Darkhorse A/N: removed a second self-deprecating authors note.
LP A/N: My summaries of basic unit structures was lacking. Darkhorse, a member with some experience in this arena, has volunteered to fix it up, and I plan to use a lot of this come the ME3 book.
Marine Tactical Considerations, 2185 Edition
THE SYSTEMS ALLIANCE ORDER OF BATTLE
With Addenda Regarding Citizenship Tiers and Your Government
Prepared by the Systems Alliance Commissariat
Distribution limited by the Manswell State Security Act
OFFICER EDITION : DO NOT DISTRIBUTE TO NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS OR ENLISTED PERSONNEL
Section H: Field tactical deployment : A and B Rate Detachments, B Rate Squads and Considerations
ERRATA 8.2.2 – Update
A forward and explanation by Admiral Tradius Ahern
I've been blessed enough, in my military career, to not only command the ships of the Systems Alliance but troops. I don't fancy myself any kind of strategic genius – I leave all that high level stuff to the generals and their staffs – but when it comes to small unit tactics, every ship captain in the SA has to be familiar with it.
When we talk about our marines, a lot of people in Sol think of the A-rates in the Solguard. Your average colonist, on the other hand, thinks of the B's who they see on a daily basis. The truth is that they're both critical components of the SA military, and a skilled commander uses them for the tasks they were designed for.
But what is a skilled commander? Someone who wins fights? Hardly.
The definition of a skilled commander is not in how often one wins battles, but in how effectively they use what they are given to work with, be that ships, artillery, armor, or marines. Any fool can win a battle with enough firepower and numbers, but the cost of such is often more ruinous than defeated retreat.
Back in the times before the Days of Iron, some ancient idiot of a king won a battle in such a costly fashion that it cost him the damned war. He was fighting another group with a much larger population that could replace losses, while his own manpower pool was limited not only by population but by the need to defend his borders as well. When you fuck up so badly that your name becomes a byword for 'winning a battle and losing the war', maybe you should reconsider your tactics.
If that situation about being outnumbered sounds familiar, good, you're not a fucking idiot.
The Systems Alliance is by far the least populous of the Citadel Races. This shouldn't be shocking, given some of them have had millennia to colonize worlds. The asari alone have more – probably way more – than ten times the population we do. If we went to war against the turians again we could kill them at a twenty to one ratio and still lose due to causalities.
Any commander in the modern era – be that ground-force generals, space-side admirals running landing or boarding ops, littoral landing ops or even commissars forced into command – must always remember our forces are limited. We cannot absorb casualties and trade bodies in the way turians do. Using your forces to capitalize on their strength while minimizing weakness is the only way we can succeed. Our military units are designed around these strengths – flexibility, mobility, focus fire and maneuver, and above all else precise use of heavy weapons as a force equalizer.
A-rates and B-rates are different kinds of marine. Despite what some idiots think, the b-rate is not a 'lesser marine'. A-rates are marines who have specialized in zero-g combat and littoral operations. B-rates are marines focused entirely on ground operations and planetary defense.
A-rates get paid more because they risk more and put up with more – they get shuffled around constantly, bombarded with stellar rads that can make them sterile or cause cancer, and operating on ships that expose them to the risk of dying without even being able to fight the enemy if a torpedo gets past a ship's defenses.
The flip-side of this training and something you must always keep in mind is that A-rates are trained to be the aggressor. They are the ones doing drop-pod assaults, storming enemy positions on forward operations, and all of the flashy and visible stuff. They aren't used to being the defender, and most of their tactics won't work as well on the defense.
B-rates, on the other hand, are the ones defending your family from batarian slavers, handling disaster relief, working with the SA Engineering Corps and generally doing ninety percent of the heavy lifting. This means that if you're expecting them to be aggressive like A-rates you won't get what you want, but they are way better at holding lines, setting ambushes and using terrain to stymie the enemy.
A good commander doesn't waste his assets. Keep that in mind if you have the burden of commanding both A and B rate marines. Use them for what they're designed for.
A-rates are often never really thrown en masse into situations – we tend to deploy on the detachment or squad level, because that's what fits in shuttles or boarding pods. B-rates, on the other hand, are planetside, and it's a hell of a lot easier to doing CINC from the surface of a planet than on a ship under attack. As a result, you will see B-rates in squads only rarely, and more often detachments and company-level deployments are the norm.
