministry of Defence which would become the government department responsible for administration and the formation and enacting of defence policy.
Abolition of Compulsory Military Service
Compulsory military service was abolished in favour of a selective service scheme consisting of either a fixed term military service (12 months minimum), alternative civilian service (12-24 months) or academic service (12-24 months).
The three 'options for service' were set up as follows:
- Military Service: 12 months service in one of the armed forces with either a fixed-term of five years in the supplementary reserve or continued service in the active force on a new contract.
- Alternative Civilian Service: 12-24 months service in a public service or the coast guard followed by an guaranteed opportunity to continue with the employment for at least a further five years.
- Academic Service: Available to those with advanced degrees, particularly in areas of the sciences and engineering, who upon induction, receive 3 months of officer training culminating in a commission as an officer in the supplementary reserve, followed by at least five years of employment in a government or academic research institution.
Recruitment
Volunteer Force
The modern Glasic Defence Force is an all-volunteer force (having abolished compulsory service in 1980).
The Defence Force recruits primarily from within Tír Glas, although citizens from the Glasic Commonwealth and Norsatir are equally eligible to join. The minimum recruitment age is 16 years (although personnel may not serve on armed operations below the age of 18 years, and if under 18 must also have parental or a guardian's consent to join); the maximum recruitment age depends whether the application is for a regular or reserve role; there are further variations in age limit for different units and formations. The normal length of service is 32 years; however, the minimum service required before resignation is 5 years, or 18 months for any service-person below the age of 18.
Alternative Civilian Service
After the abolition of compulsory service the two alternative service schemes were re-purposed into volunteer schemes, which whilst no longer mandatory allow for those serving in para-public or other non-military roles to access many of benefits that used to be afforded to service personnel:
Benefits
- A monthly stipend for essentials. The amount varies with the type of service, though usually it is between $130 and $175 a month.
- Subsidised housing in the area where the person is working.
- Discounts offered by various businesses on selected services and goods.
- Weekly classes on various subjects related to the person's service.
- At the age of retirement or when the person leaves the employ of the government, they receive a grant of varying amount that can be used for things such buying a house, starting a business or starting a family.
- Free card-based travel on public transport.
- Foreign nationals working in government institutions receive private medical insurance comparable to that which domestic citizens have.
There are a variety of jobs that qualify for ACS benefits they include but are not limited to:
- Posts within para-public institutions (Police, Fire & Rescue Service etc).
- Posts within the medical institutions including paramedics.
- Posts within the Coast Guard or Fleet Auxiliary.
Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing People
There are many non-combat positions in the Defence Force open to deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Sign language interpreters are provided during training, and once trained many go on to serve as mappers, office workers and other administrative roles.
Vegans
Vegans although in a minority within the Defence Force may refuse vaccination if they oppose animal testing, though this means they are excluded from overseas operations. They are provided with special allowances to buy their own food and are provided with artificial leather boots and a synthetic fleece beret.
Foreign Nationals
There are a number of units within the Defence Force which historically recruited from abroad and as such still try to fulfil their intake with applicants from those original areas. These include Ethnic Yakuts and Pamiris from Kolodiya and Tíri-Era respectively.
Diversity
The diversity act of 1980 stipulates that no active or prospective service-person is to be discriminated upon because of their religious beliefs, race, gender or sexual orientation. It also opens all posts in the Defence Force to any one provided that they can complete their training to the required standard.
Religious and Ethnic Diversity
Since its formation in 1902 religious background has had no bearing on eligibility for service in the Defence Force nor has race been a deciding factor in progression.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Neutrality
Since the diversity act of 1980, sexual orientation has not been a factor considered in recruitment.
Women In The Armed Forces
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Women have been an integral part of the Glasic Defence Force since the Helian War. However, except from some notable exceptions they remained excluded from what were deemed to be close-combat units until 1980. Since the diversity act was passed the number of women in the Defence Force has steadily risen with roughly a third of all personnel being women and roughly half of these being in close-combat roles such as tankers, pilots and infantry.
Force Diversity - 2017
- 34% Women
- 66% Men
- 27% Ethnic Minorities
- 5% Eligible Foreign Nationals
- 43% Aged 25 years old or younger
- 26% With a bachelor’s or master's degree
- 37% Married
- 9% In dual-military marriages
- 44% Single without children
- 37% Married with children
- 13% Married without children
- 6% Single with children