Marines

Colonial Marine Corps

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Echo Platoon, Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 22nd Marine Infantry Division


The Marines of the Colonial Fleet have one primary task: Security. Their job on board Navy vessels is to ensure that peace is kept. They do this in a few ways. First, they patrol the ship. Second, they maintain the weapons lockers and firing range. Third, they control the brig. However these directives and responsibilities are burdened with further actions during wartime. During these periods, the Marines on board will conduct counter-boarding operations as well as stand guard in various postings around that ship that during peacetime wouldn't normally require it. The Marines also conduct landing operations, their own boarding operations, and any major military engagements that don't involve shipboard weapons systems or the Air Wing.

Available Positions:

  • Marine Officer - There are several Marine officers on the Hestia: S1 (Adjutant), S2 (Intelligence), S3 (Operations/Training) and S4 (Logistics), and the Platoon's Commanding Officer.
  • Master-at-Arms (MaA) - This is the senior enlisted MP on board and is also in charge of the brig as well as the small arms lockers. The MP's report directly to the MaA who is the senior 'law enforcement officer' on board.
  • Military Police - A Marine who works directly for the Master-at-Arms normally conducting regular patrols and safeguarding the ship. These are typically Marines who's primary function on board is more police-like. Other Marines assist the MP's in their tasks, but only MP's can perform arrests.
  • Riflemen - A basic Marine grunt who handles security and combat operations. Secondary abilities may lie with being radio operators, assistant Medics, or any number of other tasks.
  • Combat Medic - Often referred to as "Corpsman," these are members of the Marines who have medical training in first-aid and dressing battle wounds. However, they are still proficient riflemen.
  • Machine Gunner - A Marine who operates the larger ‘squad automatic weapons.’ These Marines also know most firearms and typically operate as techs when it comes to their repairs within the platoon.
  • Heavy Weapons - These Marines deal with the heavier aspects of combat. They can specialize in any number of areas including explosives, anti-tank weapons, surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems or grenade launchers.
  • Marksman - The Marksmen of the Marines are the top shots but their duties don’t always entail shooting. Much of their time in the field of combat has to do with covert reconnaissance and not killing – as most would expect. Many will refer to them as ‘snipers,’ though that term isn’t an official title. Proficient at not only shooting, they should know camouflage, survival skills, spotting, recon and other related abilities. These positions will be severely limited.
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Thematic Information

The Colonial Marine Corps (CMC) is a branch of the military, separate from the Colonial Fleet, responsible for ground warfare and naval security. Elements of the CMC were found across all Fleet vessels and stationed on all Colonial worlds, serving as a rapid response force to maintain civil order and national security.

Basic Training

Basic training lasts for nine weeks and transforms the volunteer from a civilian to a soldier. It is an intentionally challenging and unforgiving system, designed to harden and sharpen the entering class. A new basic training class begins at approximately the four-week mark.

Phase 1

Unofficially known as the Hell Phase, this four-week introductory period breaks down the recruit through a series of impossible tasks and then rebuilds him or her through confidence courses, physical training, and conditioned marches. The recruit is taught unarmed fighting and melee combat. The recruit is also taught protocol (when to salute, the chain of command, proper modes of address), personal attention to uniform and detail, and the history of the Corps. During the first two weeks of Hell Phase, the recruit is not reachable by any individual off-ship in order to increase his or her dependency on fellow recruits.

Phase 2

During the four weeks of Phase Two, the recruit becomes proficient in judging distances, estimating bullet trajectories, and the discharging of all small and heavy arms in the CMC arsenal. Recruits earn three levels of qualification on the service rifle: marksman, sharpshooter, and expert. Those that do not qualify on the rifle do not pass into the next phase.

After becoming personally responsible in Phase 1, Phase 2 stresses teamwork. The recruit learns basic fire team and squad level tactics and practices them in live exercises. There is more conditioned marching, interrupted by close-order drill, and unarmed and melee combat training.

Phase 3

By the time the one-week Phase Three begins, the recruit is now able to independently think, look, and act like a Marine. After a written test and medical physical, the recruit completes his basic training in a final 54-hour final examination called the Crucible. The Crucible tests all of the skills the Marine has learned by rigorous forced marches, sleep deprivation, and supervised malnutrition. To minimize contact with civilians and institute a sense of isolation, the Crucible is conducted on one of the Fleet's cargo ships.

Those that do not pass the Crucible will be remanded to Phase One. Those that pass graduate from recruit basic training continue onto a separate, usually three-week, advanced individual training (AIT).

Advanced Individual Training

AIT teaches the new Marine his or her chosen specialty which determines his or her position in the Corps. This could have previously been any number of things, ranging from intelligence operative to finance technician to tank driver. After the Destruction, however, the training infrastructure is only equipped to specialize recruits in limited roles, which are the following:

Rifleman: Use of the service rifle, grenade launcher (both underbarrel and stand-alone), and squad automatic weapon (machine gun). Additional education in tactics, which qualifies the individual for higher leadership positions. Connects to a fighting position in a squad.
Demolitions: Use of high explosives. Connects to a fighting position in a squad.
Field communicator: Understanding of the communications net, wireless signal theory, and proper radio protocol. Connects to a fighting position in a squad.
Military policeman: Understanding of the Uniform Code, effective use of non-lethal weaponry, and investigative skills. Connects to a posting in the military police detachment.
Combat medic: Knowledge of emergency intervention medicine. Connects to a posting in the combat medicine detachment.

Marines in AIT become apprentices and combine traditional training and classroom instruction with on-the-job experience. Regardless of specialty, a central dogma of the Corps is that all Marines are riflemen first, so all AIT graduates train for a portion of the time for the rifleman position.

Jobs and Details

Marine Officer of the Watch

The most senior Marine officer on duty is assigned the title of Marine Officer of the Watch (MOW). The MOW functions as the commanding officer of all Marines currently on duty and is responsible for resolving any problems that may require Marine involvement. He or she is directly commanded by the Combat Information Center, even if the CIC is staffed by Fleet personnel of lower rank.

The Marine Officer of the Watch can issue orders to Marines not normally under his command. However, if the MOW cannot resolve a situation or if the situation warrants further attention, it is his or her responsibility to activate the next-senior Marine and transfer the title to that individual.

All marine officers rotate through taking turns as MOW.

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