A-rates are hard because they have good gear and detachments have a heavy weapons squad that they rally around, increasing firepower. B-rates rarely have access to the fancy stuff, they can more than make do with what they are given – more than once I've seen batarian slavers and pirates shattered and driven back by B-rates, by simple dint of them knowing the land and where to place ambushes.
TACTICAL ORGANIZATION: Senior Warrant Officer Vanessa Glade, KoAAF, command drill instructor, Pinnacle Station, PINTRNCOM
A-Rate Marine : Detachment Level
Squad level tactics are covered in Section G. Due to the nature of SA ships, most frigates and destroyers may only have a single squad of marines. Most larger ships, however, carry at least a detachment of them.
While the A-Rate Marine Rifle Squad may be the basic building block of the Corps, any attempt to direct and mobilize individual squads is both incredibly difficult and an exercise in futility as even with VI assistance and the use of state-of-the-art command equipment, it is simply too much for an individual officer to handle. In the field, the senior officers in command have to balance comms and intel reporting with info-war, mobility and medical efforts.
For this reason, the delegation of command to lower ranked officers and the formation of detachments allows for a much more fluid command structure and flow of battle, thereby lessening the strain put onto those in command.
The A-Rate Marine Rifle Detachment is the first of the units that are under the supervision and guidance of well-trained A-Rate Marine Officers, in many case's being 1st or 2nd Lieutenants that have gone through rigorous training and have indelible experience in the command of the Detachment. The formation and composition of the A-Rate Marine Detachment itself may vary depending on the mission of the unit is it attached to, but all A-Rate Detachments follow along a set of guidelines that while modified, will always be the gauntleted fist of the Corps.
The general template of an A-Rate Marine Rifle Detachment is a pair of A-Rate Marine Rifle Squads that work in symphony with one-another under the guidance and leadership of an experienced Lieutenant. These two Rifle Squads work in conjunction with each other by providing supporting fire, mutual security against hostile flanking maneuvers, and the ability to have more weapons directed onto a target when the need arises. The squad NCO provides additional command support to the detachment CO, as well as providing backup chain of command should he become a casualty.
Most importantly, this formation allows for Marine Rifle Squads to complement each other in both their equipment use and specialized squad tactics. While one squad may specialize in the use of overwhelming firepower with machine guns and combat engineers in order to close with and annihilate the enemy, the sister squad may specialize in accurate and long-range weapons fire with optically sighted weapons, Man Portable Anti Armor systems, and a waiting medic on standby to treat any wounded.
Following much of the same tactical doctrine of their smaller brethren, the A-Rate Marine Rifle Detachment focuses on high-speed mobility, the precise application of squad based heavy weapons systems, and the unwavering fighting spirit of the individual Marine to close with and eliminate any hostile that acts against them. The most common of such application of tactics is the use of normally squad-based fire-and-maneuver tactics scaled to the Detachment level. This allows the Marine Rifle Detachment to always be mobile and aggressive in the face of the enemy, taking ground and forcing the hostile forces to react instead of allowing them time to formulate or maneuver into a defensive posture. This application of force has proved vital in the success of the Marine Rifle Detachment, as a stationary and docile Marine will very quickly become a very dead Marine.
This general level of expertise in all subjects of war-fighting comes intrinsically to the A-Rate Marine Detachment and is its strongest advantage, as it allows each Detachment to fulfill a multitude of roles with some level of efficiency as opposed to being locked into a rigid and inflexible system, allowing the Marines to do what they do best and adapt to a situation and thrive. The lessons that have been taken from both the First Contact War, the on-and-off conflict with Batarian Sponsored Forces, and the most recent Geth War, have shaped the Modern A-Rate into a specialized yet modular and highly adaptive force that can annihilate nearly any force that it may find itself against.
When used correctly and with properly implemented tactical thinking, the tactical value of an A-Rate Marine Detachment has shown itself to be immense, as each Detachment can operate semi-autonomously under the command of the Detachment Lieutenant and has the ability to engage with and destroy hostile forces while also retaining a high mobility capability that rivals that of even the best Council Race military units. From being able to staunch bloody openings in cracking defensive lines to assaulting and digging hostile forces out of prepared positions, the A-Rate Marine Rifle Detachment has proven time and again that it is a force to be reckoned with.
