40K Fic - Enlisted/Officer Military Career (vs Real Life US)

[Zinegata]

Righto, this is yet another one of my info-gathering missions for Warhammer 40K Fanfic writing. The subject of today's topic: Military Careers

Pretty much every human character we see in 40K is some kind of soldier (those who aren't are supporting the soldiers). But what seems to have been ignored in a lot of 40K literature is what the career of an average soldier / officer looks like.

In real life, Enlisted Men or Officers move up the rank based on a system:

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/armyprom ... ions_5.htm
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/promotio ... erprom.htm

But in the setting we generally don't see any kind of system. I'm not just talking about how 40K has a million worlds and a million different promotion systems, but the fact that we haven't even seen the promotion system for even one of the well-known regiments - like say the Cadians.

Hence, one of my objectives for fanfic writing will be to create a military career system for the regiment I feature in my stories (The Brennus Mechanized, mentioned in a few of the previous threads). To review, this "regiment" is a mechanized force that combines 300 armored vehicles with 4,500 men - essentially providing the "Armored Fist" squad support for other regiments as noted in the fluff (or the "Mech" lists on the tabletop).

This career system will also be used by the Brennus Planetary Defense Force (The "Army", to differentiate vs the Imperial Guard).

So, to start with, I'm thinking of the following points:

1) Unlike the US military, Brennus has a conscription system. This is 40K and Grim Dark, but there's also a practical reason - the northern portion of the planet is still home to a substantial Orkish population, and a constant low-intensity war is being fought against them.

Out of the 90,000 men in the army (out of a population of 10 million), as many as 500 are killed annually fighting the Orks. However, the full army is rarely deployed in the Northern Wastes - typically only half (the "Actives") are in the north, while the remainder (the "Inactives") are far from the frontlines and engaged in rest / refit; alternating between six month cycles out of every year.

Every Brennic male citizen must serve in the PDF for two years minimum (albeit not necessarily in combat roles) starting at the age of 18. Women may volunteer for service and have their own single-gender units.

After their service, troopers remain in the "Fyrd" (their fancy term for Reserves) and may be called up for service in times of crisis. Citizens who are part of the Fyrd are required to attend semi-annual "refresher" training, similar to the US National Guard.

Additionally, when the world is required to raise an Imperial Guard regiment, troopers from both the Army and Fyrd are selected by a combination of volunteering or balloting (men selected by ballot can have someone else take their place). Men selected for Imperial Guard service are expected to remain off-world for service for a minimum of ten years; albeit in practice they are never expected to return.

2) Like the present-day US military, there will be a line between enlisted men (including NCOs) and commissioned officers.

Enlisted soldiers are generally all conscripts, released from service after their second year. The only exceptions are the Huskarls - who are enlisted men who have volunteered for additional three-year terms and who have passed a rigorous physical selection process. Huskarls serve as heavy infantry in the army, and the very best are assigned as bodyguards for high-ranking officers.

NCOs are a combination of conscripts and long-service professionals. Conscripts with potential are sent to a short NCO school, and those who perform well after their term of service are offered permanent NCO positions. Professional NCOs then advance in rank similar to US Army NCOs - climbing up various NCO ranks from Sergeant, to Staff Sergeant, to Master Sergeant. It is also possible for NCOs to earn a commission via merit or attending Officer School.

Commissioned Officers are all professionals, selected from each year's batch of conscripts based on their mental proficiency scores (the Brennus Army wants thinking officers). Those who are selected and who accept must undergo a four-year training course, which combines both classroom and field training (including combat). They get the rank of Brevet Lieutenants halfway through the course, and are promoted to full Lieutenants (leading platoon-sized units called "Troops") at the end of the course (at the age of 22).

After this, the career of an officer can take one of two possible paths - the "Line" path, and the "Knight" path.

"Line" Officers focus on one specific combat arm / support service. However, Line officers are barred from achieving the highest ranks, and their progression from Lieutenant is as follows:
- First Lieutenant (leads company-sized units called "Lances") - generally reached after three years as a Lieutenant
- Captain (Leads battalion-sized units called "Squadrons") - generally reached after five years as a First Lieutenant
- Grand Captain (leads multiple battalions called "Orders") - generally reached after five years as a Captain. This is the highest available rank for a Line officer.

