Noah Corek
Cocked, Locked and a Smoking Barrel
- Intent: To further flesh out the Republic's special operations forces and give the Republic an elite group of commandos
- Image Credit: [member="Bambi"] and Here
- Role: Unconventional/Asymmetric Warfare, Foreign Internal Defense, Direct Action and Counter-Terrorism
- Links: N/A
- Unit Name: Republic Army Commandos
- Affiliation: New Republic
- Classification: Asymmetric Warfare Commando Unit
- Equipment:
- Special Warfare Armor System
- Special Warfare Rifle System
- Special Warfare Pistol System
- Special Warfare Sniper System
- Motto: To Free the Oppressed
- Availability: Rare
- Deployment: Limited
- Strengths & Weaknesses:
- + Force Multipliers: The Commandos were originally designed to train local guerrillas and partisans and they excel in this and causing havoc behind the lines
- + Highly Trained: The Commandos receive training in everything from slicing consoles to long range marksmanship and this training is given by the best trainers the Republic could find and/or afford
- + Battle Hardened: Many of the Commandos are former Rangers or Infantry and therefore have combat experience
- + Raid Specialists: When the Commandos do participate in direct action they specialize in high intensity and face paced raids
- - Small Size: The Commandos operate in small OD's and therefore are ill equipped to deal with things like large units
- - Prolonged Combat: While the Commandos are equipped for long deployments to hostile worlds they are ill equipped to stay in prolonged combat
"The Republic Army Commandos are kilogram for kilogram the best fighting force assembled in the galaxy to date."
General Noah Corek in a address to the New Republic Senate Defense Committee
The Republic Army Commandos are one of the two most elite units in the New Republic military, the other being the Republic Marine Raiders. Unlike the Army Rangers however you cannot volunteer to join the Commandos and must be selected. This selection is known as Assessment and Selection.
The Assessment portion consists of a board of NCO's and Officers combing through various personnel files to find suitable candidates. The Assessment criteria varies wildly in what exactly the board are looking for, it varies from someone who speaks five different languages to someone who has a masters degree in chemical engineering to someone who has several black belts, candidates also don't technically have to come from the Rangers as well though those who do are often given more attention.
Once a full training class is Assessed, usually around a hundred candidates, they move on to the Selection portion. Selection is a six week course split into two phases, a two week physical test and a four week mental test. During the first phase candidates must prove they have the physicality to accomplish the mission and therefore must place within the ninety-five percentile of the Republic Army physical fitness standard. Most candidates end up passing the first phase of Selection but it is the second phase the heavily slims down the candidate pool.
The second phase of selection is four weeks of puzzles, classrooms instruction, tests and exams usually preformed with little sleep, little sustenance, little help from instructors and while performing various physical exercises. This phase is given more importance because the Commandos are not looking for the strongest soldiers but the strongest AND the smartest. On average at the end of the second phase nearly eighty percent of the original candidate pool have dropped out, most during the second phase of selection. Candidates are given a week of rest before the move onto their next step: Commando Training School.
Commando Training School is a ten week long school designed to teach the candidates the skills they will need to accomplish their main mission: to Free the Oppressed. During their time at CTS the candidates learn how to train civilians and turn them into effective guerrilla fighters. To do this they are taught how to build explosive devices, conduct recon, slice terminals and doors, extract information, hand to hand and melee combat, long range marksmanship and to how to teach these skills to others. In all Commando School not only teaches the candidates how to fight but to how teach others to fight. Once candidates finish CTS they are considered Commandos and are allowed to wear the coveted maroon beret worn by Commandos. While they are considered Commandos their training does not stop.
Once Commandos finish CTS they are divided up and sent to their respective Specialization School. Officers, who are detachment commanders and assistant detachment commanders within the Commandos, are sent to learn how to most effectively deploy and lead their units. Operations sergeants are sent to learn how to organize and outfit their teams to make sure they are in top fighting condition. Intelligence sergeants are sent to the Strategic Intelligence Service to learn how to gather and analyze intelligence for missions. Weapon sergeants are sent to learn how to operate weapons from a holdout blaster to artillery pieces. Communications sergeants are sent to learn every type of technique from morse code to hyperspace communication. Medical sergeants are sent to learn everything from first aid to field surgery. Demolitions sergeants are sent to learn how to not only use explosives to how to make more refined versions.
Once Commandos finish their Specialization School they are sent to their second to last training school: Language School. Due to the nature of the Commandos training foreign fighters they are required to speak multiple languages. Most Commandos learn to speak Huttese and Mando'a, the two most common languages besides Basic, but most decide to learn a third language. The final training school that Commandos attend is Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School, more commonly known as SERE School. SERE School teaches Commandos how to survive by themselves behind enemy lines, evade capture from the enemy, resist the enemy and if all else fails how to escape capture.
The Army Commandos also differ from the standard Army by their composition as well. The largest formation is a Commando Group, of which there are five, which usually consists of seventy-five hundred commandos each. Each group has their own regional assignment, the 3rd is assigned to the Core, the 6th is assigned to the Colonies, the 9th is assigned to the Inner Rim, the 12th is assigned to the Expansion Region, the 15th is assigned to the Mid Rim, the 18th is assigned to Hutt Space and the 21st is assigned to the Outer Rim. The odd numbering for each group is a sort of misinformation campaign to make hostile or soon to be hostile factions believe that there are actually more Commando Groups than there actually are.
These groups are further broke down into five battalions, the battalions are broke down into five companies and finally these companies are split into operational detachments, the smallest unit in the Commandos. While it isn't uncommon for companies to be deployed to the same planet together most of the times OD's will operate independently, hence their name. OD's consists of a detachment commander, usually a captain, a assistant detachment commander, usually a 1st Lieutenant, a operations sergeant, usually a First Sergeant, two weapons sergeants, two communications sergeants, two medical sergeants and two engineering sergeants, all of which are usually either Sergeants or Corporals.
In all once the Commandos are the smartest and deadliest special operations unit in the galaxy.
