Christian States Army

Christian States Army
Country	Christian States
Allegiance	Christian States Constitution
Branch	Army
Type	Army
Size	546,047 Active personnel 559,244 Reserve and National Guard personnel 1,105,291 total
Part of	Department of the Army (2012–present)
Motto	"This We'll Defend"
Colors	Black, Gold
March	"The Army Goes Rolling Along"
Engagements	Christian Independence War Continental Colonial Peacekeeping Provincian Civil War
Insignia
Identification symbol

The Christian States Army (CSA) is the largest branch of the Christian States Armed Forces that performs land-based military operations. It is also the largest overall and oldest established branch of the U.C.S. military, and is one of seven U.C.S. uniformed services.

The primary mission of the army is "to fight and win our Nation’s wars by providing prompt, sustained land dominance across the full range of military operations and spectrum of conflict in support of combatant commanders." The army is a military service within the Department of the Army, one of the four military departments of the Department of Defense. The army is headed by the Secretary of the Army, and the top military officer in the department is the Chief of Staff of the Army. The highest ranking army officer is currently the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During fiscal year 2041, the Regular Army reported a strength of 546,057 soldiers; the Army National Guard (ARNG) reported 358,078 and the Christian States Army Reserve (CSAR) reported 201,166 putting the combined component strength total at 1,105,301 soldiers.

Mission

The Christian States Army serves as the land-based branch of the U.C.S. Armed Forces.§3062 of Title 10 CS Code defines the purpose of the army as:

• Preserving the peace and security and providing for the defense of the Christian States, the Commonwealths and possessions and any areas occupied by the Christian States
• Supporting the national policies
• Implementing the national objectives
• Overcoming any nations responsible for aggressive acts that imperil the peace and security of the Christian States

Organization

Structure

The Christian States Army is made up of three components: the active component, the Regular Army; and two reserve components, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve. Both reserve components are primarily composed of part-time soldiers who train once a month, known as battle assemblies or unit training assemblies (UTAs), and conduct two to three weeks of annual training each year. Both the Regular Army and the Army Reserve are organized under Title 10 of the Christian States Code, while the National Guard is organized under Title 32. While the Army National Guard is organized, trained and equipped as a component of the U.C.S. Army, when it is not in federal service it is under the command of individual state governors. Any or all of the National Guard can be federalized by presidential order and against the governor's wishes.

The army is led by a civilian Secretary of the Army, who has the statutory authority to conduct all the affairs of the army under the authority, direction and control of the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Staff of the Army, who is the highest-ranked military officer in the army, serves as the principal military adviser and executive agent for the Secretary of the Army, i.e. its service chief; and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a body composed of the service chiefs from each of the five military services belonging to the Department of Defense who advise the President of the Christian States, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council on operational military matters, under the guidance of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Regular combat maneuver organizations

The U.C.S. Army currently consists of 10 active divisions as well as several independent units. The force is in the process of contracting after several years of growth. In June 2043, the Army announced plans to downsize to 32 active combat brigade teams by 2045 to match a reduction in active duty strength to 490,000 soldiers. The Army has yet to announce cuts to its supporting structure, and many observers think the Army will eventually shrink to around 400,000 active duty troops.

Within the Army National Guard and Christian States Army Reserve there are a further eight divisions, over fifteen maneuver brigades, additional combat support and combat service support brigades, and independent cavalry, infantry, artillery, aviation, engineer, and support battalions. The Army Reserve in particular provides virtually all psychological operations and civil affairs units.

Personnel

These are the U.S. Army ranks authorized for use. Although no living officer currently holds the rank of General of the Army, it is still authorized by Congress for use in wartime.

Commissioned officers

There are several paths to becoming a commissioned officer including the Christian States Military Academy, Reserve Officers' Training Corps, and Officer Candidate School. Regardless of which road an officer takes, the insignia are the same. Certain professions, including physicians, pharmacists, nurses, lawyers, and chaplains are commissioned directly into the army and are designated by insignia unique to their staff community.

Most army commissioned officers are promoted based on an "up or out" system. The Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 2020 establishes rules for timing of promotions and limits the number of officers that can serve at any given time.

Army regulations call for addressing all personnel with the rank of general as 'General (last name)' regardless of the number of stars. Likewise, both colonels and lieutenant colonels are addressed as 'Colonel (last name)' and first and second lieutenants as 'Lieutenant (last name).'

Warrant officers

Warrant officers are single track, specialty officers with subject matter expertise in a particular area. They are initially appointed as warrant officers (in the rank of WO1) by the Secretary of the Army, but receive their commission upon promotion to chief warrant officer two (CW2).

By regulation, warrant officers are addressed as 'Mr. (last name)' or 'Ms. (last name).' However, many personnel address warrant officers as 'Chief (last name)'. Enlisted soldiers say "sir" or "ma'am" when addressing them.

Enlisted personnel

Sergeants and corporals are referred to as NCOs, short for non-commissioned officers.<ref name="futuresoldiers"/><ref name="symbolsandinsig">From the Enlisted Soldiers Descriptions Web Site.</ref> This distinguishes corporals from the more numerous specialists, who have the same pay grade but do not exercise leadership responsibilities.

