Arcerion Maneuver Training Centre

The Arcerion Maneuver Training Centre (AMTC) is the Arcer Army's functional centre of excellence for collective training and is the mechanized and armoured warfare authority for higher headquarters and all land formations in Arcerion. It is housed under the Arcerion Army Training Centre (AATC), the overarching headquarters for staff and force generation formations. It is housed as part of Presdale Garrison in Central Arcerion, at the Midland Barracks.

History
The Training Centre was established at the end of the First Great War, to create more cohesive and effective mechanized and armoured formations as a result of the industrialization and motorization of modern Occidental militaries in the antebellum period post-1GW. Its initial core staff was a mixture of armoured NCOs, infantrymen creating the nascent motorization efforts, and senior officers and scholars on modern warfare. Over successive decades the training centre changed and grew, with large ranges and staff assisting with the creation of more hard structures and garrison buildings in Presdale. This benefitted Arcerion with the successful implementation of Arcerion's modern army during the Second Great War. After the Second Great War, budgetary cuts affected the Training Centre, and an emphasis on light infantry and smaller, low-intensity conflicts such as the Fourth Bush War created a perceived lessened need for large-scale armorued formation training. As such, during the Fourth Bush War the Cronan Patrol Competition was created, to foster esprit de corps and create an emphasis on excellent light infantry and skirmishing tactics, with the staff from the Royal Easthampton Borderers providing the Subject Matter Expertise (SME) on the issue.

At the turn of the millennia, the rising threat in Varhsan and nearby Indigenous nations meant the training centre saw a renaissance, with increased funding and another land purchase bringing it to 5,000sq kilometers. This culminated with the largest Arcer mechanized offensive since the 2nd Great War, Operation Pullman, which saw the effective use of I Arcer Corps on the drive to Anzio, effectively destroying elements several times their size thanks to the thorough training and education provided for years prior to the Army's infantry, artillery, and armoured officers.

Headquarters
The headquarters for the Training Centre is comprised of a Headquarters Company and a supporting Logistics and Signals Detachment. It provides command, control, logistics, and communications functions for the formation, including personnel management as well as intake and outflow of candidates. The HQ is also responsible for liaising with similar organizations in Ixnay, and working with both Army Headquarters as well as foreign Defense Attaches for the training of foreign militaries or foreign governments that wish to submit their brigades to the rigorous standards and modern education provided by AMTC.

Staff and Training Group
The Staff and Training Group is the primary educational and academic force at AMTC. They provide Observers, Controllers, and Trainers (OCTs) which are full-time officers and NCOs that staff exercises, acting as both mentors, educators, and referees on exercises. Generally, these are some of the most experienced commanders in the Arco military, and while not handpicked preference is given to the Training Centre during posting seasons as this allows the force generation of quality officers and NCOs for future deployments. The bulk of staff are made up of infantry, engineer, armour, and artillery officers, however there is liaisons from other branches such as Logistics, Special Operations, Signals, and the Military Police to advise on specialist activities such as road traffic management, march discipline, electronic warfare, or the forward resupply of combat formations. The Staff and Training Group also house the Air Coordination Cell, which works with the Arcerion Air Force to provide aerial fires and tactical airlift from airframes as small as UAVs up to and including larger prop-driven cargo aircraft.

The main Opposing Force (OPFOR) unit is staffed by 4th Mechanized Brigades' Northlea Rifle Regiment (2nd Battalion, 2NRR). It is unique in the way that it is the only line unit within the Arcer Army permanently assigned to AMTC, and serves as the enemy combatants across a wide variety of exercises and scenarios.

Doctrine Staff and Maneuver Academy
The Doctrinal Staff and the Maneuver Academy are a smaller academic function within AMTC. They study, research, and publish articles and journals for scholarly readers on modern warfare and its applications. It is comprised of officers either undergoing their time in a staff role, senior officers on special assignment based on their command and staff experience, or civilians scholars and researchers. It is the smallest unit within the Training Centre, comprising roughly sixty staff and based out of the Ellis Library within Presdale Garrison.

EX CRONAN SHIELD
EX CRONAN SHIELD is the annual verification exercise for Arcerion's high-readiness brigade. ITs purpose is to simulate a variety of scenarios from domestic response to civil unrest, an invasion onto Arcer Sovereign territory, as well as combatting insurgency or other militant actions against the state. Taking place bi-annually, it is the culmination of a Brigade's year-long work up and after a successful verification by AMTC, Army Headquarters will usually assign the brigade to an operational deployment.

