Assumptions and Terminology

Before we can examine into the details of the campaign, we must first set the standards that we will use throughout this work. Despite the many different ranking conventions and combat groupings used by various member states of the Star League, all units, no matter their origin(Clan, Successor State, Republic of Minnesota, Kilrathi Empire etc)will henceforth be referred to by their official Star League Defense Force(SLDF) designations, and their commanders will likewise be given ranks as appropriate according to SLDF ranking regulations.

Military Definitions

Undoubtedly, many readers of this work will be historians and trained military officers. However, since this work is also to be released to the general public, many of which do not even have rudimentary military training, we are obliged to provide a brief glossary of the terms and basics of military command, the rank and organizational structures.

When talking about the makeup of ground units, we refer to three major types of units. Unless otherwise specified, most ground units are made up of only one combat element(infantry, tank, Battlemech, etc). For the purposes of this work, mixedunits are made up of multiple types of combat elements, including Battlemechs. Combined-arms units are made up of multiple types of combat elements, though they lack Battlemechs.

In space, there are also three main types. Warships, dropships, and fighters comprise the core of the naval forces. Due to the nature of space warfare, all three are by necessity linked together. Fighter ranks are structured like the ground forces, but dropship and warship ranks are structured according to naval conventions.

The squad is the smallest combat unit used, comprised of five to sixteen men or four to six battlesuits, and is used exclusively in reference to infantry or battlearmor units. A squad is often led by a Sergeant. A platoon is used in reference to either infantry or armor(tanks and other conventional armored vehicles) and consists of four squads or four vehicles. They are commanded by a Lieutenant.

Lances are organizationally equivalent to platoons, but is used primarily for Battlemechs: a lance contains 4 mechs, and is led by a Lieutenant. A company can be made up of two to five lances, but usually has three, and is commanded by a Captain.

A battalion likewise can contain two to five companies, and is commanded by either a Major or in the case of senior battalion commanders or regimental executive officers, Lieutenant Colonels. A regiment, with two to six battalions, is the basic building block of many Star League formations, commanded by a Colonel.

In aerospace terms, a flight is made up of four fighters, and is sometimes called an aero lance. A flight is led by a Lieutenant. Three flights make up a squadron, often commanded by Captains. Three to six squadrons form a wing, and wings are led by Majors or Lieutenant Colonels. However, special circumstances exist where naval officers can command squadrons or wings. Two or more wings can join to form an aerospace regiment, led by a Colonel.

A brigade is often formed from a group of three or more regiments, often of different composition. They are commanded by Brigadiers. Divisions, with two or more brigades, are the heart of the SLDF’s strength, and are led by Major Generals. Corps are even larger unit groupings, and are often ad hoc administrative formations, led by a Lieutenant General. Full armies with three or more corps are rare within the SLDF, but are led by fully fledged Generals.

At the brigade level, all units are combined arms, except for naval based aerospace assets(carrier strikegroups). A combat command is usually a segment of a division (though it can also be formed from other units), generally stronger than a regiment, that takes battalion formations from 'Mech, armored and infantry units and combines them under a single commander. Combat commands are usually only temporary formations, but offer a commander more flexibility and capability than a regiment of a single type of combat element.

Naval ranking structure is a bit different from that of the ground forces. Dropships, incapable of FTL travel, are often ranked lower than Warships, except for the powerful monitors. Small dropships are commanded by Ensigns, often cargo carriers or small assault ships. Larger, more powerful, and more important dropships like troop carriers and fighter carriers can be commanded by Lieutenants or Lieutenant Commanders. Commanders are often found at the helm of small to middle class warships, ranging from the tiny spyships to the fearsome cruisers, as well as the monitors. Larger ship classes are controlled by Captains, from the battlecruisers to the awe inspiring Warstars.

Warships and dropships can be formed into a datagroup linked together by their datalink network. Such datagroups are commanded by Commodores. A few datagroups put together comprise a strikeforce, led by a Rear Admiral. Several strikeforces can form a task force, commanded by a Vice Admiral. Admirals command entire fleets composed of several task forces.

Due to the peculiar nature of interstellar, and in many cases, intergalactic, conflict, further rank were required to command the vast numbers of ships, machines, and men in any given sector. Therefore, Marshals are the SLDF’s modern equivalent of commanding generals. All marshals are required to be equally well-versed in ground and space combat, since their rank is above that of both generals and admirals. The Marshal ranks, from lowest to highest, are Marshal, Field Marshal, Sky Marshal, Star Marshal, and High Marshal. Their ranks are included in this report only because of the participation of many of the SLDF’s Marshals and their allocated forces, not because their respective sectors were actually involved.

Finally, while it is beyond the scope of this work to give exact casualties (and by casualties we mean dead/destroyed, missing, unserviceable and/or captured) suffered by each unit involved in the war, we will talk about casualty levels in general. Light casualties include losses of all kinds up to ten percent of the unit's combat strength. Moderate casualties are losses from ten to twenty-five percent, heavy casualties are from twenty five to fifty percent losses, and serious casualties are more than fifty percent. In general, units that lost more than sixty percent casualties were considered by the SLDF as lost or destroyed, even though the unit might still have a significant amount of force left, especially within divisions and larger combat formations.

There, my idea of the military of the future. Simply put, I had to think of higher organizational ranks due to the sheer size of the SLDF, which cannot be quantified by conventional/modern groupings. Therefore, I grabbed the idea of Sky Marshal from Heinlein and Weber, and adapted it for my own use, that of sector commanders who command fleets, armies, and divisions. More often, however, they do not really command fleets or armies, but simply serve as an overall commander for both ground and naval forces within any given sector, who commands the senior ground and naval officer.

Please review, even if this does not seem like your typical fic. Thanks!