Meanwhile, "Knight" officers are those who have served in at least three different arms, the logic being that the Brennus Army emhasizes in combined arms. This is a much more difficult path and few officers take it, but only "Knight" officers can reach the highest available ranks. Their progression is as follows:
- Knight-Lieutenant (leads company-sized units called "Lances") - achieved after a minimum of three years, averaging five or more. The officer must have served in at least three different arms (usually infantry, armor, and artillery) to qualify.
- Captain (Leads battalion-sized units, called "Squadrons") - generally reached after five years as a Knight-Lieutenant
- Major (leads multiple battalions, called "Orders") - generally reached after five years as a Captain.
- Colonel (leads a Division-equivalent, called "Division" in the Army and "Regiment" in the Imperial Guard ) - generally reached after seven years as a Major, and the highest "assured" rank for a career officer. There are always just ten Colonels - nine for each of the nine Divisions in the Army, and one Colonel of the Imperial Guard Regiment.
- General (leads multiple Divisions) - selected out of the available Colonels to command an entire military district.

(Note: And yes, I know the unit names are awkward. They are also not final. But it's a reflection of the fact that much of the world was living in D&D-style Medieval conditions just two generations before getting mechanized armies, if anyone has suggestions feel free to give them )

Officers who wish to retire (even at a relatively young age - e.g. Knight Lieutenants) are allowed to do so but automatically become Reserve Officers for the Fyrd, where they continue to earn a fraction of their regular pay based on rank achieved and years of service (as a form of semi-pension).

Obviously, an exception for both enlisted ranks and commissioned officers are for those selected to become Imperial Guard - both are considered to have opted for the ten-year term of service.

=======

I'm also thinking of creating a special subset of the officers similar to the Prussian General Staff model, wherein exceptionally talented officers (regardless of rank) are given special staff training.

But I think that's already a ton of details and some people (e.g. Skimmer) may already be shaking their heads at some of the ideas I put here .

[Dr. Trainwreck]

GAWD, it doesn't matter what your little ranking system is about. Fluff is vague on these issues for a reason; the only thing the Imperium can be shown to care about is to have a defined leader of a regiment (whose rank is simplified to colonel), and even then only in the Guard. The latest Codex says that 10% of the population must be under arms, but doesn't really define they must be a standing army; I guess most of these are reservists with actual jobs that can be called upon if there is need to.

Also, why does it matter so much what the PDF forces look like if you want to write about a Guard regiment anyways? They can be in the background.

[Zinegata]

GAWD, it doesn't matter what your little ranking system is about. Fluff is vague on these issues for a reason; the only thing the Imperium can be shown to care about is to have a defined leader of a regiment (whose rank is simplified to colonel), and even then only in the Guard. The latest Codex says that 10% of the population must be under arms, but doesn't really define they must be a standing army; I guess most of these are reservists with actual jobs that can be called upon if there is need to.

Ergh... I'm not trying to make an Imperium-wide ranking system, I'm making one for the world specifically.

Also, why does it matter so much what the PDF forces look like if you want to write about a Guard regiment anyways? They can be in the background.

Because the current story I'm writing will be set on the home world itself .

[Meest]

Few things to consider. Two or three years is nothing in 40k universe that could be one deployment with travel. The 500 casualties up in the north is also nothing and usually would only be a stalemate if there is no reinforcements/supplies etc, them being stuck while having half their army free probably wouldn't fly even with the more progressive commanders. My guess would be surviving plus somewhat above average intelligence gets you promoted with tons of turnover from casualties, otherwise it's upper class or nobility and family trade skills that would help. Can see how you're trying to modernize it a bit but they aren't allowed that luxury in terms of freedom, you said they just come out of a primitive age, what about the societies' attitudes related to that era. Imperial propaganda and all that plus a perpetual war, how is the situation on the planet allowing short term and option to leave service justified?

[Zinegata]

Few things to consider. Two or three years is nothing in 40k universe that could be one deployment with travel.

Good point, ten years might just count combat duration then and not include travel time.

The 500 casualties up in the north is also nothing and usually would only be a stalemate if there is no reinforcements/supplies etc, them being stuck while having half their army free probably wouldn't fly even with the more progressive commanders.

The enemy is Orks, so what happens is that even after clearing large areas the Orkish reproductive cycle tends to ensure that they come back after a few seasons. A full purging probably wouldn't help matters much, because the Ork spores will just make more of them pop up a few years down the line.

