LP A/N: General tactics stuff, written by me in pieces at work and at home. Currently working on two more pieces and bits of the next chapter. Not dead (yet).
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 V: General Tactics and Tactical Deployment Doctrines
ERRATA 8.2.2 – Update
A forward by the Lord General of the Systems Alliance, Manfred von Khar, KoUE
What defines an officer?
Is it leadership? We expect that from officers, but also from non-commissioned officers such as sergeants and chiefs, from warrant officers, even from squad leaders.
Is it strategy and tactics? We also expect that from many levels of command operations.
Is it a bifurcation to allow an officer to focus on the big picture while their subordinates worry about the details? No, in that if everyone above you in the chain of command is killed you are expected to take up and execute the duties of a command officer.
A historical lesson is in order, then to define what the SA sees in its officer corps.
In the years past, before the Days of Iron, the concept of officers was drawn from an organic growth of neolithic and medieval war leaders. In those times, only the rich and wealthy could afford the best swords, armor, and horses, and thus it came to be that officers were defined as being part of the upper class. This in turn spurred the wealthy to utilize military power and warfare for their own purposes, from supplying the weapons and armor to their soldiers to building up cadres of elite warriors with loyalty to their lords – samurai, knights, jaguar warriors, and the like.
Later evolutions continued to separate the common man from the elite, as in time all societies saw officers as being from a higher class of man. This of course transitioned in modern times into full separation, training young men in special academies on the basics of leadership, and restricting access to such academies to those with wealth, influence, and power.
As can be expected, many were not good at it, as leadership is not something you can teach as easily as math, literature or science – and they came from soft lives of privilege and importance, with no concept of hardship, suffering, or pain. A few enlisted were allowed to become officers in some nations, but it was the exception to the rule and they were rendered powerless by military politics.
Thus, 'officer' came to be defined as a class of wealthy younger sons, educated separately, who had no insight or understanding into the enlisted soldier or sailor's life. This created an arrogant parasitical class of inept tacticians who had to be educated by sergeants and chiefs, whose very promotions were political grist and who rarely if ever suffered the consequences of poor tactical and strategic thinking personally. They were almost universally derided by the soldiers, sailors and marines they commanded, and yet they reaped almost all of the benefits of military service – vastly larger salaries and honors, as well as open doors to many aspects of the industry that grew up around servicing the military.
This incestuous union only guaranteed most military in the pre-Iron days were inefficient and bloated wastes, staffed with a slack-jawed selection of incompetents who were only able to wage war in the most wasteful of methods, with billions spent on useless weapons systems while the planet suffered, the people starved and the wars grew ever more pointless and bloody.
Ultimately, those old 'officers' were part of the corrupt military-industrial complex that doomed the world to nuclear fire, darkness and destruction. In his farseeing wisdom, the sainted Victor Manswell declared that no person can command another without himself or herself having also served as enlisted.
As such, in the modern SA military, of course, there is no such thing as 'officer academy.' We have training courses for officers, of course, and war colleges – but in order to be an officer you must have served at least four years as an enlisted marine or sailor. Thus, the word officer in the modern parlance is different.
So what is an officer?
You are a leader, both in action and in thought. You have the experience of an enlisted soldier, both in battlefield time and in knowing exactly what it is like to be ordered into combat by someone above you. Most importantly, over sixty percent of our officer corps is Class III or lower, and less than two percent is Class V at time of commissioning. Thus, despite some officers being from the slums of Neo Delhi and some being the scions of some house of the Lords of Sol, all officers should be placed on the same plain.
You are no different than the men you command. And that is the definition you should remember. That our officer corps is there to handle coordination, chain of command issues, and to stiffen and act as veteran units for less experienced marines. You've slept in shallow foxholes and had wet socks and space rash. You've eaten out of date MRE paks and whatever the hell that is they call K-bars. You've suffered through BuLogs messups with supplies, dealt with the vomiting that happens after cold-sleep.
