Marine Deployments
This article described the military structure of the tiny indigenous marine forces found in the Unofficial (world) system, at the time of the great colonial expansion.
Description (Specifications)[edit]
The Unofficial Marine deployments are that the Confederation hold 500 marines in a single battalion on the Moon at Camp Le Lune. The Brigadier General is the highest ranking marine in the regiment and has nominal command over all marine operations. There is a Colonel who serves as the executive officer and has a staff position. There are four companies of 125 marines each assigned to fleet operations. They serve as either ship's troops, or man security garrisons and outposts. One company is assigned to each nation's fleet. There are twelve field grade commissioned officers in the regiment. A total of 105 officers and 895 NCOs and enlisted. These twelve officers compete for five command slots, the other seven serve as staff. Each national fleet has one officer in charge of overall marine/fleet combat operations. They are in charge of assaults, sieges, police actions, and counter insurgencies. They each get one staff officer assigned from the available pool. One officer runs the battalion on the moon, and they get an XO. Remaining staff slots include the marine training schools for basic and advanced courses The last slot is for Marine support and logistics. They have to administrate, contract and liaison with civilian and military providers to obtain marine support.
- RANKS *NUMBER of available officer slots/billets
- Brigadier General *1 Regimental Command
- Colonel *4 (one/nation)
- Lieutenant Colonel *4
- Force Commander/Major *4
- Captain *12 8 Company Commanders (4 on Moon and 4 in the fleets), 4 Staff
- 1st Lieutenant *40 Platoon Commanders
- 2nd Lieutenant *40 Platoon Executive Officers (Staff)
Every marine is a fighter. Unlike the army there are very few cooks, very few medics, and almost no mechanics. Exceptions occur but it is possible to have units who are entirely reliant on outside support. Fleet marines eat aboard their ships. Security Garrisons have access to naval mess halls. Between 20-32 cooks, naval, marine, or contractors with 10-16 field kitchens are required to support the Moon battalion and the four national fleet companies. When marines are deployed alone without naval support (rare), kitchens and cooks must be provided. One cook/50 marines, one kitchen/hundred marines. Without naval support or access to a well appointed base, marines in the field seldom have hot meals.
Each national fleet may have a marine workshop for the maintenance of their five ATVs, which requires up to four mechanics for vehicles, suspensions, TAC missile weapon systems, and electronics with appropriate tool kits. In practice damaged ATVs that can be recovered are shipped back to the Moon for repair or replacement. Long duration forts often have a towed 8cm mortar with auto-loader and remote controls for a single gunner. Each national fleet has at most five mortars, one per platoon.
Naval Corpsman are used when available. Some marines have picked up medical skills along the way to keep platoon mates alive. The regiment requires 34 medics with kits, They need 14 nurses for company clearing stations and 7 doctors for battalion aid stations.
Unlike the army the marines rely on the navy's ships or their ATVs to move. They have no dedicated support vehicles for the movement of supplies. Packs with 14kg of food, 336 hours of oxygen in 28 tanks and 56 liters of water for two weeks are standard per marine. Marine vac suits can carry twelve hours of air and have built in carbon scrubbers. These suits are equipped with compressors and filters to take advantage of very thin and tainted atmospheres when available. Garrisons and outposts usually have a year's supply on hand at minimum to withstand sieges.
By confederate treaty the total number of active duty can not exceed 1,000 marines of all ranks combined. The fleet reserve battalion of 500 on the moon is required. Which means only 500 fleet marines are deployed beyond the home system to other planets or moon colonies. Excess marines retire or muster out to maintain quotas. Platoons are 25 marines with at least one officer, often with an staff second lieutenant, and as many as 24 NCOs and enlisted marines. Some countries prefer three squads of 8 and others like two sections of 12. Companies are formed from multiple platoons from as few as 50 to as many as 250 marines per company, depending on historical period, area of operations and level of combat expected. Platoons move in Space Marine T3 class ATVs when available. Special units expecting combat might get the Space Marine T2 class AFVs.
History & Background (Dossier)[edit]
The marine forces shrunk to these levels after near apocalyptic wars wiped out the majority of the world's populations. Once the surviving factions created the confederacy, these force levels were authorized by treaty, these are still in effect.
References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis), Captain, and Lead Naval Architect Ronald B. Kline, Jr. of the Imperial Navy
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science