Arcer Army: Difference between revisions

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| size                          = As of 2025, 1,617,543 total personnel.  

| battles                      = Battle of the Loughton Field, Operation Pullman

The Army of Arcerion is the largest branch in terms of personnel and mission set, however it is not the oldest branch of the Armed Services, with the senior branch being the Arcer Navy, which itself draws its lineage from the Arcer Maritime Patrol Service during the days where Arcerion was a Carnish colony. The Army itself is broken down into Active and Reserve components, with roughly 25-40% of troops belonging to Active, full-time Regiments, and the remaining being Reservists serving part-time.

The Arcer Army currently has several commitments, both as national missions and as part of the greater [[Cronan Security and Trade Union]] commitment for peace and security in Crona. Arcerion maintains a peacekeeping presence in Kelekona, which regularly sees a considerable number of infantry and armoured battalions cycling through, with support from other arms to build infrastructure and mentor host nation forces. Additionally, members of the Arcerion Commando Regiment regularly conduct counter-terror special operations missions in Kelekona, Telokona, and Malentina, although the Arcer government has yet to officially announce their deployment outside of the Northwest Border Security Zone (NWBSZ). The NWBSZ is a deomestic support to civil authority missions that annually sees three battalions rotated into Oakham governorate to support the civilian administration due to the high influx of illegal immigrants and refugees fleeing Varshan following the [[Final War of the Deluge|Final Deluge]] .  

The Arcer Army is centered around its brigade groups, which as per the 2022 Confederate Memo on Defence, are focused around infantry battalions with supporting ISR and fires assets, while maintaining their integral engineer and light armour support. Where the Army lacks is in heavy, direct-fire support, being a legacy colonial military, the emphasis on excellent light infantry and skirmishers, complemented by its garrison artillery and mobile cavalry reinforcements. The transition to today has seen this result in superb light infantry battalions, with an emphasis on motorisation and the ability to cover open country, such as the Governate of Northlea, quickly. The garrison and coastal artillery units have meant that the modern Regiment of Arcer Horse Artillery (RAHA) has an exceptional understanding of modern fires planning, as well as the usage of ISR for targeting. The cavalry gradually evolved into two branches within the Arcerion Armoured Corps, the Cavalry branch and the Armoured Reconnaisance Branch; the former being tanks and direct-fire support vehicles, and the latter focused on ISTAR.

The Arcerion Army has a mixture of equipment dating from legacy procurements in the late 20th century to newer procurements and additions to the arsenals of its armed forces. In general, the regular army units on higher readiness will receive newer equipment than their reserve counterparts. With recent initiatives, the Army has focused on three main facets of their vehicle fleets, their 'A' fleet, or 'Armoured,' is the actual combat and fighting vehicles that represent the maneouvre strength in both the infantry battalions and their supporting or enabling units. An example of this would be the legacy LAV-91 fleet. The Light Armoured Vehicle-1991 was the Arcer Army's effort to replace its tracked vehicle fleet with a newer and more expeditionary-friendly deployable capability. The LAV-91 serves as the cornerstone of the Arcer Army, with every infantry battalion, save for the airborne or light infantry, having them as their main combat vehicle. With a crew of three, and the capability to dismount up to eight personnel, the LAV-91 project was the most ambitious for its time as yet undertaken by the Army since the 2GW. Other vehicles in the 'A' fleet include main battle tanks, combat engineering vehicles, as well as other heavier tracked assets. Important to note, is that the LAV-91 is set to be life cycled and replaced by an entirely new motorised concept that will enhance the lethality of the Arcer Army for years to come.