A-Rate Marine Rifle Company
If the A-Rate Marine Rifle Detachment is the mailed fist of the Corps, the A-Rate Marine Rifle Company is the beating heart. Lead by an intrepid and veteran Captain and consisting of four Marine Detachments, the A-Rate Marine Rifle Company is considered to be the smallest deployable yet no less effective Marine unit that can contain its own limited armaments of support weapons, support personnel, and advanced command and control equipment. This is the standard size for most cruisers to field, and some heavy cruisers have two companies.
Consisting of three standard A-Rate Marine Rifle Detachments, the Company is accompanied by a fourth Detachment responsible for the use and maintenance of the Companies Man Portable Support Weapons. This fourth Detachment – often nicknamed the 'guns' or the 'boom' – gives what would normally be an unremarkable unit the firepower to engage and destroy targets normally reserved for larger units and heavier equipment.
This fourth Detachment of Marines in the Company is special, as they are the Detachment that will normally be comprised of certain specialists. While normally and in the overwhelming case made up of Heavy Weapons experts, there have been well documented cases of such Detachments being made up of Biotics, Assault Specialists, Combat Engineers and various other useful units. For the sake of brevity and what will most likely be encountered, the Heavy Weapons Detachment is and shall continue to be the overwhelming majority of what is encountered.
To begin with, The A-Rate Heavy Weapons Detachment is larger than its regular Rifle brethren, adding three Marines to the normal squad size, bring the number to ten. This is done because, as the name suggests, the A-Rate Heavy Weapons Detachment is responsible for the maintenance and use of Company-Level support weapons. These Marines are entrusted with the use of various Crew Served Machine Guns, Medium Mortar systems of various designs, and the employment of numerous Man Portable Multi-Purpose Missile Systems.
Where a Regular A-Rate Marine Rifle Detachment may be issued grenade launchers, Disposable Rocket Systems, and Squad Automatic Weapons, The A-Rate Heavy Weapons Detachment is responsible for the care, maintenance, and effective use of much more complicated yet effective weapon systems.
This prevalence and focus on Heavy Weapons, however, comes at in exchange for losing much of the valued and vaunted mobility and flexibility of the standard A-Rate Marine Rifle Detachment. As a result, the relationship between the Marines of the Rifle Detachments and those in the Heavy Weapons Detachments becomes symbiotic, With the Marines in the Rifle Detachments being immensely grateful at the supporting fire dispensed by their Heavy Weapons Brothers and Sisters and acknowledging that they must provide a screen of protection form hostile infantry getting too close.
The Tactical Abilities of an A-Rate Marine Rifle Company cannot be understated, as the ability for a Marine Captain to be able to direct their Marines in the most efficient and effective way possible is only matched by the tempered aggression and fighting spirit exhibited by those very same Marines.
For all of the focus that may be placed on the power of the Alliance Navy or the Prestige of the N-Program, It the A-Rate Marine Rifle Company that has time and again blunted or stopped advances from those that wish to ruin the Systems Alliance. From the brutal hell that was the slugging matches between Marines and Turians on Wanderjahr to the valiant holding actions performed at Diamunde Ridge on St. Cyr, The A-Rate Marine Rifle Company has proven itself time and again to be an irreplaceable part of the Systems Alliance Marine Corps.
B-RATE MARINES
If one is to classify an A-Rate Marine Unit as a sharpened spear ready and willing to disembowel those that would stand in their way, A B-Rate Marine Unit can be counted upon to be the stalwart and implacable shield responsible for the defense of all Systems Alliance Colonial holdings.
These Marines, unlike their space-bound brethren, will likely never be deployed into the vast emptiness of space, rather, they are responsible for not only holding the various planets and colonies of the Systems Alliance but also fortifying said planets to become each an indomitable fortress in their own right.
As one can imagine, such a task necessitates a differing organizational structure and layout to not only account for the sustained planetary operations that each B-Rate Marine Infantry Unit must sustain but also take the most advantage from having no concern about any off-world naval deployments.
