UFP Ground Forces question?

[AslanC]

I am doing a CODA Prime Directive game, using a Hybrid TOS Movie Era Timeline (not canon at all) and have decided while Starfleet and the Starfleet Marine Corps keep the spacelanes clear of trouble, the UFP has an Army of some kind.

Now I have some questions for you all.

I know they will have a Ranger division (I have always thought the Rangers were one of the coolest Army divisions).

But I need to decide what the overall name of the organization is.

The first I came up with is...

UFP Armed Forces

Basic, gets the point across, but not sure.

The old Heritage Games Trek game has minatures called...

Federation Special Defense Forces

I want to avoid the term Army.

Also they are NOT a part of Starfleet in any way.

Any ideas guys?

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

United Federation of Planets Defense Force
Federation Defense Force
FDF

They are what I use in my game.

[tmutant]

You could follow the Japanese model with an FSDF: Federation Self Defense Force. It doesn't conduct offensive operations except in the context of retaking territory lost to an invading force. Heavy emphasis on not losing the territory in the first place.

[Publius]

I like both of the above suggestions. Knowing the Federation, it is probably something very plain. After all the name of the Federation Attack Fighter is... the Federation Attack Fighter.

It might have something plain according to the TO&E, but the force may have adopted a common nickname that sounds much better than the official designation: "The Federation Ground Forces, aka Roughnecks, retook Benzar today in the Dominion War".

To get a more interesting mix, each subunit might have a different title: the Federation Assault Forces aka the Bladeborn, and the Federation Emergency Response Teams aka Elite Force (to steal a bit from the Activision game).

[Sea Tyger]

Well, as the Federation shies away from the term army....why not just go with "Federation Special Forces"?

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Sea Tyger
Well, as the Federation shies away from the term army....why not just go with "Federation Special Forces"?

Cause Special Forces implies something more than regular forces. Right?

Same reason why the SFMC is good, but can't be the bulk of the ground forces.

I like UFP Defense Forces

With Special Defense Forces breaking into Rangers and?

What other Special Forces are there?

[Highway Hoss]

Here's an idea I came up with: Terracorps. Basically the planet based counterpart to Starfleet...just as Starfleet is a space-oriented outfit, the Federation Terracorps is planet-oriented. The name is a mirror of the name Starfleet; just as Starfleet implies a space navy ("Star"=space,"Fleet"=navy), Terracorps ("terra"=earth, "corps"= army) implies a planetary army.

[Sea Tyger]

Terracorps is a good name...I've been using that for some of my spacefaring armies for years (dating back to one of the armies in the novel I had started back in '90).

Of course, I always used the Starcorps/TerraCorps combination with it.

[AslanC]

I like but it is too militant sounding for my tastes.


Also Terracorps reminds me of "Sadukarr Terror-Troops!"



No I think Federation Defense Force sounds great

[Greg Smith]

Terracorps makes me think of 'Terrahawks'. I'm having visions of a bouncing silver ball with Windsor Davies' voice.

[Owen E Oulton]

Terracorps would also be too Earth-centric for other Federation species - "Terra" is not merely "earth," it's also "Earth."

Try "Planetary Forces Command" which would also serve to differentiate it from the ship-based Marine Corps w\you wish to use.

[Typhonis 1]

*L* how about LandfleeT??? you have Styar Fleet and then theres the Landfleet with all the tanks and such they need plus specialised ships that can land on a planet and disgorge the troops.. The ships could have a secondary use in colonization

[Eric R.]

And the troops can be used to build a colony's infrastructure sort'a like a Roman Legion was able to build where it went to. which gives me the idea of Starlegion


on another note:

I'm back ! ! !

[Olegamer]

As a veteran of the naval and army services of the United States, and a huge Star Trek fan of numerous decades I have a few comments to make concerning what the "Federation's Army" would probably look like.

First I am restating that the initator of this discussion line specifically said he wanted to avoid the use of the name "Army" which is consistant with the same logic that avoided the use of the term "Navy" when conceiving "Starfleet" versus Federal Navy or Federation Navy.

