Vanguards

"Morior Invictus!"

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Vanguard Motto, translate to "Death Before Defeat!"

The Vanguards is an elite paramilitary of highly trained warriors devoted to the Commonwealth. Vanguards are their own branch within the Commonwealth Military structure and are made up of the best elite forces of each branch of the military. The Vanguard operations branch often answers directly to high command or are assigned to other sector authorities to carry out the most difficult and crucial missions in the Commonwealthmilitary sphere.

History

The Vanguards were first formed during the First Contact war in 2121 when an electronic countermeasure was developed to disable enemy vessels. A plan was formulated to use the device and board a Galakorian vessel before it could self destruct. To do this, a highly trained and specialized team was needed to board and control the ship in time. Legate Gabriel Kozlov formed a group highly trained soldiers from every branch. Army Special Forces, Navy Commandos and more were formed into a new formation called the ‘Vanguard Cohort.’
The Operators of the Cohort combined all of their knowledge to plan and execute the operation, an entire mock Galakorian cruiser was built to train for the operation for months before it occurred. In 2122 a lone Galakorian cruiser was spotted by a Commonwealth probe in neutral space and the operation was underway. The Commonwealth  Dreadnought Venator entered the neutral system of Eta Korali and fired a barrage of the new torpedos.
Over the course of 1 hour, the Vanguard Cohort boarded the cruiser in 4 different entry points with four strike teams and take total control of the ship, steal its navigational data and extract with only one casualty. Due to the success of this operation, the decision was made to expand the Vanguard Cohort into its own service branch and train a new generation of special warfare operators.

Composition

Structure

Vanguard units are divided into Cohorts led by Prefects, equivalent to a Navy Commander. Cohorts are further divided into Centuries which typically carry a section of specialized Vanguards in any given area. The senior most enlisted member of a section is responsible for their training and organization. While operating, Centuries will pull vanguards from each section to make up strike teams which can be led by senior enlisted or officers.
A new special unit of Vanguards have recently entered service. Special Reconnaissance Centuries are small formations of Vanguards assigned to a Prefect who leads both the Century and a Tiber Class Frigate. These formations are specifically tailored to carry out exploration missions into the unknown galaxy, being as flexible as possible to deal with whatever they run into.

Training

Vanguards go through at a minimum four years of training to become level 1 operators and another year to train in their specializations. Vanguard training covers everything from combat to battlefield surgery to zero G combat and beyond. Officers of the Commonwealth Vanguards are trained, to an extent, in every specialization a Vanguard can have as well as specially trained to lead Vanguards in the most effective way possible making their time training 6 years.

Type

Paramilitary

Used by

• Commonwealth of Man