Trooper Training
Silvan's Troopers are elite soldiers of one of the most renown small mercenary companies in known space. The Troopers, known informally as Silvan's Troopers or more formally as the Diisarirga Mercenary Units of Magash Maxima Coperation, like their sister organization The Duchess's Own Magash Dragoons which is also known as the 5233rd Profor Infantry Regiment, are part of the Duchess of Sabine's Huscarle Regiments. The unit is commanded by a Brigadier. Each of the three regiments is commanded by a regimental colonel. The Troopers recruit from the Dragoons and Homeguard, although they sometimes take experienced soldiers from the Imperial services. They almost never recruit from the trade.
To join one of the two senior regiments a recruit must have completed developmental training and meet certain physical requirements. Most of these prerequisites are the same as those of all Imperial Army units. The Dragoons, as a Profor unit, also require that recruits meet technical training standards.
There are two kinds of recruits. Most raw recruits are young men and women from the Diisarirga arcology on Magash. Many have never had any more Vacc or freefall training than the minimum basics require for public decompression drills. Most have no weapons training.
Experienced recruits are also sought by the regiments. Diisarirgans who decades ago left Magash to serve in the Imperial Marines, or off planet Imperial Army units, are often welcomed back to a position in the Duchess's forces. The Troopers recognize the benefits of such individuals and often make training and staff positions open to them.
The Training Course
In designing a combatives program, there are many discerning factors that must be taken into consideration. The Regimental Profor Training Course is designed for a special breed of soldier. A Diisarirga Mercenary Trooper is the most elite fighting man in the sector, and possibly the Domain. He or she is trained in all areas of combat: communications, demolitions, weaponry, medical, and intelligence. All outfit members are orbital drop qualified, with many specializing in light armor combat (IFV), freefall combat, contested boarding warfare, and hostage extraction.
The Diisarirga Mercenary units use unconventional warfare tactics. The very mention of the term brings visions of the best of the Imperial Marines or the Sylean Rangers. Diisarirga Mercenary teams have high-priority missions, sometimes going weeks or months without outside logistic support. The Profor Training Course enhances the physical attributes, mental awareness, and self-confidence of the Trooper. Also, due to the type of missions they are assigned, a thorough knowledge of strategy and tactics is often necessary to raise the Diisarirga Mercenary Troopers' capabilities to a level whereby they will be successful. The Regimental Profor Training Course provides the medium to build a better fighting man, both physically and mentally.The Profor combative physical training program furnishes comprehensive physical development, cardiovascular and aerobic conditioning, and develops anaerobic endurance, muscular strength, flexibility and agility. A combination of these physiological factors develops a Trooper who is in overall top physical condition-a requirement for the profor mission.
From a psychological standpoint, the Profor Training Course is also quite beneficial. The inner knowledge that one has the skills necessary to effectively survice in the most hostile of environments greatly increases a Trooper's self-confidence. Special combatives training, above that of the average soldier, enhances a Trooper's self-identity and pride in what a Diisarirga Mercenary stands for.
The nature of the Diisarirga Mercenary mission means an increased possibility for freefall encounters. Diisarirga Mercenary Profor Training is designed specifically for freefall and is geared for space combat. A soldier untrained for freefall might become wounded and/or die in such a situation and thus fail. A Trooper who is properly trained in freefall combat will effectively neutralize the enemy and accomplish the mission.
The Regimental Profor Training Course is divided into six basic components: Physical Fitness, Melee Weapons, Communication, Unarmed Techniques, Profor Equipment Training and Mental/Philosophical Training.Physical Fitness
A Diisarirga Mercenary Trooper must have outstanding endurance, strength, and skill. A Trooper must be able to overcome obstacles, kill or disable the enemy in freefall or shipboard combat with or without a weapon, and advance swiftly, silently, and effectively. The Magash Maxima Corperation devotes a great deal of time and effort toward making its fighters the best in the Domain.
The physical fitness program of the Regimental Profor Training Course is geared toward achieving high fitness levels in the shortest time possible through strenuous physical exercises. This program uses the most advanced techniques available to modern bioscience. No gene enhancing or other questionable biotech methods are used, rather natural strengthening and endurance increaseing techniques are practiced. The exercises include conventional Ranger programs, as well as techniques of physiological feedback which can be used to reduce oxygen use and improve performance.Melee Weapons
Freefall combat is taught utilizing cutlass, boarding axe, and knife techniques. Not only are the actual killing movements taught and practiced, but also the philosophy of close-quarter termination, stealth, stalking, visual domination, spring power, timing, environmental control, and spontaneous reactions (both of the trooper and the target) are explored. Realism in all situations is stressed to the highest point possible.
