Army of the Principality of Caledon

The Army of the Principality of Caledon has a very unique organization.

• Please see Principality of Caledon for more information.

The army's actual fighting formations are tied to various lines of nobility, sometimes with histories dating back centuries. These units - via their association with the noble families that raised the units (and, at times, still raise them - raising an Army unit is considered an honor and duty among nobles in the Principality, and new nobles will frequently display their loyalty by recruiting and fitting out a new unit on their family's behalf).

There is a hierarchy of these units:

• Regiment - A Regiment is almost never an actual operational unit; it serves as a combination of an administrative unit, a training body, a repository of traditions accredited by the Regiments' constituent units, a social organization for the unit's officers, a career path for NCOs, and a basis for support organizations helping regiment's battalions' families when their units are deployed, caring for wounded soldiers and families of those killed in action, and administrators of the retirement pensions for the Regiment's retired members. Most Regiments were historically raised by mid-to-upper ranking nobles - Dukes, Earls and other nobles fairly high up in the feudal hierarchy - and still are today. View a sample Caledonian regiment's organization.

• Battalions - A Battalion is an operational unit affiliated with a Regiment. A Regiment will have at least one operational battalion - usually 3-4, and occasional, especially in wartime, dozens. A battalion is raised, bankrolled and (when qualified) led by a noble affiliated with the branch of nobility that raised the parent regiment. Thus, the "13th (Baron Scott's) Battalion of the Earl of Ayrshire's Highlanders" will have likely been raised by Baron Scott, who is affiliated with and subordinate in lineage to the Earl of Ayrshire; the Battalion may be ancient or recently raised, but will share in the traditions of the Regiment, as well as get training, administrative and other support from the Regiment. Note that while every Regiment and Battalion will have unique traditions, honorifics, and even dress uniforms and rank systems, the General Command Staff's supervision ensures that all Battalions are operationally identical (see below).

• Battalions (not Regiments) are formed (according to plans worked out and constantly exercised by the General Command Staff) into brigades, divisions, corps and other larger forces as needed for operational purposes.

The Army contains a high proportion of "lifers" - people who serve for 20 years. The Regiment and its traditions are a powerful tie that binds many servicepeople. See also "Post-Service Life", below.

History and Traditions

The Caledonian Army traces its lineage back over a thousand years, to the units of private retainers that served as the nobles' security forces and private armies.

Regiments (see below) are a key part of carrying that tradition on.

The Infantry Tradition

While the Caledonian Army is a thoroughly modern force (by TL12 standards), and has the latest in weaponry, vehicles and technology, the Army has always seen itself as a "leg infantry" force; the infantry have a mystique in the Caledonian Army; they are seen as an elite, and they learn the finer points of light infantry combat even if they eventually serve in a Mech or Grav infantry unit.

While most Caledonian soldiers go through 12 weeks of basic training before going to technical school for their specialty - grav tanks, engineers, intelligence, signals, artillery, etc - Infantry undergo a competitive 32 week basic-through-advanced course that focuses on fieldcraft, self-reliance, marksmanship, and even blade (bayonet/knife) combat - partly as a confidence-builder, mostly as a traditional rite of soldierly passage.

Order of Battle By System

Caledon incorporates over twenty systems, from TL5 through TL12, and systems both small (1,000 humans) and huge (20 billion).

• The system ground forces are accordingly diverse.

Commitment to the Crown

Each noble house formally commits their affiliated battalions, regiments and so on to the Crown every four years.

Normally the commission ceremony - involving sending a formal Notice of Commitment to the crown (and a copy to the General Command Staff) is a pro-forma exercise, and an excuse for both regimental pageantry for the officers and an epic drinking binge for the enlisted troops.

However, withdrawing Commitment - pulling a noble's units out of the Principality's order of battle - has for centuries been considered a noble's most aggressive form of civil disobedience to the Crown, of registering extreme disapproval for the Crown's policies and behavior. While it's been exceedingly rare in centuries, a number of pro-Maxwell nobles, especially in the Rob Roy and Skye systems, have served notice of the withdrawal of their troops from the Principality's order of battle over the Maxwell succession incident. The process of negotiating their return is an issue fraught with much intrigue, involving the court's diplomats and secret services in equal measure.

Post service life

Because the Army is tied so closely to the nobility, and the nobility is tied so tightly to the commercial class, there is a steady conduit from the Army to the commercial enterprises run by the nobles, as well as those serving as bodyguards in the higher-level nobles' personal retinues. This last has become more common since the beginning of the Campbell-Maxwell feud.

Caledonian soldiers frequently find post-service employment working for Caledonian corporations; combat arms soldiers frequently manage corporate security, while technicians frequently ply their service trades, and officers transfer easily into middle management in their firms run by nobles who sponsored their regiments.

Description (Specifications)

No information yet available.

Mission

No information yet available.

Doctrine & Strategy (Operations)

No information yet available.

History & Background (Dossier)

No information yet available.

TO&E (Organization)

Army of Caledon Ranks
Officers
O11 » Field Marshal
O10 » General
O9 » Lieutenant-General
O8 » Major General
O7 » Brigadier
O6 » Colonel
O5 » Lieutenant-Colonel
O4 » Major
O3 » Captain
O2 » Lieutenant
O1 » Sub-Lieutenant
Enlisted ranks - see Caledonian Army Other Ranks

Ranks

Unlike in Imperial service, rank titles in the Caledonian Army vary by branch of service. The roots of these variations are buried in centuries of history.

Enlisted Ranks

See Caledonian Army Other Ranks

Officer Ranks

Officer ranks are as shown in the table at the top of the page.

• Note: In the Cavalry branch, O1 is called a "Cornet".

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

This military is primarily located in the following areas:

• No information yet available.

World Listing: 1116

No world articles for Army of the Principality of Caledon

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• User:Mitchberg