My bigger concern actually is that there might be too many folks fighting - this is just a population of 10,000,000 losing 500 men a year. Proportionately, it'd be like the US losing 15,000 men annually.

My guess would be surviving plus somewhat above average intelligence gets you promoted with tons of turnover from casualties, otherwise it's upper class or nobility and family trade skills that would help. Can see how you're trying to modernize it a bit but they aren't allowed that luxury in terms of freedom, you said they just come out of a primitive age, what about the societies' attitudes related to that era. Imperial propaganda and all that plus a perpetual war, how is the situation on the planet allowing short term and option to leave service justified?

Whoops, should have re-elaborated...

The world was basically a Space Marine fief world - kept at a medieval level of tech to provide Librarians and Assault Marines - until the Space Marines went extinct 100 years ago and the Orks invaded the planet. At this point the Imperium re-asserted control by sending in a Guard mech army, which subsequently defeated the main Orkish threat and helped re-populate the world. Hence, the population is currently descended from either retired Guardsmen, or the original medieval-level folks.

The world's population regarding the Guard is generally lukewarm - the retired Guardsmen know exactly what service entails, and the medieval folk know that the sons who become Space Marines don't come back. But they also understand that the Guard and Marines exist because worlds need rescuing, just like how their own world got rescued 100 years before. Their attitude would be best summed up with the line "Would not volunteer for the Guard, but will serve if selected".

The current officer corps is meant to be a mix of old-family "noble" blood (consisting of the old lords/ladies plus descendants of officers of the Guard army), but the PDF is bit more progressive so they leave plenty of room for merit-based promotions, with an emphasis on high-level battlefield planning, staff work, and the ability to put together and fight with combined-arms formations.

Despite the world's martial tradition of having Knights on horseback, the the survivors of the original Guard Colonization Army was composed of veterans who understood that mechanized army commanders can't be off leading the charge with their men and instead focus on the big picture; and that you need a mix of different forces with different capabilities to win. In short, they have a very strong practical base with which to draw their officer training curriculum from.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I can't find much to complain about. One thing that does stick out to me, though, is the mandatory conscription for males and optional enlistment for females. The Imperium of Man is an upstanding, egalitarian, equal-opportunity meatgrinder: everyone is equally worthless. If the planet and its internal workings are very far removed from any Administratum or Departmento Munitorum influence (and/or doesn't have a politically-appointed/hands-on Governor), then I could see local tradition standing, but otherwise I should think the powers that be would want every scrap of warm bodies they could get, male or female being irrelevant.

Why the hard limit on colonels WRT the Guard? The PDF okay, but I don't understand what you mean by "only one Guard colonel." Is there only one Guard regiment from the planet? It seems unlikely that the Administratum would only raise a single regiment and leave it at that.

Edit: Also be aware that the Tactica Imperialis considers all company commanders to be "captains," and makes no particular organizational distinction of battalions. This doesn't affect what a local PDF calls its officers, of course, but beware of running into situations like real-life armies and navies where captains and lieutenants mean entirely different things.

[Zinegata]

I can't find much to complain about. One thing that does stick out to me, though, is the mandatory conscription for males and optional enlistment for females. The Imperium of Man is an upstanding, egalitarian, equal-opportunity meatgrinder: everyone is equally worthless. If the planet and its internal workings are very far removed from any Administratum or Departmento Munitorum influence (and/or doesn't have a politically-appointed/hands-on Governor), then I could see local tradition standing, but otherwise I should think the powers that be would want every scrap of warm bodies they could get, male or female being irrelevant.

Well, Amberley states that only about 10% of the Guard is female, so I was thinking that there probably wasn't universal conscription throughout the Imperium for females. The original plan of the Governor was to not let women fight in the military at all (he's old fashioned that way) but after the women pointed out that the world's patron Saint was a warrior-princess of sorts he relented and gave them the volunteer route.

Why the hard limit on colonels WRT the Guard? The PDF okay, but I don't understand what you mean by "only one Guard colonel." Is there only one Guard regiment from the planet? It seems unlikely that the Administratum would only raise a single regiment and leave it at that.

The world's official tithe is only one regiment at the current time. So there is only one Colonel commanding an Imperial Guard regiment, and nine others commanding similar-sized formations in the PDF (called "Divisions" rather than "Regiments" to differentiate). So the PDF has nine Divisions of 10,000 men apiece, and then there's one regiment with the Guard at any given time (at least for now). In real-life, the "Colonels" actually command units that should go to Brigadiers.