You are a soldier just like the green recruit from Sol, or the hardened ex-merc who signed up from Terra Nova. You are there to LEAD – but not by some fancy academy training, or from the rear of a formation, barking nonsense orders your sergeants or chiefs have to untangle.
You are expected to lead from the front – to inspire, to be the bastion and the fire and the force. In doing so, you will find your men appreciate you.
Officers do not get special rations, in the field or at base. Your barracks allotments are the same as your men, your housing is identical, your pay is higher but proportional to your time in service. As the highest ranking Marine officer in the Systems Alliance, I as Lord General make about 15% more than a Master Chief.
And THAT is what we want.
Now of course, as officers you are expected to 'lead.' And in that we also include the 'how' of leadership on a higher level – in this instance is the utilization of tactics, strategy, C3I, and logistics.
Other chapters have covered higher level command/control concepts and logistical focus, and yet those are secondary to your true purpose in leadership, commanding and controlling the men, women, and asari who serve under you.
Leadership in terms of tactics, as a result, has a tendency to fall into 'schools of thought.' There are several on both a strategic (large scale) and tactical (small scale) level. Strategy is the province of senior officers, generals, majors, admirals, and the like. If you are lucky and skilled one day you will have to make those sweeping calls.
Until then, tactics is what you must master. As an officer of the Systems Alliance, you are expected to be prepared to take full command of any force you are assigned to in the event senior officers are incapacitated or killed. That means you need to grasp how our forces work, how to use the disparate pieces of our military in a coordinated fashion, and a clear understanding of when the time for offensive or defensive positions is called for.
Basic Tactical Positions
ALL SA operations fall int one of three 'positions' that determine your basic tactical (and strategic) options. These are SPEAR, SWORD, and SHIELD
SPEAR is the generic designation for any space to ground landing assault. In SPEAR, you are expected to focus on maintaining tight control of landing and then to secure landing sites for drop pods, DACT, shuttles or troop ships. SPEAR forces should be organized by tranches of utility in drops – priority on DACT, a-rates trained in drop pod landing, and heavy AFV assets that can do SSO drops such as the MAKO are prioritized, followed by scout snipers, light infantry and battlesuits, and then the main body. In all conditions, your primary focus should be maintaining the landing zone as clear of enemy forces and denying enemy artillery or remote biotics lines of sight to said zones, neutralizing or capturing GTS sites, and widening a net of scout-sniper teams to localize the enemy.
SWORD is all ground-side offensive operations. This can be anything from a regiment of B-rate marines in defense of a colony all the way up to continental level coordination of multiple units in defense of a mainline world. SWORD focuses on unit cohesion above all else. You can only succeed in offensive operations if your units are collocated and focused, with the ability to shift heavy attack power to any point in the advance. As such, emphasis on the use of heavy armor (CUTTER and GREAT WHITE), mobile mechanized infantry, and a central bank of heavy infantry for pushes is key, along with light armor assets for flanking and pursuit. In all conditions, you are to ensure you keep your main body intact and if needed fall back to avoid being counter flanked.
SHIELD is the designation for all – space, ground, landing or boarding – defense actions. SHIELD is the most convoluted of tactical options as there are always things to consider that make each one different, but the focus in this position is always the same – maintaining a clear line of defense and avoiding flanks. The core of the defense should be immobile high power units, with heavy infantry on all sides and lighter units behind to counter flanking attacks. As long as you can maintain your line of battle and secure your sides, enemies will be forced to attack frontally and – ideally – suffer such heavy losses your special assets (DACT, biotics, snipers, battlesuits) can shatter the enemy unit cohesion and force withdrawal or rout. In the worst case, SHIELD expects you to die on your feet, and with a prayer to Victor and the howl of the Divine Wind in your soul.
Tactical Op Tempo
Presuming you have already read Section D, you should be aware of the op tempo guidelines set in place for naval forces. The ground forces of the Alliance use mostly the same, with some variation in execution. An op tempo is different than a position in that op tempos are specific to certain situations and come with pre-planned tactical evolutions, maneuvers, and training to cover these situations.
