Commonwealth Colonial Militia

The Commonwealth Colonial Militia is a paramilitary organisation responsible for the organic defence of its constituent worlds. The Colonial Militia traces its origins to the security forces onboard the colony ship Chrysanthemum, and later the settler-soldiers that fought the Denebians. Today, the Colonial Militia recruits from frontier settlers who wish to take charge of their own defence and policing, freeing up the professional Colonial Marines for more important duties.

History

As part of the 250,000 colonists onboard the Ark Ship Chrysanthemum (ISA-05), there were approximately one thousand security officers onboard to maintain the peace and investigate crimes. Although that was sufficient to perform their assigned duties once they had landed on Unity, conflict with the native Denebians and losses to local flora and fauna made casualties unsustainable. As such, the captain of the Chrysanthemum authorised civilians to be issued weapons to defend themselves. These colonist-soldiers were given limited training by the security forces, but their firearms were more than a match for Denebian medieval-era weaponry.

Following the deaths of the Chrysanthemum's command crew and the ascension of Deputy Head of Security to Acting Captain, retired General Jayadeva Upalekar of the United States Marine Corps was tasked with creating a defence force for the colony. He created it in two stages: the professional soldiers, the Colonial Marines, would be well-trained, equipped, and disciplined, but they could not be everywhere. A much larger force of colonist-soldiers would be formalised as the Colonial Militia and given proper training on how to use small unit tactics and defend their homesteads. These reforms were immediately successful: casualties due to Denebian raids on outlying homesteads dropped by half within two years.

After the conclusion of the Denebian Pacification Campaign in 2140 CE, the Colonial Militia was permitted to retain their weapons, but were also transformed into a reserve force for the Marines. The newly-established Commonwealth government saw an opportunity to educate the colonists in their unifying ideology through military training and professionalism, and used the Militia to do it. The rugged individualist settler-soldier became the ideal of all Commonwealth citizens, promoted by the Militia and government propaganda.

After the development of FTL travel, the Colonial Militia became increasingly more important. Colonial Marines were unable to fully patrol planets, especially outside of the core sector, so small-scale duties were left almost entirely to the Militia. The Colonial Militia have also been on the front lines of invasions, defending their homes against xeno invasions. Without heavy weapons or professional training, they typically take extremely high casualties, but are often able to hold the line long enough for the Marines to arrive in force. When that fails, they conduct guerilla warfare against occupation forces, using their local knowledge of the terrain and pre-prepared supply caches to strike with efficiency.

Organisation

Unlike the Colonial Marines, the Colonial Militia has a loose organisational structure. There is no central command authority for the Militia - instead, each planet or habitat is responsible for organising its own forces under the leadership of the Marines. Militia command structures are decentralised to settlements, with local militias comprising anywhere from a few dozen to several thousand personnel depending on the size of the settlement.

Training is standardised for Colonial Militia units. Each member of the Militia is required to spend one weekend per month at a local training facility, and one two-week period per year for extended training. Colonial Militia training facilities are typically run by the Colonial Marines to ensure proper training standards, though particularly outlying settlements are known to be more ad-hoc. The Militia shares ranks with the Marines, and if the Militia is activated to become Marine reserves, ranks fully transfer over to a militiaman's new position.

Equipment

Colonial Militia units are typically armed with older surplus Colonial Marine hardware, such as the venerable AR-65 assault rifle. These weapons are refurbished at proper facilities before being distributed to militiamen. Each member of the Militia is expected to store and maintain their own rifle, while uniforms and explosives are kept at local armouries. Many law enforcement offices double as Colonial Militia headquarters and armouries, due to their central and reinforced natures.

Founding Date

2106 CE

Type

Military, Paramilitary/Militia

Training Level

Semi-trained

Veterancy Level

Recruit

Parent Organization

Commonwealth Colonial Marines