Edit: Also be aware that the Tactica Imperialis considers all company commanders to be "captains," and makes no particular organizational distinction of battalions. This doesn't affect what a local PDF calls its officers, of course, but beware of running into situations like real-life armies and navies where captains and lieutenants mean entirely different things.

Yup, albeit the 40K definition of a "company" varies a bit from the modern version. They do have "regiments" that consist of 120,000 men after all...

[Sea Skimmer]

If your in a constant war/low warning threat of mass war, I think about the last thing you want to do is conscript young females to do active duty; some kind of 'go straight to second line reserve' training program that only lasts 3-6 months might be reasonable though. You kinda need them to be breeding more troops, and the earlier in life the better so the kids grow up sooner. Simple reality of nature. Population problems get bad enough when you have all young men being killed off.

[Gunhead]

If your in a constant war/low warning threat of mass war, I think about the last thing you want to do is conscript young females to do active duty; some kind of 'go straight to second line reserve' training program that only lasts 3-6 months might be reasonable though. You kinda need them to be breeding more troops, and the earlier in life the better so the kids grow up sooner. Simple reality of nature. Population problems get bad enough when you have all young men being killed off.

That's not really a problem if they can maintain their war with just 90000 permanent troops with just 500 casualties / year. I'm assuming by casualties he means dead. But even if you make that 500 dead + 250 permanently injured and say 2500 injured per year. That's like a whopping 3% casualty rate per year which would show as a slight bump in in the total mortality per year for the whole population even if the total 3250 were all dead. If the total standing army was 180000, with allowance for troops send of world reserve etc. It would total 1.8% of the total population in which case you could probably maintain it just by taking people who actually want to be in the military and ditch the rest.
If they still have mandatory service, the annual amount of people going in would be something like 30000 per year, maybe a bit more if they breed faster than people in a modern day do.
You could replace all your losses and have some extras too if just 20% of the annual draft is sent into the active military. That's if they only draft the males that is.

-Gunhead

[Zinegata]

Re: Casualties

Yes, the 500 figure is just killed. Add in wounded using the standard killed-wounded rates and you have a considerable chunk of the population feeling it.

Re: Female Conscription and Population

Yep, part of the reason why the Governor didn't want to conscript females is because the world's population is pretty tiny by Imperial standards and he's trying to get the population up. A secondary measure which is only recently gaining in popularity is encouraging immigration from other nearby worlds - but the world's still a largely unknown backwater so you currently aren't seeing more than say, 10K new immigrants a year.

The Governor also doesn't want an overly large PDF though, since he wants more bodies at home to serve the growing industries on the planet. Officially, the "Inactives" are meant to garrison the population centers against psykers showing up (the world has a history of producing a disproportionate number of them), but in practice the Arbites handle most of the psyker cases now (which are generally handled peacefully) and the Inactives are usually allowed to work part-time in other industries.

The world is in a sort of Industrial Revolution stage, with steelworks and factories being built all over the place; with the aid of Mechanicum "Concessions" who are providing tech and know-how in exchange for rare ores and other materials. There is a real (but not crippling) labour shortage on the planet; albeit on the flipside it also means the population gets to enjoy better wages and a better standard of living because the workers are actually a valuable and finite resource.

[Gunhead]

Re: Casualties

Yes, the 500 figure is just killed. Add in wounded using the standard killed-wounded rates and you have a considerable chunk of the population feeling it.

Re: Female Conscription and Population

Yep, part of the reason why the Governor didn't want to conscript females is because the world's population is pretty tiny by Imperial standards and he's trying to get the population up. A secondary measure which is only recently gaining in popularity is encouraging immigration from other nearby worlds - but the world's still a largely unknown backwater so you currently aren't seeing more than say, 10K new immigrants a year.

The Governor also doesn't want an overly large PDF though, since he wants more bodies at home to serve the growing industries on the planet. Officially, the "Inactives" are meant to garrison the population centers against psykers showing up (the world has a history of producing a disproportionate number of them), but in practice the Arbites handle most of the psyker cases now (which are generally handled peacefully) and the Inactives are usually allowed to work part-time in other industries.