There are five basic tactical tempos in use: Bronze, Fervent, Iron, Cryptic and Broken.
Bronze op tempo is when you have a weak defensive position that you are falling back from, towards a strong-point. In Bronze, you are expected to utilize mobility, terrain and traps to avoid an enemy force closing in on your units. Bronze depends on the active management of both scout-sniper units to scout ahead for ambush units as well as infowar engineers to sabotage the way you've come, combined with active line frontal management to handle enemy rushes.
Fervent op tempo is for frontal, direct assaults on fixed defensive positions. As any officer (or enlisted with any sense) will tell you, direct frontal assaults on hard defense are always a bad idea, but there are times where we have no other choices. Fervent emphases shock and impact power – heavy infantry, explosives, artillery, and super-heavy armor alongside biotic attack. Ideally you want to create a breach in the enemy defensive line and flood it with Vanguard assault units backed by DACT dropping in directly on said breach.
Iron op tempo evolutions are the defense of fixed positions where retreat is not permissible. All units are to dig in and expend all available efforts towards stopping the enemy advance while maintaining an uncompromising defense line. Units are instructed to fight and if needed die standing, and Commissars are issued orders of General Order 30, Field Execution for Cowardice. Iron utilizes heavy mixes of both combat engineers and any other assets to stiffen the line alongside 'defense in depth' concepts – static or omni-minefields, drone swarms, close-quarters biotic combat, and if needed, the invocation of the kamikaze.
Cryptic op tempos are the most troublesome, as due to the situation the actual position being attacked or defended is secret and there is only limited information available. As with the naval version, Cryptic ops are for the highest possible forward movement paired with firepower and area denial techniques. If the command staff is killed, units are to withdraw at top speed and regroup at a safe distance, then request instructions from SA command. As a line officer, if you are in a Cryptic op, have an action plan for both rapid advance as well as emergency fallback.
The final op tempo, Broken, is unique in that it can be declared by any level of officer who comes into possession of intel on a high level threat. This could be bio-terrorism, a WMD near a colony site, black nano overrun, or any other situation where 'conventional' tactics cannot prevail. Broken requires a direct and full assault on the source of the problem, with the understanding that you are only buying time for reinforcements and units that respond will probably be destroyed.
How do these vague statements apply to your local tactical command of a handful of infantrymen, you may ask. They give you a starting framework to organize your troops. If you are in Iron temp, you need to focus on locating a good defensive position, utilize combat engineers to create abatis and fortifications, turrets, etc. Your handbook has lesson plans, training videos, equipment lists, force manifests, org plans and more for each op tempo.
Additionally, higher command can utilize op tempos to create set-piece elements of a large tactical plan without needing to focus on details, something the turians used against us to great effect in the FCW.
SA Tactical Positions (Ground)
There are four tactical schools of thought in the SA, and which one you subscribe to and excel at performing and executing will likely determine your path though the military. At the basic, all four schools of thought are focused on the same thing – destroy the enemy.
The 'oldest' and, in modern times, least utilized tactical school is the Grissom Doctrine. Devised in the earliest days of the SA military and the First Contact War, the Grissom Doctrine is the SA's primary defense school of thought. The doctrine focuses on the use of heavy dug-in infantry backstopped by artillery, with sniper teams as artillery spotters and armor assets held as a floating reserve. The doctrine did not fare well against the more agile and responsive turian tactics and was too plodding to deal with batarians, but it serves well in wargames against salarian and asari forces and saw some resurgence with the Geth War.
The lessons of the FCW resulted in new and changing methods of looking at our military, as defined by Admiral Tradius Ahern and General Rachel Florez. The Ahern Doctrine is a fast-paced denial offense doctrine. It focuses on the use of mobile sniper teams, light and mechanized infantry, AFVs as C3I hardpoints, and the use of flexible assets such as RIU teams, terrain, and 'knock on' tools such as poison gas and mines. The Ahern Doctrine's primary focus is to deny and counter typical turian tactics that use the Four Movements. Its strengths are excellent offense and defense, the ability to neutralize enemy tactical advances, and the flexibility to adapt to changing conditions – however, it does require both a great deal of forward scouting and preparing the battlefield beforehand. If these are not done it can be flanked and routed.