Despite common misconceptions regarding B-rate infantry, it should be noted that it is the B-rates who have held the lines in most of the fighting from the FCW to today. While some assume that any B-rate marine is not a veteran, the truth is that many marines simply do not have any interest in being hurled all over space in tight and cramped spaceships. Marines who wish to start a family or hold other interests find the B-rate billets far more acceptable and conducive to such endeavors.
Furthermore, for all intents and purposes, B-rate marines are often seen as the 'face' of the Systems Alliance, particularly on the outlying colony worlds far from the glories of Sol. Ask any colonist who they think of when they think of a Marine, and they will point to the "Local Boys and Girls in Blue" that are responsible for the defense of every colony and planet in the Systems Alliance.
Going further than this is that every Marine at one point started their career in a simple B-Rate Marine Detachment, including you. Do not ignore or forget the lessons taught by these guardians of peace.
B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad
The most basic building block of any military structure is the Squad, and even at such a low level, the B-Rate Marine Rifle Squad differs from its more space-bound brethren as the squad is larger, made up of nine Marines rather than the A-Rate's 7 Marine Squad. While the addition of two more Marines may seem trivial, it allows for a larger force deployment as would be expected by a planet-bound military unit. The basic structure of a B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad is as follows:
1x Squad Leader- The Marine responsible for the leadership of the B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad, This Marine is billeted as a Sergeant and is usually the most senior and experienced Marine in the Squad. As such, Squad Leaders are responsible for the effective execution of orders from their superior officer, the management and coordination of the Squad as an effective combat force, and the protection of all Systems Alliance assets. As befits both rank and status, the Squad Leader is normally outfitted with a set ONYX-B Armor, not to be confused with ONYX-MOD II Armor, An Avenger Assault Rifle, and an SG/MRC-453 Radio communications set.
2x Team Leaders- If the Squad Leader is responsible for the Squad as a whole, the Team Leaders are responsible for the effective maneuvering and minutia of detail required to effectively lead teams of B-Rate Marines into combat situations. With the position of Team Leader being billeted to those of the rank Corporal, these Marines, while not as skilled or experienced as their Squad Leader, have demonstrated competence in leading small-scale units, the effective use of infantry tactics, and effective observance of orders from their Squad Leader. With their position established as a Team Leader, each of these Marines is adorned with the standard B-Rate issue ONYX-B Armor, a selection of hand grenades of the smoke and flash variety, and an Avenger Assault Rifle with an under-slung grenade launcher. This under-slung grenade launcher is an important part of the weapon systems available to the B-Rate Infantry Squad, as it is among the heaviest weapons available to the Squad.
6x B-Rate Marine Infantry- The backbone of the B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad, these infantrymen provide both the firepower and strength of the unit as a whole. The directives and responsibilities of these Marines are simple, to defend against any and all threats as they may arise. This position in the Squad is not specifically rank-billeted, as any Marine can and has served before as an Infantryman. However, for the sake of clarification, many Marines of this role are normally the younger, less experienced Private-First Class's that make up the bulk of an Infantry unit. With their position as the overwhelming majority of any unit, B-Rate Marine Infantry are armed with simple, yet no less effective equipment. Clad in ONYX-B Armor and armed with the staple workhorse Avenger Assault Rifle, These Marines also carry a pair of fragmentation grenades, a pair of smoke grenades, and on occasion, a singular M-72 Straight Arrow Disposable Rocket System.
As such their mission statement demands, the B-Rate Infantry Squad uses its larger size and standardized armaments to good effect, fighting in majority defensive actions and from fortified positions. Such fighting usually takes place around civilian shelters, Anti-Orbital and Air Defense Batteries, and the fortified strongholds that make up many B-Rate Marine Bases. As such, the B-Rate Defensive and Offensive Doctrine is as follows:
Defensive Actions- The majority of what actions taken by any B-Rate Unit, Defensive Actions are characteristically defined by the use of Strategic Hard-points (Areas Pre-Fortified and well established) to act as both a way to funnel any hostile actor into certain areas, and to act as a wall unto which the hostile actor is forced to assault. This type of action is what the B-Rate Infantry Squad excels at, being able to effectively lock down a position and utilize both pre-planned support infrastructure, such as Medium Mortars and Heavy Repeating Accelerators, and to also use their fortified positions in such a way as to deny the enemy approach.