The world is in a sort of Industrial Revolution stage, with steelworks and factories being built all over the place; with the aid of Mechanicum "Concessions" who are providing tech and know-how in exchange for rare ores and other materials. There is a real (but not crippling) labour shortage on the planet; albeit on the flipside it also means the population gets to enjoy better wages and a better standard of living because the workers are actually a valuable and finite resource.

Few points of note.

1) The high value for dead to wounded is x10 and I just took the average which lead me to the 2500. But even at peak 5000 wounded a year, it wouldn't affect the whole population all that much. It couldn't be ignored but wouldn't have that big of an impact either.

2) Population of 10 000 000 isn't tiny, it begs the question is the planet even considered inhabited. There are worlds with x20 the number of people on them nobody even on sector level gives a fuck about. So it's safe to assume there are other reasons why anyone bothers with the place other than it being a convenient dumping ground for people, which the local powers are doing pretty half assed. +10K immigrants a year sounds more like they are getting skilled workers from more advanced worlds nearby to do the hi-tech stuff the locals can't yet handle.

3) The number of troops is so low as is the population it's highly dubious they can make any meaningful contribution to the imperial guard. Major reasons would be the active hostilities with on planet orks and any induction of the planets forces into the IG would pretty much gouge the fuck out of them, compromising their ability to contain the ork threat. It might happen, if there was an IG army already being deployed and it's short on manpower and they are going to pass right next door, or for similar pressing reason. Nobody is going to go out of their way for just one more regiment.

4) If there is a labor shortage on the planet, the smart thing to do would be to have a split model of conscription. Basically they hold a draft yearly to determine fitness for service. They first take in the volunteers and if that is not enough to fill the quota, they fill out the ranks by lottery.

-Gunhead

[Zinegata]

2) Population of 10 000 000 isn't tiny, it begs the question is the planet even considered inhabited. There are worlds with x20 the number of people on them nobody even on sector level gives a fuck about. So it's safe to assume there are other reasons why anyone bothers with the place other than it being a convenient dumping ground for people, which the local powers are doing pretty half assed. +10K immigrants a year sounds more like they are getting skilled workers from more advanced worlds nearby to do the hi-tech stuff the locals can't yet handle.

Yep, it's considered a backwater. It is getting some attention from the Mechanicum largely because it's got a lot of rare ores, and the system itself is host to a huge asteroid field that is also turning out to be pretty rich in rare ores too. But this is still the very beginning of the exploitation phase - largely because the world has only very recently come out of Space Marine fiefdom and back into official Imperial control.

This is also why its IG tithe is only one regiment. It's not big enough to warrant a bigger Founding.

3) The number of troops is so low as is the population it's highly dubious they can make any meaningful contribution to the imperial guard. Major reasons would be the active hostilities with on planet orks and any induction of the planets forces into the IG would pretty much gouge the fuck out of them, compromising their ability to contain the ork threat. It might happen, if there was an IG army already being deployed and it's short on manpower and they are going to pass right next door, or for similar pressing reason. Nobody is going to go out of their way for just one more regiment.

That is actually precisely the argument the Governor made, but the Munitorium is a bit of an ass and said "No, your world now qualifies for tithe status. Send us a regiment".

To fill the tithe with the minimum number of bodies, the Governor thus raised a mechanized regiment. So instead of sending 12,000 guys (the sector standard), he only had to send 4,500 plus armored vehicles. And when the Munitorium still complained he threw in Sanctioned Psykers. That actually made the regiment have some unique and powerful abilities compared to most of the foot-slogging infantry regiments raised in the sector.

That said, the world is part of a pretty tight cluster of stars, so it's not as though someone is going deliberately out of their way to pick up one regiment in a backwater. There is, for instance, a fairly large and prosperous civilized world called Roku that's only a few weeks travel away, which is the world's current main trading partner.

Finally, there _is_ a rather large sector-wide crisis brewing, with a large number of agri-worlds in revolt and causing mass starvation in the sector capital. Pretty much everyone in the sector is now feeling the pinch as the Munitorium raises troops from every source they can.

4) If there is a labor shortage on the planet, the smart thing to do would be to have a split model of conscription. Basically they hold a draft yearly to determine fitness for service. They first take in the volunteers and if that is not enough to fill the quota, they fill out the ranks by lottery.

There are attempts to lower the conscription rate and exemptions are possible, but in general I think they really need the 45K men in the north to make sure the Orks don't run amok. They're within the limit of 1 Division per 1 million men estimate of the Prussian General Staff anyway .