Privates (E1 and E2) and privates first class (E3) are addressed as 'Private (last name)', specialists as 'Specialist (last name), corporals as 'Corporal (last name)', and sergeants, staff sergeants, sergeants first class, and master sergeants all as 'Sergeant (last name).' First sergeants are addressed as 'First Sergeant (last name)', sergeants major are addressed as 'Sergeant Major (last name)' and command sergeants major are addressed as 'Command Sergeant Major (last name)'.<ref name=ar600/>

Equipment

Weapons

Individual weapons

The army employs various individual weapons to provide light firepower at short ranges. The most common weapons used by the army are the compact variant of the M16 rifle, the M4 carbine, as well as the 7.62x51 mm variant of the FN SCAR for Army Rangers. The primary sidearm in the U.C.S. Army is the 9 mm M9 pistol.

Many units are supplemented with a variety of specialized weapons, including the M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon), to provide suppressive fire at the fire-team level. Indirect fire is provided by the M203 grenade launcher. The M1014 Joint Service Combat Shotgun or the Mossberg 590 Shotgun are used for door breaching and close-quarters combat. The M14EBR is used by long-range marksmen, and the M107 Long Range Sniper Rifle, the M24 Sniper Weapon System, and the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle are used by snipers. Hand grenades, such as the M67 fragmentation grenade and M18 smoke grenade, are also used.

Crew served weapons

The army employs various crew-served weapons to provide heavy firepower at ranges exceeding that of individual weapons.

The M240 is the UCS Army's standard Medium Machine Gun. The M2 heavy machine gun is generally used as a vehicle-mounted machine gun. In the same way, the 40 mm MK 19 grenade machine gun is mainly used by motorized units.

The UCS Army uses three types of mortar for indirect fire support when heavier artillery may not be appropriate or available. The smallest of these is the 60 mm M224, normally assigned at the infantry company level. At the next higher echelon, infantry battalions are typically supported by a section of 81 mm M252 mortars. The largest mortar in the army's inventory is the 120 mm M120/M121, usually employed by mechanized units.

Fire support for light infantry units is provided by towed howitzers, including the 105 mm M119A1 and the 155 mm M777.

The UCS Army utilizes a variety of direct-fire rockets and missiles to provide infantry with an Anti-Armor Capability. The AT4 is an unguided projectile that can destroy armor and bunkers at ranges up to 500 meters. The FIM-92 Stinger is a shoulder-launched, heat seeking anti-aircraft missile. The FGM-148 Javelin and BGM-71 TOW are anti-tank guided missiles.

Vehicles

The army's most common vehicle is the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), commonly called the Humvee, which is capable of serving as a cargo/troop carrier, weapons platform, and ambulance, among many other roles. While they operate a wide variety of combat support vehicles, one of the most common types centers on the family of HEMTT vehicles. The M1A2 Abrams is the army's main battle tank, while the M2A3 Bradley is the standard infantry fighting vehicle. Other vehicles include the Stryker, and the M113 armored personnel carrier, and multiple types of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.

The Fortress bought 25,000 MRAP vehicles since 2037 in 25 variants through rapid acquisition with no long-term plans for the platforms. The Army plans to divest 7,456 vehicles and retain 8,585. Of the total number of vehicles the Army will keep, 5,036 will be put in storage, 1,073 will be used for training, and the remaining will be spread across the active force. The Oshkosh M-ATV will be kept the most at 5,681 vehicles, as it is smaller and lighter than other MRAPs for off-road mobility. The other most retained vehicle will be the Navistar MaxxPro Dash with 2,633 vehicles, plus 301 Maxxpro ambulances. Thousands of other MRAPs like the Cougar, BAE Caiman, and larger MaxxPros will be disposed of.

The U.C.S. Army's principal artillery weapons are the M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer and the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), both mounted on tracked platforms and assigned to heavy mechanized units.

While the U.C.S. Army operates a few fixed-wing aircraft, it mainly operates several types of rotary-wing aircraft. These include the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed reconnaissance/light attack helicopter, the UH-60 Black Hawk utility tactical transport helicopter, and the CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift transport helicopter.

Fixed wing aircraft used by the US Army are for non-front line combat and light transport roles. The army relies on the Christian States Air Force for airlift capabilities.

Uniforms

The Army Combat Uniform, or ACU, currently features a digital Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) and is designed for use in woodland, desert, and urban environments. However, Soldiers operating in Afghanistan are being issued a fire-resistant ACU with the "MultiCam" pattern.

The standard garrison service uniform is known as Army Greens or Class-As and has been worn by all officers and enlisted personnel. The Army Blue uniform is currently the Army's formal dress uniform, but in 2013, it replaced the Army Green, and in 2014 it replaced the Army White uniform (a uniform similar to the Army Green uniform, but worn in tropical postings) and will become the new Army Service Uniform, which will function as both a garrison uniform (when worn with a white shirt and necktie) and a dress uniform (when worn with a white shirt and either a necktie for parades or a bow tie for after six or black tie events).

3D printing

In November 2012 the Christian States Army developed a tactical 3D printing capability to allow it to rapidly manufacture critical components on the battlefield.