If one thing, above all else, is to be understood, the B-Rate Alliance Marine will fight until they are overrun and annihilated, never faltering as such would mean the destruction of their homes and worse to their families. The halls of Fort Boyle in Vancouver Command are covered in lists of B-rate marines units who died to the last man in battles to protect what the held most dear.
Offensive Actions- Despite the intense defensive nature that permeates all B-Rate Units as a whole, it would be remiss to dismiss their capability as an offensive fighting force. As something shared in common with their A-Rate brethren, B-Rate Marine Infantry Squads and units as a whole employ fire-and-maneuver tactics when assaulting an enemy-held position. This usually constitutes the deployment of the B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad as two uneven units (5-4 Split Respectively), with the pair of teams using leap-frog tactics and fire-and maneuver to close with and annihilate the enemy.
What can be argued as more interesting, however, is the methods in which the B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad gets to the fight in the first place. Unlike their ship-bound brethren, the B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad usually does not have such access to advanced equipment such as combat-capable shuttles, drop-capable armored vehicles, or in many cases any vehicles heavier than an armored ground-car. However, what B-Rate Marine infantry units do have in abundance is access to cargo-carrying large ground cars and their own two feet.
The first of these options, the cargo ground car, is analogous to the large 6 wheeled cargo trucks of Pre-Days of Iron vintage. Large, and with a flatbed capable of carrying whatever can be fitted upon it, the cargo ground car is the go-to option for most B-Rate Units. On the other hand, the ability of individual B-Rate Marine to carry themselves and various war materials enclosed in an issued fabric rucksack to the conflict zone is a method of transport as old as time itself. While not pretty nor particularly high tech, these methods get the B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad into the fight wherever needed.
B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachment
The natural outgrowth of the B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad and the first such unit organizational strength in which a commissioned officer takes command of the unit as a whole, the B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachment is the natural strength of any B-Rate Marine Infantry Unit.
This means that while on paper the B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad may technically be the smallest official and formalized unit, The realities of combat mean that it is rare for any B-Rate Marine Infantry Unit to deploy forces in combat at any scale smaller than the Detachment level.
Furthermore, the B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachment differs drastically from its space-bound brethren in scale and perceived tactical deployment, as the fact that B-Rate Marine Infantry units are not required to be deployable from naval craft means that there is little in restrictions on the size of the Unit as a whole. The basic structure of a B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachment is as follows:
1x B-Rate Marine Detachment Command Team (1 Officer and 3 Enlisted Personnel)- Without proper direction, all the weapons in the galaxy are for naught. The Detachment Command Team exists as a command-and-control element to not only direct and guide their own detachments, but also coordinate and carry out the orders given to them by their Company Command Team. Consisting of the Detachment Leader, which is billeted as a First or Second Lieutenant, a Detachment Sergeant, usually billeted as either a Staff Sergeant or a Gunnery Sergeant, an Electronics and Communications Operator, billeted as a Corporal, and an Aide, billeted as a Private First Class, the B-Rate Marine Detachment Command Team is a vital component in the command structure of any B-Rate Marine Infantry Unit.
3x B-Rate Marine Infantry Squads (27 Enlisted Personnel)- The backbone and majority of the B-Rate Infantry Detachment, this trifecta of B-Rate Marine Infantry Squads provides the majority of not only the manpower but also the firepower of the B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachment.
1x B-Rate Marine Heavy Weapons Squad (10 Enlisted Personnel)- While the standard B-Rate Marine Infantry Squad may be home to the manpower and the overwhelming power of massed rifle fire, The B-Rate Marine Heavy Weapons squad contains the heaviest weapons organic to not only the Detachment but the Company as a whole. With the Squad sub-divided into its own pair of 5-Marine units specializing in a specific weapons system, this singular squad gives the Detachment heavier than standard weapons such as light mortars, light machine guns, and various man-portable missile systems. While the B-Rate Marine Heavy Weapons Squad itself is normally a part of its own Heavy Weapons Detachment at the Company level, in practical use the Heavy Weapons Detachment is split in among the various other B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachments to act as a force multiplier.
With a force of 40 B-Rate Marines making up the Detachment, this force of B-Rate Marines not only outnumbers their A-Rate brethren but has more weapons that can be brought to bear on any one target. All of this potential, however, means nothing if there are no strategies nor pre-planned contingencies in place to deal with any number of possibilities that may arise in the defense of their holdings.
