Difference between revisions of "CDF Land Service"

Latest revision as of 19:20, 23 January 2007

This article is about a branch of the armed forces of Sober Thought. For discussions about armed forces generally, see Category:Armed forces.

The Land Service' of the Community Defence Forces is the standing army of Sober Thought and is responsible to the federal government. Each of the nine provinces also maintains a military force described as the CDF Civil Guard which the House of the Federation may place on federal service to be integrated with the Land Service.

During peacetime, the Land Service proper and the Civil Guard combined have roughly 12 division equivalents (including marines) for every one hundred million national population. The command staffs of battalions, demi-brigades, brigades and divisions in both are, except for the actual senior officer, duplicated to provide leadership for formations of conscripts.

Branches

Main articles: CDF armour, CDF artillery, CDF infantry, CDF land engineering, CDF land transport and CDF maintenance engineering#Land maintenance engineering .

The Community Defence Forces in general and the Land Service in particular need different kinds of troops to achieve their objectives. These specialties are indicated by insignia on the upper part of defenders' shoulderboards, with the exception of the infantry which needs none as the primary branch of both the CDF and LS.

More than half of the branches extant in the Land Service are common to the CDF as a whole: Intelligence & Reconnaissance, Supply, Justice & Police, Health, Maintenance (electrical and mechanical engineering), Signals & Electronic Warfare (communications & radar jamming), and Search and Rescue. Despite its name, Land Transport exists only as a branch in the Land Service and not as a sub-branch of a Defence Forces-wide branch.

Within the Land Service, the division of labour is recognized by a classification of troops into three branches, eleven sub-branches and a dozen or more types. Infantry, artillery and land engineering are the remaining branches in the service. Their sub-branches include, respectively, light infantry, air defence artillery and civil engineering. Similarly, their types include, respectively, mountain infantry, rocket air defence artillery and bridge building.

Units and formations

Main articles: CDF land units and formations, CDF divisions and CDF marines.

In the CDF, the term "unit" refers to the largest body of troops formed from a single branch and "subunit" is a wholly subordinate part of a unit. In the Land Service, the most important units and subunits are companies, usually of 100-200 all ranks, and battalions, 400-600. Companies are rarely broken up or augmented, while battalions are more frequently augmented with additional specialist companies.

The basic building block for such specialty and support troops as those in the Engineering and Health Branches is the company. These companies may initially be raised as independent units in one sub-branch only but become dependent sub-units when combined with other companies in different sub-branches to form battalions of several types in one branch.

The basic building block for armoured, infantry and field artillery troops is the battalion. With the exception of CDF marines, these units are only raised in battalions and are rarely broken up. They tend to have a stable organisation and number of companies which then serve as subunits of the battalion unit.

When several or many units and their subunits are grouped together in something resembling a balance from the branches, they are called formations. They may be grouped together to complete a specific mission, then dissolved after it is accomplished. Sometimes, the have semi-permanent status, but their constituent units and subunits might rotate through without any change in the name or command of the formation as a whole.

Headquarters companies of 100 personnel are employed at the army, corps, division and brigade (group) level, and are distinguished by the rank of the Chief Marshal, Marshal, Vice Marshal or (Chief) Commander involved. Large missions typically require at least one division.

Weapons

Main articles: CDF armour, CDF small arms, CDF tanks, CDF tracked armoured vehicles and CDF wheeled armoured vehicles.

Soldiers in the CDF carry small arms for personal use on the battlefield. Officers, technical specialists, vehicle drivers and close quarters combat soldiers are armed with 9 mm pistols, 9 mm submachineguns, or both. The majority of troops, however, are armed with one of the long arms family of weapons. The carbine, assault rifle, sniper rifle and light machine gun all fire 7 mm ammunition. The Community Defence Forces' medium machine gun fires explosive 8 mm ammunition and the heavy machinegun 12 mm. In addition to being carried by foot soldiers, they are mounted on vehicles.

Fully-tracked tanks and wheeled armoured cars are the main weapons of the Land Service. However, they must support and be supported by infantry whether in heavily armed armoured infantry combat vehicles, tracked or wheeled armoured personnel carriers, or softskinned trucks.

Land Reserve

After successfully and honourably completing their terms of enlistment in the Land Service, regular soldiers may apply to serve in the Land Reserve. Those in military occupations such as armoured vehicle mechanic or health care professional which require long training periods, and those with proven command ability, are most likely to be accepted.

Land Reservists accept civilian employment related to their military occupation, such as truck mechanic, railway worker, civil engineer, construction worker, nurse or physician. Each year they also undergo about two weeks refresher training in military applications of these occupations, and of military culture, discipline and command. They are frequently attached to the CDF Civil Guard, although their status is different from that land-based body of citizen-soldiers.

The Chief of the Land Staff may, with the consent of the Minster of Community Defence, activate all or part of the Land Reserve. The reservists do not belong to formed units but rather are all individual ready reservists. During crisis or war, with the consent of the federal government, recent veterans and civilians may be conscripted into the Land Reserve.

Mobilisation

As a standing army, the Land Service formations are ready for combat in a week or less; as a militia, the Civil Guard formations are ready in a month or less; as an individual ready reserve, the Land Reservists are ready within two weeks or less. During times of crisis or war, the federal government activates the Civil Guard for national defence duties.

Unlike many real world armies, the CDF imposes no explicit reserve obligation upon discharged soldiers, although they may voluntarily join the Land Reserve. During times of actual war, the government may -- and in large conflicts often does -- institute conscription and veterans are at the top of the list.

First up are soldiers, master soldiers and leading soldiers who were discharged honourably and medically fit in the last two years and who are aged no more than 30. These are the trained infanteers, gunners, tankers, engineers, etc. who form the bulk of a unit. They are commanded by officers of the lieutenant ranks who were similarly discharged, but their maximum age is increased to 35. These officers provide the platoon and company commanders, and deputy commanders for battalions through divisions.

The next wave of divisions gets the duplicated staffs and about a quarter of the platoon and company officers which are hived off from the Land Service and Civil Guard. It gets its warrant officers and leading soldiers from those discharged three to five years previously and who are aged no more than 40. Officers ranking vice commander and below are aged no more than 45, while those commander and above are no more than 50. Its soldiers, master soldiers and some leading soldiers are drawn from the ranks of those with no prior military service. These formations are ready in six months or less.

The final wave of divisions is drawn, except for its most senior commanders, from those with no prior military service. In order to accommodate this wave and the previous one, the training command cadre units are tripled for the duration of full mobilisation. These formations take at least a year to become usefully functional, but within six months they can be used in a home defence role to free up better trained units.

The second wave is light on armour and artillery, which take some time to manufacture; however, by the third and fourth waves the factories will be churning out arms at phenomenal rate and the second wave can be retroactively brought up to the proper tables of equipment. Combined, this gives an impressive 48 divisions per 100 million population, close to the largest sustainable army that the industrial and demographic base of the country can support.