Community Defence Forces

The Community Defence Forces are the all-environment armed forces of Sober Thought. Service in peacetime is voluntary.

Combined Staff

The nominal Commander-in-Chief of the CDF is the Community Conscience of Sober Thought. In practice, control is exercised by the Combined Staff. There are five full generals or admirals in the CDF, and all of them serve on the Combined Staff. The Chief and Deputy Chief of the Combined Staff are generals or admirals, while the Chiefs of the Land Staff and the Air Staff are generals and the Chief of the Naval Staff is an admiral.

The combined staff is tasked with recruiting, training and organizing troops. It also makes strategic plans, then assigns the operational plans to the command, formation or unit it has designated to execute it.

Operational Command

It is a central principle of the CDF that those who make operational plans should execute them. Therefore, the subordinate commanders of the Combined Staff actually make the detailed plans and put them into practice so that staff errors are borne by themselves in combat.

As an integrated armed forces, operational commands may combine air, sea and land elements without specific distinction. The chief of each of the three environments have only a support role and do not interfere with operations directly. Furthermore, after the House of the Provinces has voted to make it so, the provincial Civil Guards may be directly integrated into the CDF for tactical or strategic purposes.

Civil Guard

Each province maintains its own Civil Guard, which may be directed by the provincial government in times of unrest or emergency. Additionally, the guards may be called upon for service with the CDF in times of war or tension.

Obviously, the size of the civil guard differs as widely as the population of each of the provinces. Listed below is the rank of the head of the Civil Guard and the approximate strength of the guard:

• Central Province, lieutenant general, three operational division and assorted independent units totalling about 70 battalions
• Hochelaga, lieutenant general, two operational divisions totalling about 40 battalions
• Thuvia, major general, four operational brigades and a few independent units totalling 26 battalions
• Western Province, major general, three operational brigades and a few independent units totally 20 battalions
• Lakes Province, brigadier general, one operational brigade and two independent units totalling seven battalions
• Plains Province, brigadier general, one operational brigade and one independent unit totalling six battalions
• South Island, brigadier general, one operational brigade and one independent unit totalling six battalions
• Capital Province, colonel, four independent battalions with a central staff
• Braunekuste, colonel, four independent battalions with a central staff
• North Island, colonel, three independent battalions with a central staff
• Potato Island, lieutenant colonel, three independent companies with a central staff in a battalion equivalent