The Army's infantry equipment was standardized in the early 2000s, and focused on adopting a rifle system and standalone grenade launcher system to complement the existing squad and platoon weapons. The traditional Arcer love for individual marksmanship (a cultural landmark) came to a clash during the 1GW and the rise of the era of modern machineguns, and as such since the GPMG has been a staple in Arcer rifle platoons. Additionally, Arcer emphasis on infantry formations having as much decentralized enabling functions as meant there is a range of anti-armour weapons. Under the umbrella of 'AAW', the family has expanded to include the SRAAW (66mm HEAT), the MRAAW (81mm HEAT), and the NGAAW (150mm, smart anti-tank projectile). This is complemented by an integrated radio and fires sytsem provided by the Wireless and Antenna Division of Arcerion Armaments Industries (AAI), which produces the radios and integrated systems engineering solutions for most of Arcerion's armed services.

All Arcer soldiers go through an initial branch-agnostic basic training for 10-weeks. This takes place at the Craigfearn Garrison, at the Arcerion Armed Forces Leadership and Recruit School (AAFLRS). This initial 10 weeks is focused on giving recruits the skills they need to function as a member of a team, understand how to wear a uniform and orient themselves to function properly in a military setting. After these 10 weeks, recruits are sent either to their respective Army, Air Force, or Naval schools for an additional 4-week integration for service-specific indoctrination. For the Army, this enhances the extremely basic field skills recruits learned in Basic Training. These 4 weeks are known as "Advanced Army Training," and cover a range of activities from handling of additional weapons systems to section- and platoon-level operations. During this period initial assessments for leadership capability are assessed and developed and added to the soldier's personnel file. After this period, candidates are then sent to their individual battle schools for the combat arms, or technical schools for supporting or specialist trades. Examples for this include prestigious institutions such as the Royal Arcerion School of Infantry (RASI) or the Royal Arcerion Signal Corps School (RASCS). In the infantry context, soldiers will arrive at the Royal Arcerion School of Infantry for a 10-week indoctrination into infantry culture, Regimental history, and gradually progress from fighting as a member of a section all the way up to company live-fire events. Soldiers in their Trade Course 1 learn the basic fundamentals that qualify them in their respective field, be that infantry, signals, combat engineering, basic medicine, or other required roles within the Army. After this, they are posted to their first garrison unit or Regiment for their initial developing period. After some time has elapsed, they are sent on their Trade Course 2, where they learn advanced skills that assist with their ability to become a subject matter expert in their field. Whereas Trade Course 1 only qualifies a member to Private, the Trade Course 2 standard allows them to be promoted to Lance Corporal. To again use the infantry context, whereas Trade Course 1 qualifies a soldier to be a rifleman or light machinegunner in an infantry section, Trade Course 2 qualifies them to act as a Section 2IC, or a weapons detachment commander, giving them greater access to educational materials and teaching on advanced weapons systems they may not ordinarily encounter such as vehicle-mounted ATGMs or some MANPADs, in addition to other application for machineguns.

After this, soldiers are assessed for further ranks using the NCO Rating and Evaluation system, which nominates candidates for academic education concurrent to their military learning. To be promoted to Sergeant requires Trade Course 4 and the Intermediate Leadership Course 1, and for their Warrant Officer promotion they require their Intermediate Leadership Course 2.

The Arcerion Meanuever Training Centre is located at the Presdale Garrison in Northern Arcerion. It is almost 5,000km², and is the largest live-fire and air-ground training centre in Crona. AMTC provides the ability for Arcer units to train live with multiple battlegroups and enabling assets such as rocket artillery, aerial strikes, and large-scale maneuver warfare. It also is co-located with the Royal Arcerion Armoured School (RAAS), which trains armoured crewmen for the Arcer Army. AMTC was created after the 1GW as part of an initiative to foster a small armoured corps in Arcerion. Over the successive decades and wars, it has continued to grow in size both in terms of the garrison proper, but also the training area, which now covers a vast swathe in the northern portions of Northlea governorate. AMTC annually hosts multiple large-scale brigade-level exercises, and every month hosts a variety of training events, from Trade Courses for the combat arms, to live-fire ranges, or force-on-force exercises as part of annual readiness training. As part of regular Cronan Security and Trade Union verification, AMTC now has the ability to host foreign brigades belonging to [[Alstin]] and [[Paulastra]] for extended periods of training, including the [[Arco-Paul Brigade]].