The Florez Doctrine, on the other hand, is a static hard-point based 'mobile' offense. It utilizes heavy amounts of RRU N-series soldiers, heavy weapons, indirect rocket/missile bombardments, and heavy armor to smash enemy lines and destroy cohesion. Also prevalent are the knock-on tools it uses are mostly explosive and high-explosive as well as gunship support. The Florez Doctrine evolved from our experiences fighting both the Batarian State Guard and slavers as well as the Fist of Khar'shan, and take advantage of batarian weaknesses. The strong points of the doctrine are extremely heavy forward firepower and the ability to shatter enemy units wholesale, as well as preventing the effective use of defensive lines. However, it is weak in that it is vulnerable to counter tactics in terms of infowar, tank destroyers, heavy use of man-portable ATM, and the sort of delaying effects of the Ahern Doctrine such as minefields.
The newest of the doctrines, the Von Grath Doctrine, was established by General von Grath in his campaign against the batarians, pirates, and other assorted trash in the Attican Traverse. It is a shock-assault and fluid attack stance, which is almost entirely focused on the use of DACT, drop-pod launched infantry, infowar teams, 'mobile' light missile artillery, and the Hammerhead tank acting as armor destroyer and missile saturation point. The von Grath doctrine is different in that the use of armor elements is to corral enemy flanks and all the killing is from a mix of DACT assaults and infowar drone bombardments. It shines best against the geth and the pirates of the Traverse and is the most suited for urban combat. Conversely, it is not effective against dug-in enemies with good defenses and heavy GTS defenses will cripple the units using it badly.
In general terms, the Grissom doctrine is used in defensive operations or against static/slow moving enemy positions. The Ahern doctrine is used in opening contact and open field, the Florez doctrine in open field large battles and sieges, and the von Grath doctrine when flanking or against lightly defended targets.
SA Tactical Positions (Space)
There are five tactical schools of thought for space combat in the SA, and like the ground version, the specific path typically determines your service, although this is more about class and weight of ships or fleet purposes than your MVA codes.
The oldest of all the positions is the Drescher Doctrine. Similar to the old-fashioned Grissom doctrine, this was our response to the attacks of the turians during the FCW. It is still in use among many officers since it is the most flexible. The Drescher doctrine states a fleet is only effective as coherent force in being. In effect, the doctrine calls for balanced strike forces – a core heavy unit, four to six heavy complementary units, twelve to fifteen escorts and at least ten scouting units. Battle is approached on a squadron level, flat against the solar plane, and the goal is to simply pin down light units with missile fire until the heavy units can dispatch them at range with heavy mass accelerators, then harry heavier enemies with torpedoes.
The Ahern and Florez Doctrines are a twinned pair of reaction force layouts for fleet design. In essence, both are two sides of the same coin in reaction to the turian and batarian fleet structures. Both share the key difference from the Drescher doctrine of allowing squadrons to choose their own setup.
The Ahern doctrine favors carriers and lighter-cruisers, with a heavy allowance of both missile-destroyers and heavy-frigates, usually at a three-to-one ratio. The goal is to use the lighter units to deliver harrying sweeps and flanks above and below the ecliptic plane while fighters and bombers disrupt enemy heavy units. The cruiser element will close in and cripple lighter ships in knife-fighting-range as the destroyers and frigates peel off and pin the enemy heavies, ideally lining up torpedo salvos.
The Florez doctrine is nearly the exact opposite – focused on very heavily armed and armored heavy-cruisers and a large array of fast light-cruisers, with only enough escorts to provide anti-fighter and anti-torpedo defense. The Florez doctrine pushes the use of volus-style missile salvos, heavy EECM and ECM disruption, and stealth elements to deliver crushing attacks to the enemy command ship and to disrupt enemy fleet formation, at which point the heavy-cruisers simply close in and decimate the other side. Given human armor and redundancy levels are much higher than any other force, the Florez doctrine leverages this aspect to provide an in.
