The Coalition Army

Significant Components
The Coalition Army is divided into two force types - Regular Army and State Armies.&#160; The state armies are controlled, as the name suggests, by the individual states under guidance of officers appointed by the Regular Army.&#160; This Regular Army guidance was stiffened after the secession of Quebec in 105 PA.

Generally, Army commands are geographic, with 45,000 or so troops assigned to the Army of Missouri, for instance.&#160; The exceptions are when an area is designated as an active warzone, such as Tolkeen or Arkansas.&#160; The Tolkeen&#160;Warzone was divided into three Army Groups - Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa - depending on the invasion vector.&#160; Each Army&#160;Group controlled a number of armies, ranging from 50,000 or so soldiers all the way to 100,000 or so.&#160; The warzone system, sometimes also called the "operational area" system, allows the concentration of forces from the Imperial reserve, which includes about half of the official troop strength of the Coalition Army and all of the Security Forces divisions.

The Army High Command also oversees a number of specialized sub-commands, including the Training Command, the Engineering&#160;Command (responsible for large-scale public works), and the Signal Command.&#160; These are generally headed by lieutenant generals, and their headquarters are located in one of the many military cantonments surrounding Chi-Town.

For the past decade or so, the trend has been to strengthen the eastern and western borders of the Coalition at the expense of the southern and northern borders.&#160; With the defection of Quebec and the inclusion of Upper Michigan in the Coalition's sphere of influence, this may change.

Infantry Divisions
Infantry divisions form the backbone of the Coalition army. The over-arching umbrella term "infantry" includes several division types:


 * Airborne Infantry Divisions
 * Light Infantry Divisions
 * Mechanized Infantry Divisions
 * Mobile Infantry Divisions
 * Mountain Infantry Divisions

Unless otherwise qualified, an infantry division is classed as a light division. Light divisions rely on personal rather than vehicular mobility, and have fewer heavy weapons and vehicles than any other division type. The main drawback to light infantry divisions is that while easily raised and deployed, they are the most vulnerable unit type.

Airborne and Mountain divisions are fundamentally light divisions trained to operate in specialized environments. Airborne divisions are intended to operate behind enemy lines for extended periods, and the training of these units tends to focus on individual initiative and small-unit tactics rather than mass maneuvers. They have more heavy weapons than the average light division, but these weapons are still man-portable.

Mountain divisions are configured for fighting in high-slope terrain, and can move quickly over broken ground. They have the most specialized equipment of any division type, and mountain units claim to be the most elite of the infantry types because of their specialized training and equipment, a claim that the airborne units dispute fiercely.

The difference between mobile and mechanized divisions is the volume of heavy equipment each has - mobile divisions are more likely to be mounted in helicopters and have the average infantry squad equipped in power armor, while mechanized divisions have a much higher large robot component and fight from ground-based APCs. Mobile divisions are the Coalition's rapier; mechanized divisions are the longsword.

Armored Divisions
Armored divisions are formed from a relatively balanced mixture of heavy vehicles, power-armored infantry, and large robots in roughly equal measure. They form less than ten percent of the total Coalition military machine, but have a disproportionately large battlefield impact. The striking power of the Coalition armored divisions has led to the establishment of an expansion program for these units - a program which the Coalition's robot and tank factories cannot keep up with.

Cavalry Divisions
Cavalry divisions are of two types - air cavalry and armored cavalry. The difference between air cavalry and the mobile infantry divisions is the smaller infantry contingent size. Instead, they rely on speed and striking power to strike a blow, then withdraw back to Coalition lines. Armored cavalry behaves the same way; the typical armored cavalry division has lighter, faster vehicles than an armored division, and focuses on speed rather than striking power.

Separate Units
Units of battalion size or larger may operate separately - special operations units being the most typical of these formations. A number of separate infantry brigades exist, most notably the 39th Light Infantry Brigade (separate) (expanded) in Fort El Dorado, which has approached division strength in recent years. Several specialized formations exist in this range - assault engineering brigades, special forces detachments, and so forth, which fill a specific battlefield role not justified in division size and not suited to integration into an existing formation. These forces are dispensed to local commanders at the discretion of the General Staff.