The Unified Ionian Army, also known simply as the Ionian Army, is the terrestrial branch of the Unified Ionian Military. As of 3417, the Unified Ionian Army comprises just over 4,250,800,000 trained regular (full-time) personnel and just over 1,300,000,000 trained reserve (part-time) personnel.
The modern Unified Ionian Army traces its history and traditions back to the loose Ionian Military Coalition, the emergency military coalition of the Ionian Government and its member states prior to the Great Ionian War. The term "Ionian Army" was adopted in 3340 CE after the Emergency Military Creation Act was enacted. Originally the army was administered by the Emergency Army Committee, until the committee was dissolved and merged with the larger Ministry of Defense following the Desykian Reforms. As of the 3400's the Army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and the Army Council, and commanded by the Chief of the General Staff.
Since the end of the Great Ionian War the Ionian Army has been deployed to a number of conflict zones, often as part of an expeditionary force, a coalition force or most recently as part of a Peripherian peacekeeping operation.
Table of Contents
History
Predecessor
The Unified Ionian Army can trace its legacy back to the Ionian Military Coalition and the armies of the Ionian system states. Established initially as part of the original Declaration of the Ionian League, the Ionian Military Coalition was a loose configuration of Ionia's then still independent Common Armies clustered together and deployed on an ad-hoc basis depending on whatever crisis it was they intended to meet. Standardization among the Ionian Common Armies was near to non-existent, with Ionian Army Groups varying dramatically in terms of training, equipment and specialty.
Though it proved effective during the early years of the Ionian League at establishing a lasting peace among the System-States, the kinks in the IMC's design came to fore for when it began to be deployed on more protracted campaigns during the Reformation Period and Expansionist Period. The final blow that brought the IMC low was its costly campaigns during the burgeoning years of the Great Ionian War. These early defeats at the hands of the Dominion of Pagathar, as well as the subsequent siege of the Ionian capital world of Foslara in 3340, led to the eventual reformation of the entire IMC. The Emergency Military Creation Act of 3340 was enacted in the months following the end of the Siege of Foslara, and saw a radical change across the Ionian armed forces. No longer would the armies of Ionia act independently of one another - the new Unified Ionian Army and Unified Ionian Navy were established as the governments centralised armed forces, with its command and control vested into the Emergency War Council and its equipment standardized.
Establishment & Igenomic Period
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Structure
Ionian Army structure is broadly similar to that of the Ionian Navy, with a single command (based in Idithos) known as "Army Headquarters". Headquarters is responsible for providing forces at operational readiness for employment by the Permanent Joint Headquarters. The command structure is hierarchical, with divisions and brigades controlling groups of units. Major units are regiment- or battalion-sized, and minor units are company-sized units (or platoons). All units are Regular (full-time) or Army Reserve (part-time).
Recruitment
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Oath of Allegiance
All soldiers must take an oath of allegiance upon joining the Army, a process known as attestation:
"I (your name), solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Ionian League, and that I will as in duty bound honestly and faithfully defend the sovereignty of the Ionian League against all enemies and will observe and obey all orders of the generals and officers set over me."
Training
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Participants
Special Operations Forces
Advanced Tactical Commandos
Advanced Tactical Commando's are the elite special forces sub-branch of the Unified Ionian Army,
Army Aviation Division
The Army Aviation Division is a division of the Unified Ionian Army tasked with aerial and near-orbital operations for planetary defense. Established as part of the joint Maheran-Desykian Reforms of the 3360's, the Army Aviation Division was established to take the pressure off of the Ionian Starfighter Corps, leaving the role of supporting the army's planetary defense doctrines to their own specified aviation branch. Army Aviation operates in much the same way as the ISFC, operating its own compliment of interceptors, strike-fighters and bombers based on surface instillation usually attached to a worlds planetary HQ or primary barracks.
Ionian Auxiliary Command
The Ionian Auxiliary Command is the branch of the Unified Ionian Army charged with the administration, operation and organisation of the Ionian League’s auxiliary forces comprised primarily of the Common Army’s still active within the Dependencies. Over the 79 years since the enactment of the Emergency Military Creation Act in 3340 the Ionian League has consolidated the multiple national armies of the Dependencies into the centralized Unified Ionian Army, however the process of forming a completely centralize military does not happen overnight. The Ionian Auxiliary Command acts as a bridge between the central Unified Ionian Army and these military forces on the fringe of Ionian space. The primary role of the Ionian auxiliary forces is to augment already existing Ionian combat units in the field with more specialised troops, as well as to plug up holes in the Ionian League’s portion of the larger Warden Line.
Training Establishments
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Objectives
The Ionian Army's strategy is based on several principles that distinguish it from the Ionian Marines, namely their focus on extended large-scale operations. They are numerically superior to the Marines, but are trained in a more specialization-focused program, as opposed to the Corps' belief in training towards blanket personnel combat readiness. This decision is only logical, as the Army does not have the luxury of having such small numbers as their spaceborne cousins, but must train their recruits within the same time frame. As a body, the Army's doctrine is drawn from the following basic points:
1. Decisively achieving victory in prolonged, large-scale engagements with known hostile forces by using overwhelmingly superior force.
2. Rapid, armored mobility on the battlefield utilizing heavy (tanks) and light (APC) armor, supported by a large fleet of support aircraft.
3. Delivering precise and destructive support against known or recently-identified enemy targets to any branch of the Ionian Military.
4. Providing humanitarian support, disaster relief, and civil support for any neighbour or sovereignty in need of assistance.
5. Maintaining a military presence on the surface of all Ionian-occupied territory.
This being said, the Army focuses more intensively on their armour, air, and support groups than do the Marines, having more supplies of the variants of tanks, VTOL craft, artillery, and miscellaneous auxiliary vehicles that all Ionian Military units use. Since they are more geared towards prolonged combat, rather than fast and deadly reaction, the Army has been known as the "Anvil of Foslara," the solid and armored companion of the "Hammer"-like Marines.
Operations
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Funding
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Criticisms
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