The Anderson Doctrine, pioneered by then-Commander David Anderson, is the primary anti-pirate and anti-raider doctrine. It breaks from the previous three in avoiding specific weight class suggestions, instead working on tactical placement and the use of overlapping fields of fire. Any class of ships can use it on different levels. In practice, the doctrine has units set up in long columns flanked by minefields and (where possible) fighter coverage above and below the solar ecliptic. Missile and torpedo barrages are utilized to pressure and harry inferior pirate ships, which will have to close range to attack. The ships will almost always rush in with heavy units, and our units withdraw through the IFF minefields, jamming out EECM and more missiles to blind attackers to the mines. Once they are struck with mines, fighters will dive down into the enemy and discharge close-range torpedo salvos and disrupt or destroy enemy engines, allowing for flank attacks to piecemeal obliterate the enemy.
In the past two or so years, the newest developed doctrine is the Kyle Doctrine, named for the vicious weapon developed by BuWeaps named after Lord Kyle. A weapons-based doctrine, the Kyle doctrine is like the Anderson Doctrine in that it is weight-agnostic, as long as you have platforms than can deliver Kyle torpedoes. It tends to use lighter ships to deliver these, sometimes having heavier cruisers or even a dreadnought as 'bait' to lure in attackers. Kyle armed ships are kept below or above the ecliptic – some work is being done on SR-Normandy-class frigates to back-refit them with Kyle systems. In any event, being framed with multiple Kyle torpedoes from below and above where GARDIAN systems are the weakest is the end goal, with the rest of the force acting as fast flankers to pick off survivors.
A good officer can master all of these and reorganize his forces along the appropriate lines as needed, but on the actual field of battle you will often not have time for such niceties. That is why we also have force templates.
SA Force Templates
The war with the turians opened our eyes to a new way of looking at combined arms, with the turians not even grasping the concept of an 'all armor' or 'all infantry' unit. Every one of their units is almost aimlessly intermixed, and as a result they tend to have almost no weaknesses that can be exploited without sufficiently outnumbering them.
That being said, it is not useful for us to directly mimic the legions of the turians, as there are issues in which they perform poorly as well. The Four Movements may be useful in an offensive capacity, but as we discovered turians are not so swift to adapt to highly changing tactical and positional changes and can be flanked just as easily as batarians.
As such, your omni-tool will have a playbook of pre-set formations and 'quick-point' automated orders for specific officers and battle duty officers, as well as squad leaders, to rapidly reconfigure your force from one layout to another. These are called force templates.
The most common use is to reform lines after a protracted advance to prepare for a counterattack, moving armor and combat engineers forward to form a defensive line and sniper teams to higher elevations.
Direct Applications
In your day to day operations as an officer, thinking about the tactics to use for any given situation and preparing your men for such is your job as well as the best way to ensure your personal survival and the survival of your units. Practice the above. Study the detailed materials on the SA-8 link, including the training videos produced by Admiral Ahern, General Florez, and others. Review the tactical material not only with your fellow and junior officers, but your chiefs, sergeants, and squad leaders.
Encourage your people to give ideas and feedback, and remember that leadership cannot ever be performed from behind, only from the front. If you drive your people hard and don't push yourself just as hard, they will resent you. And if you drive your people without listening to feedback, they will feel you aren't concerned with their views – not to mention you will not know if they actually grasp the point of the entire evolution or not.
Other units (DACT, RIU, RRU, scout snipers, biotics, etc.) have their own focus and function, just like specialty ships (stealth-frigates, assault-cruisers, carrier-cruisers) have their own distinct uses and tactics. But all of them will play a role in an overall military exercise, and your familiarity with such is the only way to guarantee you are not the cause of a failure or defeat for our brave men, women and asari in uniform.