Defensive Actions- The Mainstay of all B-Rate Marine units, and the B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachment is no different. When in defensive positions or taking up a defensive posture, the B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachment array's itself in such a way that the various Infantry Squads act as a wall onto which the waves of enemy's break, while the Heavy Weapons Squad acts as a hard-point that each defensive operation is formed around. Above all of this, The Detachment Command Team is responsible for the coordination of fire from both the detachment and whatever adjacent units or supporting elements that may be available at the time. Like all B-Rate Marine Units, these B-Rate Detachments are overwhelmingly deployed in prepared dug-in defensive positions arrayed around areas or assets of interest such as anti-ship weapons or civilian shelters.
Offensive Actions- While B-Rate Marine Units are overwhelmingly defensively oriented, this does not mean that B-Rate Marine Units are crippled in such a way that makes them unable to act offensively to repel invaders from their planet. The B-Rate Marine Detachment embodies this fact, as not only are they capable of performing various small unit actions within their designated area of operations, but many B-Rate Marine Units maintain stocks of various motorized ground vehicles that allow them to re-deploy at relative speed to areas that require reinforcement.
Compounding this advantage is the foreknowledge of the environment that each unit holds as they are fighting to repel invaders from their own homes. With this intrinsic knowledge of their area of operations, many B-Rate Marine Detachments are able to leverage multiple advantages to the possible flanking and maneuvering capabilities of each Detachment.
On any assault against hostile forces, B-Rate Marine Detachments can strike from various angles of attack, inflict casualties upon the enemy force, then either press an advantage if there is one, or retreat to a defensive position to prepare for the next assault.
The B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachment is synonymous with all deployments of any B-Rate Units, as not only are they highly visible to most civilian groups, but they also provide the backbone and practical basis for the deployment of all B-Rate Marine Infantry Units as a whole.
B-Rate Marine Infantry Company
While not the largest or most powerful of any deployable force available, the B-Rate Marine Infantry Company is a mainstay force for the garrison of many colonial installations. The actions and formation of a B-Rate Marine Infantry company are both incredibly simple yet possess differences to many normal and accepted military doctrines. While this does make the deployment of B-Rate Marines Infantry Detachments abnormal compared to most alien practiced and accepted defensive doctrine, this abnormality is tailored to be the most effective and cost-effective way to deploy any B-Rate Marine Infantry Company. As such, the composition of the standard B-Rate Marine Infantry Company differs from normal doctrine by including the following:
1x Company Headquarters Squad (2 Officers and 8 Enlisted Personnel)- The Command-and-control element of the B-Rate Marine Infantry Company, the Headquarters Squad is responsible for not only the effective dissemination of orders but also the various logistical challenges faced by any B-Rate Marine Infantry Company. Comprised of a Captain as the Companies commanding officer, a 2nd Lieutenant as the Company Executive Officer, and the ever-faithful and trustworthy Company Gunnery Sergeant acts as the bridge between enlisted personnel and the Commissioned Officers. Working alongside these high-ranking officials are Communications and Systems Operators, Aide Personnel, and a pair of Marines responsible for the acquisition, record keeping, and distribution of various supplies and the multitude of logistical elements it takes to keep the B-Rate Marine Infantry Company in the best fighting shape possible.
3x B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachments (3 Officers, 87 Enlisted Personnel)- The Line Infantry and staying power of any Infantry force, this triple threat of B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachments means that not only are there 90 B-Rate Infantry Marines at the disposal of any B-Rate Infantry Company, but it also means that with such manpower, they can project their forces farther, wider, and bring more Rifles onto a target.
1x B-Rate Marine Heavy Weapons Detachment (1 Officer and 33 Enlisted Personnel)- While the Standard B-Rate Marine Infantry Detachment may have the ability to use massed rifle fire and their strength of numbers to deter potential hostile forces, the B-Rate Marine Heavy Weapons Detachment contains the entire Companies allotment of specialty and heavy weapons. From Medium Machine Guns, Light Mortars, and dumb fire Rocket systems to the more advanced and expensive crew-served Repeating Accelerators and Anti Vehicle systems, the B-Rate Marine Heavy Weapons Detachment is responsible for the care, maintenance, and use of all of these weapon systems to the best of their abilities.