Easily carried, silent, and hard to counter, the knife can be a formidable tool when placed in the hands of a properly trained individual. Whether one is in a shipboard corridor or a station back alley, a knife can be a great asset in the event of close combat. Oftentimes a Trooper must rely on the knife, either to assure a quiet kill while behind enemy lines, or as an effective alternative if their primary weapons have been rendered inoperative or inappropriate for the situation. Dynamic offensive strategies are taught to students for facing unarmed opponents in addition to specific counters to be utilized against an enemy who is armed with a knife.
The cutlass can be a devastating weapon in close quarters, against both the unarmed and those in vacc suits armed with light weapons. It is silent, effective in freefall and low gravity, and is not as destructive to equipment as a projectile weapon.
The Boarding Axe is a 2-handed weapon. It incorporates a 40" shaft with a spike at each end. Like the medieval halberd it has a heavy axe blade backed by an armor-piercing pick. The weapon is deadly at close quarters and has many uses, including jimmying open iris valves and hatches. In the hands of a Trooper in battledress it can even damage combat armor. Techniques for using the boarding axe in a variety of shipboard and planetary situations are taught.
Communication
One of the unique aspects of the Regimental Profor Training Course is the training Troopers receive in the gestural communication language ViVi. This form of communication is used as by an obscure non-auditory race in the Rim. The number of non-native speaking sophonts proficient in this language, outside of the Diisarirga Regiments, would not even fill a small holotheater.
Every Trooper learns Sekreto Lingvo, an obscure synthetic language from ancient times that is almost completely unknown in the 3I. Legend has it that the language originated on old Terra, but modern scholars believe that the language was developed during the long night at Kulkukan (SM/Kulkukan), though no living inhabitant of that planet now speaks it.
These alternate methods of communication are considered more secure than electronic transmission, although the Troopers possess the most advanced cryptographic equipment commercially available.
Unarmed Techniques
In combat, one of the Diisarirga Mercenary Trooper's most essential skills is the ability to utilize his hands and elbows in an explosively powerful way in order to effectively neutralize an enemy. In Profor combat situations a Trooper will have the advantage of battledress or Army Combat Armor. Not all Trooper missions are class Z. Troopers have had their share of missions where BD or ACA was not necessary. While members of the Home Guard receive specialized hand-to-hand combat techniques, every Trooper also receives a minimum level of unarmed martial arts training.
Equipment Training
Equipment training to simulate actual combative conditions, or to bring about full-power attacks, is a crucial part of the training program. Ghost Cans (battle dress training simulators), military holographic combat simulators and an actual freefall training environment, aboard the training ship Colorado's Hope, are used to hone the Trooper's skills to the highest levels.
Mental/Philosophical Training
The philosophy behind the Regimental Profor Training Course is multifaceted. A member of the Duchess of Sabine's Huscarle Regiments already understands the unconventional aspects of profor warfare. The profor soldier uses any and all means at his or her disposal in order to successfully complete the mission. The advanced training given to the Mercenary Unit Troopers enhances their abilities to perform in this highly dangerous environment.
A Trooper's greatest virtue is the ability to adapt and fit into a situation. A Trooper is a trained expert in weapons (both freefall and conventional), demolitions, medicine, communications, and intelligence. A Trooper can conduct operations in space, on the surface in hard vacuum, or in corrosive atmospheres, and can survive in all terrains and environments.
In war, a Trooper's job is to neutralize the enemy and complete the mission. The Trooper's training course teaches students to understand and apply concepts of combat as opposed to learning specific techniques. Unlike many methods of combat training which specialize in one particular range of fighting, an understanding of the totality of combat is used as a base for the Trooper's training course.
Recruit Training
The training of a recruit from civilian to mercenary is a long and arduous process. The quality of the Dragoons, their reputation and their survival depends on the training of these individuals. The Dragoons and Homeguard are first members of a force of Huscarle Guardsmen. They protect the interests of the Diisarirga family and the subsector noble who leads that family. They enforce the will of this noble and through him or her the will of the Emperor. They have little use for those with discipline, legal, or social problems. Recruits are carefully screened. The safety of the Duchess, and perhaps even the Imperium will rest on them. It is a duty they take seriously.
The first phase of training is called Basic. It is twelve weeks long and resembles the kind of difficult training regiment that has been used for centuries to train Imperial Marines and Sylean Rangers. The recruits days and nights are filled with long hours of physical training and the memorization of copious amounts of trivia, from the number of parts in the standard ACA rebreather, to the names of all of the Dukes and Duchesses of the Deneb sector since the first Holiday was celebrated in the Domain. It is here that they begin their training in Sekreto Lingvo, the secret language of the Diisarirga Regiments. Recruits are taught the basics of the use of the cutlass and some rudimentary weapons techniques, but real training in this area is done at a later time. Basic takes place within the arcolgy, in a relatively isolated cavern complex. One class is traditionally held a year. Typical class size is less than twenty. During Imperial wars up to five classes a year might be held, to replace casualties, and in that case the classes are much larger.