EX MOORLAND WARRIOR
The main offensive or expeditionary-focused exercise is held once annually and is comprised of both live-fire training and collective combined arms maneuver warfare. It is modelled off of Operation Pullman and fighting a near-peer adversary either in Arcerion or abroad in other areas of Crona. The main effort is to exercise mission command principles such as NCO initiative, decentralized leadership, and robust logistical support to a brigade fighting an enemy with similar capabilities. It is considered one of the most difficult exercises, as the OPFOR train and conduct this exercise regularly and know the terrain, so attacking brigades are fighting an educated, well-trained, and experienced defender. The results have been seen internationally, as 2/3rds of Arcerion's component forces for the Final War of the Deluge had participated in MOORLAND WARRIOR at least once. It is the largest force-on-force exercise in Crona, and one of the largest in Ixnay, using a laser-tag style system for tracking casualties and effectiveness of units fighting in the training area.

EX METAL CROWN
METAL CROWN is the largest live-fire training exercise in Crona. Its purpose is to increase the gunnery, communication, and company/squadron-level fires capability of Arcerion Army subunits. It is aimed at the NCOs and Enlisted members of the military in becoming proficient at the application of direct and indirect fires. Run monthly in a serial (ie. EX METAL CROWN 2601, 2602, etc.) The staff put companies and squadrons of crewmen and their dismounts through harsh, demanding, and realistic live-fire training scenarios. This includes inoculation to the danger-close use of artillery fire, to increase the awareness of non-artillerymen to the process of call-for-fire and artillery crews to ensure they understand the application of long-range precision fires.

Cronan Patrol Competition
The Cronan Patrol Competition is the most difficult soldier skills and lone-range reconnaissance/patrol exercise in Ixnay. Started in 1970 during the Fourth Bush War, it was meant to emulate the light infantry skills required for patrolling, reconnaissance, ambushes, and small-arty tasks. Teams of six to ten soldiers from across the Arcer regular military and select international teams are invited to participate. It involves mountaineering, rope and knot skills, marksmanship, extreme endurance and physical fitness tests, use of radios and communications equipment, escape and evasion (SERE), live-fire ranges, camouflage and reconnaissance skills, and leadership. Over 72 hours teams usually ruck march one hundred kilometers on average, with very little food or sleep. The most decorated Regiment in Arcerion is the Royal Easthampton Borderers, who have won the competition twenty-seven times since 1970, and are currently the reigning champions for the last three years. Only two international teams have ever placed in the top three, with DELTA from Yonderre placing second in 2015, and YY nation's YY unit taking home a third-place prize in 2020. Both teams earned a regular invitation back at the specific request of the Arcer Army HQ to foster international partnerships and coordination.

Live Fire Ranges
Live fire ranges are a key component to AMTC's education. They are able to conduct ranges from smaller pistol ranges up to complex live ranges involving multiple brigades with armoured fighting vehicles, naval fires (cruise missiles) and aerial fires provided by strike aircraft. They are the only Training Centre in Arcerion able to operate at this size or to this standard.

Collective Training
Collective training, or the training of large groups of soldiers, is one of the main stablishing purposes for AMTC. AMTC annually qualifies dozens of subunits, ranging in size from infantry companies and armorued squadrons up to entire combined arms mechanized formations. Collective training is often done in conjunction with courses to support officer and NCO training, such as the Combat team Leadership Course.

Individual Readiness Training
Exercises that annually verify and validate brigades and units of the Arcer military prior to deployment have become a modern staple of AMTC. Failure of a Brigade to effectively complete their final validation checks (command and control, live fire ranges, logistical support, staff efficiency) often result in a different unit being deployed on that operation. AMTC verifies 2-3 brigades annually depending on Army HQ's requirements for expeditionary forces, and it changes the standards and criteria to meet each type of deployment to tailor the experience for specific missions.

Combat Team Leadership Course
The Combat Team Leadership course is one of the most fundamental and important leadership courses for junior officers in the Arcer Army. Any field officers (officers that can be deployed to forward positions), regardless of trade or MOS are expected to understand the fundamentals of commanding a combat team in the field. A combat team is usually comprised of a reinforced infantry company with attached engineers, armour, and artillery support. In this instance, Arcer officers can be more flexible should there be battlefield casualties or communications issues. The course is six weeks, with a live-fire practical at the end to incorporate the several weeks of theory, doctrine, and education on maneuver warfare and combined arms best practices.

Multinational Engagements
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