Total Personnel Count: 6 Officers and 128 Enlisted Personnel
No matter the amount of men nor the amount of weapons that any singular unit may possess, if they do not have the strategic and tactical know-how to effectively be deployed, all of this effort and equipment goes to waste. The Systems Alliance knows this fact all too well and has developed a multitude of strategies and contingencies that are routinely drilled into B-Rate Units, to ensure that any call to arms is well-practiced and efficient.
Defensive Operations- As with the very nature of B-Rate Units, they specialize in defensive planetary warfare from prepared and entrenched fighting positions, allowing for the hostile force to funnel into carefully pre-planned and pre-sighted killing fields laden with mines, obstacles, and watched over by the Marines themselves. Fighting from such a position is where both the numbers and heavy equipment-laden nature of the B-Rate Marine Infantry Company shines, as they can utilize their numbers of well-motivated Marines to hold down any objective while their propensity for carrying heavy equipment such as entrenching tools, sandbags, and pre-mixed Omni fortification caulking guns allows for the Company to turn any position into a fortress.
Offensive Operations- While offensive operations are not the specialized forte of any B-Rate Marine Infantry Unit, this does not mean that they are inept at carrying out basic counterattacks or small-scale offensive operations. All B-Rate Marines are taught the basics of fire and maneuver tactics, individual movement techniques, and how to assault a contested position. In any sort of offensive action, The Infantry Detachments would be responsible for a cover and fire leap-frogging movement by the numbers to slowly but steadily close the gaps between the Marines and the enemy forces.
During this assault by the Infantry, the Heavy Weapons Detachment would be utilized to both suppress the enemy and pin them into place, not allowing them to either escape or fight back effectively. It is with this that each Infantry Marine would be responsible for closing with and destroying the enemy in any manner possible.
B-Rate Marine Infantry Companies are the backbone and majority of nearly all B-Rate Marine Deployments, both creating, fortifying, and manning important defensive installations across the breadth of nearly all Systems Alliance colonies. Their focus on large numbers and defensive action means that not only can these B-Rate Units effectively hold swathes of territory under their control, but it also means that when the inevitable changing of the guard occurs, and periods of enlistment expire, many formerly B-Rate Marines are mixed with the general population, further increasing the level of readiness of the population and creating a reserve of skilled, hard fighting, and prepared Marines that can and will fight alongside their uniformed brethren.
TACTICAL CONSIDERATION – PLANETARY INVASIONS
B-rate units – squads, detachments, and companies – are often the first line of defense against planetary invaders and aggressors. While the RIU is designed to stymie such forces until more units can be brought up, the sad truth is we simply do not have enough marines to station RIU's everywhere, and the RRU's of a region of space are limited by travel time in FTL as well as possible orbital hostiles.
As such it is not inconceivable that in the abeyance of command or the unfortunate instance where command integrity is destroyed, that a company Captain might be in charge of standing off invading forces.
The following considerations should apply:
a) Determine the invasion strength and targets: Slavers, pirates and other forces have differing goals. Slavers and cloneleggers are usually interested in taking captives, while pirates and raiders focus on wanton slaughter and stealing valuables. Geth attacks tend towards sterilization with a focus on attacking hazardous materials holding areas and power plants.
In almost all cases, attackers will prioritize taking out defense systems, comms systems and transportation in that order. Smaller b-rate units (detachments and squads) can be dug in around such targets to provide stand-off defense and force attacking units to split focus or split their forces.
b) Use companies as strong points in defending high value targets: B-rate companies are almost always best used in static defense. Unlike smaller units, getting an entire company into a mobile infantry stance is almost impossible without forewarning of an attack. Having designated rally and reinforcement zones allows for the larger B-rate units to act as a bulwark – distracting the enemy from both weaker b-rate forces as well as under-defended targets.
c) Utilize flexibility where you can: unlike A-rates, whose deployment is largely a function of the combat environment (boarding, drop pods, etc) commanders have far more freedom in setting up B-rate units. They can be set into standing ambush in heavy vegetation, used to man forward defense bunkers and make a wall against attackers, or act as a last line of defense for colony settlements. The drawback to static defense is that it sacrifices mobility – if direct assault on enemy forces can 'tie them up' that provides more time for unmanned drone, infowar or other attacks to slip through and succeed.