That said next I would analyze the mission this intended organization would be called on to perform. Star Trek lore holds that Starfleet is a paramilitary organization charged with exploration, colonization, research, and when needed defense. Unlike modern day militaries which is primarily instruments of foreign policy for the nations they represent, Starfleet is a supportive agency designed to directly or indirectly support a number of "interstellar" projects and activities sponsored by the Federation government.

In Deep Space Nine we saw that at least for Earth, Starfleet also was responsible for the physical security of various Federation facilities, we assume that it also had additional military responsibilities although this is never really verified in the episodes.

Now, the initiator of this thread stated that he was setting his play environment in a "Prime Directive" style setting. I assume that the Prime Directive he was referring to is the Star Fleet Battles' roleplaying game now also featuring a GURPS version.

That is relevant due to the more militaristic take on the Star Trek Universe that SFB derived games take on Starfleet. The SFB Universe was initally based on the works of Franz Joseph, specifically his Technical Manual that was published in the mid-to late 1970s. His model of the Federation government was the United Nations, Security Council and all. In his work the only uniformed service mentioned is Starfleet. His featured "Articles of Federation" outlined the government of the Federation, its legal system and other departmental functions and responsibilities.

The executive authority in Franz Joseph's work was the Military Staff Committee. Traditional militarilists usually attach the words "naval" to sea forces and use the word "military" for ground combat forces. The Military Staff Committee had representatives of the five founding members of the Federation (according to FJ) initational members of the Supreme Assembly, and a position referred to as the Chief of Staff - Star Fleet Command. To my this implied that the ground combat responsibilities of the Federation is the responsibility of each individual world, coordinated through the Military Staff Committee which in turn reported to the Secretary General of the Federation or in current understanding, the President of the Federation Council.

That said, I would suggest that as with the usage currently being used by both LUG and Decipher, ground combat forces would be referred to first as "Ground Forces" or "Ground Combat Forces" Thus you could further differenciate as need by further descriptors like Heavy Ground Forces, Assault Forces, Recon Force, etc.

However I would also offer this, Unlike Starfleet that ties each of the worlds within Federation together through space, and therefore shares commonality with each world, the Ground Combat Forces would be unique and intimately designed for duty or service on each world's environment specifically. I would suggest that each world organizes its Ground Force as suited to meet its special political, cultural, and physical environment. I would also suggest dependent upon its level of cosmopolitan evolution that it retain its cultural and historical designations for said indigenous units.

Thus you may have an Andorian Clan's horde fighting right beside an Earth Division. All organized into a Planetary Assault Force under the command of a Starfleet admiral commanding a naval battle group.

Personally, I have served in the navy (1976-1979) then I transferred to the army (1980-1995) from which I retired. My favorite Table of Organization for Starfleet was FASA's for many years. However, I am currently very supportive of the organization that is evolving under the guiding hands of the LUG/Decipher team of writers.

Well that was my two credits.

[Antonsb214]

Well, Prime Directive gives Starfleet a Marine Corps(oh no!, the "M" word!), to act as it's ground forces, and the member planets each have a national guard (army, for clarity) and very small national "training" fleets (system patrol/defence craft) that are under direct control of each planets' government but also act as a reserve for Starfleet. So the national fleets use the same rank structure as Starfleet, and the national guard use the rank structure of the Marines/Ground Forces. The TO&E's are the same also, to make integrating them into Starfleet smoother during a war. ( I know some people out there are a little vehement as to wether or not there are Starfleet Marines, but I always thought it didn't make sense to send SP's to assault a city, it's just not their training, that's what infantry is for. Now I'll duck for cover....)

And we have the Ground Forces as written up in the Dominion War Sourcebook, if you don't have it, download it. It has everything you need to set up Ground Force units, campaigns, whatever... Not to mention a full history of the Dominion War.

So we have Starfleet, who specialize in space combat, and Ground Forces, who specialize in ground warfare... Now I wonder... what kind of skills would a Command Branch guy need to effectively command a real multi-service action? This guy would be at least a Captain/Colonel (have gone to the Starfleet War... I mean Defense College), would make an interesting NPC, just what we need a Star Trek version of Patton, put in cryo chamber labelled "Break in case of War"....