After basic the recruits spend six weeks mastering the use of the standard vacc suit. Profor troops maintain their own equipment, so it is vital that each trooper have intimate knowledge of every system necessary for their survival. Much of this training takes place on the surface directly above the caverns. The goal of this training is to prepare the recruits for their first real challenge: The march to the Huscarle's training camp, across the surface of Magash. The recruit unit, with armed escort, must navigate the free zone between the Diisarirga Caverns and the Huscarle's training camp, now called Camp Nikhasha, for the old duke. The trip takes two weeks. During this time the recruits must survive on the airless surface of Magash, sleeping in envirobags, with death one miscalculation away in the void.
Upon reaching the camp the recruits start their training in earnest. Their standard vacc suits are replaced with Army Combat Armor. The process of equipment familiarization starts all over again. The recruits learn about the construction and repair of their equipment. At this point recruits start to specialize in the skills that will make them valuable members of the unit. Each recruit typically trains in a different discipline, taught by a master of the craft, be it explosives, communication or computer hacking. This is in addition to their training in combat and weapons. Cutlass, axe, rifle and pistol are mastered. Each day includes weapons training, protected force equipment training, regimental history, and specialize area training. This phase generally lasts an additional twelve weeks, although most recruits never truly complete the training in their special skills.
The recruits' next phase of training takes them off Magash. It is at this time that the training of the two regiments begins to differentiate. Members of the Home Guard receive security force training. Members of the Duchess's Own Magash Dragoons receive battledress training. This is typically done at a professional training school belonging to Instellarms on Marnie's World, Jump-3 from Magash. For many of the members of the Dragoons this is their first trip off Magash. Not including the two to three week travel time this training takes fifteen weeks. During this time the recruits learn to operate the battlesuits used by the Dragoons. They also master the technique of orbital drop, which requires the battlesuited soldier to lie helpless and immobile while being shot from orbit into hostile fire.
At the end of this time the recruits graduate and upon their return to Magash, or their joining of the regiment, if the unit is off-world, they are accounted as drop troopers. At this point their training really begins, for they must now continue their training in the specialized areas they have chosen, as members of a fighting Dragoon unit.
Advanced Training
After they have account well of themselves in service with the 5233rd Profor Infantry Regiment, a member of the Duchess's Huscarles may apply for acceptance to the elite mercenary unit of the Third Regiment of the Guard. Members of Silvan's Troopers are better paid. They have a greater chance to travel, and a greater chance of advancement (mostly due to their higher level of casualties.) They also receive advance training.
Soldiers accepted into the Troopers are initially sent back to Camp Nikhasha. Here they begin to diversify. Armorers are taught to repair grav vehicles. Vehicle drivers taught to operate spacecraft turret weapons. Explosive experts become plasma torch operators.
The new Troopers also receive advanced training in their old specialty. Field medics are taught to assist in triage and in the operating room. Computer experts learn to hack into ship security systems.
Next, every new Trooper must master the techniques of freefall combat. This can only be done in space. Circling around Enushir, the system's sixth planet, the Troopers have a training station, the salvaged 10,000 dton transport Colorado's Hope, called by the Trooper trainees Forlorn Hope. The jump drive, and most of the maneuvering units have been removed from the vessel. Enough drive units have been retained for station keeping.
The Duchess managed to convince her father to purchase the hulk during the FFW, when she was still an officer in the unit. It was bought with Imperial taxes as a training base for all local forces and only conveyed to the Duchess after the end of the war.
A small section of the ship is maintained at standard gravity and atmosphere. The rest is a maze of rooms, kept under various hazardous conditions for training purposes. The exterior of the ship is also used. Troopers learn to overcome the natural flat landers fear of EVA freefall. Every Trooper must learn to operate a bullet bike. Many also learn system navigation, and practice takeoff and landing module cutters at a Class I spaceport on Enushir's surface.
Crews from the various Broadsword and Kalashnikov Merc Cruisers cycle through the station for refresher training periodically.
Seasoned Professionals
A small number of experienced soldiers are also recruited by the Troopers. Many of these professionals are Diisarirgans, but some offworlders have also served in the Troopers. Such experts usually possess special abilities. Most are too experienced to be signed on as common Troopers or even non-commissioned officers. They are typically given Ducal Warrants, rather than commissions, and styled as specialist warrant officers.
Sometimes "civilian" specialists are hired for individual missions, or even civilian ships, to provide extra lift capacity, when all of the units merc cruisers are occupied.
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